The bastards of Burma
This is why aid has been delayed to millions.
WaPo,
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.
WaPo,
Burma's military government said Friday it had cleared a U.S. military relief flight for cyclone victims, declaring itself ready to accept aid from "all quarters." But the junta reaffirmed that it alone will handle distribution, without foreign workers, a restriction that international agencies reject..
posted by mikevotes at
7:21 AM
4 Comments:
I remember the Bush government refusing foreign aid during the Katrina disaster. And I don't think the Bush regimes efforts at "distributing aid" were/are any more efficacious than the Myanmar junta's.
I really don't see a difference in the mentality between Bush/Cheney and the junta, vis a vis foreign aid and distribution and propaganda. While there may be a difference in degree, this is largely due to individuals, a free press, and a the fact that Bush hasn't established a military dictatorship... domestically any way.
By
-epm, at 7:45 AM
I'm sorry, I can't go that far.
I agree that the rejection of foreign aid looked pretty bad, but the difference is that the Katrina problems were more of distribution and coordination than supply.
There unquestionably were a number of significant failures, but it's not the same thing.
Thhis is much more like the starvations in N. Korea (or Mao's China) where a government lets its people die.
By
mikevotes, at 7:54 AM
Good points. Upon re-reading my own comment I think I was drawing too close a comparison.
I think N. Korea is a better example than Myanmar.
By
-epm, at 8:25 AM
Yeah. When they're people went through the great famines, the leadership initially refused outside aide, finally only accepting it with tons of conditions.
By
mikevotes, at 9:38 AM
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