Burma... the unending tragedy

The Burmese leadership seems intent on pursuing its own evil agenda without regard to what's good and right and honourable. Aung San Suu Kyi continues in house arrest. Her charisma continues to strike fear into the hearts of the leadership. Though isolated and imprisoned with little contact with the outside world, she continues to stand tall for the aspirations of the peoples of Burma. May the days be shortened that this country has to endure such awful suffering.

Burma: The unturned page - The Boston Globe

THE UNITED Nations was created to foster a peaceful international order built upon a foundation of collective security. It is because of the grandeur of that ideal that the UN's habitual failure to protect the victims of murderous regimes in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Sudan is so disillusioning. And sad to say, those tragic failures of the past are being reenacted today as senior UN officials and members of the UN Security Council acquiesce in the despotic brutality of the illegitimate military junta that rules Burma.

On a visit to Burma last month, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's top deputy, Under-Secretary General Ibrahim Gambari, raised hopes for progress there toward a restoration of democracy and national reconciliation. Gambari was allowed to meet with Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, imprisoned in her own house, and was granted an interview with the leader of the junta, General Than Shwe. Gambari reported that the general is ready "to turn a new page in relations with the international community."

That page did not get turned. Read on ...