Reports continue to vary with some saying 9 dead and others, including British PM Gordon Brown, believe it is much, much higher. With a steady stream of blogs reporting on the violent government crackdown, the junta responded by shutting down the internet in addition to arresting hundreds (thousands?) of monks and containing monks to their monasteries. Other reports suggested divisions within the military - even two units fighting each other - though today current reports suggest calm and lack of protest.
The new battle at the moment is over corporate involvement in Myanmar such as US and French oil companies Chevron and Total who both continue to operate. Some are calling for them to stop all operations or to pull out completely, requests which have been rejected. I would certainly not consider myself to be supportive of the oil industry though I wonder if it is not better to have some inroads into such a country which can be used to exert influence. The very strong counter argument is that if you do have influence you have to actually use it. So far there are no overt signs of China or India using any of their influence and they are the two countries who have the most interaction with the reclusive government. As for Chevron and Total, when was the last time we saw an oil company stand up for human rights? Yea, I can't recall such an event either.
