Who Are We To Lecture the Burmese?

Or the Myanmarese, or whatever that horrible government prefers to call the people whose aid it's pilfering.

That's the question raised in Wednesday's New Orleans Times-Picayune by columnist Lolis Eric Elie, echoing what a lot of people here in the Crescent City have been saying: gee, I wonder how a government gets to the point where it's more interested in the preservation of its own power than in relieving the suffering of its people in the wake of a disaster.

In the wake of the Bush Administration offering all of $500,000 in relief aid for victims of the Chinese earthquake, it all makes you proud to be part of a dying empire, don't it?

UPDATE: As of 5-24, the Washington Post reports that the US government aid to China (in cash and material) now totals $3 million. As to the question raised by many commenters, "China's a rich country, why would anybody aid them?", here's what the WashPost reports:

Wang appealed to countries to donate 3.3 million tents urgently needed to shelter those who lost homes in the quake, a figure that exceeds 5 million people. Hu visited two tent manufacturers in the area to urge them to produce as many as possible.

Chinese officials are beginning to map out the next stage of the relief strategy to deliver more food, medical supplies and makeshift housing to the quake zone, where an estimated 28 million people were affected by the temblor, which Chinese authorities now say was a magnitude of 8.0 but the U.S. Geological Survey recorded at 7.9. Wang said that, in addition to large military-style tents, the relief effort needs blankets, clothes, quilts, food, medicine, and medical and engineering equipment. Medical teams from Russia, Japan and Italy, in addition to Macau and Hong Kong, are helping on site.

Comments

[Steve]

Mr Shearer sez: "In the wake of the Bush Administration offering all of $500,000 in relief aid for victims of the Chinese earthquake, it all makes you proud to be part of a dying empire, don't it?"

You said something similar on last Sunday's "Le Show" (http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=640) and I found it somewhat odd then.

The Chinese government isn't exactly broke. They are a "First World" power nowadays. They have billions, raked in from their pecuilar brand of command and control capitalism. I suspect they can care for themselves.

According to a report I heard on NPR's "All Things Considered" yesterday (5/22), for instance

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90728507

"Chinese emergency medical personnel have been able to cope with the rush of people in need of care. A Belgian kidney specialist and an Australian operating room nurse were both rushed in by the relief group Doctors Without Borders. Both said the same thing: The Chinese really didn't need them."

Maybe in this instance 500 grand is sufficient?

Just askin'.

[professor]

"The cyclone, meanwhile, has presented [the Burmese junta] with one last, vast business opportunity: by blocking aid from reaching the highly fertile Irrawaddy delta, hundreds of thousands of mostly ethnic Karen rice farmers are being sentenced to death. According to Farmaner, "that land can be handed over to the generals' business cronies" (shades of the beachfront land grabs in Sri Lanka and Thailand after the Asian tsunami). This isn't incompetence, or even madness. It's laissez-faire ethnic cleansing."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/klein

[JulieSA]

"In the wake of the Bush Administration offering all of $500,000 in relief aid for victims of the Chinese earthquake, it all makes you proud to be part of a dying empire, don't it?"

According to the article, that amount is only a preliminary amount, and in any case, a huge country like China doesn't need our money that badly. You should read up on the massive airlift and sealift we provided for the Indonesian tsunami and the Bangladesh cyclone, and all the lives that were saved by our people, at a cost of many millions of dollars. We'd be doing no less for Burma, if they would only let us. Ships and planes are sitting there waiting.

[Steamboater]

One word from China and the Burmese thugs who rule in Burma would have allowed international aide in to help the Burmese people, but no, it was China really who kept that aide out of Burma. Now China needs help and world aide flows into China while Burma still sufferes. China should have never been offered any aide until she showed enough respect for human life in Burma to force the junta there to accept aide and let it be distributed by outside organizations from the UN and other places and quickly too. I take no pity on China.

[sloagm]

Who are we to lecture the Myanmarese? Well, if you are trying to compare the dictatorship of Myanmar to the Governor of Louisiana. Both of whom refused outside aid and blocked help (Myanmar from foreign agencies and Louisiana from the Federal Government) then you are right, we shouldn't.

In the U.S. it was Federalism and ineptitude that stopped the Feds from acting sooner, in Myanmar it was indifference and pride...probably some ineptitude as well. After all, Myanmar isn't exactly a well-oiled machine.

In the end, the inaction by both governments is inexcusable, but let's judge not only by the results, but by intent as well. In that context the comparison falls on its face, and we are more than justified in our outrage.

