Word: junta
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Wednesday's demonstrations cap what has turned into the longest sustained display of dissent in Burma in nearly two decades. At first, the ruling junta, which has maintained an iron grip for 45 years, tried to extinguish the protest movement by arresting dozens of pro-democracy activists. But clapping handcuffs on Buddhist monks is a far more difficult proposition in this deeply devout nation. "The monks are the only ones who really have the trust of the people," says Khin Omar, an exiled dissident now living in Thailand. "When they speak up, people listen...
...month-long campaign. Karamanlis also made no mention of Georgios Karatzaferis, the leader of the Popular Orthodox Rally, or LAOS, that won over 3% of the vote, becoming the first far-right populist party to enter the Greek parliament since the tumultuous fall of a military junta the ruled the country between 1967 and 1974. A former conservative stalwart whom Karamanlis expelled in 2000 for his extremist rhetoric, Mr. Karatzaferis benefited from the backlash against the socialist party, attracting protest voters who ostensibly wanted to vent their anger at the two main parties than espouse LAOS's controversial views - including...
...have unveiled their impression of political reform - a variety they call "discipline-flourishing democracy." On Sept. 3 the regime announced it had finally agreed to basic guidelines for a new constitution, 14 years after the generals summoned a national convention of handpicked delegates to draft a new charter. (The junta suspended the previous constitution in 1988.) But no timetable for elections has been set, nor is Suu Kyi's NLD part of the political process. Indeed, the new constitutional outline seems specifically designed to keep out Suu Kyi, long seen as the only leadership alternative to the junta despite...
...poverty line, even though Burma is blessed with lucrative resources like natural gas and timber. The country's generals are hardly known for their financial savvy: one former regime chief denominated bank notes by the number nine simply because he considered the digit auspicious. Obsessed with its survival, the junta has dramatically expanded the military; 40% of the nation's annual budget is believed to be spent on the 450,000-strong army. Inflation is running at more than 30%. Last month's fuel hike led to a tripling of bus fares on some routes, leaving many of Rangoon...
...leading ever more ostentatious lives, their wallets fattened by gas-pipeline deals with neighbors China, Thailand and India. The ruling class cruises around in luxury cars and cloisters itself in compounds ablaze with lights, even as most Burmese face constant electricity rationing. A samizdat video circulating in Rangoon shows junta chief Than Shwe's daughter, decked out in jewels, getting married in a lavish ceremony - this in a country where the average annual per capita income is just $225. Even more galling, the junta turned a thicket of jungle into a brand new administrative capital in late 2005, a project...