The Power of the Veto !

 Without any warning, the Myanmar military arrested that country's democratically elected leader. and imposed  martial law.  They say they will hold a democratic election when they have restored order, but are vague about just when that will be.

There is no doubt about the reaction of the men and women who make up the population of that country. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in noisy protests, banging pots and pans and inflicting civil disobedience.  The police and the military are now firing live bullets indiscriminately into the crowd and at least 536 people have been killed, including 43 children.

The restive Karen people on the Myanmar border with Thailand have long been an armed camp and now the Myanmar military have commenced bombing operations against their villages.  Refugees are crossing the border and seeking shelter in Thailand and opposition to Junta control is continuing in Yangon and other Myanmar cities.

Britain called a meeting of the United Nations Security Council with the aim of imposing sanctions on the Myanmar military but China used its " veto " to take that off the agenda.  When the United Nations was set up at the end of the second world war it was obvious that five nations had access to nuclear weapons and were granted special powers.

The " Veto " was the right afforded to Britain, the United States, Russia, China and France to remove any subject from discussion or action without giving a reason.  World politics has since seen this veto used to block any form of action opposed by the competing world power blocks.   As a result, the United Nations has become a toothless tiger.

Myanmar was formerly known as "Burma " and is a little country tucked away between India and the rest of Asia.  China sells military equipment to the Myanmar military has had major investments in that country, and these include  oil and gas pipelines that stretch from Yunnan province to the Bay of Bengal.  It is part of the new trade route China is building across Asia.

Basically, the world is prevented from taking any positive action to restore order in Myanmar because of this veto held by the five major sponsors of the United Nations Security council.  With the support of China and Russia the Myanmar military may indefinitely ignore the wishes of the civilian population of their country and go on killing with impunity.

Of course, other nations in addition to those holding a veto now have nuclear weapons and were not added to the veto listing.  At least this arrangement has prevented any issue culminating in a nuclear war even if delivering justice has been a necessary casualty.

Russia invaded Ukraine and has annexed the Crimea peninsula despite this clearly breaking a treaty signed by the other veto powers, and the situation in Venezuela has starving citizens fleeing over the borders while help is being denied.

It seems that the citizens of Myanmar will continue their protest and many more will die from military bullets without any hope of deliverence from the rest of the world.  It seems that the United Nations charter to protect the weak against the strong is just as useless as its predecessor, the old League of Nations !