Burma, Shaving It Close

Things in Burma (or Myanmar, or Pittsburgh, or whatever the hell it is they're calling themselves these days) have taken an ugly turn. Pro-democracy protests that had been led by Buddhist monks have led to a brutal crackdown by the military government.

Even though this desperate bid for freedom from a brutally oppressive dictatorship is on the verge of collapse, don't expect the United States to intervene. Burma has no oil.... Though they do make great aftershave.

Details are sketchy at best, since the nation has cut net access to the outside world. What little information is getting out is through the Australian ambassador. The violence was apparently triggered when the government took over the monasteries where vast supplies of monks are stored for special occasions.

This is basically the opposite of what has happened in the United States, where it's the government that has been taken over by religion.