BURMA CYCLONE

[The understudy]

Hallo there Y'all

This is really utter madness! As Sandman had given proof of the Report by the Deutsche Presse Agentur. This shows that the Junta acts in blatant disregard for the safety of it's People. The only thing the Millitary Regime cares aboot is how further cement their Reign of Power after the refferendum. Now it's being reported that the Junta is repacking the Food Aid sent from From Thailand being repacked so it looked like they where Governmental Aid!
The burmese leading regime is ruling over Burmese like its still on the 19th Century And They are Living High Life it's Sick Just mad Sickness!!!

[STEVE G]

It seems that things are not improving in Myanmar:http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/ ... dChannel=0

[sandman67]

its a sad sad situation......

makes you wonder tho eh.....

oppressive regime
rogue state
massive drugs provider
loads of oil, gas, copper, tin, gold, gemstones.....

.....now a natural disaster and typical oppressive state response.....

....where the hell are the UK and US forces doing a "bringing democracy to the oppressed/world police/etc" mission?

Ah....I guess its like Aung San Suu Kyi says ..... "in geo-politics Burma just isn't fashionable".... the dumb thing is that, as opposed to Iraq, the people in Burma would probably welcome such an incursion.

my heart goes out to the people of Burma because I know in two more days or so the post event deathtoll will start climbing logarithmically .... every minute counts and even post disaster the Burmese junta couldn't even be bothered answering the phone to their own ambassador in New York. Says it all......

[margaretcarnes]

In the few hours since Steve G posted the Reuters link the estimate of the likely death toll has risen to maybe 100,000. And one of the quotes given by Reuters is the taxi driver who says there won't be demonstrations, because people don't want to be shot.
While I agree with Chas - that this would seem an ideal opportunity to get rid of the Junta - many of the Burmese people probably feel the same as the taxi driver. We can deplore the situation, and have for years, but change has to come from within the country, and sadly that means innocent people putting their lives on the line.
As for throwing bodies into the rivers, I would guess that wood for cremations is scarce. From what we are seeing people are salvaging what they can to build shelters. Many will also be getting weak from lack of water now.
The visa issues are appalling, and apparently due to the Junta's fear of foreigners entering the country, but I don't see why that should prevent air drops of supplies. The US and other countries are ready to move supplies in. IMO the Junta couldn't risk being seen to shoot down such supplies. The US didn't need permission to go into Iraq, so why are they dithering now?

[nevets]

Sandman , China and Thailand like Burma like it is under the junta so they can easily get the minerals and gems, gold and jade , gas and oil for a special price.

[frankbangkok]

The usual way the United Nations operates is to fund international and local NGOs to assist in emergency operations. This is the operational partner system which has worked satisfactorily most of the time in the past. Using this operational partner system, the UN has been able to keep most of the money out of the hands of the various national governments.

i would be surprised if the emergency assistance to Burma were handled any differently. Thus, I would expect that most of the aid money will find its intended recipients in Burma.

[The understudy]

What enough is enough!!!

The Burmese junta is still dragging its feet in Issiuing Visa waivers for Helpers of the Diffrent Organisations. And tomorrow is in Thailand a national Holiday and the Burmese embassy closes too. Despite the Humanitarian Catastrophy.
And they haven't cleared the Airspace for Humannitarian Supplies from the WFP and USAid. If any supplies arrive in Yangoon The Millitary insists that they distrbute the Goods. And its being reported on several german Medias that the Junta is trying to gain Profit from this Catastrophy by Hording all the supplies then selling them the Helping Organisations.
The Paranoia of the Junta is reaching a point of ludacrucy. It seems they have lost all sense of reality of the scale of this mess. This shows the Junta don't care aboot their People they see their people as slaves for their own Profits.

Your's The understudy
(very upset & sick of the Burmese JUnta!!!

