The situation in Burma
James Forsyth 4:50pm
The news that food aid to Burma has had to be suspended because the military junta that rules the country has seized it for its own purposes is as depressing as it is predictable. Considering that one and a half million survivors of the cyclone are in dire need of assistance, the consequences of this are appalling. The situation in Burma is a reminder of why Amartya Sen was right to argue that only democracy guarantees that the best interests of the citizenry is the state’s paramount concern.
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David Lindsay
May 9th, 2008 6:49pmWhere is "Myanmar"? The American media seem to think that there is such a country.
Even the BBC, with its "Mumbai" in deference to the BJP and the RSS (though not to the Bombay High Court or the Bombay Stock Exchange, neither of which will countenance it), does not bow the knee to the Burmese junta by saying "Myanmar".
But the American media do. Can anybody think why?
Familiar Clown
May 9th, 2008 7:35pmWhat a ghastly bunch of paranoid generals!
Roy
May 10th, 2008 3:50amHasn't the world got enough to worry about without getting het up about a group of grasping imbeciles leading a country that nobody knows about and few would want to? To think that British service men tramped through these jungle mountains to free them from the Japanese, and now they want freeing from themselves. Hard as it may be for some to come to grips with, if the leaders don't want help, then keep out of it.
David Lindsay
May 10th, 2008 12:55pmThe drum of war is beating against Burma. As if we could improve matters! We've done a hell of a good job of that in Afghanistan and Iraq, haven't we?
But the real target is not Burma. It is China. The warmongers had thought that they could launch a war against China, with all the vast extensions in their own wealth and powers that they would then be able to railroad through, via Tibet, or possibly via Sudan.
But not since 11th September 2001 have they got this lucky, and even that was not a natural disaster. That was the happiest day of their lives. But the day that a cyclone hit Burma before Bush had left office may yet turn out to have been happier still for them.
Meanwhile, as we presume to lecture the Burmese, remember that eight thousand people are still without permanent homes in East and South Yorkshire, following the floods last year. East Yorkshire is solidly Tory, albeit now with a Lib Dem council in Hull itself; South Yorkshire is solidly Labour, albeit now with a Lib Dem council in Sheffield itself. A fat lot of good the three Notting Hill Dinner Parties are doing for their voters.
Can you imagine this in, say, East and West Sussex, or Kent and Essex, or Surrey and Hertfordshire? It could never have reached anything like this point in the first place, because a national emergency would have been declared almost at the first spot of rain. If you don't believe me, then just wait for the winter. A tiny amount of snow will fall somewhere in the South, it will be the main national news, and the Army will be sent out to "rescue" people.
But East and South Yorkshire, among numerous other places, could be swept away by the waves and the powers that be would never even notice. They care more about Burma than they do about almost all of Britain.
Alf Tupper
May 10th, 2008 3:34pmDavid Lindsay.
You must be psychic. I hit the comment button with the intention of making a mischievous remark wondering when some slaphead was going to find a way of blaming this on Bush, or Mr Bush as I will title him, just for the novelty of it.
Well here you are that very slaphead!
I would have thought your talents could extend somehow to have him also embroiled in the skullduggery and injustice of the Ridings as well?
He could be making a cynical move to capture for the greedy and bloated US, the liquorice fields of Pontefract?
James Gladstone
May 15th, 2008 11:14amThe media's love of bad news has obscured the few items of positive new coming out of Burma.
One example is the work being done by a UK company, Pandaw Cruises, which has had boats operating on the Irrawaddy for many years.
Pandaw IV has been handed over to Merlin (the UK equivalent of Medecins Sans Frontieres)and converted into a hospital ship by a team already in the field. Pandaw II will also be handed over to Merlin and the company has hhired a 200ft barge to ferry supplies which are freely available in riverside towns up country down to the Delta where they are so desperately needed.
As insiders with more than 25 years of experience of working in Burma, Pandaw's management team members are not confident that bulk aid can be speedily flown in and distributed and they are doutful that traditional diplomacy can resolve this impasse. Burma is a river country and understanding her rivers is they key to any successful operation there.