Thank you.
-XT
I’ve been catching up with this on the news today, and the more I hear about it the more it pisses me off. That’s just stupid, and frankly no one should have to beg to GIVE help. I’ve got a rant brewing, but I’ve gotta go.
It’s pretty sickening…they are STILL dragging their feet over letting in aid. And for the ‘rah rah stick it to American!’ bunch…that includes ALL the countries trying to get aid to these poor people. Oh, I know…it’s great that someone is putting a thumb in American’s eye and not accepting tainted aid…but come on people. They are dragging their feet even over non-American aid!
While thousands die. I read today that the death toll could go as high as 100,000…and many of those are going to be post disaster deaths due to people simply lacking aid, food and water.
-XT
Remember this is the country that’s afraid of a 90 pound woman who likes to talk about democracy. Having said that, I’m sure any contingent of aid workers would also include a healthy dose of spies who would be working to undermine the regime and spread that fearful democracy talk. That’s what they’re most afraid of, so they don’t want to let any aid workers from anywhere in.
Having said that, fuck the Myanmar junta with something sharp and barbed. I hope the people there realize what a shit government they have and I hope the inevitable second wave of destruction (courtesy of the neglected, hungry suffering people) washes over the regime and destroys it.
I doubt it. They’re not afraid of spies so much as the possibility that people inside might not be totally dependant on the government,or might be exposed to ideas they don’t want.
Won’t happen.
Considering Anderson Cooper and Geraldo Rivera were able to arrive in New Orleans before US aid, I’d say that Cubans, who are demonstrably capable of navigating across 90 miles of open ocean in fiberglass drums lashed together with bamboo, could have managed to deal with the waist deep water.
Yes, that too although I wasn’t sure how to express it succinctly. But if a bunch of foreign strangers come into the country and start handing out better aid than the standard of living, it really makes the government look like shit.
I don’t realistically hope for a revolution but the food riots going on in other parts of the world reminded me of the fact that when people can’t eat they get really mad. Especially if there’s lots of food around being horded by a privileged few.
Actually, plenty of US aid was getting to N.O. quickly. Alas, the Gov’t was interfering with it getting through. Local, state & nat’l gov’t clusterf’cked up that whole mess. If the religious groups & U.S. corporations had been allowed to run Katrina aid & recovery, N.O. would be a wonderland today.
(Yes, I’m exaggerating. But not by much.)
And it was the Cuban Gov’t offering help, not the refugees, who are the ones with the makeshift boat expertise. The latter are the ones I’d trust!
Well… fuck 'em. With something sharp and virulent.
It’s a dilemma for the US, a great opportunity for the Burmese Generals, and a horrible death for the average Burmese. I keep thinking about why the Burmese Generals would react the way they have.
As El Cid Visco points out, the US State Department has “cultivated acrimonious relations” with these dictators. What should they be doing? Propping them up? Rewarding them? OK, so the present Burmese govt. isn’t friendly with the US and the feeling is returned with interest.
At the same time, the Generals want the population to approve their referendum, allowing them to remain in power forever, control all opposition parties, the Press, and crush any dissent the way they always have. Only now, if it passes, they’ll be able to point to the referendum and say that they have their own constitution, approved by the voters, and are abiding by it. This is obviously important to them.
The Generals originally turned down everyone but are now allowing material aid but not the workers. So, all the aid gets turned over to the government, to give to who they wish.
Who wants to bet that any aid dropped off with the Burmese government will be used to gain votes in favor of the referendum? A “Yes” vote will get you some penicillin or a bowl of rice. A “No” vote will get you the sad news that “Sorry, all the aid is used-up or already allocated elsewhere.” This allows the government to distribute aid and come across as the good guys to their population while still retaining the iron control they always have. The new referendum should be an AMAZING success.
The US and most other Western countries are in the position of either propping-up a government they despise through uncontrolled aid shipments, or propping-up a government they despise through refusing to help at all.
Regards
Testy
Ok, so it was a joke on your part. Very droll. Either that our simply put you don’t have a clue what you are talking about and are just filling in space.
Regardless, you may have noticed by now (or maybe not if the above post is what you consider critical thinking) that this thread isn’t about Katrina…nor about the US at all in fact.
-XT
You’re right, it’s about whether a country is justified in refusing aid. I claim that they are, you seem to think they are not. Following a disaster you’re going to have lots of people volunteering to help. Some are highly skilled professionals with their own command structure and equipment, some are less skilled, some are people who have watched too many episodes of that TV show with Randoph Mantooth and figure firemen get all the chicks, some are looters or other criminals, and some are agents of foreign governments with agendas of their own. It’s hard to sort them out.
Then you have the difficulty in providing security for these groups. Do you let a bunch of well meaning do-gooders wander around the countryside looking for people to help? And when some bandit captures a group of Red Cross workers and holds them for ransom you’ve got real trouble. Somebody is going to want to send a peacekeeping force in to rescue them. I suppose you could only let in people who bring along their own security, but having a lot of separate military groups with their own arms might not be the best option either.
I approve of their refusing aid, and I encourage more people to do so. Plus, the government of Burma is so corrupt and repressive that pitting them for turning down aid is like pitting the management of Auschwitz for not having electrostatic precipitators on the smokestacks.
When you’re right, you’re right.
They don’t want it? Fine. We’ll keep out planeloads of food, water and cash. Doesn’t effect me in the least. Does upset me a little bit that we continue to beg to help. Sad situation for the people there, no doubt, but when you have the military impounding the only aid that’s actually made it through from the UN, I can’t see a reason to continue. Fuck 'em.
Sadly I agree. I usually dig deep for this kind of thing but not for this.