What the Humanitarian Crisis in Myanmar Misses

By Matthew Massee

The Rohingya, the embattled, mostly Muslim minority group from southwestern Myanmar who are fleeing their homelands in unprecedented numbers, are caught in the crosshairs of regional geopolitics. The area they have long occupied is geographically isolated and historically surrounded by weak states and so has been largely ungoverned for decades. But that space is shrinking. As Myanmar emerges from decades of international isolation, the central government is attempting to exert authority over its restive reaches – no small task, considering it is also trying to manage all the political forces unleashed by its democratization. China, meanwhile, is pushing south in search of access to the Indian Ocean and influence in a crucial buffer state. Wary of the encroaching forces, Myanmar’s neighbor India is looking for a way to push back. The government in Naypyidaw will seek to play the larger powers off one another, but the Rohingya, effectively a stateless people, have little ability to do so.......To Read More.....

My Take - I heard about this on NPR yesterday (Yes, I actually listen to their blather) and it took a minute to realize what they were talking about.  This is a long term issue that I had planned to cover, but hadn't seen anything about it recently.  What I find interesting is how all of a sudden so many news outlets are interested at the same time.  Back to the point.

I posted this in July of 2013 with links that give more foundation to this subject. 

The Mad Monks of Myanmar

By The Diplomat July 09, 2013

Myanmar is home to a growing wave of anti-Muslim sentiment, as seen in the troubling 969 movement. The numerical significance of the digits is rooted in Buddhism’s Three Jewels (Tiratana), which comprise 24 attributes: nine special attributes of Lord Buddha, six core Buddhist teachings, and nine attributes of monkhood.

Co-opted by members of Myanmar’s nationalistic Buddhist majority, the number has become a symbol of religious division that has led to both discrimination and violence. Even the government, under President Thein Sein, has taken controversial actions that seem to align with its anti-Muslim stance, from its ongoing purge of the nation's Muslim minority Rohingyas to its highly contentious two-child policy, applied solely to the same group.

While the movement has infiltrated the country’s mainstream over a long period of time, a prominent Buddhist monk, Ashin Wirathu, has recently become its unofficial leader. A photograph of Wirathu in crimson robes, with the words “The Face of Buddhist Terror”, made the cover of the July issue of TIME Magazine, causing a furor in Myanmar and drawing international attention to the country's heated religious tensions……To Read More…

My Take – I have been following this story and my first link was on Thursday, April 18, 2013 with the article, Monks Gone Bad, …To Read More….  "My Take” at the time was: There is a question not answered, nor is it asked in this article. Why? The author talks about poverty as a vehicle for inclusion into the religious orders, but that isn't an explanation as to why this particular group of monks she discusses have decided to be violent against Muslims. There is much more to this story that isn't being told, and it is my belief the right questions aren't being asked.

This article answers those unasked questions when a monk named Wirathu says;

 “Muslims are fundamentally bad. Mohammed allows them to kill any creature. Islam is a religion of thieves, they do not want peace.”

I have stated in the past that at some point there is going to be a backlash against Muslim violence.  What I didn’t expect was to see it started by Buddhists.  What I also find interesting is how much the world bemoans violence against Muslims, and yet those same voices seem to be silent at violence perpetrated by Muslims.  The world has gone nuts.  This much is clear though.  When it starts it will become more unpleasant than anything we have seen for a long time.   

Myanmar mob burns down mosque, second in a week

United Press International
A mob burned down a mosque in northern Myanmar, the second attack in a little more than one week.   Several hundred villagers wielding sticks, knives and other weapons raided and burned the structure around 3:30 p.m. Friday, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar state-newspaper.  Local authorities and security forces said they tried to disperse the mob but that the mob was unresponsive and entirely beyond control.  No arrests were made and an investigation has been launched.  The mosque administration had failed to meet a Thursday deadline to raze the building to make way for a bridge. Ma Ba Tha, a Buddhist nationalist group, says the mosque was built without permission from the government, but Thein Aung, chairman of the mosque’s caretaker group, claims the structure was built more than 20 years ago.  On June 23, a Buddhist mob about 200 targeted a mosque and other religious buildings in a Muslim-dominated village in the Bago region. One Muslim man was injured and the minority group sought refuge in a neighboring town.....To Read More..

My Take – I have been following this story and my first link was on Thursday, April 18, 2013 with the article, Monks Gone Bad and The Mad Monks of Myanmar.

"My Take” at the time was: There is a question not answered, nor is it asked in this article. Why? The author talks about poverty as a vehicle for inclusion into the religious orders, but that isn't an explanation as to why this particular group of monks decided to be violent against Muslims. There is much more to this story that isn't being told, and it is my belief the right questions aren't being asked. This article answers those unasked questions when a monk named Wirathu says; “Muslims are fundamentally bad. Mohammed allows them to kill any creature. Islam is a religion of thieves, they do not want peace.” 

I have stated in the past that at some point there is going to be a backlash against Muslim violence.  What I didn’t expect was to see it started by Buddhists.  What I also find interesting is how much the world bemoans violence against Muslims, and yet those same voices seem to be silent at violence perpetrated by Muslims.  The world has gone nuts.  This much is clear though. When it starts it will become more unpleasant than anything we have seen for a long time."

This is a precurser as to what's going to happen in Europe.  Make no mistake about this - it's fundamental - they've pushed and pushed and pushed - and backlash in Europe will be stunningly unpleasant - altering Europe forever. The question everyone should be asking is what will take it's place.