The May 13 editorial, "Yet more tragedy for Myanmar," ends with an impassioned and elegant call for the world to do something about the junta's oppression of Burma. But do what? Our options seem few and unpleasant, and the editorial didn't suggest any. What would you have us do?
Invade Burma? Sure, Burma is easy to conquer now, if we can count on Burma's "allies" to stand aside, but just like the U.S. conquest of Iraq, it could backfire very badly, hurting the very people it is meant to help.
OK, so invasion is a poor option. So what else is there? Assassinate the leaders who are now mass murderers, having murdered so many of their own people through neglect? Unfortunately, the country with the reputation for carrying out such assassinations is now one of Burma's "friends."
Boycott? Every attempt at a serious boycott has been completely ruined by Thailand, Russia and China's refusing to go along. Good luck at putting an end to that intransigence.
The only other option I can think of that has a ghost of a chance at success is to simply steal all the wealth from the junta. In the old days, when juntas kept their money in numbered Swiss bank accounts, this would have been easy: Just spy on them to get their account number and then clean them out. Why this option isn't used more often is a mystery.
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