BillCosby

Burma's state media quoted a government official saying the situation in the country was "returning to normal." This as the death toll from last week's cyclone is estimated, by some, to be as high as 100,000, as bodies float in waterways, as shortages of water, rice, medicine and fuel, as well as fear of disease, grip the populace and people swarm shops and and dash toward any location where they think they can find supplies to help them make it through the crisis.

It's never been easy to divine what Burma's military rulers consider "normal." Last September, the government sent out hundreds of thousands of soldiers to throttle pro-democracy demonstrations initiated by the country's Buddhist monks. But amid this week's devastation, relatively few of those soldiers have shown up to offer assistance. Meanwhile, the monks have reportedly been warned not to open their monasteries to the homeless for sanctuary. Government bureaucrats, meanwhile, are said to be charging a fee for building materials they are in charge of "distributing."

Burma has been selective about accepting foreign aid. It has allowed help in from allies like India and China and from neighboring Thailand to enter. After some hesitation over a number of days, the junta okayed a large shipment from the United Nations. It has yet to arrive. Aid workers from numerous organizations and personnel from numerous nations are mobilized and ready to assist, but the regime has been slow to process visas, fearing infiltration by journalists, who are banned, and more generally, Western, pro-democratic influence, which is not to be trusted. "They want the foreign aid but not the foreign aid workers," says Maureen Aung Thwin, Director of the Open Society's Burma Project.

And that fear of infiltration is key to understanding the normalcy pursued by Burma's generals. Even as the Burmese people struggle to survive in the wake of the storm, the government is insisting on going ahead with a referendum on a draft constitution the leaders claim would open the door for democratic elections in 2010, but which most view as a rigged effort to prop up support for their rule. The deaths of tens of thousands of people, in other words, should not impede efforts to codify the primacy of the generals. At a time when Burma's rice growing regions — which once made it the world's top rice producer — have been devastated leaving its people starving for the staple, the junta seems determined to remain the world's number one producer and consumer of barbed wire — literally and figuratively. The people are cowed. They utilize hushed tones when speaking to foreigners, take furtive glances over their shoulders, all part of the fearful obedience that keeps them calibrated to the crackdown they know to expect if they step out of line.

Nevertheless, the government seems to know that a natural disaster on this scale could trigger revolutionary change. Aung Thwin says this could be "a make or break time," and that there have been signs that the regime realizes it will be held accountable for what happens next. At the same time, though, she says they're trying to stage manage the entire process, skirting the fact that even if they do have the will to do what needs to be done, they have neither the capabilities nor the resources to pull it off. For at the heart of the junta's fearsome "normality" is fear itself.

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

gonzo

This just makes me sick. Almost as sick as the apathy I've encountered from many about it. I posted this over at RT, and everyone just went "Meh."

Those poor people.

BillCosby

Well it seems most "other countries" don't draw much traffic either......... Even China most of the time will get yea some looks & no bites...

Now Israel will get a few hits if it is something controversial......

Or how about tying it all in (I have gotten a few comments about my titles pushing it_ But hey unpopular topics need some help sometimes....lol)................

Zionist seen in Burma as right wing Christian wackO has the storm turned towards Burma as an act of God.......... Like when Pat Robertson saved the south east from that hurricane that killed ppl in new york....... Or hagee's bad ppl in new orleans.. They had it coming........

Now that will get some hits & bites...........lol

Well hopefully that gave you a chuckle instead of pissing you off more........

The place is akin to a slave state on par w/ the likes of North Korea........ & they were good friends till the oil problem came up......

I heard a couple days ago bush was offering them $250,000. Maybe they could buy a couple humVee's w/ that.??

I just read it is up to $3 million now.......... that is about three houses in San Jose........ I bet there will be strings attached like were they will have to spend it.....................

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

BillCosby

Two Israeli tourists thought missing in Burma cyclone found unharmed
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Burma, aid, Israeli tourists

Two Israeli tourists feared missing in Burma after the recent cyclone were located on Thursday, unharmed. 26-year-old Amit Efrati of Tzur Hadassah was found safe and sound and 23-yar-old ma'ayan Kalo contacted his family after leaning that he was thought missing.

An Israeli rescue team had already left for Peru to search for the two.
Eight other Israelis in Burma contacted the Foreign Ministry to notify them they were unharmed.
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The Foreign Ministry is sending $100,000 in initial emergency food and medical supplies to survivors of the deadly cyclone that battered Myanmar over the weekend, killing over 22,000 people.

The Israeli aid is being sent in coordination with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

A United Nations official declared Burma's cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy delta a "major, major disaster" Wednesday with corpses floating in flooded areas and enormous challenges in getting aid to the neediest victims.

International aid began trickling into military-ruled Burma, but much of the Irrawaddy delta, where most of the 22,464 reported victims perished, has remained cut off since Cyclone Nargis hit early Saturday.

The Foreign ministry is planning to organize a larger aid shipment in the next few days, and is helping the members of aid teams for several Israeli non-governmental organizations obtain visas to enter Burma.

In addition, the ministry has made contact with eight of the estimated 10 Israelis who were in Burma when the cyclone hit. It is still trying to reach the other two, but says its inability to do so is likely due to the collapse of Burma telephone lines, and the erratic functioning of the Israel Embassy caused by the difficulties posed by the natural disaster. Ministry officials said that at this point there is no cause for concern.

The Foreign Ministry is calling on Israelis not to go to Myanmar any time soon, citing flooding, food supply difficulties, and the collapse of essential services such as electricity, water and telephone communication.

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror