From Here to Junta: Stop Shopping At Wal-Mart, Save The UN And Help Burma

At his speech at the United Nations last week, President Bush denounced the “19-year reign of fear” by the military dictatorship in Burma. About time our president starts denouncing reigns of fear instead of creating them. And about time our president starts standing up against human rights abuses instead of creating them. But having apparently decided that civil war in Iraq, drilling in the Arctic and torture in Guantanamo shouldn’t be the legacy of his presidency, Bush faces two very ironic puzzles.

The first irony is that President Bush is calling on the United Nations to take action in Burma (known by dictators everywhere as Myanmar). This is the very same United Nations that Bush circumvented and undermined to launch his war in Iraq. At the time, he said, “if we need to act, we will act, and we really don’t need United Nations approval to do so.” <http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030306-8.html>. So Burma needs UN approval but the US doesn’t. And the US doesn’t need the UN to intervene on its own actions, just the actions of others.

Thus, ironic obstacle number one is that the president who couldn’t get the United Nations out of his way fast enough is now imploring the United Nations to act. Is it any wonder the international body is in a weak position to do so, given that the US helped to weaken it? Note that, as of March 2007, the United States owed $1.968 billion in unpaid debt to the United Nations, accounting for 55% of unpaid debt to the body. <http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance/tables/core/un-us-07.htm>. Maybe, having been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, President Bush doesn’t realize that if you want things to work, you have to pay for them — like, for instance, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program or, in this case, the UN. It would also help if we had troops to contribute to UN peacekeeping forces but our troops are busy “peacekeeping” elsewhere…

The second irony is that, absent a stronger and more effective United Nations, our hope for action around Burma is placed in the nations who have diplomatic and economic relations with Burma, and China is Burma’s top trading partner. <http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1665574,00.html>. But under economic policies initiated by Clinton and sent into warp speed by Bush, the United States now buys more than it sells in the global marketplace. Most of the stuff we buy — the cheap crap sold at Wal-Mart and the other low-wage, big-box stores — is made in China. Our individual consumption and mounting consumer debt — the average American household carries over $8,000 in credit card debt ( http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/SavingandDebt/P70581.asp) — feed that dynamic. American companies profit off the cheap labor of the Chinese and the mounting debt of American consumers. Meanwhile, a country can’t buy more than it sells. It has to finance the gap. So the US sells treasury bonds and other securities to other countries, of which China holds $407.8 billion. That means China literally owns a big, whopping chunk of the United States economy (second only to Japan, which holds a bit more).

Now imagine you owe someone $407.8 billion dollars. Let’s call that someone China. You have massive, unsustainable debt and China controls almost 20% of it. You’re not going to want to do anything that might piss China off or China might call the debt. And believe me, you don’t have $407.8 billion — or you wouldn’t have had to borrow it from China in the first place.

Thus, ironic obstacle number two is that the Bush administration’s hands are tied to push China to take action against Burma — or the Sudan or Tibet, for that matter — because the Bush Administration has auctioned off our over-consuming, race-to-the-bottom economy to the highest foreign bidder. By screwing everyone — American workers and Chinese workers alike — our economic structure guarantees that we’re in no position to help anyone, either. Certainly in no position to be prodding China on human rights.

The answer to these puzzles, of course, is simple. Our country’s fate has become linked with others, but not in the way it should be. Rather than embracing go-it-alone cowboy war planning, as we did in Iraq, we must join with other nations and build a strong and effective United Nations where we can, together, help solve the world’s problems. And rather than hitching our economic wagon to the rough-and-tumble unpredictability of the global marketplace, and China’s whims in particular, we must restore a more sustainable balance, where we trade with other nations when it makes sense but also rebuild our economic infrastructure here at home — including jobs that pay well enough that we can afford to buy goods from companies who also pay their workers living wages. When desperate crises arise like that in Burma, it shouldn’t be one nation like China — or the United States — pulling all the strings but the world community, all in it together, advancing democracy and justice.

Sally Kohn is the director of the Movement Vision Project, working with grassroots community-led organizations across the United States to identify our shared, long-term vision for the future.

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10 Comments so far

mepeet October 3rd, 2007 12:13 pm

Duh.

