The League of Nations was founded on the aftermath of World War I while The United Nations was founded on the aftermath of World War II. Both organizations were founded as a means to prevent another world war, the League of Nations failed in this aspect. Neither the League or the UN do not have their own armed forces, instead they have to depend on the military of the member states and the sternest punishment they could give to a member which has violated international laws and treaties was economic sanctions which member states are often reluctant to do. Not to mention the fact that even if economic sanctions were placed, member states who did not support the sanctions could still deal with the punished nation.
Though both organizations were created with the intention of protecting the interests of the world as a whole, more often than not, member nations prioritized their national interests above the interests of the world. Many times both organizations have closed their eyes to transgressions of powerful member states or member states backed by powerful ones in the name of ‘world peace’ leading to many failures to act in accordance with their charters.
With the recent devastation in Burma after cyclone Nargis tore through an important part of the country the UN is failing to act efficiently and effectively, similar to the way the League of Nations failed to act against Nazi Germany and fascist Italy and Japan.
*article in edit*
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Disaster Profiteering?
War Profiteering by selling weapons to those who are fighting is understandable, but how about Disaster Profiteering? What kind of cruel government in this modern day dares to profit from the suffering of hundreds of thousands?
Obviously the military junta of Burma.
After the May 2nd landfall of Cyclone Nargis in Burma this year, not only have the junta failed to provide rapid relief to the victims but now is trying to profiteer from the suffering of hundreds of thousands.
Hording the donated aid supplies by the international community for the victims and replace them with low quality local produce, selling aid items on the black market for profits, and now charging US$1500 per communication set needed by aid agencies in their relief efforts and limiting each agency to only have a maximum 10 sets. Not only that but also restricting the agencies from importing the much needed communications gear which would greatly help coordinate the relief effort.
It has been 15 days since Nargis swept its way through Burma and the death toll has reached over 70,000 with a further 50,000+ missing. INGOs and journalists who are risking their lives to tell the world about the disaster are reporting that there are still many thousands who have not received aid and there are thousands of children who are facing starvation. And with all this suffering the junta is still delaying the arrival of aid and focusing on the referendum vote.
The US, UK and French have naval vessels just a few nautical miles away from Burmese territorial waters waiting with much needed supplies and experienced personnel to help and the junta would rather let hundreds of thousands die just to protect it's own illegitimate government.
In Europe, in Africa, such governments are disposed of quickly. Then UN and NATO/US used military force to stop the atrocities which happened in Kosovo, Serbia, Sudan, but when it comes to Burma, China and India, which are members of the UNSC, are afraid that if the junta is disposed by NATO/US and UN Forces they will lose the monopoly of the vast natural resources in Burma.
Obviously the military junta of Burma.
After the May 2nd landfall of Cyclone Nargis in Burma this year, not only have the junta failed to provide rapid relief to the victims but now is trying to profiteer from the suffering of hundreds of thousands.
Hording the donated aid supplies by the international community for the victims and replace them with low quality local produce, selling aid items on the black market for profits, and now charging US$1500 per communication set needed by aid agencies in their relief efforts and limiting each agency to only have a maximum 10 sets. Not only that but also restricting the agencies from importing the much needed communications gear which would greatly help coordinate the relief effort.
It has been 15 days since Nargis swept its way through Burma and the death toll has reached over 70,000 with a further 50,000+ missing. INGOs and journalists who are risking their lives to tell the world about the disaster are reporting that there are still many thousands who have not received aid and there are thousands of children who are facing starvation. And with all this suffering the junta is still delaying the arrival of aid and focusing on the referendum vote.
The US, UK and French have naval vessels just a few nautical miles away from Burmese territorial waters waiting with much needed supplies and experienced personnel to help and the junta would rather let hundreds of thousands die just to protect it's own illegitimate government.
