Step By Step

I don't really know enough about Burma to say anything insightful about the current freedom / democracy protests. But the apparent escalation by the military junta does not seem good. For the last several weeks they have allowed the protests to take place possibly thinking they would fizzle out. Yesterday, the made efforts to slow down communication lines so that reports, pictures, and videos would be harder to export via cell phone and the internet. At the same time the military started to crack down on the protestors. Shootings and beatings were reported. The junta reported that 9 protestors, including a Japanese photographer, had been killed. This morning news reports are that all internet access in Burma has been cut. I hope I'm wrong but I imagine that the crackdown is getting much harder, much more violent, and much more deadly.

UPDATE: NPR reports that junta is now saying 10 protestors have been killed this week.

UPDATE 2: It appears to be getting ugly as I predicted. I've seen a couple references to the army units fighting each other. As I type this NPR is reporting that the junta has "put down the protests."