These leftists that are so quick to accuse England and America of such atrocities...when will they go defend the people of Myanmar?

George, Ilinois, USA

This just proves that non-violent movements only work when the oppressor is a democratic regime (Imperial England, pre-60's US, apartheid S. Africa). Anybody trying to do a non-violent regime change in places like this are committing suicide.

rick, Elgin, Illinois, USA

So, just exactly is it all you liberal bright sparks feel the UN should do? Send in a few plane loads of Euro special forces to teach those nasty guys a lesson? Bomb them, perhaps? Or maybe just wring their hands and pontificate from their holier-than-thou bully pulpit. Considering the atrocities which Europeans and Americans have visited upon the world in the last 300 years, I can't seriously see where we can legitimately point fingers at anyone. It's their problem, let them deal with it, just like Germany dealt with the Jews and we dealt with the native Americans. The world will get over it, trust me; we always do.

ronski, SAINT PETERSBURG, USA

Gitmo to Burma - conditions are worse in Burma, but the principle is the same:

We can come in, pull you out of your house, and lock you up somewhere against your will. Any rights you think you have as a human being are non-existent. Oh, and we aren't going to tell you why you're here, or when you'll be able to go home.

Look at the example America is setting with Gitmo. We aren't cutting peoples' heads off, but what we are doing there is WRONG. It's WRONG to deport people to an unknown place, for an undetermined amount of time, against their will, even if the government suspects foul play.

Do we really want to be looked at in this way, as the leading nation in the free world?

Protect your civil rights. Protect the constitution. Protect the Middle Class. Protect American Integrity. Let America lead by Example.

Vote Ron Paul 2008.

Luke, Bay Area, CA

Denying a person the protections of civil rights is inexcusable. Any individual person deprived of basic rights suffers as a consequence, whether that person is being detained by a junta in Burma or by the U.S. in Cuba; and as the individual suffers, so does the larger community.

There's plenty of talk about the situation in Burma, but no action. So it shall remain, so long as money -- not human rights -- is at stake.

Joseph A. Haran, Jr., Portland, United States of America / Oregon

Please take a moment to read this plea for action, regarding the horrible situation in Burma.
As we speak, or as I write and you read people are being arrested, tortured and murdered, for doing things people in the western world look upon as the most natural things in the world. Things that we in the western world look upon as a “God given” right. It expands from things as freedom of speech to living in our houses even being alive. Ethnical cleansing and genocide seems to be a part of everyday life in Burma, yet we do nothing. In fact several of major international companies are doing business with the military regime, a business for billions of dollars. Companies such as Siemens the German technology giant, Chevron, the American oil giant, Total Oil a French oiling company, Suzuki Japanese car and bike manufacturer, Daewoo Korean giant with interests ranging from oil and gas to TV’s and cars and I could go on, and you can see to full list of companies dealing with the Burmese military regime and/or its close partners, which often are officers of the Burmese Army or their relatives, called the dirty list on the website http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/dirty_list/dirty_list.html.
I oppose these business ventures, I oppose this slaughter of a people and I call for immediately action, not just fine words in the UN Security Council, but proper and effective actions to stop the murdering of the Burmese people, to stop the military regimes opportunities to build a stronger and stronger army, with the sole purpose of suppressing the Burmese people.
Therefore I plea to the UN, to the US, and to the EU. In order to, at the very least, forbid all business activities with the Burmese military, take the earnings from companies continuing after a ban and sanction countries/nations that refuse to enact laws forbidding business activity with the Burmese regime. And I call for action for every citizen to boycott companies on the Dirty List, if you want to buy a product check whether the manufacturer is on the Dirty List, if this being the case, find a different manufacturer and buy a similar product there. Furthermore you can write to your congressman, MP or whatever they are called in your country to put pressure on them, so that they will deal with is disaster, if we are enough doing this they will act, at least because they are afraid they won’t get re-elected.
In the Hope of a better tomorrow for the Burmese people, and all citizens of the World.

Bjørn Kofoed, Skive , Denmark

probably we cannot fight in the streets with the monks and Burmans people for the freedom but we have a great and powerful weapon in our hands: THE NET ! Use it, express your idea, forward to everyone news and whatever about it. Keep alive their sacrifice and do not forget it !

Maurizio, Brisbane, Australia

The U.S. would eagerly step in and "liberate" the citizens of Burma -IF the U.S. could get their hands on all the oil & gas reserves in that country.
No oil -no liberation! If the cronies of George Bush were to go to him and tell him that they (their little political group) would benefit from the natural resources that could be confiscated from Burma -Bush would send troops there just as easily as he did to Iraq. The reason Bush doesn't jack with Darfur or North Korea is because they don't have any OIL!!

