Word: burma
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...rulers of the world's pariah states are usually recognizable personalities. Kim Jong Il with his electrified hairdo, Muammar Gaddafi with his aviator sunglasses, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with his penchant for windbreakers. But Burma? No one dictator comes to mind, only a coterie of faceless generals - 12, if one wants to be exact. Last week, in the junta's latest wave of repression, soldiers fired on thousands of peaceful protesters who had dared challenge its iron-fisted rule, killing dozens, according to initial U.N. estimates. But the question remains: Who exactly are the brutal generals behind one of the world...
...starters, Burma is ruled by one of the world's longest-standing military dictatorships. An army-led coup in 1962 against a democratically elected government brought men in uniform to power, first the charismatic and superstitious Ne Win, now his rather less magnetic successor Than Shwe. A high-school dropout who later trained in psychological warfare, Than Shwe, 74, helms a secretive group of generals that calls itself the State Peace and Development Council. True to its grand name, the junta controls not only the armed forces but all aspects of politics and the economy as well. Indeed, constitutional guidelines...
...past two decades, Burma's generals have doubled the army's size to 450,000 soldiers, making it one of the largest military forces in the world. More than one-third of the nation's budget is spent on this massive establishment. The military also runs kindergartens, medical schools and technical colleges, open only to its own personnel - thus creating a state within a state whose primary purpose is to train Burma's future ruling class. Signs of internal dissent are quickly suppressed. Khin Nyunt, the former head of military intelligence who was once hailed as a potential reformer...
...Burma is not Sudan. Some observers believe that the Burmese junta’s campaign against ethnic minorities is a “genocide” under international law, but the death toll has not yet reached Darfur’s horrific heights. Still, Harvard should take little solace in the fact that the Burmese government has killed thousands (as opposed to hundreds of thousands) of its own people. The same “pattern of circumstances” characterizing the PetroChina-Sudan relationship is also present in the Chevron-Burma tie. Just as PetroChina’s parent company...
...although caution is a virtue, complicity is not. If Harvard does not use the power of its purse to alter Chevron’s behavior, it will bear some of the blame for the horrors that are unfolding daily in Burma. On the other hand, if Harvard again catalyzes a divestment movement (as it did with its PetroChina decision in 2005), it will demonstrate that its commitment to human rights extends far beyond the classroom. President Faust says she is “think[ing] of all different kinds of opportunities for teaching and learning in human rights...