Burma, or Myanmar, as it is now called, has gone through terrible bloodshed since KV last reported on the revolution. Monasteries were stormed and monks beaten and killed in an effort by the military to quell the uprising that has been going on for two weeks now.
In the latest report by BBC News we find that 4000 monks have been rounded up and are to be moved away. In protest, many of them are refusing to eat.
The clear human rights violations and many calls for the US and other nations to do something, have prompted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday afternoon. Senator Boxer chairs the committee, and Senator Kerry was ranking member in the 109th congress. Below is Kerry's opening statement:
When it was Senator Kerry's turn to question the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, he did not hold back. His scathing line of questioning pointed out the failure of the Bush administration to move on this issue.
Comments (2)
Posted by karennj | October 4, 2007 8:21 PM
Senator Kerry's statement and grilling of the undersecretary are incredible. The contrast between his sense of urgency and the administration's complete lack of focus is stark. It is telling that AFTER Senator Kerry suggests things that there are things India and China want from us and mentions leveraging them - that he STILL said they were looking for new ideas.
I love that he got to throw in that he was right on North Korea - where things are moving now that they went to bilateral in parallel with the 6 party talks. I know Kerry got a lot of RW and pundit criticism on that answer.
This meeting alone would be sufficient to show what we lost in 2004. Imagine a President with this sense of morality, compassion, and urgency, who has the knowledge and skills to actually lead on things like this.
Good for him that he met with the Chinese Ambassador. Maybe that will be sufficient to move China to lead - even if our leaders are not pushing it.
Posted by beachmom | October 5, 2007 11:41 PM
Wow, that was great. Sen. Kerry is very, very tough and I know I wouldn't want to be on the other side when he's questioning.
I noticed that moment, too, Karynnj, when he mentioned Korea. It reminds me of the time that he was at a Small Biz Committee hearing about vets and small biz. He talked about how he proposed more soldiers in the armed forces in '04, and how he was ridiculed back then, and now, much later they are doing what he said they should do. Now with Korea. You can hear his frustration, definitely, that his ideas were so easily dismissed, and now, being adopted.