New Mandala readers looking to catch up on post-cyclone coverage over the weekend will find this post from Rule of Lords has a great deal of important detail on the theft of aid supplies. For his analysis, Awzar Thi delves into some of the Burmese language reporting on the relief effort. It is certainly worth a read. And the final flourish, in particular, deserves to get as big an audience as possible.
More excellent coverage from Rule of Lords
May 17th, 2008 by Nicholas Farrelly · 2 Comments
Tags: Burma · Cyclone Nargis
2 responses so far ↓
1 Reg Varney // May 18, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I am no fan of the Burmese military and I know I risk being chastised for this comment, but do the examples of theft in the linked story really seem so huge and awful? Of course, these may be the tip of a very large iceberg, but I would have thought that the army getting some of this stuff is probably to be expected, especially if the military is coordinating the relief efforts. At the same time, as we know, the military in Burma is huge and their related families etc. also probably need assistance. The one issue deserving of attention is the trucking away of orphans. But does that amount to forcing them into the army? Should they be left to fend for themselves or to wait for other relief agencies to show up? I am sorry if this offends some people, but I went to the link for evidence of the Burmese military acting badly and came away a bit puzzled.
2 jonfernquest // May 18, 2008 at 9:52 pm
“…do the examples of theft in the linked story really seem so huge and awful? …trucking away of orphans…Should they be left to fend for themselves or to wait for other relief agencies to show up?”
They may actually be instances of why the (albeit immoral) powers that be in Burma, take a hard line on foreign assistance, Thaksin also took a rather hostile view of foreign NGO operations and the intrusions into internal affairs that they represented.
Things would be different right now, and relief efforts possible, if Burma had had any intrinsic value to the US over the last 40 years. There would have been serious efforts to create good relations despite internal human rights abuses as there has been in countries that the US has deemed important such as China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea. Blaming it all on some paranoid and superstitious generals hunkered down in a foxhole hasn’t solved any problems, and these problems have existed for a long, long time.
Iraq’s strategic importance led ultimately to invasion and invasion led ultimately to the realisation among policymakers that they did not fully comprehend the situation. Burma, being strategically unimportant has led to only a meaningless, futile venting of emotion, while the country slipped down the drain (and now die in large numbers). Time for a new approach.
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