Thursday, June 12, 2008

Myanmar atrocities

I must ramble my thoughts. As I started writing this I selected all of my music mp3 files & clicked play. I landed on an appropriately titled song by guitarist Joe Satriani called War. But that's so insignificant.

When Myanmar was struck by the cyclone the devastation we know was beyond comprehension. But what is more beyond comprehension is the tragedy of the oppressive government or the ruling class who is led by Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe. I refer you to the gory details of this article. You'll have to form your own opinion.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080612/ap_on_re_af/zimbabwe

Last week there was a headline on Yahoo about how U.S. ships with aid freely available was declined by the ruling government there. The ships left for to sit there & wait was futile & they needed to move on. Today while being able to freely travel into a Starbucks for a mocha frap I read on a newspaper's headline about how something like 40 tons of food aid was seized by the Junta government & instead used for a rally to gain voters for the current president. It also mentioned how the government treats such aid as aiding the opposition in the upcoming presidential vote. And then I read the Yahoo headline mentioned above. This in the same week where headlines mentioned 10,000+ pregnant women who needed care & aid. The above mentioned article mentions about the current president "he has been accused of holding onto power through fraud and intimidation and trampling on people's rights."

Obviously a diplomatic solution is always best. The election is June 27. This assumes the lead opposition seeking true democracy can even win with the injustice of the opposition leaders being arrested for no good reason today. That's 15 more days of people dying & suffering great tragedy now. Dare I suggest that allowing such suffering is along the lines of Nazi concentration camps? Yes there is the idea of 'To each his own.' But in a global oriented age, something more must be done. Yes the U.N. is being pressed by many to do something. When does the U.N. enact it's power to intervene by force if necessary? I'm sure all such things are complicated beyond measure. But it's simple...People need help. Help is being offered. Somebody stand up to the new block bully & hold them at bay & bring in the help. My own personal opinion is this is Sadam revisited in a different way in a different country on a different scale. Somebody with the power to do something, please go do something. What that something is & to what extent needs to be decided by those qualified to do so.

At the very least, may the leading opposition prevail in the election. But until then somebody go deal with the bullies. Pass onto anyone as desired especially those who might be able to affect change.

- Unable to help in Aptos, CA.