Stilba October 3rd, 2007 1:03 pm

“Now imagine you owe someone $407.8 billion dollars. Let’s call that someone China. You have massive, unsustainable debt and China controls almost 20% of it. You’re not going to want to do anything that might piss China off or China might call the debt. And believe me, you don’t have $407.8 billion — or you wouldn’t have had to borrow it from China in the first place.”

Reminds me of an old saying that goes something like, “If a man owes the bank a thousand dollars, the man should be worried, but if the man owes the bank a million dollars, the bank should be worried.” Not good, all around.

whatfools October 3rd, 2007 3:35 pm

Just look at what happened when Shrub the First and Darth Cheney arranged things for Kuwait and the Saudies to call in the debt Saddam ran up attacking Iran. The result was the First Gulf Oil War.

willo October 3rd, 2007 5:20 pm

I wish China and Japan would quit financing our insane leaders. Do they see that they are destroying us and giving us enough rope to hang ourselves? Is that their intent or merely a side effect to thier economic juggernaut? Is the Bush administration purposely indebting us to use as an excuse to walk away from their Social Securty commitments?
Either way this place is in a tailspin and wether you assisted or fought against it we’re all going down together. I see at the end of this when the bill comes due they will try to pit us citizens against each other while they walk away from the mess counting their booty.

curmudgeon99 October 3rd, 2007 9:32 pm

It ain’t just China, folks:

Chevron’s Pipeline Is the Burmese Regime’s Lifeline
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071002_chevrons_pipeline_is_the_burmese_regimes_lifeline/
Posted on Oct 2, 2007
By Amy Goodman

The image was stunning: tens of thousands of saffron-robed Buddhist monks marching through the streets of Rangoon [also known as Yangon], protesting the military dictatorship of Burma. The monks marched in front of the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was seen weeping and praying quietly as they passed. She hadn’t been seen for years. The democratically elected leader of Burma, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since 2003. She is considered the Nelson Mandela of Burma, the Southeast Asian nation renamed Myanmar by the regime.

After almost two weeks of protest, the monks have disappeared. The monasteries have been emptied. One report says thousands of monks are imprisoned in the north of the country.

No one believes that this is the end of the protests, dubbed “The Saffron Revolution.” Nor do they believe the official body count of 10 dead. The trickle of video, photos and oral accounts of the violence that leaked out on Burma’s cellular phone and Internet lines has been largely stifled by government censorship. Still, gruesome images of murdered monks and other activists and accounts of executions make it out to the global public. At the time of this writing, several unconfirmed accounts of prisoners being burned alive have been posted to Burma-solidarity Web sites.

The Bush administration is making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime. President Bush declared increased sanctions in his U.N. General Assembly speech. First lady Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements. Explaining that she has a cousin who is a Burma activist, Laura Bush said, “The deplorable acts of violence being perpetrated against Buddhist monks and peaceful Burmese demonstrators shame the military regime.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, “The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place.” Keeping an international focus is essential, but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron.

Fueling the military junta that has ruled for decades are Burma’s natural gas reserves, controlled by the Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron, the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm. Offshore natural gas facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma’s Yadana pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military.

The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.

Chevron’s role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. According to Marco Simons, U.S. legal director at EarthRights International: “Sanctions haven’t worked because gas is the lifeline of the regime. Before Yadana went online, Burma’s regime was facing severe shortages of currency. It’s really Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers.”

The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997. A loophole exists, though, for companies grandfathered in. Unocal’s exemption from the Burma sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron.

Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.

Human-rights groups around the world have called for a global day of action on Saturday, Oct. 6, in solidarity with the people of Burma. Like the brave activists and citizen journalists sending news and photos out of the country, the organizers of the Oct. 6 protest are using the Internet to pull together what will probably be the largest demonstration ever in support of Burma. Among the demands are calls for companies to stop doing business with Burma’s brutal regime.

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 500 stations in North America.

pacplyer October 4th, 2007 12:51 am

willo is dead-balls right on.

That’s exactly what the elite robber barons are up to. They hate liberals and poor people and “entitlements.” They can’t get rid of Social Security and other programs so they end-run around this problem by bankrupting the government through no-bid contracts to themselves.

The mainstream media (which they own) will report that health care and social benefits are killing the country.

Shrub = intentional looting and destruction of the U.S. government.

It’s all becoming so clear to me now…..

The final step is for Slim Pickens to fire up the B-52….

