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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.
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.
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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.