In Europe, in Africa, such governments are disposed of quickly. Then UN and NATO/US used military force to stop the atrocities which happened in Kosovo, Serbia, Sudan, but when it comes to Burma, China and India, which are members of the UNSC, are afraid that if the junta is disposed by NATO/US and UN Forces they will lose the monopoly of the vast natural resources in Burma.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Fighting Terror with Terror
For decades now, the military junta of Burma has used force, terror and violence to oppress the people and keep their iron grip on the country. However with the recent disaster of Cyclone Nargis and last year's crackdown on monks and peaceful protesters the world has seen how cruel and inhuman the junta is.
Peaceful diplomatic means, economical sanctions, etc have been tried and the junta still isn't budging.
So is it time to use force, terror and violence (the same tools that the junta has been using for the past few decades) against them?
The junta kills civilians so should we go after their children, relatives, cronies who are living overseas. For example many Burmese ambassadors (for example the Ambassador in Geneva, Switzerland) posted in the junta's various embassies are from the military and not the civil staff that it once was. So should we take these people from the military out, similar to the way the Israeli government punished those responsible for the murder of several Jewish athletes during the Olympic Games in Munich, 1972?
Should the international community call for a Jihad against these inhuman mass murderers?
Friday, May 16, 2008
The tortures of Hell
Is killing Than Shwe and his cronies enough? The people Burma, of all age, gender and ethnic group, have suffered under the harsh junta for a long time that many of them do not remember what freedom and liberty means. All they can do is work under the hot sun and struggle to feed their families.
So is just capturing Than Shwe and his cronies and executing enough? Should we show them the tortures of Hell?
So is just capturing Than Shwe and his cronies and executing enough? Should we show them the tortures of Hell?
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants
Thomas Jefferson once said "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Well 78,000 dead and another 56,000 missing due to Cyclone Nargis alone; and many more unaccounted for over the years under the rule of this harsh junta. The tree of liberty has more than enough blood of patriots and not enough blood of tyrants.
In light of the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, China doesn't want to get involved with the junta and its affairs. ASEAN seems to have washed its hands off the junta by declaring sometime ago that in any International Forum, the junta must defend itself, it wont defend the junta. The EU and US with the recent setbacks in the middle east they don't want to initiate something new. And the UN under this new SG called Ban Ki-moon is weak, no surprise here.
All these parties want the situation in Burma to go away, they don't want to deal with it, but no amount of wishing or pretending it isn't happening will ever hide the fact that thousands are dying and suffering in Burma for various reasons (recently due to Nargis) and all due to the callous attitude, ignorance and selfishness of the junta under a man (though he doesn't even rate the level of a dog or amoeba) who fancies himself all powerful god (more like god of dung though). The international community is being fooled and led around by it's nose by this barbarian, no pride or respect at all.
Well as stated earlier, the tree of liberty has more than enough blood of patriots, its time to feed it the blood of tyrants.
Well 78,000 dead and another 56,000 missing due to Cyclone Nargis alone; and many more unaccounted for over the years under the rule of this harsh junta. The tree of liberty has more than enough blood of patriots and not enough blood of tyrants.
In light of the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, China doesn't want to get involved with the junta and its affairs. ASEAN seems to have washed its hands off the junta by declaring sometime ago that in any International Forum, the junta must defend itself, it wont defend the junta. The EU and US with the recent setbacks in the middle east they don't want to initiate something new. And the UN under this new SG called Ban Ki-moon is weak, no surprise here.
All these parties want the situation in Burma to go away, they don't want to deal with it, but no amount of wishing or pretending it isn't happening will ever hide the fact that thousands are dying and suffering in Burma for various reasons (recently due to Nargis) and all due to the callous attitude, ignorance and selfishness of the junta under a man (though he doesn't even rate the level of a dog or amoeba) who fancies himself all powerful god (more like god of dung though). The international community is being fooled and led around by it's nose by this barbarian, no pride or respect at all.
Well as stated earlier, the tree of liberty has more than enough blood of patriots, its time to feed it the blood of tyrants.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
The First Law of Humanity: The world should not harm innocents or through inaction allow innocents to be harmed.
