Source: Newsday
Wire Service: AP
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/world/ny-wosaff085406343oct08,0,4392192.story
Myanmar's "saffron revolt" has been crushed by an entrenched junta, but the brutality inflicted on Buddhist monks who braved its guns may be the only thing that could splinter the ranks of its fiercely loyal military.
As Myanmar's prisons fill with monks and other demonstrators and the bloodstains of revolt are expunged from the streets, many in Myanmar fear they might never see the return of democracy. The Southeast Asian nation formerly named Burma has witnessed British colonial domination, a fleeting era of democracy and 45 years of iron-fisted military rule.
Yet the monks are deeply revered in this mostly Buddhist nation, and imprisoning them upsets the faithful, no matter what their occupation or political bent.
"The crackdown by the military against the monks may be a major element in the destruction of the very military unity they seek. Many may be profoundly disturbed by the actions of their colleagues," says David Steinberg of Georgetown University, an author of several books on Myanmar.