Word: juntas
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...September 1987, the superstitious General Ne Win who headed the military junta in Burma (renamed Myanmar soon thereafter) banned all high value banknotes that were not divisible by nine. People in a country blighted by years of the junta’s despotism and economic mismanagement lost their savings overnight. This triggered Burma’s first massive uprising, with its indelible image of saffron and red clad monks marching with overturned bowls—a refusal to take alms from the junta or its soldiers amounted to excommunication. On Sept. 18, 1988, the army opened gunfire on a crowd...
...cracked down on an estimated 100,000 protestors in Rangoon. Foreign diplomats estimate that several hundred, including many monks, were shot or bludgeoned to death by the army. The protests had started a month earlier due to the steep hike in fuel prices, and gathered massive momentum when the junta refused to apologize for firing over the heads of protesting monks in Pakokku on Sept...
...Chinese regime, Burma’s largest trading partner, and no stranger to killing unarmed students itself, was quick to shield the junta from a Security Council resolution. While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries expressed “revulsion” in a private meeting with the Burmese foreign minister, the refrain for “constructive engagement” followed soon thereafter. Such engagement, since Burma was admitted into ASEAN a decade ago, has overseen one of the worst cases of starvation and disease outside sub-Saharan Africa...
Since 2002, when it restored full diplomatic relations with Burma, India has been playing catch up with China for influence over the Burmese regime. It rolled out the red carpet for the current head of the junta, General Than Shwe, in 2004. India’s then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam visited Burma last year to cement relations...
...these conciliatory gestures are likely to be fleeting. Junta leader General Than Shwe refused to meet with Gambari during his visit. The generals say they have no intention of ending Suu Kyi's house arrest; she has been detained for 12 of the past 18 years. And despite assurances to the contrary, the junta continues to jail dissidents like labor-rights activist Su Su Nway and U Gambira, a key leader of the democracy protests...