WSJ.com - What We Can Do About Burma

And now for some atrocities outside of Africa...

WSJ.com - What We Can Do About Burma: "Defeating apartheid would have been impossible without corporations world-wide mounting economic pressure to help release South Africa from the grip of a criminal regime. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a leading voice in that fight for freedom, declared, 'Tough sanctions, not constructive engagement, finally brought the release of Nelson Mandela and the dawn of a new era in my country.' In 1993, when Archbishop Tutu looked to the brutality of the junta controlling Burma, he called it 'the South Africa of the '90s.' More than a decade has passed, but Western corporations are still playing key roles in boosting the Burmese economy that finances the junta's rule."...

In the past few months, a 23-year-old refugee from Burma has documented reports in horrifying detail that demand our attention. She described an incident in which 10 Burmese soldiers stormed a farm and raped a young woman in her hut for eight hours straight. The woman was seven months pregnant at the time. Her husband was tied to a nearby tree and forced to hear the entire assault. The soldiers then dragged him away, and the woman never saw him again. A few days later she gave birth alone in the jungle.

The most shocking thing about this story is how commonplace it has become in Burma...

Why focus on this regime? Despite a lack of enemies outside its borders, Burma has one of the largest armies in Asia. It spends nearly half its budget on the military. At the same time, the United Nations reports that Burma -- once one of Asia's healthiest economies -- is now home to one of the world's poorest populations. It has also become one of the worst providers of health care, with one in 10 children dying before turning five....