As long as I'm going to and fro in the earth

Burma - In a confirmation of pretty much everything we thought we knew about the government there,

[a] rat infestation so severe that an estimated 100,000 people are on the brink of starvation is devastating the Chin State in Western Myanmar, and the nation's government is doing nothing to help its people, according to activists fighting for aid.

It is, they say, a natural disaster turned into a human one by the government's "gross neglect."

[T]he phenomenon causing the famine is known as "maudam"- a happening that occurs about once every 50 years, in which flowering bamboo trees produce a fruit on which the rat population gorges. The last time it struck was in 1958, with other occurrences in 1911 and 1862.

Instead of cannibalizing their young for food, as these rats normally do, the bamboo fruit provides the rats with the means to multiply by the millions. And when there is no fruit left, the plague of hungry rats decimate rice and corn crops in Western Myanmar so much so that an estimated 200 villages of an estimated 100,000 Chin people are now without food. ...

Myanmar is not the only nation plagued by this phenomenon, but aid workers say it is the only one where no action is being taken by its government.

What's more, the food aid that does make it to the area doesn't always make it to the people who need it.

The [Canada-based] Chin Human Rights Organization reports that more than 450 bags of rice donated as food aid by the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of the Province of Myanmar in April were confiscated by the Burmese government. The group says this rice was then sold at an overpriced rate so that the local authorities could make a profit.

The Chin are not only an ethnic minority in Burma, they are a religious minority as well (Christians), making them twice targets of government repression and abuse.

"The Burmese government is among the most brutal in the world, with twice as many mistreated villages than are in Darfur and the Sudan," said [Jeremy] Woodrum [of the US Campaign for Burma]. "Having a natural disaster wipe out the Chin people, a detested ethnic and religious minority, serves the Burmese regime's interest."

Just over a year ago, I wrote a couple of posts about the protest of the monks in Burma against the oppression there. At the time, there was a call for people to light a candle in witness of support for them. After that movement was suppressed, I thought to myself that those monks are not the only oppressed people who need to be remembered, so I continued lighting a candle in a lantern on my porch every night. I still do it and will continue to, if only to keep reminding myself of what's important in this world - and frankly, how much Joe the Plumber pays in taxes isn't even on that list. But tonight I'm going to think particularly of the Chin.

Italy - Another nation is experiencing its Terri Schiavo. The nation in this case is Italy and Terri's place is taken by a woman named Eluana Englaro.

[She] has been in a vegetative state for 16 years and her father has led a protracted court battle to disconnect her feeding tube, insisting it was her wish. ...

Her father, Beppino Englaro, has said she had visited a friend who was in a similar condition shortly before her accident and had expressed the will to refuse treatment if in the same situation.

While Italy does not allow euthanasia, patients can refuse treatment and this summer a court in Milan granted the father's request to refuse treatment on behalf of his daughter,

setting off a political storm in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country. ...

Catholic and anti-euthanasia groups protested the ruling by leaving bottles of water in front of Milan's Duomo cathedral. Prosecutors appealed the decision and the father pledged not to disconnect the tube before Italy's high court weighed in.

Events may make the whole thing moot, however, as the patient suffered a massive hemorrhage, threatening her life (if you can call what she has life in anything beyond purely biological terms). Doctors said the bleeding had stopped but if it started again she might not recover.

Italy again - File this under "Okay, at least we don't do that."

At a demonstration in Rome in July against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, popular comedian Sabina Guzzanti said, apparently in response to the church's campaign against various nations' laws allowing for same-sex marriage,

"Within 20 years the Pope will be where he ought to be - in hell, tormented by great big poofter devils, and very active ones, not passive ones."

In response, Rome prosecutor Giovanni Ferrara threatened to prosecute her for "offending the honor of the sacred and inviolable person of the pope." That's right, in Italy it is illegal to "offend the honor" of the Pope. The penalty is up to five years in prison.

In this case, the prosecutor decided against proceeding, despite the fact that organizers of the protest have distanced themselves from Guzzanti and members of Berlusconi's coalition have declared she should be prosecuted - the latter not surprising, since Berlusconi himself is a frequent target of Guzzanti's satire.

Part of the reason for that prosecutorial reluctance may have been Guzzanti's refusal to be intimidated - she said she was "honored" by the charge - and the fact that in the view of some legal observers, the Vatican, having injected itself into a political controversy, is as much a legitimate target as anyone else with the same view. Put another way, prosecutors may have decided not to pursue that case because they might well lose, and such a loss would damage the power of the law to intimidate others in the future.

Spain - As long as we're filing things, I suppose we can put this one under "More than one way to skin a cat."

A Dutch nonprofit organization is offering Spanish women free abortions on a boat anchored in international waters off Spain's coast.

The boat, operated by the abortion-rights group Women on Waves, arrived at the port of Valencia Thursday and began carrying out its first abortion procedures today.

Women who are less than 6½ weeks pregnant can board the boat, where they will be provided with free abortion pills under the supervision of a licensed gynecologist, said Rebecca Gomperts, Women on Waves' founder and director. ...

Abortion is illegal but decriminalized in Spain. Spanish women are allowed to get the procedure only in specific situations, including when carrying a baby to term is deemed dangerous to the mother's physical or mental health.

The boat docks, picks up pregnant women seeking abortions along with a larger group of nonpregnant women to provide cover, sails out beyond Spain's territorial boundaries, and administers the medications. The procedure is then repeated.

Sailing out to international waters allows Women on Waves to circumvent Spanish abortion laws when performing the procedures because more lenient Dutch standards apply when the ship is anchored outside of national territories. ...

The ship's arrival has sparked fierce protests in traditionally Catholic Spain. ...

"They even tried to stop the ship from mooring," [Gomperts] said of the protesters. "There were two small boats in the harbor trying to prevent us from docking. There was a bit of a struggle. But we managed to do so anyway." ...

In previous years, the so-called "abortion boat" has traveled to waters off the coast of Ireland, Poland and Portugal, causing widespread protests in each case.

In the case of Portugal, the government sent two warships to keep the boat away. Since that time, however, abortion has become legal in Portugal.

Thailand - The position of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat seemed shaky in the face of mass protests and a suggestion by the commander of the army that he resign over the deadly force employed by police to break up an anti-government protest on October 7.

Protesters had tried to prevent Somchai from delivering a speech to Parliament. Police used force to clear the streets, leading to violent clashes and rioting that left two people dead and over 400 injured.

Somchai has dismissed calls he resign, but suggested he might do so depending on the result of an investigation of the violence. A special panel is to release a report within the next two weeks.

Thailand is entering a third year of political upheaval:

A September 2006 military coup ousted then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecommunications billionaire, accused of corruption and abuse of power. An interim government was appointed but proved unpopular and incompetent.

Samak Sundaravej was elected prime minister in December 2007 by running as a proxy for Thaksin, who was in exile and banned from politics. Samak was forced out last month

for accepting money for hosting a TV cooking show while in office, which a court ruled an illegal conflict-of-interest.

He was replaced by Somchai, but

[t]he anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy has been seeking Somchai's resignation because they regard him as a puppet of Thaksin, who is his brother-in-law.

Somchai's party is popular in the countryside but is opposed by

the alliance and its sympathizers - monarchists, the military, the urban elite. [Plus, s]everal legal cases pending against him and his party also could force him out of office.

And in the midst of this, the military has stated a position: Somchai should go. While the commander, Gen. Anupong Paochinda, dismissed the possibility of a military coup, others are not so sure.