This is, I must say, the height of paranoia and arrogance:
YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar’s military regime distributed international aid Saturday but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week’s devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.
(…)
“We have already seen regional commanders putting their names on the side of aid shipments from Asia, saying this was a gift from them and then distributing it in their region,” said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, which campaigns for human rights and democracy in the country.
“It is not going to areas where it is most in need,” he said in London.
In the meantime, millions of people are at risk:
“It’s a race against the clock,” Byrs said. “If the humanitarian aid does not get into the country on a larger scale, there’s the risk of a second catastrophe,” she said, adding that people could die from hunger and diseases.
Health experts have warned there was a great risk of diarrhea and cholera spreading because of the lack of clean drinking water and sanitation.
Farmaner suggested that aid be delivered to the country, also known as Burma, even if the regime does not give its permission.
“We have had a week to convince the regime to behave reasonably, and they are still blocking aid,” he said. “So the international community needs to wake up and take bolder steps.”
Short of moving U.N. Troops into the effected areas to ensure that aid gets where it needs to go, which would no doubt cause the Generals in Rangoon to respond, I’m not sure what else can be done if the junta doesn’t want to cooperate.
H/T: QandO
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May 10th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
The height of paranoia and arrogance? No, I am afraid not. This is a passive act. They probably think of it as euthanasia. Undoubtedly for the greater good, the brave generals are merely letting suffering people die. If this was the height of their paranoia and arrogance, they would blame the victims for being caught in the storm. They would condemn it as trick to bring foreigners into the country. Then they would actively pursue, torture, and murder the survivors.
May 10th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
[...] 2008 · No Comments Below The Beltway notes the latest on the cyclone disaster in Burma (see here). The tale has become more than a little [...]