The Burma Dilemma.
I’ve changed my viewpoint about foreign intervention in the situation in Burma.
What the Burmese should do is to go on a very long nationwide strike - just drop everything and not do anything. Without people to plough the fields, who is going to put rice on the general’s table? Feed themselves, starve the junta. Be ready for the violence. It’s really easy to say, and I must stress that it’s as easy as that to say, but if you think about it, that if nobody works for the government, who is going to work things? It’s a forcible and far-fetched method, but it’s peaceful enough from the part of the people. After all, when you kill everyone, who is going to work for you? But again, it’s really easy to say. If I were in that situation and if somebody asked me to get killed to stand up against injustice when I could just keep mum and live under harsh circumstances but still be alive, I don’t know what I’d do.
What Burma needs to think about is what they really want, and what they really do not want is another Vietnam or Iraq. At the rate they’re going, they’re just inviting power-hungry nations to intervene - like setting up the dinner table, putting on the stuffed turkey and handing the country a fork and a knife.
No napkin though - they never clean up anyhow.
