Burma
5/9/08
CNN Article : U.N. ‘furious’ as Myanmar aid ’seized’
Paul Risley, a spokesman for the United Nations World Food Program, said, “all the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated.”
Myanmar said it had turned back one relief flight because, in addition to disaster relief supplies, it carried disaster assessment experts and an unauthorized media group.
“Myanmar is not in a position to receive rescue and information teams from foreign countries at the moment,” the statement, from the Foreign Ministry, said. “But at present Myanmar is giving priority to receiving relief aid and distributing them to the storm-hit regions with its own resources.”
Complete bullshit. Not in a position to receive rescue and information teams? that may be true for an evil government who puts their grip on power before the welfare of its own citizens. For any normal government, the situation is more like they are not in a position to be refusing help.
France is right. They should invoke the responsibility to protect clause by UN and just freaking get in and get the job done. Kill the damn soldiers if they try to stop them. What kind of government wants their citizens dead? oh wait. yeah. we are not talking about any government - we are talking about an illegitimate one forced upon the citizens by violence.
5/12/08 Update
So some pro China idiot wrote this article on Friday. To give him/her some credit, he does raise a good point. Does US just want to block China’s access to the sea from Burmese coast? It may be right to question since the world is full of evil intent. and it’s the right line of thinking if you consider China the center of the universe.
anyhow he/she was arguing that everyone should just leave their donation/supplies/aids at the airport and let the Burmese government handle the distribution to the victims. I wrote this long comment about why that’s not the brightest idea and not an idea that will help the actual victims.
You think everyone should JUST trust that Burmese government will do the right thing and distribute the supplies people drop off at the airport, at the border to the real victims of the disaster. Yeah, right. what do you know about corruption? 80% of the material will be ‘lost’ or ‘misplaced’ on its way to the victim in the hands of military, police and ‘USDA’ members. But don’t worry. those same supplies will reappear in the black market 2 days later and sure, the public will get them eventually - only after paying the exorbitant prices on the black market.
I have seen UNICEF supplies being sold in the black market. I have seen bandages with red cross logos being sold in the medicine supplies shops. In Yangon, no one even blinks when someone is selling stolen goods that are clearly coming from some NGO or UN organization. It’s part of life under a corrupt system.
let’s see if you are the lone survivor with no money, you are pretty much screwed if every organization agrees to leave their donations in the hands of Burmese government.
Two days later, NY times ran this article. some quotes that confirm my point :
“They gave us four bags,” he said. “The rice is rotten — even the pigs and dogs wouldn’t eat it.”
He said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had delivered good rice to the local military leaders last week but they kept it for themselves and distributed the waterlogged, musty rice. “I’m very angry,” he said, adding an expletive to describe the military.
…
Privately, some residents showed flashes of resentment toward the military for monopolizing the distribution of basic necessities. “These military men are notorious,” said a college student in Yangon whose family had to buy seven panels of corrugated tin to repair their roof. “They get these supplies free. They are donated by other countries, then the military receives them and sells them to the people.”
How do I feel about all this? outraged? depressed? combination of both.
