Funding Death and Tyranny

Saturday, March 7, 2009
By Carlos(Buffalohair)Guevara

No incident spells out Than Shwe’s greed better than Cyclone Nargis. Though it is becoming popular to say sanctions have not worked in Burmese politics one must realize sanctions have not been fully implemented. With a host of major corporations contributing massive amounts of money to the criminal regime in spite of sanctions, it is clear sanctions were not given an opportunity to work. Much of the aid donated for Cyclone Nargis was sold into the black market like so much other aid the country received over the years. That is common knowledge and it is surprising so many people who’ve traveled into Burma never made that connection.

Insiders within Burma repeatedly said that people who voted against the Constitutional Referendum or were pro democracy received no aid at all in spite of world relief efforts. Religious persecution was rampant in the aftermath as well as the continual killing of the Karen and other tribal people. Than Shwe’s continued crimes against humanity has gone unabated even during the cyclone. People who volunteered to bury the dead were arrested and tortured as bodies were left to rot in waterways, trees and every where else. Tribal people were left to fend for themselves while he sold food stuffs and building supplies on the black market. It was also reveled that outside observers were taken to photo-ops and strategically placed relief efforts to “show” how much Than Shwe cared for his people. It was all a sham since he failed to show the observers the actual suffering that was caused by not only Cyclone Nargis but from his ambivalence and murderous death squads.

The cyclone yielded Than Shwe an abundance of orphaned children to use as slaves and child soldiers. The bounty that was given to Burma from a concerned world was used to complete his jungle capital (Naypyidaw) as well as his cyber city Yadanabon. Weapons and hard cash was also the end product of cyclone aid which went into the pockets of his inner circle. Giving Than Shwe and his criminal regime more aid and money would only fill the coffers of his elaborate money laundering machine and not the people it was intended for. The black market has always been Than Shwe’s choice when it came to aid of any kind and the suffering people continually were left to fend for themselves.

Aid to this criminal regime would have horrific consequences for the civilian population his military is murdering at this juncture. He would spend it on more advanced military equipment so he can resupply his killing machine. Rockets and more land mines would be purchased as well as bullets and more military hardware. Of course his jungle capital and his cyber city would benefit from such a bounty, that is a given. And to think the Burmese people looked to the outside world for help when this criminal mad man decided to ignore the election results. Now the people of Burma fear the outside world will fund their continued systematic demise as the world turns a deaf ear on their cries for democracy. There is no excuse for the stupidity of world leaders and their economic development minions who purported the advantages of an illegal election. Or were they in the deep pockets of Than Shwe all along?

Your Devil’s Advocate