It's amazing how different the news we get in the US vs. the news you get in the rest of the world. Lately, this has been very evident in the coverage of the unprecedented protests happening in the little third world dictatorship/country of Myanmar (Burma).

It's also interesting in this current time where we, the American people, are waiting to see the denizens of Iraq and Afghanistan rise up and fight for their rights to establish a representative government (note that I didn't say Democratic) , up until the past couple days, we've completely ignored a historic and amazing display of courage in another part of the third world.

In Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), thousands of Buddhist monks and their supporters are defying government orders and marching against the ruling military junta. The marches started as protests to a raise in fuel prices a few weeks ago, but have come to represent so much more now. Reports suggest that over 100,000+ people attended Monday's pro-democracy demonstrations.

"The protest is not merely for the well being of people but also for monks struggling for democracy and for people to have an opportunity to determine their own future," one monk told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals from officials. "People do not tolerate the military government any longer."

Myanmar is ruled by one of the most brutal military dictatorships in the world. Street corners in the capital are guarded by soldiers with machine guns. Aung San Suu Kyi led the last major protests for democracy in Burma over 20 years ago, for which she won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She co-founded the National League for Democracy. In 1990, it won elections in a landslide, but the military junta has never allowed her to take power. She is the world's only detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate, spending 12 of the past 17 years in various forms of detainment.

Tuesday's protests came despite orders to the Buddhist clergy to halt all political activity and return to their monasteries.

In 1988, soldiers fired on democracy protestors, killing more than in the Tiananmen Square protests in China. Yet for most Westerners this is all but forgotten. This is the backdrop against which the monks are standing up for. 

The junta sent 10 truckloads of troops to Sule Pagoda, a focal point of the protests, including the one on Tuesday. Troops had been discreetly stationed in Yangon for the past few days, said diplomats.

"They are in full battle gear and they have shields and truncheons. Since two or three days, you could see they are rehearsing anti-riot formations. I've seen them myself. You can hear them. They shout," said a Southeast Asian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

According to an ethnic guerrilla commander, among the army divisions dispatched was the 22nd, which took part in the suppression of the 1988 uprising when the military fired on peaceful crowds and killed thousands, terrorizing the country.


   

Coolest thing EVER

To help celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars this year the United States Postal Service will be rolling out mailboxes that have been completely wrapped in custom R2-D2 graphics.

http://www.collectinghq.com/im/0008850.jpg