Burma : Full Circle

By  Arun Misra, Ph.D.

Burma, Myanmar is in turmoil. People are agitating. Monks are visiting with British Prime Minister, and pouring into USA. UNO is enhancing sanctions. But the Military Junta seems unaffected. Remember, Burma Shell, the British oil company having roots in Burma since ever. Chevron, has been flourishing there for last several decades. China, India and other nations want pieces of the pie too.
 

The Military Government survives due to its connection to these capitalistic interests from all over the world, but once a while when things become unbearable for the people of Burma and they revolt, many countries start paying lip service, and shed crocodile tears, for the cause of democracy and freedom.
The ultimate interest is to keep those in power, in Burma, who may help garner cheap labor to grow agricultural produce, manufacture cheap goods, let oil and gas flow freely out of ground, that are needed for our consumption, to give us time to play golf, and enjoy life.
The granddaddy of this design were the British, who kept Burma and Andaman to torture
Freedom fighters in India for a period of 200 years. Some of the best of those, like, Bahadur Shah Jafar, Lokmanya Tilak, and Veer Savarkar languished for years and eventually died in Rangoon, away from their motherland, except the latter. The system still continues unabated, kind of refined over the British days.
When we need a chief for UNO, it has to come from a small country whom we can manipulate, and use to bomb Korea, Vietnam, Kashmir, Iraq and may be Iran. The chief has to come from Korea, by replacing the one from India, and by ignoring China, the two most deserving countries with best candidates.
Under the same tradition of keeping Burma in our pocket, and let ruthlessness run amuck,
we picked up over three decades ago, U Thant from Burma for the position of Secretary General of UNO, because he was distributing free cigarettes to each and every member, all day long, almost everyday, for several years, during his tenure as permanent representative of Burma to the world body. That seems a great way to qualify for the job of promoting freedom and democracy in the world, and maintaining Kashmir, a bone of contention between India and Pakistan for over 60 years, to sell arms to both parties of the conflict, and promote the mantra of capitalism.

Arun Misra, formerly, professor of biology, is a realtor and financial planner in Atlanta.
Address: 5005 Johns Creek Court, Alpharetta, GA 30022. Phone : 770/449-1796.
Web : arunmisra.tripod.com  E-Mail : misrausa@yahoo.com