Change, perhaps, in Burma?

Hopefully, the world will take note of the brave stance that Buddhist monks are taking in Burma (renamed Myanmar by the currently ruling military junta). Protesting for democracy and freedom there, monks and students have taken the brunt of a military crackdown. The situation there is appalling and demands more direct attention from the United Nations. The United States has done perhaps all it can do - sanctions against the ruling military - without more direct pressure from the U.N. President Bush yesterday called on the U.N. to help with the problem. Here's to hoping that they take up the challenge and do what they were created to do.

Buddhist Monks Defy Assembly Ban
ABC News

Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas canisters while hauling Buddhist monks away in trucks Wednesday as they tried to stop anti-government demonstrations in defiance of a ban on assembly.

About 300 monks and activists were arrested across Yangon, according to an exile dissident group, and reporters saw a number of monks who are highly revered in Myanmar being dragged into trucks.

The junta had banned all public gatherings of more than five people and imposed a nighttime curfew following eight days of anti-government marches led by monks in Yangon and other areas of the country, including the biggest protests in nearly two decades.

A march toward the center of Yangon followed a tense confrontation at the city's famed Shwedagon Pagoda between the protesters and riot police who fired warning shots into the air, beat some monks and dragged others away into waiting trucks.