When Isaac Asimove first specified the Three Laws of Robotics back in 1942 during the height of World War II which states as follows:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
At that time he was probably trying to write a science fiction story which would attract the readers but sometimes you have to wonder whether he was trying to tell the world that humans also need a set of laws for humanity in relation to the world as nations fought against people like Hitler.
Now, once again the world faces a modern day Hitler, in the guise of an Asian despot called Than Shwe (nicknamed Golden Flea, a pun on his name). After the devastation left by cyclone Nargis nearly two weeks ago, the world is still deadlocked on how to deal with the military junta in Burma which is denying access to aid relief workers who can efficiently coordinate and help the victims of the cyclone. Several nations have asked the UN to implement the Resolution Responsibility to Protect while other nations oppose it stating that it is a violation of the sovereignty of a nation. And still very little aid is reaching the victims, while the world argues, who are dying from disease and hunger after being weakened drastically by Nargis.
The world should take an example from Asimov's three laws and create their own three laws which apply to humanity as a whole. And the first of all the laws should be:
1. The World should not harm innocents or, through inaction, allow innocents to be harmed.
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
At that time he was probably trying to write a science fiction story which would attract the readers but sometimes you have to wonder whether he was trying to tell the world that humans also need a set of laws for humanity in relation to the world as nations fought against people like Hitler.
Now, once again the world faces a modern day Hitler, in the guise of an Asian despot called Than Shwe (nicknamed Golden Flea, a pun on his name). After the devastation left by cyclone Nargis nearly two weeks ago, the world is still deadlocked on how to deal with the military junta in Burma which is denying access to aid relief workers who can efficiently coordinate and help the victims of the cyclone. Several nations have asked the UN to implement the Resolution Responsibility to Protect while other nations oppose it stating that it is a violation of the sovereignty of a nation. And still very little aid is reaching the victims, while the world argues, who are dying from disease and hunger after being weakened drastically by Nargis.
The world should take an example from Asimov's three laws and create their own three laws which apply to humanity as a whole. And the first of all the laws should be:
1. The World should not harm innocents or, through inaction, allow innocents to be harmed.
United Nations to apply "responsibility to protect" doctrine to force international aid into Myanmar
United Nations to apply "responsibility to protect" doctrine to force international aid into Myanmar
created by and written by Zaw Aung
To: United Nations
Ban Ki Moon
Secretary General
United Nations
Dear Sir,
Nargis Cyclone had hit Myanmar delta region on May 3, 2008.
The top United States diplomat in Myanmar estimated that the death toll could rise as high as 100,000, from the official tally of 22,500 with conditions growing worse in the vast, flooded Irrawaddy Delta region,. Now half a million of people went missing on flooded region and survivors need immediate care to prevent from unnecessary losses of lives.
International communities offer help to humanitarian crisis in Myanmar including United States, United Kingdom, Australia, French and others. However, Myanmar government do not granted the visas to the aid workers until now and hampering efforts of international aid agencies to save lives of Myanmar people by many ways.
We understand that United Nation recognized doctrine “responsibility to protect” when governments could not or would not protect their citizens, even if this meant intervention that violated national sovereignty.
Hence, we strongly encourage you to applied "responsibility to protect" doctrine immediately and force the international aid into Myanmar to save the lives of hundreds of thousand of people without any further delay.
It is a humanitarian crisis with million of people lives are at stake. We hope that United Nations response urgently to the problem facing international aid agencies to help people of Myanmar.
created by and written by Zaw Aung
To: United Nations
Ban Ki Moon
Secretary General
United Nations
Dear Sir,
Nargis Cyclone had hit Myanmar delta region on May 3, 2008.
The top United States diplomat in Myanmar estimated that the death toll could rise as high as 100,000, from the official tally of 22,500 with conditions growing worse in the vast, flooded Irrawaddy Delta region,. Now half a million of people went missing on flooded region and survivors need immediate care to prevent from unnecessary losses of lives.
