The United Nations Security Council is a contentious place where nations go to lodge complaints and lobby for military action as a last resort. The world witnessed the terrible deeds
of the Myanmar military junta arresting and killing non-violent marching Monks of Burma. Myanamr's military terror tactics continue against monks and the poorest people of Burma. The untrustworthy junta propaganda organ, The Light Of Myanmar, disputes that. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the elected NLD still held hostage at home by the junta, rejected the totalitarian regime's pseudo offer to meet if she would agree to renounce earlier statements and drop her 'tude. The Lady said NO. The full fifteen member Security Council released a strongly worded statement, including Myanmar's patron; China, urging the totalitarians in Myanmar (Burma) to open a genuine dialog with their opposition."The Security Council stresses the need for the government of Myanmar to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups, in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation."
It is the first time the council has taken any action over Burma.
It is also significant because China, a vocal supporter of its ally Burma, supported the statement.
Enter Irony into the next Act for Peace. China has the 17th Communist Party Congress scheduled for next week. It is a quasi-interview for identifying and approving the next generation of China's rulers. The Chinese communist political factions involved are trying to do an eXtreme Makeover to show a form of unity at this conference. In anticipation of dissent in China, the Chinese powers that be are conducting sweeps rounding them up or disappearing known dissidents, to ensure their silence.
One group, China Human Rights Defenders, says two of the country's most prominent democracy activists - Yao Lifa and Lu Banglie - have gone missing.
It says scores of others have been arrested or detained in their homes.
New York-based Human Rights Watch says China has been working for months to restrict the movement of dissidents and tighten controls on the internet and the media, in order to impose a veneer of social harmony.
Relocating 100,000 nomadic Tibetans seems not to trouble China's government either as they cast frowns upon militant General Than Shwe's crackdown in Burma. The indigenous nomads are being moved to protect the environment from overgrazing and growing desertification. Of course, they are being forcibly relocated to overcrowded cities with no skills to cope in modern living. Hypocrisy knows no shame as emptied ancestral lands are then appropriated by the Chinese government. The government ordered the nomads to move in an effort to save the ecology and are offering some compensatory benefits including greenhouse for vegetable gardens. Many Tibetans believe it is not nearly enough. China maintains a claim on Tibet, but the Tibetans are being unceremoniously moved without a peaceful intervention from the UN security Council on their behalf. Irony lives in China, Hypocrisy is being relocated.
George B. Schaller wrote a beautiful book focused on Tibetan nomads in the East named, Tibet's Hidden Wilderness: Wildlife and Nomads of the Chang Tang Preserve. The Tibetan tome weighs in with important information and weighs about three pounds. Every ounce is worth it.
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