STAND has long dedicated its time and energy to ending the genocide in Darfur, and will continue to do so until we bring this crisis to a close. STAND has also in recent months brought its attention to the crisis in Burma. Despite the countries’ many differences, their two conflicts share a similar set of traits, including their violation of the principles of the Responsibility to Protect and the way they manipulate the international community. Here is an excerpt from a great article from the Houston Chronicle that shows the underlying similarities between the crises in Darfur and Burma:
"Friday, Burman’s dictatorship officially put the death toll at 78,000, with another 56,000 missing. Western governments and media argued 100,000 dead might be a better figure, once the statisticians account for casualties caused by disease and displacement.
Add "delay" to the disease and displacement — in the case of Burma, delay caused by a dictatorship resisting aid efforts (most from Western nations) and emergency supplies.
Burma’s regime is pursuing a modified "Darfur strategy," at least the Darfur political strategy as pursued by Sudan’s dictatorship in Khartoum. For the last three years, the Sudanese government has been resisting, thwarting, dodging and blocking international relief and peacekeeping efforts in Darfur, carefully relenting — by an inch or two — when the public and economic pressure reaches a momentary crescendo.
The Burmese junta knows the script."