International communities offer help to humanitarian crisis in Myanmar including United States, United Kingdom, Australia, French and others. However, Myanmar government do not granted the visas to the aid workers until now and hampering efforts of international aid agencies to save lives of Myanmar people by many ways.
We understand that United Nation recognized doctrine “responsibility to protect” when governments could not or would not protect their citizens, even if this meant intervention that violated national sovereignty.
Hence, we strongly encourage you to applied "responsibility to protect" doctrine immediately and force the international aid into Myanmar to save the lives of hundreds of thousand of people without any further delay.
It is a humanitarian crisis with million of people lives are at stake. We hope that United Nations response urgently to the problem facing international aid agencies to help people of Myanmar.
How the world is failing the people of Burma
How the world is failing the people of Burma
Written by ALwin
On May 2nd, just one day after May Day, Cyclone Nargis hit the southern part of the Ayeyarwady Division of Burma and passed through until it dissipated near the Burma-Thailand border after passing near the largest city of Rangoon. Fortunately for me I was living in Europe after having been offered work with one of the various international organizations. My own family was not so fortunate, living in near the outskirts of Rangoon, as they had to sit through several hours of intense rain and wind as the storm made its way into Burma. I myself wasn’t aware that there was a cyclone developing and had hit Burma until the morning of May 4th when I arrived at my office and opened my computer to CNN. I was first shocked and it took me a while to absorb the news and realize that my family could be in danger. For the entire day as I did my work, in the back of my mind, I was worried for my family and until Thursday morning, five days after the cyclone hit Burma was I able to contact them. Out of sheer fortunate luck, my family survived completely intact and our house suffered only minor damages to the roof which my mother told me had been quickly repaired. As for our belongings I guess the education that my brother and I both received in western schools where they have regular fire and earthquake drills and other emergency procedures paid off because he had moved all the valuable and important items to the safest room in our house. However many were so fortunate as us, a lot more suffered even worse conditions and had nothing left but the clothes they wore on their backs. I have even heard that some didn’t even have clothes as the storm blew them off while they clung to trees and other firm fixtures for survival as Nargis tore away their homes and their families.
The Burmese government’s response to this storm has a lot to be desired and borders on genocide.
• The government had received early warning of Nargis and yet failed to give timely warning to the populace not to mention the fact that their meteorological forecasts shown on their state run television channels did not in any way emphasize the severity of the cyclone
• Their reaction afterwards was even worse. The first people to provide help to others who suffered, to help clear roads and debris so that people who needed help could be reached, to provide shelter for those in need, all of these were done first by those living in the cyclone hit regions and were fortunate enough to have something left. And much of those help came from the religions figures of Burma, the Buddhist Monks.
• When government military forces arrived to the scenes of the disaster, they did either of two things. They stood by and watched as others worked to clear the debris and aid victims or they told anyone who was trying to help to stop.
• Immediately after this disaster, the international community rushed to gather resources and provide aid. The United Nations and its related organizations such as the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, World Health Organization, World Food Program, etc all have experiences in dealing with the enormous task of providing aid and relief after such a disaster. To this moment as I write this document, compared to the amount of aid received by the victims of the tsunami of 2004, the people of Burma have only received less than a tenth of the aid and supplies. What little supplies they have been given, many of it come from other nations and organizations but confiscated by the junta and relabeled as aid provided by the military leaders of Burma.
• Much more aid lies inside storehouses and cargo planes in neighboring countries and naval vessels located around the region awaiting permission from the junta to be flown into Burma. Many aid workers and experts who have the experience, knowledge and skills necessary to help rebuild the lives of the victims and prevent further deaths are waiting in cities where Burma has opened embassies waiting for visas. The longer these aid supplies and aid workers are kept waiting the chances are higher that the death toll in Burma due to Nargis will equal or surpass the total number of deaths during the tsunami which hit several nations.
