U.S. Ignores Burma's Ethnic Cleansing, Now Bangladesh Sees Retaliation

As the U.S. cuts deals, Suu Kyi accepts rewards and President Thein Sein is pardoned for his past crimes; the conflict continues to burn homes and claim lives and now it has crossed an international border.

Rakhines holding weapons during declaring of Act Of Law 144 inside the Sittwe town, Burma

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - Ethnic tension has consumed Burma in recent weeks and now the problems are spilling over in a retaliatory fashion, into Bangladesh.

Thida Htwe 26-year old Arakanese woman raped and murdered at Rambree allegedly by 3 Rohingya

It all began over the reported rape of a Buddhist woman in Burma, a long closed pariah state which the Buddhist government renamed Myanmar. Almost immediately after that happened, a bus carrying Muslim men in Burma was pulled over, and the passengers murdered in open daylight.

Since then things have only become worse, much worse. We have published photographs of Rakhine Buddhists roving around with weapons including machetes which offer a haunting reflection of past genocides. People have been laid to waste; cut into pieces in some cases.

These murders have accelerated as Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, has worked hard to help the leaders of this country in their "transition to democracy". This means forgiving decades of human rights abuse by Burma's military junta.

As political leaders in Burma hold their hand out to America for economic prosperity, mobs of Rakhine Buddhists are killing their fellow citizens, the Rohingya Muslim and leaving their villages in ashes. The U.S. State Dept and even the famous Burmese political leader An Aan Suu Kyi remains silent over the suffering of the Rohingya.

One of the regular chants of the anti-Muslim protesters here, is that the Rohingya people are "illegal immigrants from Bangladesh". However the Rohingya community according to historical accounts, has been in Burma for hundreds of years.

Regardless of that, the violence that has been plaguing the Muslims of Burma, has now extended to Bangladesh where innocent Buddhists are being attacked in retaliation to the violence plaguing Rohingya Muslims.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported today, that dozens of Myanmar Buddhist monks gathered in front of the Bangladeshi Embassy today staging protests against recent attacks on Buddhist institutions in Bangladesh.

Buddhist monk in Bangladesh tries to salvage what he can.

Those taking part in the demonstration condemned an arson attack and the destruction on Buddha statues, temples, monasteries and residential houses. (see: Myanmar monks protest attack on Buddhist shrines in Bangladesh)

The interesting thing is that the Buddhists in Bangladesh are calling for and demanding the exact things that the Rohingya Muslims are begging for, for weeks, now months... in Burma. The cries of this Muslim population facing annihilation fall on deaf ears as the government of 'Myanmar' is Buddhist and therefore fails to protect the Muslim minority population.

They are asking for peace, yet their counterparts in Burma have been totally unwilling to grant that peace. So now the violence is visiting the otherwise peaceful Bangladeshi Buddhists in return and they do not deserve it.

As the United States cuts its deals and Suu Kyi accepts her rewards and President Thein Sein is pardoned for his past crimes, the conflict continues to burn homes and claim lives and now it has crossed an international border, this is the reward for the mighty western powers' decision to ignore this genocidal bout of ethnic cleansing.

Photo by Justin King

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

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