Will the Monks be broken...

The issue of will the government in Burma be able to break the Monks into submission is the topic of this Newsweek article, Blood in the Streets. Once again I think it should be pointed out that sanctions such as the US and other nations are punishing Burma with don't work. All these types of economic sanctions do is hurt those who can least afford to suffer. A huge part of me hopes that the Monks win, the courage and the dedication to their beliefs that they are demonstrating right now should be creating a huge outcry as to how wrong the government of Burma is. Yet, it appears all that is happening is rhetoric and news reports, the Monks may be applauding the British embassy but what is really being done to help them in this type of living conditions:

The Burmese monks' bare feet were raw after more than a week of street protests, but as they swarmed past the British Embassy, they burst into applause. They seemed to know that London was supporting their cause—in part by having Ambassador Mark Canning, watching from a window above, spread the word about the military junta's efforts to silence them. "Normally we wouldn't talk," the tall, impeccably groomed diplomat told NEWSWEEK. "But under these circumstances we decided we have an obligation to try and ensure that the outside world knows what is going on here." He had seen trouble ahead for months, since hearing that the country's Buddhist monks, who rely on alms to eat, were down to just one meal a day. "That tells you a lot about the economic hardship," he says. "It's very, very difficult."

Perhaps if the British Embassy was out there offering them food or real support it would have been more worthy of applause...Then again, that's more than what the US government is doing right now.