The YouTube War and... just war

In military-controlled Thailand, the government has banned YouTube, a video sharing website, for a disparaging video clip mocking the king. Excuse me, am I in China? http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSBKK17066320070404

So, I am neck deep in editing and correcting a pile of best interest reports for unaccompanied minors in Mae La. I now have 15 new English-as-a-second (Or third. Or fourth)-language staff under my supervision (eek!) and spend hours a day figuring out what is often skewed, archaic English and making it sound... not weird. Like this. What is one to do with a sentence like "she rendered her hand in goodwill and pity toward the child"?? Or this one - "the older child is obviously far stupider than her younger sister, who is quite bright". My rather awkward favorite I stumbled upon last week was this unfortunate sentence - "the girl had all sorts of rashes in her woman parts"...

Help.

In far more serious news, the fighting is escalating right over the Thai/Burma border. On Saturday night, SPDC (State Peace and Development Council - Burmese military) soldiers attacked several KNU (Karen National Union - the resistance army) military bases. The areas of attack are adjacent to the river, directly across from Mae Ramat town and Mae La camp. There had been no fighting in that particular area for over five years, until this week. Several hundred people fled their villages when the fighting started and crossed the river into Thailand, scattering in camps and Thai fields. Some have already returned to their homes. Some are literally sitting in the village on the Thai side, watching their houses on the Myanmar side.

Tension is high in the camp and in Mae Sot, as families fear a repeat of 1998, when Burmese soldiers attacked two refugee camps on the Thai side and burned them to the ground. The official word is that there is no danger of attack; the Thai military says they do not have sufficient range to hit the camp. But, rumors are flying - of death threats and SPDC orders to burn the camp. It is nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction. The inhabitants of Mae La are terrified. The shelling and mortar rounds could be heard from camp on Sunday. Evidently, the refugees and camp authorities are on high alert, and bags are packed in preparation for an emergency evacuation. The SPDC and DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army - a split off of the KNU that has aligned itself with the military junta) have reportedly taken over several KNU battalions base camps right across the border - going through Thailand to get there. There are troop movements on both sides (Thai and Burmese), as no one seems to know if the situation is calming down or heating up.

Sometimes, I forget that this is still a war zone - albeit a quieter, less publicized one. Villages are being burned to the ground, women raped, young boys forced to join armies, the elderly coerced into forced labor, children left orphans as their parents are killed, families running for their lives. Oh yes, this is still very real. Just because we aren't hearing about it on the evening news or reading about it in the paper doesn't mean that the world is as it should be.

Pray, my friends. Pray for our world...