A leading Burmese exile discusses the junta's slow response to cyclone relief and why many see the cyclone as divine intervention against their despotic leaders.
Comment: LOL, suspicions confirmed. Hyperventilating left-wingers are blaming the cyclone on George Bush!! I logged on to post a prediction that such nonsense would happen, but the lefties beat me to it! Just amazing.
Hmmm, was George Bush in Rome when it burned? Could he have been behind that too?
Comment: What disaster management materials can U.S give in the most efficient, effective and inrefusable way?
Heavy machineries to remove trees, to rebuild roads and to reconstruct homes.
It is easier to keep track of those machineries because they are too big and finite numbers to disappear.
U.S produces those machineries at home and it will largely keep the money at home.
Comment: So long as you don???t give out money to the government ??? and most donors very carefully refrain from giving money, the chance of the top government officials enriching themselves from aid money is very slim. Are they going to sell the noodles and water bottles back into the market? Normally, the top government officials do not have a hand over the relief packages. There are too few people at the top and too many eyes watching. On the other hand, they might receive some kickbacks from their subordinates at the middle and lower echelon. That is why I have never guaranteed the zero-waste relief operations and urged the donors to have a realistic expectation and a realistic target: 25% waste and less than 15% respectively.
There are ways to minimize the potential fraud and abuse. The INGOs have dealt with so many governments in so many crises that they know what to do, I hope.
Comment: Whatever caused the storm is irrelevant. What matters is aid to for people devastated by the storm. Although sending aid is the knee-jerk reaction, does anyone really expect the junta to distribute it to the needy and not horde it for themselves? Where are all the pictures from the satellites? What's happening on their military bases? Are they mobilizing or barricading themselves in? Can their neighbors take advantage and mobilize some search and rescue ops?
Comment: Democrats probably won't blame the cyclone on Bush but almost anyone will blame you for your insipid and callous remarks.
Comment: Please tell me you aren't serious. Global Warming causing this storm intensity???? Wasn't it a few years ago after Katrina that they said because of global warming OUR hurricane seasons would be more intense? Haven't we in fact had FEWER hurricanes since then? Get some facts before you post such nonsense.
Comment: By not working to stop global warming (in fact, actively blocking that work whenever it could), the Bush administration, in partnership with some of our largest corporations most Republicans, and many Democrats, did contribute to the intensity of the storm. I'm not a Democrat, by the way.
Comment: You say you are not a democrat. What you are, however, is extremely ignorant. Only someone that has totally allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the left-wing MSM could write such a breathtakingly ignorant post.
Comment: Iwonder if the democrats are going to blame this storm on Bush?
Comment: i WONDER IF THE DEMOCRATS ARE GOING TO BLAME bUSH FOR THIS STORM?
Comment: The real issue is that the Butchers, namely Tan Shwe thru their greed, paranoia and sick minds are letting their own people die. Not what the US Government did or did not do or should have done. But how these desperate people are being treated and let to die by their own. And now, when their people really need help are stealing the aid sent from around the world. Karma is very powerful and I know those butchers will be haunted every second of their days and nights. And should remember how all other dictators end up.
Comment: The real issue is that the Butchers, namely Tan Shwe are thru their greed, paranoia and sick minds letting their own people die. Not what the US Government did or did not do or should have done. But how these desperate people are being treated and let to die. And now, when their people really need help are stealing the aid sent from around the world. Karma is very powerful and I know those butchers will be haunted every second of their days and nights. And should remember how all dictators end up.
Comment: Another brilliant Newsweek coup: A WEB report referencing another WEB ("NEWSWEEK: Your Web site has a feature titled Tan Shwe Watch ") without a link to the referenced WEB. Major Duh. Perhaps the site is written in a foreign language? That would be completely beside the point.
