Thursday, September 27, 2007

MyohMy

"China hopes that all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Thursday. (From an Associated Press wire)

I have news for Ms. Yu: it’s already complicated.

Have you heard what’s happening in Myanmar? I hear it every morning on the radio news, like a slow, persistent, deathly drumbeat. I bet these monks are in it for the long haul. If you’re a Buddhist monk, I would guess you’re not too concerned about whether it’s you getting beaten to death or the next guy, and that’s how you win a battle, I think. Individualization of soldiers annoys me, because I feel it undermines the concept of a united front, where each man is everyman. Samurai, Spartan, whatnot. Didn’t they do it this way? I don’t know much, but I hope these monks and their compatriots win. From what I gather, they have nothing to lose.


[the photo is of the Japanese photographer, Kenji Nagai, 52, who died after being shot while trying to photograph the events]

2 comments:

Eve said...

Ms. Yu was publicly scolding them, and maybe giving them a warning, I think. Like, "keep it together, and stop embarrassing yourselves."

Isabel said...

Eve, I wonder what you think of China replying to the US's urging that it get involved by saying it doesn't interfere in other countries' internal affairs. To me that sounds like: your neighbours are beating each other up and you don't want to get involved. Isn't that the critical kind of situation where the right thing to do *is* get involved?

 
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