As these delays keep dragging due to the military junta of Burma, many people are pondering whether or not they should send in aid regardless of the junta. Nations such as the United States and France are leaning towards this idea while nations such as India and the People’s Republic of China is against it stating that it would be a violation of the sovereignty of a nation. However, the question that needs to be asked is how much weight does national sovereignty carry against the lives of several hundred thousand civilians who did not choose to be born in a country which is ruled by a totalitarian government? Is the Sovereignty of a Nation more important the lives of people who live in poverty, too busy with struggling each day to provide for themselves and their families to be able to care about anything else, that when Nargis hit them and destroyed their lives?
In Burma people do not have insurance which can help pay for the damages they’ve sustained and help rebuild their homes, they do not earn enough a day to be able to save their earnings in banks and have enough to start back from square one, especially the poor rural farmers who live in the delta region where much of the farmland for rice is located. Also Nargis hit during the times of the start of the rainy season when crops would be harvested. The Ayeyarwady region provides for much of the rice eaten by the people of Burma and with the crops destroyed there is bound to be shortages and price rise of rice for the people.
Not only is the government delaying the aid to be given to the people, they are also taking what little aid that has been received and is using it as a propaganda too or as a tool of coercion to earn ‘Yes’ votes for the referendum for the new constitution which states that the military would have a quarter of the seats in the government and several key positions. In free nations, elections and votes are carried out under the observation of the independent groups who ensure the fairness of the voting process. In Burma the votes which have been casted in regions unaffected by Nargis have been done without the observation of such groups. In many cases the ‘yes’ vote has been earned through the use of intimidation and threat or has bypassed the voter completely as those responsible for holding the polls have pre-ticked the ballots for the voters. And to top it all off, the relief supplies which were donated to the people of Burma free of charge by the international community is being sold by the junta to the people who have lost everything. How does the junta expect people, especially those in the hardest hit areas, to pay for these supplies?
People are suffering and risking disease and death, the junta is prioritizing the referendum over the needs of the victims of Nargis and the world is debating what to do. Back in 2007, civilians and monks took to the streets to hold peaceful marches and protests against the government when it decided to raise the price of gasoline by a factor of 100% which also caused other commodity prices to rise at the same time. The decision of the junta was to send in troops and use lethal force to subdue the peaceful protestors and the Buddhist clergy. The only time I can think of where the government of a nation used brutal force against the clergy of a religion, comparable to the acts of this junta, would be during the Spanish Inquisition. The military junta also uses lethal force against ethnic minorities inside Burma at the level of genocide. The last time a government used lethal force to oppress people of other religions and ethnicity was in Nazi Germany during World War II under the rule of Hitler. And the world went to war for that, The United Nations was formed and Genocide was deemed a Crime Against Humanity where any act of persecution or any large scale atrocities against a body of people is considered to be such a crime.
It has now been eight years since the turning of the millennium and during the past century the world has become closer and smaller due to advances in communication and transportation technology. The world has gone past the point where nations stand alone and reached the point where the acts of one nation can cause an effect in another nation on the other side of the world. To reach this point the world has had to face two global wars and countless millions lives had to be sacrificed. Yet even with the development of the concept of a global community the world still allows and tolerates the existence of illegitimate governments which are given free rein to commit atrocities against innocents during peacetime.
At least Hitler had the wisdom to hide his atrocities and separate the death camps from the rest of the population. To Than Shwe on the other hand, the entire nation is his Auschwitz where he keeps the people locked up under oppressive rule and boasts to the world that he can do as he pleases. If he is allowed to remain in power and do as he please the world will be, through inaction, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to die from disease and starvation. And the world would be just as guilty as he and his junta are, soaked with the blood of innocents.
