In Burma it's Buddha vs. the barrel of a gun

The secret war for control of the world’s diminishing energy resources continues to bubble to the surface here and there. In Burma, where the recent protests were set off over a hike in fuel prices, global interests are jockeying for geostrategic control of pipelines and natural gas and oil fields, and the Burmese junta are likely playing the different factions off against one another in a bid to maintain their grip on power.

Pepe Escobar’s article focuses on the main player in Burma – China, but he also notes that GW Bush is only concerned about “human rights” in countries that haven’t handed over control of their fossil fuel reserves to U.S. and British interests.

However, there are other unmentioned factors at play. On Sept 24th natural gas blocks were awarded to India (who has refused to openly condemn the crackdown) by the Burmese generals. The French company TOTAL, which has a large Burmese presence, has also refused to condemn the generals or halt gas production. Meanwhile, the Burmese generals squat at the center, holding on to their power at the point of a gun, and offering their people’s natural resources to whoever will refuse to condemn their brutality.

Somewhere in imponderable nirvana, the Buddha may be exhibiting the faintest of smiles. Or is he? What a heavenly sight – the discreet, barefooted, crimson- and maroon-clad Buddhist monks of Myanmar, formerly Burma, able to affirm publicly their supreme moral authority and righteousness, supported by an exhausted, abused population, against the ravages of a pitiless, pitiful, 45-year-old military junta.

But the Buddha, whose infinite wisdom also includes knowledge about energy wars, would say that as everything is impermanent, the crackdown will come. The question is how.

Few can fail to be intensely moved by the exhilarating images of the “crimson revolution” – thousands of monks chanting “democracy, democracy” or reciting the Metta Sutta – the Buddha sermon on loving kindness, while civilian demonstrators, on a practical level, also call for the release of hundreds of political prisoners and a reduction in the price of fuel (raised 500% last month, the root cause of the protests)...

Posted by neurolingo

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