[Dan Stewart]

After Katrina, the US government turned down many offers of international aid, from among other: Greece, Sweden, El Salvador, Russia, Switzerland, France, Latvia, Norway, Britain, Germany, Italy, Cuba, China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, even Iran.

Among the many offers turned down was an offer of massive aid from Venezuela (the first of which was already on boats in the Gulf off NO), which included: 120 rescue and aid experts, 2 mobile hospital units, 50 tonnes of food, 10 water purification plants, 18 power generation plants and 20 tonnes of bottled water.

But, we did accept the help, for hire that is, from Blackwater mercenaries.

So, again, how is it we are soooo different?

[appleknocker]

Thanks for the reminder.

[j70460]

Thanks Dan, I thought I remembered all that refused aid.

[fishsandwichesr2good]

Hey Hairy, remind us again how many tens of billions have gone into saving the swamp known as Nawlins?

[j70460]

Why don't you do your own research, lazybug. Why pester Harry to "remind" you of anything you can do yourself? You can start here: http://www.taxpayer.net/budget/katrinaspending/index.htm

[fishsandwichesr2good]

Dimwit, it was a rhetorical question. I knew the answer. Does Hairy?

[aaronburr]

Confirmed deaths from Katrina (direct and indirect): 1,826 with 705 missing. Death toll estimate so far from Nargis, the Myanmar cyclone: 77,738 with another 55,917 missing. And Katrina was a category 5 storm - Nargis was a category 4. While I'm sure our response to Katrina (and any other disaster) could and should be improved, it's pretty tough to put them in the same class of inadequate response.

[angeranddespair]

450 Billion dollars+ for an llegal and immoral invasion of a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. What genuine good and goodwill could have resulted from spending that amount of tax payers money here at home; schools, infrastructure (like the bridge in Minneapolis) health care, our own disasters (floods, tornadoes, hurricanes fires etc etc) and even some to spend on the people of Iraq I bet we could have won their hearts and minds if we had helped instead of rolling up the middle of their country in a display of Shock and Awe. Al we did was break it and now it's ours.
Wow Bush's administration such a total mess up and waste.

[mamacat]

During the Katrina disaster, I was unable to understand why the U.S. did not order a couple of its Navy battle groups, with their aircraft carriers, to the area of Louisianna and Mississippi, to help save lives.

And yet, I noticed yesterday that a White House spokesman said that an aircraft carrier was waiting off the coast of Burma to fly in aid.

So what happened with Katrina? Was it a conscious decision not to help our own citizens?

[JulieSA]

You're incorrect. Here's a roundup of the Navy ships that helped. The amphibious assault ship Bataan sailed in right behind the storm.

http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/007448.php

BTW, what you want for disaster relief is an amphibious assault ship, an LHD, not an aircraft carrier. LHD has 20 helicopters, 3 landing craft, a large fresh water generating plant, a large hospital, 2000 Marines, and many doctors. Nowadays they carry all kinds of relief supplies, like diapers and baby formula.

[JulieSA]

Go to that link I provided, and click on each ship's name to see what it did.

Then, give many thanks to our military personnel for doing what they did.

[JulieSA]

Why on earth would you ever think that there would be a "a conscious decision not to help our own citizens"? Please look at what at what your fellow citizens did, and give them thanks.

[Bienville]

"Why on earth would you ever think that there would be a 'a conscious decision not to help our own citizens'?"

To start with, the comments I read on this board and similar boards every day.

Then, the red-tape and incompetence of the relief effort borders on outright denial of aid.

And, the relentless foot-dragging of the Corps and Congress in building the folld protection sytem that was originally mandated in 1965.

There is no doubt that many of my fellow citizens have stepped up with donation of their own time and money, and for that I am grateful. But, they cannot build levees and wetlands. They must call on their government to make restitution for the losses they caused through wrongheaded frugality and inadequate oversight.

[ProudNeoCon]

And the reason we should give China money is?

Isn't it enought that Clinton sold US to China for compaign contribution?

[wildflowermaven]

Harry--I seem to remember that the U.S. government turned down at least some of the foreign aid we were offered after Katrina-do you have the facts on this? If so, its even more of a parallel that Burma is refusing aid if we did back then. I know the Katrina victims could have used all the help possible.

[JulieSA]

it's a moral inversion to suggest that our government is equivalent to the Burmese government. Really, it's sick to even suggest that, especially when our forces are poised, as we speak, to go in if they ever get permission.

[noneIn2008]

Valid point. The neocon vision is to rebuild other countries in our image. