Burma

I'll admit that I haven't been paying much attention to the atrocities in Burma. I could excuse myself by saying that I'm obsessed with my own stuff right now (my dissertation, my dissertation, and oh, did I mention by dissertation?), or that I'm numb to all the endlessly aggregating horrors of the world. The real reason is that I know that no one is going to do anything about it. Here's what's going to happen: there will be sanctions, international condemnations, and a lot of hot air. For a few years the people of Burma will suffer (even more) from an insecure dictatorship and the lack of foreign trade & assistance. Then Burma's vote will be needed in the UN, and/or the military junta will release a few prisoners, and/or they'll discover oil there, and the sanctions will be lifted. No one who did these things will be punished. Nothing will happen. Okay, maybe a general or two will be forced to flee into exile, or go on trial, or even actually suffer some consequences. But most of the perpetrators will never pay for their crimes, because the reality is that there is very little that the world is willing to do for a suffering people. Unless of course somebody's profit margin is at stake.