Regarding David I. Steinberg's Feb. 27 article, " 'Rambo' movie sends the wrong message": I fully agree with professor Steinberg, but I don't think the next president of the United States will be as hawkish and greedy as George W. Bush.
"Rambo" movies are all exciting but are far from truth. America lost a shameful war created and imposed on Vietnam. Extremist views dramatized by actor Sylvester Stallone are intended to give like-minded Americans a sense of revenge for the defeat in Vietnam. Rambo has "killed" thousands of deadly Viet Cong soldiers almost single-handedly, but this depiction is clearly farce and believed only by fools.
In the case of Myanmar, I don't accept the accusation that ethnic cleansing has occurred. I admit that atrocities have been committed by the Myanmar Army, but you cannot term it ethnic cleansing. We have seen ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and in the Serbia-Kosovo region. Still, I would like my country's military regime to uphold the army's original ethical and moral commitments and treat all innocent citizens with compassion.
Stallone degrades himself with this kind of meddling in Myanmar without understanding the real situation. It gives false hope to some in the opposition camp. A few years back, Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu and Czech Republic former President Vaclav Havel, without thinking, put the Myanmar regime on the agenda of the U.N. Security Council. The situation in the Darfur region of Sudan is much more severe, yet we do not hear from Tutu, Christian solidarity worldwide or Havel. I would never endorse a foreign invasion of Myanmar, even in the name of the United Nations.
Steinberg appears to be one of the few expert, considerate and pragmatic scholars who understands the root causes of Myanmar's problems. The truth is not always beautiful to those who do not remain true to the interests of the ordinary citizens of Myanmar. Shame on Stallone.