Life On The Burma-thai Border

[ColPyat]

Remove the Junta and......... do we get Iraq??

That is basically the problem in Burma. Spot on.

There are no alternatives than accepting that any change in Burma will take decades of tedious diplomacy with the odious generals. A revolt and renewed large scale fighting will serve nobody, especially not the normal population.

We have had decades of fighting there, did that result in anything else than tremendous suffering and no improvement whatsoever?

At least now, with many areas now without war, villagers can actually live in their homes and plant their crops. This is not much, given the lousy situation in Burma, but it is preferable to war and refugee camps.

It is all nice to say that the ethnic minorities have a right for independence. That though is theory, but not practical. The generals will not accept that proposal, and by all means, the NLD will neither. The NLD will only accept wider federalism. Many of the ethnic minorities have not given up the quest for independence.

It is well within the realistic possibilities that any weakening of Rangoon will be seen as an opportunity to split, which will lead then to more fighting. Dealing with the governments of the minorities is as tedious as the with the government of Burma.

Everybody here advocating armed resistance and renewed fighting can easily say so. You guys don't need to do that fighting, your guy's families will not get killed.

A boycott will not work either. For a starter China will never accept it (and it is useless to rage against China when nothing can be done about it), secondly, it will only harm the normal population further, and not the Junta to this extend. And, a boycott will play into the hands of the absolute loony fringe of the junta, which would prefer their previous isolation policies.

It's all convenient to rage against the machine, the problem though are the practical solutions of getting Burma on track of normalization. What then is the realistic alternative to tedious diplomacy and involvement of corporations, slowly making tiny steps of improvement?