Friday, May 9

When Beggars Can Be Choosers

The UN finally reached the end of its rope with the Burmese generals who are holding their nation hostage in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that is getting worse with each passing hour. On Friday the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) suspended aid to cyclone-devastated Myanmar (Burma) after the generals stole the food and disaster relief materials sent there by the UN. The WFP referred to the action of the military in Myanmar as "unprecedented."

WFP officials said they have “no choice” but to suspend their aid efforts following the unprecedented seizure by the secretive military government.

According to Irrawaddy, "Meanwhile, the regime’s TV is spending large amounts of time broadcasting 'vote yes' propaganda on the constitutional referendum on Saturday. Well-known singers and actors were shown in one spot dancing and singing while urging people to vote yes.”

Where is the outrage?

Meanwhile the same thugs who supported the generals back in October by clubbing and mugging the monks are now doing the same with relief workers who have not been hand-picked by Than Shwe.

Again, according to the Irrawaddy newspaper, "A convoy of vehicles carrying rice to cyclone victims in Rangoon’s Thanlyin Township was attacked on Thursday by armed members of Swan-Ar-Shin, a government-supported organization that helped suppress last September’s demonstrations, one Rangoon source reported. The attackers were armed with clubs and knives, the source said."

One NGO worker said permission had to be obtained from another pro-government organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association [USDA], before relief supplies could be delivered.

REB

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Throw the bustards out.
All these "generals" are CRIMINALS short sided mentally ill people that oppress the lives of so many.
They belong in a mental hospital not in running a country.

Here is the BIG question
What is wrong with the people of Myanmar?
Why they don't throw these criminals out?(I do not want to hear the we have no guns poem)

Dr. Bacon said...

Nick, I understand that you may not want to "hear" the fact that they have no guns, but the truth is that they don't and a disarmed citizenry cannot defend itself against thugs.

Fundamentally the law in Burma is that only the thugs are allowed to have guns. They threw them out by referendum (vote) back in 1988 and again in 1990. The Tatmadaw simply imprisoned the opposition and kept or took power by force of arms.

Short answer is that the people of Myanmar are going to require assistance of some kind. That is why anybody who has contacts with foreigners in Burma is considered as being a dupe of foreign goons.

The people of Myanmar are voting for a new constitution today, but it does not really matter how they vote. If they vote for it, the Tatmadaw will have an air of legitimacy. If they vote against it, things will simply continue as they are. That is no vote worth mentioning.

REB

Anonymous said...

Any student of Burmese history knows that the current regime, neither derived power from, nor the admiration and respect of the population most severely affected by and at greatest risk of perishing from what is essentially a natural disaster. It should be noted that the regime has been at war with a significant percentage of its population since coming to power, particularly those whom the international community now seeks to assist. The regime regards this natural disaster as a nothing short of supernatural blessing. What it could not do and hide as an act of commission - Genocide as defined by Article 2 of the Genocide Convention against those within its borders whom it detests, it has come to embrace the long awaited hand of nature to do for them, with its acquiescence.

To appreciate the underlying motivation behind of the regime’s acts of omission, focus upon the net effect resultant from what they do, but particularly in what they do not. While their technique may appear novel, their objective is not.

In light of the fact that the High Contracting Parties to Genocide Convention have yet to find merit to intervene to prevent Genocide, as mandated pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention when premeditated acts of commission (delayed action in Bosnia and Kosovo, none whatsoever in Rwanda, and little more then rhetorical gymnastics in Darfur to name but a few), any serious student of history will tell you that there is no hope for ethnic minorities whom the Burmese regime has long regarded as inconvenient and disposable. Now sit back, listen to the silence and observe the inaction our respective governments.

Anyone ready to the streets over the price of milk and whole wheat bread?

Michael Pellerin
Princeton, NJ.

Anonymous said...

The world cannot stomach the real truth! One Military installment, from anywhere in world, with permission to use any and all means necessary to protect the humanitarian refief efforts would allievate the "thugs" of Myanmar.

This matter should not be a political agenda, but an agenda for all mankind!!!