new york -- In a show of support for anti-government protesters in Myanmar, President Bush plans to announce toughened sanctions today to build on U.S. pressure against the military government there, his national security advisor said.
Bush plans to use a speech at the U.N. General Assembly to outline the new efforts to force the military rulers to accede to the demands of the democracy movement in the Southeast Asian nation, Stephen Hadley said.
The U.S. sanctions will include efforts to limit travel and financial transactions by key Myanmar government members and their families. Those steps will be a concrete element in a broader speech in which Bush will advance general arguments in favor of human rights. In particular, Bush will seek to promote greater access to education, healthcare and nutrition in underdeveloped regions, White House officials said.
The president began a three-day visit to New York on Monday for the meeting of the General Assembly, which is beginning its 63rd annual session today. He met privately at the Waldorf- Astoria Hotel with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who now represents the quartet -- the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union -- seeking to bring about a broad peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel.
As previewed by White House officials, the General Assembly speech today will veer away from the themes of terrorism and war that were the foundation of Bush's first speeches at the U.N.
He was likely to turn to elements of foreign policy that carry less of an edge while still encouraging the spread of democracy and the fight against tyranny, officials indicated.
Unfriendly political world
The shift in tone comes at a time when Bush is struggling in a political world grown increasingly unfriendly, both at home and abroad.
It was at the U.N. last year that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- never a friend of Bush -- likened the American president to a visitor from the underworld, saying, "The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulfur still today."
But even international allies are growing skittish. Britain, under new Prime Minister Gordon Brown, hopes to scale down its commitment of troops in Iraq. And at home, notwithstanding the Democrats' inability to force Bush's hand in Iraq, there are few signs that public opposition to the war is weakening.