SimonB October 4th, 2007 9:15 am

Wal-Mart is much more directly connected to financing of the Burmese military junta.

Wal-Mart sells more jewelry (in dollar value) than any retailer in the United States.

95 percent of the world’s rubies and 98 percent of world’s “imperial jade” is mined in Burma often in terrible working conditions.

The Burmese military regime derives considerable revenue from the gem trade. That pays for the guns, tear gas, and prison camps that the military is using on its own people.

Wal-Mart (and other retailers with the principal exception of Tiffany’s) sell jewelry containing rubies mined in Burma. In so doing, they provide the regime with millions of dollars.

Boycott this “Burmese Blood Bling.” Write and call Wal-Mart directly. Find out more about how can take effective action against the Burmese military regime at the webiste of the US Campaign for Burma at http://www.uscampaignforburma.org

~Simon Billenness
Co-chair
US Campaign for Burma
simon@uscampaignforburma.org

ps. Yesterday, at Senate hearings on Burma, Senator Barbara Boxer called on the Administration to end the loophole in the U.S. sanctions that allows Chevron to continue to operate there. Until then, boycott all Chevron (Texaco) gas stations and tell them why!!

peacemaker October 4th, 2007 9:59 am

Bush is a fine one to be talking about human rights abuses! How he can give a speech like that without feeling a tinge of guilt is unbelievable. But, that’s what we get for putting a ’snotty nosed bully’ in the White House then calling him a leader!

jakenewton October 4th, 2007 12:08 pm

“95 percent of the world’s rubies and 98 percent of world’s “imperial jade” is mined in Burma often in terrible working conditions.”

Are you very sure about the figure for rubies? The best quality comes from Burma, and I would doubt if you get that at WalMart, but quite a bit of rubies are coming out of Thailand and Vietnam. You are right about the conditions in any case, mining has always been difficult and dangerous.

PJD October 4th, 2007 12:36 pm

The UN will be useless until it abolishes the security council and transfers it’s functions to the general assembly. It also might consider moving it’s headquarters to a more supportive, peace loving country.

mepeet October 3rd, 2007 12:13 pm

Duh.
Stilba October 3rd, 2007 1:03 pm

“Now imagine you owe someone $407.8 billion dollars. Let’s call that someone China. You have massive, unsustainable debt and China controls almost 20% of it. You’re not going to want to do anything that might piss China off or China might call the debt. And believe me, you don’t have $407.8 billion — or you wouldn’t have had to borrow it from China in the first place.”

Reminds me of an old saying that goes something like, “If a man owes the bank a thousand dollars, the man should be worried, but if the man owes the bank a million dollars, the bank should be worried.” Not good, all around.
whatfools October 3rd, 2007 3:35 pm

Just look at what happened when Shrub the First and Darth Cheney arranged things for Kuwait and the Saudies to call in the debt Saddam ran up attacking Iran. The result was the First Gulf Oil War.
willo October 3rd, 2007 5:20 pm

I wish China and Japan would quit financing our insane leaders. Do they see that they are destroying us and giving us enough rope to hang ourselves? Is that their intent or merely a side effect to thier economic juggernaut? Is the Bush administration purposely indebting us to use as an excuse to walk away from their Social Securty commitments?
Either way this place is in a tailspin and wether you assisted or fought against it we’re all going down together. I see at the end of this when the bill comes due they will try to pit us citizens against each other while they walk away from the mess counting their booty.
curmudgeon99 October 3rd, 2007 9:32 pm

It ain’t just China, folks:

Chevron’s Pipeline Is the Burmese Regime’s Lifeline
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071002_chevrons_pipeline_is_the_burmese_regimes_lifeline/
Posted on Oct 2, 2007
By Amy Goodman

The image was stunning: tens of thousands of saffron-robed Buddhist monks marching through the streets of Rangoon [also known as Yangon], protesting the military dictatorship of Burma. The monks marched in front of the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was seen weeping and praying quietly as they passed. She hadn’t been seen for years. The democratically elected leader of Burma, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since 2003. She is considered the Nelson Mandela of Burma, the Southeast Asian nation renamed Myanmar by the regime.

After almost two weeks of protest, the monks have disappeared. The monasteries have been emptied. One report says thousands of monks are imprisoned in the north of the country.