Written by ALwin
On May 2nd, just one day after May Day, Cyclone Nargis hit the southern part of the Ayeyarwady Division of Burma and passed through until it dissipated near the Burma-Thailand border after passing near the largest city of Rangoon. Fortunately for me I was living in Europe after having been offered work with one of the various international organizations. My own family was not so fortunate, living in near the outskirts of Rangoon, as they had to sit through several hours of intense rain and wind as the storm made its way into Burma. I myself wasn’t aware that there was a cyclone developing and had hit Burma until the morning of May 4th when I arrived at my office and opened my computer to CNN. I was first shocked and it took me a while to absorb the news and realize that my family could be in danger. For the entire day as I did my work, in the back of my mind, I was worried for my family and until Thursday morning, five days after the cyclone hit Burma was I able to contact them. Out of sheer fortunate luck, my family survived completely intact and our house suffered only minor damages to the roof which my mother told me had been quickly repaired. As for our belongings I guess the education that my brother and I both received in western schools where they have regular fire and earthquake drills and other emergency procedures paid off because he had moved all the valuable and important items to the safest room in our house. However many were so fortunate as us, a lot more suffered even worse conditions and had nothing left but the clothes they wore on their backs. I have even heard that some didn’t even have clothes as the storm blew them off while they clung to trees and other firm fixtures for survival as Nargis tore away their homes and their families.
The Burmese government’s response to this storm has a lot to be desired and borders on genocide.
• The government had received early warning of Nargis and yet failed to give timely warning to the populace not to mention the fact that their meteorological forecasts shown on their state run television channels did not in any way emphasize the severity of the cyclone
• Their reaction afterwards was even worse. The first people to provide help to others who suffered, to help clear roads and debris so that people who needed help could be reached, to provide shelter for those in need, all of these were done first by those living in the cyclone hit regions and were fortunate enough to have something left. And much of those help came from the religions figures of Burma, the Buddhist Monks.
• When government military forces arrived to the scenes of the disaster, they did either of two things. They stood by and watched as others worked to clear the debris and aid victims or they told anyone who was trying to help to stop.
• Immediately after this disaster, the international community rushed to gather resources and provide aid. The United Nations and its related organizations such as the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, World Health Organization, World Food Program, etc all have experiences in dealing with the enormous task of providing aid and relief after such a disaster. To this moment as I write this document, compared to the amount of aid received by the victims of the tsunami of 2004, the people of Burma have only received less than a tenth of the aid and supplies. What little supplies they have been given, many of it come from other nations and organizations but confiscated by the junta and relabeled as aid provided by the military leaders of Burma.
• Much more aid lies inside storehouses and cargo planes in neighboring countries and naval vessels located around the region awaiting permission from the junta to be flown into Burma. Many aid workers and experts who have the experience, knowledge and skills necessary to help rebuild the lives of the victims and prevent further deaths are waiting in cities where Burma has opened embassies waiting for visas. The longer these aid supplies and aid workers are kept waiting the chances are higher that the death toll in Burma due to Nargis will equal or surpass the total number of deaths during the tsunami which hit several nations.
As these delays keep dragging due to the military junta of Burma, many people are pondering whether or not they should send in aid regardless of the junta. Nations such as the United States and France are leaning towards this idea while nations such as India and the People’s Republic of China is against it stating that it would be a violation of the sovereignty of a nation. However, the question that needs to be asked is how much weight does national sovereignty carry against the lives of several hundred thousand civilians who did not choose to be born in a country which is ruled by a totalitarian government? Is the Sovereignty of a Nation more important the lives of people who live in poverty, too busy with struggling each day to provide for themselves and their families to be able to care about anything else, that when Nargis hit them and destroyed their lives?
In Burma people do not have insurance which can help pay for the damages they’ve sustained and help rebuild their homes, they do not earn enough a day to be able to save their earnings in banks and have enough to start back from square one, especially the poor rural farmers who live in the delta region where much of the farmland for rice is located. Also Nargis hit during the times of the start of the rainy season when crops would be harvested. The Ayeyarwady region provides for much of the rice eaten by the people of Burma and with the crops destroyed there is bound to be shortages and price rise of rice for the people.
