DICTATOR WATCH

Contact: Roland Watson, roland@dictatorwatch.org

BETRAYAL BY EUROPE

6 September 2004

While the world was rightfully revolted by the actions of a gang of child-killing Chechen extremists, the European Union decided that it was acceptable to sit down with their brothers in murder and mayhem, the Burmese generals of SLORC/SPDC. By agreeing to attend the October 8-9 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Hanoi, the EU has said unequivocally that there is no one with whom they will not engage. The mass rapists and mass murderers of Burma's junta have committed dozens if not hundreds of times over the types of atrocities just witnessed in North Ossetia.

It truly is a pathetic spectacle. In a situation where the correct decision was so easy to make - to unconditionally impose strong sanctions on SLORC/SPDC and to refuse to attend ASEM, and to work with ASEAN, unless Burma is banned, the EU went out of its way - it bent over backwards - to do the wrong thing.

Never - ever - trust a diplomat, particularly from Europe, to do the right thing. Statesmen and women act on principle. Diplomats sacrifice principle for the sake of expediency and financial gain.

This should clearly signal to the Burma democracy movement that it can expect little - nothing - from Europe. The EU is on the side of the genocidal generals of SLORC/SPDC and their regional allies in Asia.

Defeat of Burma's dictators requires more pressure, not less.