Burma or officially known as Myanmar became an independent country from Great Britain in January 1948. It came under military rule in 1962. From then onwards it has gone down economically and human rights abuse is rife. Recent crackdown on the demonstrations that started on August 18, 2007; on its people and monks have led to world wide criticism. The military or the Junta as it's commonly called raised the price of essentials to cover the cost of the war. Being a Buddhist country, monks are highly respected so the military bought in non-Buddhists to shoot at them. Many news agencies were banned from filming and reporting to the outside world. Many journalists were stationed in neighbouring Thailand.

Before this event Burma never featured on the BBC, ABC, CNN or any major news channels. This is because it never really mattered, possibly because being a small country with no petroleum-why bother Big Brother. The BBC now features Burma every other day. This is probably because if a government is installed that is favourable to the west it can easily be modified in a way that business can be done and money can be made. For example, many Middle Eastern and other countries that are oil rich don't have democracies but they are in big business with the rest of the world.

There is no doubt that cruelty should be highlighted and brought to the world but there are many more dictatorial or autocratic regimes that hardly finds a headline because it serves the world in one way or another. By all means batter Burma and try to get rid of the brutal regime; but do not expose economic sanctions as this will cause sufferings especially to children, women and weaker sections of Burmese society, in the form of unavailability of medicines and milk formula. Though it is well known that investment will encourage the military to hang on to their regime.

It's a difficult call.