I'd like to know more about the philosophy of the ruling junta.

This military group has ignored a landslide election in which the opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi - 'The Lady', as she's known - was handed power by the people.

I must assume that the military think they have better ideas for the country, but I haven't seen any reports anywhere of what these ideas are.

By the way, for those wishing to take some action, if you already know more than I (not hard!) about Burma and its rulers, may I suggest that you write gentle and courteous personal letters to those rulers quoting apposite Burmese literature that may be attractive to these specific people and making your point.

I remember meeting people on both sides of a big letter campaign. On one side, people said to me "We've got thousands of people to fill out this form letter and send it in to the government in protest." On the other, a civil servant showed me bundles of these letters and said "Oh, they're all identical, they're just a form; we just threw them all out."

While all the individuals had believed strongly in what was written in the letter, the fact that it was a formula meant the people it was addressed to paid no attention. If each of those people had written a polite, kind letter individually, they would have been listened to.