BURMA: Time to Restore Human Rights and Democracy

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 7, 2005 | Paul Fireman

[LwinAungSoe]

Defeating apartheid would have been impossible without corporations world-wide mounting economic pressure to help release South Africa from the grip of a criminal regime. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a leading voice in that fight for freedom, declared, "Tough sanctions, not constructive engagement, finally brought the release of Nelson Mandela and the dawn of a new era in my country." In 1993, when Archbishop Tutu looked to the brutality of the junta controlling Burma, he called it "the South Africa of the '90s." More than a decade has passed, but Western corporations are still playing key roles in boosting the Burmese economy that finances the junta's rule.

Excerpt. BURMA: Time to Restore Human Rights and Democracy

[GOP_1900AD]

There is one thing I can think of that is even sadder than good people in Burma being held under the boots of the Junta: Into the social destruction created by the Junta, are likely to stomp the boots of thousands upon thousands of PLA storm troopers. Beijing has Indian Ocean designs. These are the saddest of sad times. Fare thee and brethren well. Will there ever be a time of rest and good life for the Burmese?... I hope someday there can be!

= "Never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill