Monk Called ‘buddhist Bin Laden’ Targets Myanmar’s Persecuted Muslims

YANGON, Myanmar — He’s been described as the “Buddhist bin Laden,” but Ashin Wirathu thinks he has more in common with the world’s most famous fictional spy. “James Bond is a nationalist,” the monk said in a recent interview. Flashing a smile, he offered a vague recollection of a movie in which 007, to extract information from a woman, took her to bed. “While he did not take much pleasure in the act,” Wirathu said, “he did it for his country.” His questionable reading of Bond aside, the firebrand Wirathu firmly says he is defending Myanmar against the people he views as the country’s main enemy: its Muslims. Wirathu, 46, might bear as much responsibility as any other individual for the desperate flight of Muslims from Myanmar aboard overcrowded fishing boats bound for Thailand and Malaysia. In speeches and Facebook posts, he has warned of an impending “jihad” against the huge Buddhist majority, spread rumors of Muslims systematically raping Buddhist women and called for boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses.