How bad do you have to be...

...for George W to consider sanctions?

On a less flippant note this story is both uplifting and depressing at the same time. I'm no respector of religious belief and the fact that it's monks demonstrating doesn't add an extra poigancy for me beyond the fact I assume they are quite pointedly non violent. How can people live with themselves working for security forces crack down on a non violent protest?

Do the people in these forces believe they are protecting a decent state from internal dissidents? Surely to fuck not. I don't know these peoples lives in any detail but I can barely comphrehend how people can join any military.

I've read many times about things like he following,

• The use of child soldiers and forced labour.
• Laws that criminalize peaceful expression of political dissent. At the end of 2006 most senior opposition figures were imprisoned or administratively detained, among more than 1,160 political prisoners held in deteriorating prison conditions.
• People are frequently arrested without warrant and held incommunicado.
• Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment are common, especially during interrogation and pre-trial detention.
• Judicial proceedings against political detainees have failed to meet international standards of fairness.
• Defendants are often denied the right to legal counsel and prosecutors have relied on confessions extracted through torture.

That was lifted of Amnesty website and thats just scratching the surface. There is a section in John Pilgers book Hidden Agendas delaing with his experience in Burma which is worth reading.

It's no wonder people filter out this kind of unsavoury news, it's very easy to stick our heads in the sand.