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cyclone-hit Myanmar « Previous | |Next »
May 10, 2008

Washington likes to call Myanmar an "outpost of tyranny". Presumably, the curbs by cyclone-hit Myanmar on overseas help for its devastated population by the military dictatorship is done to protect their hold on power and its illegitimate misrule. International aid to allowed to trickle into the country.The regime continues to resist US and UN disaster relief and food aid personnel from entering the country.

This is despite 100,000 dead with tens of thousands still missing, whole villages and townships wiped off the map, a complete loss of physical and communication infrastructure and 1 million of Myanmar's citizens left bedraggled, homeless and susceptible to water-borne diseases by Cyclone Nagris.

Burma.jpg Moir

Zao Noam in Asia Times Online says that:

The Myanmar government has yet to offer any assistance to those devastated by the cyclone, despite the vast number of sufferers and the area's vital importance to the national economy. Yangon is the center of business for the country, and the delta region provides the nation's rice.

Noam says that communities came together and cleaned up their homes and streets as best they could but community action remains limited in the face of such a catastrophe.

The junta's refusal to issue visas to aid workers "unprecedented" in the history of humanitarian work.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 6:27 AM | | Comments (3)
Comments

Comments

I think it's fair to say the Bush response to Katrina has sort of taken the sting out of the US response to this disaster. What stopped them using warships to help clean up the mess on home ground.

Charles,
the Bush administration eventually swung into action re Katrina. That cannot be said for the military regime in Burma. They are doing next to nothing to help their people. They are being left to die.

Gary
Natural disasters can help precipitate regime changes as they make things difficult for politically unstable regimes. The military junta is completely concerned with its own survival.