Not only is the government delaying the aid to be given to the people, they are also taking what little aid that has been received and is using it as a propaganda too or as a tool of coercion to earn ‘Yes’ votes for the referendum for the new constitution which states that the military would have a quarter of the seats in the government and several key positions. In free nations, elections and votes are carried out under the observation of the independent groups who ensure the fairness of the voting process. In Burma the votes which have been casted in regions unaffected by Nargis have been done without the observation of such groups. In many cases the ‘yes’ vote has been earned through the use of intimidation and threat or has bypassed the voter completely as those responsible for holding the polls have pre-ticked the ballots for the voters. And to top it all off, the relief supplies which were donated to the people of Burma free of charge by the international community is being sold by the junta to the people who have lost everything. How does the junta expect people, especially those in the hardest hit areas, to pay for these supplies?
People are suffering and risking disease and death, the junta is prioritizing the referendum over the needs of the victims of Nargis and the world is debating what to do. Back in 2007, civilians and monks took to the streets to hold peaceful marches and protests against the government when it decided to raise the price of gasoline by a factor of 100% which also caused other commodity prices to rise at the same time. The decision of the junta was to send in troops and use lethal force to subdue the peaceful protestors and the Buddhist clergy. The only time I can think of where the government of a nation used brutal force against the clergy of a religion, comparable to the acts of this junta, would be during the Spanish Inquisition. The military junta also uses lethal force against ethnic minorities inside Burma at the level of genocide. The last time a government used lethal force to oppress people of other religions and ethnicity was in Nazi Germany during World War II under the rule of Hitler. And the world went to war for that, The United Nations was formed and Genocide was deemed a Crime Against Humanity where any act of persecution or any large scale atrocities against a body of people is considered to be such a crime.
It has now been eight years since the turning of the millennium and during the past century the world has become closer and smaller due to advances in communication and transportation technology. The world has gone past the point where nations stand alone and reached the point where the acts of one nation can cause an effect in another nation on the other side of the world. To reach this point the world has had to face two global wars and countless millions lives had to be sacrificed. Yet even with the development of the concept of a global community the world still allows and tolerates the existence of illegitimate governments which are given free rein to commit atrocities against innocents during peacetime.
At least Hitler had the wisdom to hide his atrocities and separate the death camps from the rest of the population. To Than Shwe on the other hand, the entire nation is his Auschwitz where he keeps the people locked up under oppressive rule and boasts to the world that he can do as he pleases. If he is allowed to remain in power and do as he please the world will be, through inaction, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to die from disease and starvation. And the world would be just as guilty as he and his junta are, soaked with the blood of innocents.
Petition the United Nations and the Nations of the World to implement 'Responsibility to Protect'
Petition the United Nations and the Nations of the World to implement 'Responsibility to Protect'
We the people of the free world submit this petition to the following:
Mr. Ki-moon Ban, Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. Kofi Atta Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Former Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar de la Guerra, Former Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. George Walker Bush, President of the United States of America and Members of the Government
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Mr. James Gordon Brown and Members of Her Majesty’s Government
Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic and Members of Government
Mr. Horst Köhler, President of the Federal Republic of Germany and Members of Government
To the members of the United Nations Security Council
To the members of the European Union
To the leaders of the world
To the free citizens of the world
On May 2nd 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit the coast of Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar) and caused widespread destruction and damage to property, causing the death of more than 30,000 people by official count (U.N. estimates more than 100,000 people), 40,000 people missing (U.N. estimates more than 200,000 people) and made homeless more than 1 million people.
The current military government (unrecognized) of Burma’s response to Cyclone Nargis before and after:
1. Failure to provide timely warnings and make strong emphasis on the potential danger of the cyclone and threat to the people
2. Failure to provide rapid aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis afterwards
3. Theft of aid supplies donated by the good will of the governments, organizations and people of the international community
4. Prevention of aid supplies and aid relief experts from reaching the victims of the cyclone
5. Profiteering on the victims of the cyclone who are in desperate need of food, clean water, shelter, medical care and other essentials
6. Intentional negligence in failure to respond to the needs of the victims
7. Delays in providing relief to the suffering of the victims of the cyclone
For these actions, we the people of the world, submit this petition to the above mentioned parties to put in action the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1674 also known as ‘Responsibility to Protect’ so that aid and relief may be provided to the people who are facing the tragedy due to the result of Cyclone Nargis.
