A new Myanmar emerging?

IN the laws of many countries, anyone present who fails to come to the rescue of a person in distress is guilty of a criminal offense. Since its coup against the government based on fabricated charges of election irregularities in the last parliamentary election that it lost by a landslide, the Myanmar military to date has killed more than 500 of their countrymen, including many children, in the widespread peaceful demonstrations that ensued. The military has shown no qualms about killing hundreds, even thousands in the future. Doesn’t the international community have an obligation to do all that it can to prevent more blood being shed?

Right after the military coup, the US Permanent Representative, serving as the president of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), issued a statement calling for a reversal by the military of its action, the release of the detained leaders, the seating of the newly elected members of parliament and the allowing of the democratic transition process to continue. The statement met with the approval of all UNSC permanent members and current nonpermanent members. But the junta simply ignored the statement. They might have known that while the statement made by the council president will go into the records, it does not have the strength of a resolution, which is mandatory on all members of the UN to follow. The statement of the president is a version of a draft by the United Kingdom, so watered down as to ensure its approval by China and Russia, known supporters of the military dictatorship in Myanmar.