No one believes that this is the end of the protests, dubbed “The Saffron Revolution.” Nor do they believe the official body count of 10 dead. The trickle of video, photos and oral accounts of the violence that leaked out on Burma’s cellular phone and Internet lines has been largely stifled by government censorship. Still, gruesome images of murdered monks and other activists and accounts of executions make it out to the global public. At the time of this writing, several unconfirmed accounts of prisoners being burned alive have been posted to Burma-solidarity Web sites.

The Bush administration is making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime. President Bush declared increased sanctions in his U.N. General Assembly speech. First lady Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements. Explaining that she has a cousin who is a Burma activist, Laura Bush said, “The deplorable acts of violence being perpetrated against Buddhist monks and peaceful Burmese demonstrators shame the military regime.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, “The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place.” Keeping an international focus is essential, but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron.

Fueling the military junta that has ruled for decades are Burma’s natural gas reserves, controlled by the Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron, the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm. Offshore natural gas facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma’s Yadana pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military.

The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.

Chevron’s role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. According to Marco Simons, U.S. legal director at EarthRights International: “Sanctions haven’t worked because gas is the lifeline of the regime. Before Yadana went online, Burma’s regime was facing severe shortages of currency. It’s really Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers.”

The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997. A loophole exists, though, for companies grandfathered in. Unocal’s exemption from the Burma sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron.

Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.

Human-rights groups around the world have called for a global day of action on Saturday, Oct. 6, in solidarity with the people of Burma. Like the brave activists and citizen journalists sending news and photos out of the country, the organizers of the Oct. 6 protest are using the Internet to pull together what will probably be the largest demonstration ever in support of Burma. Among the demands are calls for companies to stop doing business with Burma’s brutal regime.

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 500 stations in North America.

© 2007 Amy Goodman
pacplyer October 4th, 2007 12:51 am

willo is dead-balls right on.

That’s exactly what the elite robber barons are up to. They hate liberals and poor people and “entitlements.” They can’t get rid of Social Security and other programs so they end-run around this problem by bankrupting the government through no-bid contracts to themselves.

The mainstream media (which they own) will report that health care and social benefits are killing the country.

Shrub = intentional looting and destruction of the U.S. government.

It’s all becoming so clear to me now…..

The final step is for Slim Pickens to fire up the B-52….
SimonB October 4th, 2007 9:15 am

Wal-Mart is much more directly connected to financing of the Burmese military junta.

Wal-Mart sells more jewelry (in dollar value) than any retailer in the United States.

95 percent of the world’s rubies and 98 percent of world’s “imperial jade” is mined in Burma often in terrible working conditions.

The Burmese military regime derives considerable revenue from the gem trade. That pays for the guns, tear gas, and prison camps that the military is using on its own people.

Wal-Mart (and other retailers with the principal exception of Tiffany’s) sell jewelry containing rubies mined in Burma. In so doing, they provide the regime with millions of dollars.

Boycott this “Burmese Blood Bling.” Write and call Wal-Mart directly. Find out more about how can take effective action against the Burmese military regime at the webiste of the US Campaign for Burma at http://www.uscampaignforburma.org

~Simon Billenness
Co-chair
US Campaign for Burma
simon@uscampaignforburma.org

ps. Yesterday, at Senate hearings on Burma, Senator Barbara Boxer called on the Administration to end the loophole in the U.S. sanctions that allows Chevron to continue to operate there. Until then, boycott all Chevron (Texaco) gas stations and tell them why!!
peacemaker October 4th, 2007 9:59 am

Bush is a fine one to be talking about human rights abuses! How he can give a speech like that without feeling a tinge of guilt is unbelievable. But, that’s what we get for putting a ’snotty nosed bully’ in the White House then calling him a leader!
jakenewton October 4th, 2007 12:08 pm

“95 percent of the world’s rubies and 98 percent of world’s “imperial jade” is mined in Burma often in terrible working conditions.”

Are you very sure about the figure for rubies? The best quality comes from Burma, and I would doubt if you get that at WalMart, but quite a bit of rubies are coming out of Thailand and Vietnam. You are right about the conditions in any case, mining has always been difficult and dangerous.
PJD October 4th, 2007 12:36 pm

The UN will be useless until it abolishes the security council and transfers it’s functions to the general assembly. It also might consider moving it’s headquarters to a more supportive, peace loving country.

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