Why do you think the initial name of the Iraqi invasion was
"Operation Iraqi Liberation" - O.I.L. ???

Animalaura, Sherman, U.S.A / Texas

Western governments have to stop to have relation with China if China continue to support this regime and it continues to vote no to ONU resolutions.
Olympic games in Bejing should be boycotted by all the democratic country, becouse it is not acceptable to do the Olympic games, the main simbol of peace, in a country who is supporting crimes like Burma, Darfour and may others.

Guia, brisbane,

Democracy in Burma depends on one thing and one thing only:

Don't buy Chinese goods.

Boycott anything made in China and the Chinese will quickly use their influence to moderate the suffering in Burma. The pair of cheap shoes you leave on the shelf may save a monk's life.

Niels Leppert, Winter Park, USA Florida

Do you really think that guns would have any chance vs. government helicopters, superior numbers and training? In the history of modern revolutions (Orange Revolution, Velvet Revolution, Soviet collaps, South Africa), all of them were due to a peaceful, inevitable rising of the popular will. Guns played no part.

Having an armed populace only leads (in the absence of foreign military intervention) to lengthy civil wars that the military government inevitably wins (Guatemala, Congo, Sri Lanka).

Modern armies are too powerful to be defeated by a populace without high tech weapons and communications.
Note, that I mean people taking on their own government. Quagmires of foreign intervention (Vietnam, Iraq) are doomed, because foreign armies will eventually give up if the people object. But the Burmese junta will never leave, because they live there.
The Burmese people's only hope is foreign intervention with popular support, or economic collapse leading to a coup from within the junta.

Guns Aren't The Answer, Austin, TX, USA

Do you think that this Govt. gives a Rat's Rear End about what the world thinks?

How about the sizable portion of N. Korea's population behind barbed wire in modern gulags of the most horrific kind. These have been in existence much longer and are a quantum leap more horrifying. How come the Times and other news outlets aren't making much light of them...

As long as China props up these rotten to the core regimes there is no hope. Western Governments must appeal to the Chinese government to provide relief in these cases. Until then there is nothing that can be done.

Paul E. Bahre, Granby, CT

Sounds like the days of the Bron Shirts and the Waffen SS.
Hitler would be proud.....!

Walter R Dixon, Fairhope, Al USA

I'm with you Gene Dermody - are the lives of the Iraqis not worthy of saving from the likes of Saddam. We can not police the world, but one must be consistent with ones arguments for humanity. FYI - the UN is already as useless as the League of Nations was - the citizens of all these dictator countries are in my prayers.

Sandi Miller, Elizabethtown, KY

There is no comparision between Guantanamo
and hidden gulags run by brutal military regimes. Nobody has ever died from mistreatment in Guantanamo, nobody, 0 deaths! The red cross has been at Guantanamomany times, as well as a lot of inspectors from many countries. All the prisioners there were captured with weapons, or were known terrorist.
The Monks in Burma are totaly peaceful. not a weapon amoung them. The only one with guns are the military. Many people have been killed.
Maybe if the monks all had AK47's the military Junta would be thrown out.

Robert Jewett, Woodbridge, VA, USA

I fear for the people of Burma, but not for the monks. They are not attached to this life or their bodies- and they are working for the betterment of the people whom they love and who support them. This will ensure them a great spot on the karmic wheel- one step closer to an end to the cycle of birth and death.
We can all have guns, but we cannot use a gun to end suffering. We cannot legislate an end to suffering or oppression.
These military leaders cannot keep this up- they can't rule by killing. This method only works temporarily.
These monks, and these people are heroes. They are in my prayers and meditation- the only way to end this is by speaking out to our legislators, and buy nothing from Burma.
As the USA and mentioning Gitmo, this just shows that we have lost our moral highground. If there are 1700 people being tortured in Burma, or one in Gitmo, it is wrong.
I will be out for Burma's International Day of Action!!!

StanleyCarroll, Portland, OR, USA

Unfortunately for the Burmese, nonviolent resistance only works against regimes that have a conscience. Unlike protesters in western countries who think they are doing something dangerous by "speaking truth to power" and then returning safely home, the Burmese protesters literally have put their lives on the line -- and it appears that many will lose them.

The Burmese government is evil and despotic, but that's not unusual in this world. If you live in a country where you don't have to worry about freedom of speech or being arbitrarily arrested, you're extremely fortunate. Thank your lucky stars that you don't live in Burma, or Darfur, or Rwanda, or any of the other Third World hellholes.

