Saving Myanmar

In an earlier post this week, I mused about a possible global push back against the military junta of Myanmar once everyone began to see how messed in the heads these guys truly are.

A week now has passed since the cyclone hit and still the generals are toying around with visas, relief and voting polls.

I've been watching the news reports out of one eye all week long, dutifully clicking on a Burma headline each time I see it's been updated. I've turned into somewhat of a media junkie when it comes to Myanmar, but I just can't help myself. I am astonished.

This morning I spent some time with my coffee and my Internet, reading deeper into the crisis.

I came across a BBC article in which British politicians were wondering about the moral obligation that we as human beings have to the people of Burma.

At this point, have the generals proved themselves to be so crazy and inept that we have a moral obligation to invade the country on humanitarian grounds in order to deliver aide?

A journalist for the Asia Times thinks so. This morning, Asia Times published an article written by Shawn W Crispin titled The Case for Invading Myanmar.

In the article, Crispin claims that a US invasion of Myanmar makes sense. An invasion, lead by the US and backed by the rest of the world, would go a long way toward restoring America's rattled reputation, he says.

Toppling the junta would clear the way for Burma's already democratically-elected president, Aung San Suu Kyi, to finally leave house-arrest and take her rightful spot as the country's leader -- a move sure to be supported by the majority of Myanmar's people as they are the ones who voted for her.

Is the idea of invading Myanmar far-fetched and silly?

I'm not so sure. What I am sure about, however, is that if the United States actually did step into this crisis and invade Burma, I'd be much more likely to support it than I would some of its other foreign policies.

Cyclone Sadness & Madness

Just like everyone else, I have been stunned, angered and saddened by the cyclone fall out that is happening in Myanmar.

Myanmar has maintained a front spot in my mind since I traveled there two years ago.

Hubby and I only spent five days in the country - a time frame that was both too short and too long.

Too short because there is so much to see in the country. Because transportation is difficult, we didn't get to half the places we had hoped to see. We never made it to Mandalay, for example. We didn't reach the ruins of Bagan. Nor did we visit the now devastated region.

At the same time, the days we did spend in Burma filled us with questions and unease. We witnessed disturbing ecological destruction as well as poverty, inequity and forced labor, like these local people pictured above who had been forced to build a highway by hand.

Of all the places I have ever traveled in my life, Myanmar is honestly the one place I have no desire to ever step foot in ever again. I am so glad I experienced it, but I am so glad I'm no longer there.

Watching the cyclone fall out, I am of course horrified that the military junta is dragging its heels on letting foreign aide in. It's a clear indicator of just how messed in the heads these guys really are.

I can't help but wonder whether or not this massive blunder on their part isn't going to spell the end of their reign. Maybe they are delaying aide because they are trying to punish their own. Maybe they are doing it because they are power paranoid. Their motivation doesn't really matter. The end conclusion is the same: The leaders are insane.

Last fall, the world watched as the military rulers smashed a local revolution. In the end, the world stood by and let it happen.

But maybe, maybe this will be a tipping point that will convince all governments and average Joes everywhere that Burma's leaders need to be toppled. Maybe this will spark a global effort to oust the junta.

Torch Bearers and Tibet

The recent scuffles over the Olympic Torch in San Fran, Paris and London have caught my attention.

Indeed, even earlier protests over the progress of the torch on its way from Athens to Beijing have made me take notice.

That's because I recently finished a book about Tibet and the abuses of human rights its people have been suffering. The book was called A Beginner's Guide to Changing the World.

It was written by British authorIsabel Losada, who apparently, after a quick check of her web site, was arrested in London over the weekend for aiming a water gun at the torch.

But I didn't pick up her book because I wanted to read about Tibet. I picked it up because I wanted to read a woman-penned travel memoir. I thought A Beginner's Guide to Changing the World was going to be about one woman's travels in India, Nepal and Tibet. And it was. But it was also so much, much more.

Turned out, Losada traveled to Tibet and was so affected by what she encountered there, that she returned home to London and founded a nonprofit organization called Act for Tibet, which works to educate the public about the Tibetan cause and "act for Tibet."

In the course of the book, the author spent more time in London investigating the various Tibet-minded organizations operating there and learning to navigate the world of protests and nonprofits than she did traveling to Tibet or nearby India and Nepal.

Yet as a traveler, I was really struck by the book. I couldn't help but admire Losada. She traveled far from home, let those travels get under her skin, and then returned home determined to make a contribution. She didn't just travel and forget. She traveled and transformed.

As the protests over the upcoming Olympics look to continue as torch makes its way about the world, I highly recommend A Beginner's Guide to Changing the World.

It's inspiring, funny and educational.

Author photo from IsabelLosada.com.

Suspenseful Reading

I recently finished reading Elephant Run by Roland Smith. It's a young adult novel about Burma, Japan, elephants and WWII.

Burma is about the last place I would ever expect a young adult novel to be set, and in truth, this is one of the reasons I picked up the title. The uniqueness appealed to me.

Yet once I got started, I kept reading because I was thoroughly engaged in the plot. The main character, Nick, is a British boy whose parents are divorced and living on different continents -- his mother in England and his father in Burma.

When the Germans begin their steady bombing of London during WWII, it is decided that Nick should part ways with his mother and go live with his father in Burma, which is (supposedly) beyond the reach of the war.

But soon after Nick gets settled in with his dad, the Japanese march into the country, conquer Rangoon and begin sending captives to the Thai-Burma border to construct a railway bridge, which would become the real-life Bridge Over the River Kwai.

While Nick manages to avoid capture by the Japanese, his father doesn't. What will Nick do all alone in a foreign and war-torn land?

Favorite Frangipani

I took this serene picture of a frangipani flower just starting to unfurl at the Killing Fields in Cambodia.

I remember stopping to take the shot. After confronting the evil of the Killing Fields, it felt good to focus my energy on something delicate, beautiful and alive.

Mahouts Gone Mad

Sunday, as I was flipping through the New York Times, I was surprised to see this headline:

Caution: Elephants Break for Food on Bangkok's Roads

Of course I had to read the article. It was about how more and more manhouts (elephant handlers) are bringing their animals into Bangkok to earn money from tourists. The manhouts sell bananas and sugar cane to travelers, who then get the thrill of hand feeding an elephant.

Any number of things could go wrong when a giant beast is allowed to roam a city's streets -- traffic jams, human injuries, elephant injuries, damage to private property.

The article reminded me of a movie we recently watched called The
Protector. It features Tony Jaa, a Thai martial arts star. Jaa specializes in Mui Thai, a rather violent form of kickboxing.

In the film, Jaa plays a mahout gone mad when two of the elephants in his charge are kidnapped and stolen away to Australia.

Poor Sydney has no idea what damage is about to befall it when a worked up, revenge-minded Jaa comes to town.

Last year I saw Jaa's other film, Ong Bak, and was quite entertained, so I had high hopes for The Protector. Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed. The storyline wasn't very plausible, and given that I've seen a number of martial-arts films, I'm used to going along with the outrageous family-revenge theme.

There were some wicked fight sequences and as far as action-packed goes, The Protector certainly was. It wasn't the worst way to pass a Friday night and we did get quite a few laughs -- even if those laughs were from the far-fetchedness of it all.

* Photos
- elephant close up taken in Thailand
- The Protector cover art