Originally published on the CGS blog on October 2, 2007.
The Stanley Foundation’s Michael Schiffer argues in a recent Des Moines Register op-ed that the United States must work with the international community, especially Bleeding Burma’s Association of East Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbors and major global powers such as China, India, Japan, and Russia, to help assure that the political change brought about by the Saffron Revolution is ultimately peaceful, sustainable and just. That sounds an awful lot like “principled multilateralism” to me…
Money Quote:
The regime must not be allowed to think it can carry out a repressive crackdown under cover of darkness, nor should members of the international community once again take cover under protestations that if only they had known about the violence and atrocities, they would have done something to prevent them. In 1988, the military junta engaged in a brutal crackdown on peaceful democratic protests that resulted in the loss of more than 3,000 people. This sort of brutality should not be allowed to transpire again.
For far too long the people of Burma have paid a high price – once the richest country of Southeast Asia, it’s been reduced to abject poverty by tyranny and oppression. Concerted action by the international community may not be sufficient in resolving the current crisis, but without it, the Burmese people will be left on their own with little hope.