Clyde, Alva, Florida, USA

Judging from the comments coming from all over the world in response to events taking place in Burma recently it is very clear to every one that the codemnation of the brutal Burma government and the support for the long suffering Burma people is universal. It is extremely strange that the political leaders of the world who have been elected by their people to represent them have so far failed to act according to their wishes!

Wing, Poole, UK

This will be the what, third genocide this century? So easy to lose count. Another example of a gun free society...which is really an oxymoron. All gun free societies have guns, it's just that only the government has the guns.

I hope and pray for these people that we are smuggling in weapons so they can defend themselves. But, probably not.

Jesse, Butte, MT

I hope you are joking, Mr. Evans. Your likening Guantanamo to the human disaster in Burma is an example of moral equivalence taken to a gross, even obnoxious extreme.

Stephen Crews,
Chicago

stephen crews, chicago, Ilinois, USA

Club Gitmo hold terrorist who wish to mass murder innocent men, women and children. The Burma prison is opposite, it holds innocent people fighting for freedom.

There is no intelligent comparison to Guantanamo and the Burma concentration camp !

Mike, Goffstown, NH

After watching the Ken Burns documentary 'The War', which is about World War II, I can't help but make a comparison of what is going on in Burma with the atrocities Hitler and the Nazi regime inflicted on innocent people at that time. Have we learned nothing in the sixty plus years since that horror? Will we stand by and watch man's inhumanity to man take place again because there is no financial or economical benefit to be had in helping these people? Indecency takes place when decent people turn a blind eye to it.

caly, Hernando, USA / MS

Don't want to turn this into a Guantanamo discussion, I am a Republican who voted for Bush twice. It seems clear from all I've heard and read that at least some of the people at Guantanamo should never have been taken there and have been terribly mistreated. That said, comparing the US to the Burmese junta in that way was an unfortunate choice. It would be better if we could close Guantanamo and not leave ourselves open to such comparisons.

Bill Both, Terrace, BC, CANADA

Why is it when a religous group like the Buddhists (FREE TIBET!) or the Muslims in Bosnia have problems, the USA -MUST- jump in with troops to save the good guys?
What is wrong with the the Chinese Falun Gong?
Who makes these arbitrary decisions that some military actions are good (Bosnia, Darfur, Burma), while others are bad (Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, China)?
Why can't we have some common standards of humanity applied across the board by the UN?
Could it be the Political Correct biased & incestuous nature of HollyWood & the media that sets these confusing perceptions?

Gene Dermody, San Francisco, USA California

6th October - international day of action for Burma. Join the demo from 11am outside tate Britian near Pimlico. Search for demos on the internet for rest of the world. There is def demos taking place around the world

Dee Breen, London, UK

To Richard Evans; Nice to get the anti-american jibe in there. I guess what you mean by "sounds just like Guantanamo" is; that the Monks were from another country and declared war on the Myanmar government (with weapons supplies from, perhaps, china) because they were religious fanatics. The Myanmar government then captured them and incarcerated them.

Give me a break. It's heart wrenching to know that people's anti-americanism runs so deep that you would cheapen what's going on just to get your pathetic, narrow-minded views in press. It speaks loudly of how justied your remarks are.

Mr. King, Manchester,

Oh please, Guantanamo houses terrorists who want to kill us. What is going on in Burma is an atrocity. As usual, the UN is doing a spectacular job - just like in Rwanda and Darfur. Funny, they have never met a murderous dictator they didn't like.

Joanne, Charleston, SC USA

It’s appalling that not only western, but the UN can let such activates to continue which blatantly flaunt basic human rights. The UN should be responsible for upholding the rights of every human on earth, and not just intervening militarily when a region becomes unstable. If we all do not take greater responsibility for our fellow man in Burma, Zimbabwe, and the many other places where human rights are flaunted by evil regimes then the UN will just turn into another league of nations.

James Cornish, Lancaster University, England

I hope that we have finally reached the inevitable point where regimes such as this can no longer exist. It should need nothing more than awareness to inspire countries to act against this sickness. A rock, whatever the colour is just a rock and people, whatever the colour of their robes are just people. Can we end this now?

Bruce, Dublin,

Sounds just like Guantanamo

Richard Evans, Richmond, Va, USA

Free Burma Now!

simon gill, nottingham, england

The Burma story is losing its steam! We must continue our fight for Burma's freedom by shining relentless light on the government's misconducts...

Bruce, Duarte, USA