Human Rights

How interesting to see that Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gov. Pete Wilson have both opposed economic sanctions against the military dictatorship of Myanmar within a week of each other (Feb. 6). Feinstein claims that sanctions would only hurt “the people who need help,” ignoring the fact that the people working for democracy and human rights in Myanmar overwhelmingly support sanctions.

Given the military regime’s brutal crackdown on all opposition, its nullification of elections won by the opposition in 1988 and documented instances of drug trafficking, one can only conclude that powerful interests lie behind the decisions of these two California politicians. One of the major players in Myanmar is Unocal, which stands to profit handsomely from a proposed natural gas pipeline that has the backing of the ruling regime. The major beneficiaries of a no-sanction policy are the military dictatorship of Myanmar and Unocal and the latter, it would seem, is flexing its muscle in Sacramento and Washington.

JOHN P. LLOYD

Sierra Madre

Your Feb. 6 editorial, “An Invalid Equation,” betrays a callous disregard for the lives of four American citizens who, while exercising their rights to free speech and free assembly, were killed by the Ohio National Guard. While I agree that the Kent State massacre was not as heinous as that in Tiananmen Square 20 years later, it hardly compares to a “fender scraped in a parking lot.”

Your equation is far more invalid than Feinstein’s. She at least recognized that, in both cases, innocent people were killed by military forces who were supposed to protect them.

MITCHELL GREENHILL

Santa Monica