Military coup in Myanmar

[celedhring]

sanctions are all fun and all that but their track record of getting rid of regimes that are really determined to stay in place isn't that great afaik

Sanctions aren't really the proper tool for regime change.  They're more useful if you're trying to induce a change in policy from an existing government.  There they have had mild to moderate success.

Yeah, sadly so far the only proven tool for regime change is the M1A2. And it tends to make things messier.

[crazy canuck]

Why did they let her out of the dungeon in the first place then?  Did they want to take a break from mismanaging the country for a while?

Because the military never really lost their influence.  They were in her cabinet and in government.  The folks that were not hearing the military pulling the strings when she made public pronouncements justifying the genocide were not paying much attention.  But that changed when she won such a landslide victory recently, now the military influence was threatened, and they reacted.

[Tonitrus]

sanctions are all fun and all that but their track record of getting rid of regimes that are really determined to stay in place isn't that great afaik

Sanctions aren't really the proper tool for regime change.  They're more useful if you're trying to induce a change in policy from an existing government.  There they have had mild to moderate success.

I've been noticing that it seems we're trending against sanctioning entire nations, but and more and more targeting individuals in the government we don't like with sanctions.  I think that is a bad trend towards impotency.

[Valmy]

sanctions are all fun and all that but their track record of getting rid of regimes that are really determined to stay in place isn't that great afaik

Sanctions aren't really the proper tool for regime change.  They're more useful if you're trying to induce a change in policy from an existing government.  There they have had mild to moderate success.

If only somebody would tell our government that. We put countries in sanctions jail and throw away the key with little foreign policy achievements to show for it.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Yeah, the junta could go forever in the face of the pre-Democratization sanctions. They have proven that, and they receive enough formal patronage from Beijing that that is all but assured. Most likely if I had to guess, the junta recognize there is some benefit to modernization and integration with the broader global economy. Lots of autocrats have recognized that all over the world, and they try to find ways to become internationally normed for economic reasons while holding onto power domestically. Lots of autocrats are unable to walk this tight rope, and they "lose control" of increased openness and connectivity with the international community and eventually end up ousted. The PRC is a good example of an autocracy that has managed it well, as is Saudi Arabia at least so far. Iran has tried to manage it well and failed, but they have made sure to fail on the side of "crackdowns and repression", so while their attempts at international normalization fail they hold on to power. I think the Myanmar junta is basically on that timeline right now, they experimented a bit, didn't like the evidence emerging that democracy could become a genuine threat to their power, so they are cracking back down. Just like the Iranian Mullahs they fully understand this will mean increased sanctions and new international ties being severed.

Maybe they'll try again down the road.

I think the West kinda misunderstands the Rohingya issue, for one--we should be glad to see Muslims repressed, Islam is the #1 evil in the world and no country should want a large number of Muslims living in it. For two, the will of the people was anti-Rohingya, this isn't a case of an evil military going after Muslims that the rest of the population loves. Most Burmese hate the Rohingya, I suspect Suu Kyi does as well. I don't think that anything more than that needs to be understood to explain support for going after them.

[Maladict]

I think the West kinda misunderstands the Rohingya issue, for one--we should be glad to see Muslims repressed, Islam is the #1 evil in the world and no country should want a large number of Muslims living in it. For two, the will of the people was anti-Rohingya, this isn't a case of an evil military going after Muslims that the rest of the population loves. Most Burmese hate the Rohingya, I suspect Suu Kyi does as well. I don't think that anything more than that needs to be understood to explain support for going after them.

I've never wanted to misunderstand anything more.

[crazy canuck]

I think the West kinda misunderstands the Rohingya issue, for one--we should be glad to see Muslims repressed, Islam is the #1 evil in the world and no country should want a large number of Muslims living in it. For two, the will of the people was anti-Rohingya, this isn't a case of an evil military going after Muslims that the rest of the population loves. Most Burmese hate the Rohingya, I suspect Suu Kyi does as well. I don't think that anything more than that needs to be understood to explain support for going after them.

It is good for people to be reminded there are people like you out there in the world.

[Eddie Teach]

Maybe for people in your bubble...

[crazy canuck]

Maybe for people in your bubble...

Too true.  There are no people like that in the group I generally associate with.  If that is not true for you, I am sorry for the conditions in which you live.

[Syt]

I think the West kinda misunderstands the Rohingya issue, for one--we should be glad to see Muslims repressed, Islam is the #1 evil in the world and no country should want a large number of Muslims living in it. For two, the will of the people was anti-Rohingya, this isn't a case of an evil military going after Muslims that the rest of the population loves. Most Burmese hate the Rohingya, I suspect Suu Kyi does as well. I don't think that anything more than that needs to be understood to explain support for going after them.

It is good for people to be reminded there are people like you out there in the world.

While I like to think that this kind of thinking is slowly dying out, it's not happening near fast enough.

[OttoVonBismarck]

You guys need to get your heads out of your asses. Islam is a toxic, dangerous ideology. Wanting Islam out of our communities is no different than wanting Nazism, QAnon, etc out of our communities. It's long past time we stop pretending ideologies of hate and destruction somehow are only valid targets of opprobrium when they are niche views held by a few deplorable white people. It is quite the case that such ideologies are just as terrible when they're held by a billion mostly brown people.

[Threviel]

You guys need to get your heads out of your asses. Islam is a toxic, dangerous ideology. Wanting Islam out of our communities is no different than wanting Nazism, QAnon, etc out of our communities. It's long past time we stop pretending ideologies of hate and destruction somehow are only valid targets of opprobrium when they are niche views held by a few deplorable white people. It is quite the case that such ideologies are just as terrible when they're held by a billion mostly brown people.

If the Arab world by divine intervention went Buddhist tomorrow it would still be a despotic shithole. If islamic immigrants in the west went atheist tomorrow they would still be poor, uneducated and marginalized. And so on and so forth...

It's just a religion, nothing more, nothing less. The problems are many, but islam in and of itself is not one of them

[Habbaku]

I don't know, I think the generals have probably done the right thing here. This is dangerous stuff:

https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-charges-aung-san-suu-kyi-6884aae25bac2dbf952a8cc0447c83fc

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar authorities charged the country's deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, with possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies, her allies said Wednesday, a move that gives the generals who overthrew her legal grounds to detain her for two weeks.

[crazy canuck]

You guys need to get your heads out of your asses. Islam is a toxic, dangerous ideology. Wanting Islam out of our communities is no different than wanting Nazism, QAnon, etc out of our communities. It's long past time we stop pretending ideologies of hate and destruction somehow are only valid targets of opprobrium when they are niche views held by a few deplorable white people. It is quite the case that such ideologies are just as terrible when they're held by a billion mostly brown people.

Take this drivel back to 4chan

[The Minsky Moment]

You guys need to get your heads out of your asses. Islam is a toxic, dangerous ideology. Wanting Islam out of our communities is no different than wanting Nazism, QAnon, etc out of our communities. It's long past time we stop pretending ideologies of hate and destruction somehow are only valid targets of opprobrium when they are niche views held by a few deplorable white people. It is quite the case that such ideologies are just as terrible when they're held by a billion mostly brown people.