The new junta's security forces have killed several agitators, jailed journalists or anyone capable of voicing an opinion and has limited legal protections
Myanmar's security forces have killed scores of demonstrators protesting a coup. The new junta has jailed journalists 바카라 and anyone else capable of exposing the violence. It has done away with even limited legal protections. The outside world has responded so far with tough words, a smattering of sanctions and little else.
The slide from nascent democracy to yet another coup, as rapid as it has been brutal, opens up a grim possibility: As bad as it looks in Myanmar now if the country's long history of violent military rule is any guide, things could get worse.
Protesters have continued to fill the streets despite the violence that left 38 people dead one day this week 바카라 though in smaller numbers than the weeks right after the February 1 coup.
They have used smartphones to capture the brutality. Recent videos show security forces shooting a person at point-blank range and chasing down and savagely beating demonstrators.
The military, however, has the clear upper hand, with sophisticated weapons, a large network of spies, the ability to cut telecoms, and decades of fighting experience from civil conflicts in the country's borderlands.
바카라We are at a crisis point,바카라 Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations with long experience working with Myanmar, told The Associated Press, pointing to the arrests of journalists, including AP's Thein Zaw, and the indiscriminate killing of protesters.
바카라The international community needs to respond much more forcefully, or this situation will degenerate into complete anarchy and violence.바카라
So, will it?
Governments around the world, including the United States, have condemned the coup, which reversed years of slow progress toward democracy.
Before that opening up began, Myanmar had languished under a strict military rule for five decades that led to international isolation and crippling sanctions. As the generals loosened their grip in the past decade, the international community lifted most sanctions and poured in investment.
Despite the flurry of recent global criticism, however, there's not much hope that pressure from outside will change the course of events inside the country.
For one thing, coordinated action at the UN 바카라 like a global arms embargo that the world body's independent expert on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, called for 바카라 is unlikely. Russia and China, Myanmar's most powerful supporter, are still selling arms to the military 바카라 and they each have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and thus could veto any such measure. The Security Council will take up the crisis in Myanmar on Friday.
Myanmar's neighbours, the countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, generally loathe to 바카라interfere바카라 in one another's affairs 바카라 a policy that means they are unlikely to do anything more than call for talks between the junta and the ousted government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
That leaves sanctions from the United States and other Western countries. Washington imposed sanctions on Myanmar's top military leaders after the Feb. 1 coup. More pressure came after a U.N. envoy said security forces killed 38 people on Wednesday. Britain imposed sanctions on three generals and six members of the junta in response to the coup and the crackdown. The European Union is drawing up measures to respond to the coup.
But even tough sanctions from those countries are unlikely to yield anything, though they may weigh heavily on ordinary people. Myanmar has ridden out decades of such measures before, and the military is already talking about plans for 바카라self-reliance.바카라
U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, told reporters this week that she had warned the military that tough sanctions may be coming 바카라 and the response was that the generals knew how to 바카라walk with only a few friends.'바카라
바카라Myanmar's history suggests the military will use ever-increasing brutality and violence in an attempt to put down the protest movement,바카라 said Ronan Lee, a visiting scholar at the International State Crime Initiative at the Queen Mary University of London. 바카라In the past, the military has been prepared to murder thousands to quell civil unrest or to meet its goals.바카라
In the face of such determination, some observers question how long the protest movement can last.
바카라While it may appear at first glance to be a battle of wills, the military has a substantial resource advantage over the average protester and has demonstrated that it's willing to engage in extreme acts of violence and brutality to try to force compliance,바카라 said John Lichtefeld, vice president of The Asia Group, a consulting firm.
It may get much worse, he said. The military 바카라is an organization with tremendous institutional pride, and it's possible that hardliners within the military who have been pushing for a more aggressive response are beginning to gain influence.바카라
The military has also gotten away with past abuse. In 2017 the army slaughtered thousands of minority Rohingya Muslims in massacres that UN officials have said bear the 바카라hallmarks of genocide바카라 with few consequences so far.
In a sign of how limited the options are to influence the junta, when asked what more Britain and other countries could do, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab responded: 바카라We will continue to look at how we hold individual members of the regime to account.바카라
Myanmar's military is banking on the world going no further than 바카라harsh words, some economic sanctions and travel bans,바카라 Lee, the scholar at Queen Mary University, said.
With PTI Inputs