Myanmar

So it looks like the ethnic cleansing is starting to turn into genocide over there.

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/the...ar-we-need-to-recognize-genocide-is-occurring

There’s multiple accounts of execution of men and boys, rape of women and girls and burning of children now coming out of the country.

Myanmar soldiers held Hasina and other village women at gunpoint, she said, while the troops executed the men and boys, doused the bodies with gasoline and turned the corpses into a bonfire. Then the troops led the women and girls, five at a time, toward a hut.

“I was trying to hide my baby under my scarf, but they saw her leg,” Hasina recalled, her voice brittle, her mouth trembling. “They grabbed my baby by the leg and threw her onto the fire.”
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Will the international community start to wake up or is this going to have to get worse?
 
It makes for some horrific reading. :(

I guess the question is, what can we actually do? I doubt there’s much appetite for any form of military action, and will political action change much? It’s the military doing it, the same one that’s been in control for decades and closed the country down to outside influence and investment.
 
Amp34 said:
It makes for some horrific reading. :(

I guess the question is, what can we actually do? I doubt there’s much appetite for any form of military action, and will political action change much? It’s the military doing it, the same one that’s been in control for decades and closed the country down to outside influence and investment.
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The trouble is it's a sovereign country. The western world is sick to death of having to intervene (rightly or wrongly) because it always without fail turns in to a crapfest. There will be civil war. There will be guerrilla/terrorist attacks. It'll be another total disaster.

However standing around with our thumbs up our backsides isn't a solution.

Wish I had an answer.
 
Yas786 said:
No it isn’t our problem but we cannot just sit back and let this genocide continue?? Or can we?? Seems like it is happening, no one really giving a toss about what’s happening there.
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I’m sick of the ping-pong between “They’re butchering each other in the Middle East, we must help.” and then the same person 6 months later “Of course we have terrorism, the UK is evil and always bombing other countries!”
 
Moses said:
International military intervention, if necessary.
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That worked so well in Iraq, Iran, Libya, etc.

"The West" will be blamed regardless of what it does or doesn't do, so what's the point? Even if it is possible to invade Myanmar, seize control of the country by force against the will of the majority, despose the existing government and install a puppet government, would it really make things better for a larger number of people? I think that the results would be worse than they have been in the other places where that's been tried recently, because in those places there was widespread support for regime change wiithin the country and that's not the case in Myanmar. Also, rather relevantly, would it even be possible? The Myanmar army is large, well equipped, well trained and would be highly motivated to resist conquest by foreign forces. At the very least, it would be a huge war with hundreds of thousands of people killed.
 
We are discussing this as if reasons for out interference in the past is BECAUSE the country is in a bad state, for the good of the country - instead of the usual reason of interfering for political/economic reasons and creating a bad state which we can benefit from eg. to destabilise and put someone co-operative in power. There just isn't anything to gain in Myanmar from our governments point of view. However, condemnation is free and i am sure we will release some stern words every so often.
 
Skunkworks said:
I’m sick of the ping-pong between “They’re butchering each other in the Middle East, we must help.” and then the same person 6 months later “Of course we have terrorism, the UK is evil and always bombing other countries!”
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Well there are other options than just bombing.

The problem isn't that we can't do anything, but what the consequences are politically. What is happening in Myanmar is horrific and we have a a moral duty to stop it for the sake of saving lives. However, Myanmar is just one area of conflict, and can we realistically carry out the necessary steps to end the violence there AND elsewhere without compromising our own security? And who decides who we protect and who we don't? If a life has the same value across the world than we'd need to prioritize the most oppressed...

In an ideal world we would take the necessary steps to protect all people of all nations and to stop oppression of all kind, but without substantial support, politically and militarily, and at this stage we may well isolate ourselves and stretch our military to breaking point.

For Muslims the duty is clear, but they are somewhat focused on each other...
 
Avenged7Fold said:
We are discussing this as if reasons for out interference in the past is BECAUSE the country is in a bad state, for the good of the country - instead of the usual reason of interfering for political/economic reasons and creating a bad state which we can benefit from eg. to destabilise and put someone co-operative in power.
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That's exactly what is being proposed here - destablising Myanmar by force in order to put someone co-operative in power. With far less support within the country for regime change than existed in the other countries it's been tried in.

Assigning motives comes down mainly to whether or not the speaker agrees with the action - if they agree they say the motive for destablising the country and putting someone co-operative in power is for the good of the country and if they disagree they say the motive is selfish political/economic reasons.

Raz said:
Well there are other options than just bombing.
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Invading Myanmar and seizing total control of it by force would require a lot of bombing or at least a million soldiers and the will and ability to have many of them die solely to avoid the use of bombs. Which will, of course, be used on them by the Myanmar military resisting the invasion. Assuming it could be done at all, even if there was the political will to do so.
 
Dis86 said:
Clearly working well so far!
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Perhaps not, but it's not like they're actually going all out to do something about the situation.

In any case, imagine if Bangladesh took a firm military stance. Really, they should be willing to go the distance to protect other Muslims but of course things don't work like that.
 
Raz said:
Perhaps not, but it's not like they're actually going all out to do something about the situation.

In any case, imagine if Bangladesh took a firm military stance. Really, they should be willing to go the distance to protect other Muslims but of course things don't work like that.
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Of course not. It's one way traffic. Western country intervenes in Muslim country - terror attacks abound.
 
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