The UNSC Resolution 1674: Responsibility to Protect states
“Each Individual State has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.”
The military junta of Burma has failed in this aspect.
Though natural disasters are not specified in the resolution, the failure of the military junta in providing aid to the victims and the junta’s willingness to allow thousands of innocent people to die in order to hold onto power can and must be considered an act of Genocide and a Crime Against Humanity. Therefore, we urge the governments, organizations and people of the world to intervene and help the victims of Cyclone Nargis
The principles of R2P state that if a particular state is unwilling or unable to carry out its responsibility to prevent such abuses, that responsibility must be transferred to the international community, which must attempt to solve problems initially via peaceful means (such as diplomatic pressure, dialogue, even sanctions) and then, as a last resort, through the use of military force.
We ask the governments, organizations and people of the world to act directly to help and bypass the restrictions placed by the illegitimate military junta of Burma. We ask that Moral Conscience be given more value than the laws of a Sovereign State under the rule of an illegitimate dictatorship which is intent on oppressing the population
We the people of the free world submit this petition to the following:
Mr. Ki-moon Ban, Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. Kofi Atta Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Former Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar de la Guerra, Former Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. George Walker Bush, President of the United States of America and Members of the Government
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Mr. James Gordon Brown and Members of Her Majesty’s Government
Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic and Members of Government
Mr. Horst Köhler, President of the Federal Republic of Germany and Members of Government
To the members of the United Nations Security Council
To the members of the European Union
To the leaders of the world
To the free citizens of the world
On May 2nd 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit the coast of Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar) and caused widespread destruction and damage to property, causing the death of more than 30,000 people by official count (U.N. estimates more than 100,000 people), 40,000 people missing (U.N. estimates more than 200,000 people) and made homeless more than 1 million people.
The current military government (unrecognized) of Burma’s response to Cyclone Nargis before and after:
1. Failure to provide timely warnings and make strong emphasis on the potential danger of the cyclone and threat to the people
2. Failure to provide rapid aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis afterwards
3. Theft of aid supplies donated by the good will of the governments, organizations and people of the international community
4. Prevention of aid supplies and aid relief experts from reaching the victims of the cyclone
5. Profiteering on the victims of the cyclone who are in desperate need of food, clean water, shelter, medical care and other essentials
6. Intentional negligence in failure to respond to the needs of the victims
7. Delays in providing relief to the suffering of the victims of the cyclone
For these actions, we the people of the world, submit this petition to the above mentioned parties to put in action the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1674 also known as ‘Responsibility to Protect’ so that aid and relief may be provided to the people who are facing the tragedy due to the result of Cyclone Nargis.
The UNSC Resolution 1674: Responsibility to Protect states
“Each Individual State has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.”
The military junta of Burma has failed in this aspect.
Though natural disasters are not specified in the resolution, the failure of the military junta in providing aid to the victims and the junta’s willingness to allow thousands of innocent people to die in order to hold onto power can and must be considered an act of Genocide and a Crime Against Humanity. Therefore, we urge the governments, organizations and people of the world to intervene and help the victims of Cyclone Nargis
The principles of R2P state that if a particular state is unwilling or unable to carry out its responsibility to prevent such abuses, that responsibility must be transferred to the international community, which must attempt to solve problems initially via peaceful means (such as diplomatic pressure, dialogue, even sanctions) and then, as a last resort, through the use of military force.
We ask the governments, organizations and people of the world to act directly to help and bypass the restrictions placed by the illegitimate military junta of Burma. We ask that Moral Conscience be given more value than the laws of a Sovereign State under the rule of an illegitimate dictatorship which is intent on oppressing the population
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