[frankbangkok]

There are two categories of countries in the United Nation's view: donor countries and recipient countries. Donor countries are generally the western developed / industrialized countries, and the recipient states are generally the third world, countries which are, it is said, on the road to development. I can say, from my experience, that the govenments of most recipient countries do siphon off as much international aid as they are able to for their own military, or as in some cases, just for the corrupt goal of gaining wealth for the individual. I have seen no exception to this practice among the various recipient countries I have worked in for the UN and I wouldn't be surprised if the authorities in Burma attempt the same thing. The goal for the govermental and non-govermental humanitarian organizations then, is to get as much aid directly to the target population as possible. Knowing that getting one hundred per cent of the aid to the most needy is not realistic, the goal then becomes getting as much aid directly to the suffering as humanly possible.

I recall one case in which we were forced to pay a recipient government directly to provide one hundred grams of fish per day to a group of five thousand displaced persons. One would naturally think that the group would then receive five hundred kilos of fish per day. Wrong. In this case the group received a dump truck load of rotten fish each week, dumped on the sand. The fish were very small, no more than an inch in length, and had been destined to become fish sauce. Despite our best efforts we were never able to correct this situation until the contract expired after one year and the money stopped flowing. The only consolation in this case was the fact that the target population did get some fish and they all survived.

[sandman67]

This just got worse.....

even N Korea relented during their famine and let foreign aid workers in.....

seems Burma are happy to become a real world first....

the first country to completely block foreign disaster relief aid workers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7391535.stm

utter complete madness.....

[STEVE G]

France tried to bring a UN motion that would have allowed aid to be administered without government approval, but this was vetoed by countries like China and Russia.
This was a pity as it would have been interesting to see what the Junta would have done if a Marine expeditionary force had turned up on the beach and started feeding people.

[The understudy]

Hi there Y'all!!!

After the Complete block of desaster relief by the Burmese Junta. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for an emergency Session of the UN General Assembly to discuss this matter. Meanwhile the Burmese Junta has confiacated. 38 Tons Energy Cereal Bars of relief supplies as Sandman had reported earlier.
German Chancellor Angela Merkle wants to talk to UN Sekretary General Ban Ki Moon about the Situation in Burma. Before calling for an Emergency Meeting of the Security Counsil is called.
It seems to me that the Burmese Junta wants to extortionate its people to exept the referendum on the Draft for the constitution or if the people don't except they will not get any aid relief.

being fustrated of being Powerless of can't do anything!
Sandman you are way right. It's pure shicane and utter Madness.!!!

Your's The understudy!!!!

[Wanderlust]

Do you think we could be looking at a UN ratified invasion of Burma so that relief can be given? I'm sure pressure will be applied to the Chinese to lean heavily on them or suffer a boycott of the Olympics...

[The understudy]

Hi there wanderlust!!!

If we lean heavilty on China than do it fast. China don"t want to loose face and may Pressure the Burmese Junta to cease the Blockade and let Help in For BudddHas sake.

Your's The understudy!!!

[STEVE G]

What France was basically suggesting was that those with the ability started distributing aid whether Myanmar agreed to it or not. Seeing as how devastated the area is, it seems that you wouldn’t have to invade as such, just come in from the sea or air and start work. Obviously if you put a sizeable military task force off the coast, Myanmar really wouldn’t be able to do anything about it anyway.
This came to nothing as it was vetoed by China and Russia.

[frankbangkok]

Sorry, but the UN general assembly will do no such thing as vote to authorize a hostile invasion of Burma. Even if it were to do so, china would surely veto the motion. The best chance for pressure to be applied on the junta is for Thailand to do so. The Thai government wields great influence on the junta and could influence their actions, if they wished to do so. However, many Asians may view this disaster differently than westerners do.

With regards to China's involvement, I think it might be a mistake to link the disaster in Burma with the Summer Olympics. China and its people are extremely sensitive on the subject of the olympics and for any governmental body to threaten China's olympics over this disaster would bring nothing but international outrage. A more diplomatic approach to
China could be made, but my money would be on Thailand having a better response to such diplomatic pressure.