Morten Pedersen, a scholar on Burma, offers a thoughtful critique of economic and aid sanctions against Burma over at Guernica. He points out that sanctions worked in South Africa because white South Africans were hurt and “shamed” by the sanctions imposed by “their peer group in Europe.” Burma’s situation is different: “The Burmese generals have no affinity at all with the people who are sanctioning them. Culturally, there’s no link whatsoever.” [%comments]
When Don’t Sanctions Work?
TAGS: politics
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@2: What’s going on in Burma is really truly terrible. I wouldn’t describe it as a “peripheral” cause, because it’s one of the worst human rights crises of our generation.
Sanctions in Burma won’t have a huge effect, BUT my impression is that most Burma rights groups emphasize using China’s influence and appealing to China’s morality rather than the junta in Burma. If there is enough pressure on China, they could turn the tide.
So, as far as I can tell, not a single commentor here actually read Geurinca’s interview with Mr. Pedersen…
But no need to let that stand in the way of a firey opinion.
Burma gets billions of dollars a year in gas revenues from Western oil companies and Thailand’s PTT – why not force the oil companies to disclose their payments to the generals?
http://www.earthrights.org/campaigns/oil-companies-burma-urged-open-their-books
Then we can ask the Burmese government where the money went.