Midnight Monastery Raids

A friend emails this picture of a bloodied monastery floor along with a description of the tatmadaw's attacks. State media reports 9 people dead, but there is no compelling reason to trust that number. The Irrawaddy reports a monk has been killed.

Today should be the end of the "evil genius" theory of the junta's success, if there was any of that left after 2004. This response is just sloppy. Raiding monasteries and attacking members of the country's most high-status class will mobilize the Burmese in a way that shooting ordinary people would not have. A massive, violent show of force might have made sense; a targeted, limited warning attack on lay people may have made sense. Killing a monk and a Japanese expat is a sign of panic and disorder.