Comment: Another brilliant Newsweek coup: A WEB report referencing another WEB ("NEWSWEEK: Your Web site has a feature titled Tan Shwe Watch ") without a link to the referenced WEB. Duh. Perhaps the site is written in a foreign language? That would be beside the point.
Comment: sharkman, first, stop being so heartless. There is no reason why we shouldn't take the lessons learned from Katrina and use them to show compassion to others. Second, if you don't like the way Congress is operating, then run for office and fix it from the inside if you can get elected.
Comment: Why is our government spending millions of dollars and sending 4 Navy ships to the region?Our government seems to be able to help any country but its own.Where were they with all of this great help when Huricaine Katrina hit? All of our Conressmen and women need a reality check.Every hard working American tax payer should be ready to run this government straight to the unemployment line.They all need to go.We need our next Senators to be hired from the working class these rich pukes must be driven out.......
Comment: According to the official accounts -- as of 2:30 New York Time, May 6, 2008 ??? 22, 464 people died and 41, 054 people are missing.
Why is the death toll so high? The storm water surged over 12 feet. The houses in the delta region of my country are used to flooding and are constructed to cope with, say, 5-6 feet but not 12 feet. The bamboo and wooden houses can cope with 120 mile per hour wind, certainly NOT.
So, why is the death toll so high for such a cyclone?
Because the storm fell on the most densely populated regions of the country. Approximately 12 million people live in the two regions hit hardest, namely Yangon and Irrawaddy provinces.
The tropical storms called cyclones in Bay of Bengal usually had gone into Bangladesh. Even if the storms head towards Burma/Myanmar, they usually head toward a range of mountains in the West, which had given us a natural shelter. The storm of this direction and this magnitude is very rare. Its land fall was on the Southwestern flat land and was heading towards East. We didn???t expect such direction.
Most importantly, we don???t follow the weather news partly because the weather had never been severe and bad enough for us to follow and partly because the weather forecasts had never been reliably accurate (at least in our perception and memory). The weather forecasts say that it is going to rain today and it is sunny the entire day. The forecast says that it is going to be sunny today and we get a downpour. So, we don???t follow the weather forecast and take them seriously.
The storm warnings were issued by government-controlled radios, televisions and newspaper. Of course, the weathermen, like most Burmese, might have thought that it was going to be another tropical storm that would move towards Bangladesh or the Arakhan Range of Mountains. Then, it will subside later. This time we were wrong and our mistake is fatal.
Even if the storm victims had received the weather forecasts and taken it more seriously, they would have no place to hide. The bamboo houses they live are too weak to weather the 120-mph wind and 12-feet-high storm water. According to an eye witness, some people went to the monasteries, usually built in wood and concrete, but it didn???t help. The walls of the monastic building they took shelter collapsed onto them and they died.
Comment: Aung Zaw told Melinda Lui of News Week ?????? People have seen aid parcels with the name of a top military leader written on them [as if the leader had donated them], even though the assistance has nothing to do with him. This shows the true color of Burma's military leaders???.???
You can see the pictures he is referring to, from a blog of another regime opponent called http:// ko-htike. blogspot.com/. (You will need to remove the spaces in the blob URL.) It is the 5th and 6th photos they are referring to. (as of 8:49 EST)
You should also first have Aung Zaw confirmed if he is referring to the general whose name appears on the aid package.
Then, you should find someone who can read Burmese language and have him/her read the label on the aid package.
You will find that the first line of the label on the parcel says ???Lt. Gen. A.B.C.D.???
The second line says ???c/o.???
That means, the given Burmese lieutenant general is donating something via another entity/organization.
In addition, you can also look at the packing material used for the aid package. No aid package from a foreign country would use that kind of poor-quality, recycled cardboards. It is from
Aung Zaw made a groundless allegation as if no Lt. General can and will donate anything to the cyclone victims. Such is the acrimony between the Burmese military rulers and their opponents. But the media should be unbiased and should not allow their opponents like Aung Zaw malign the Burmese military leaders.
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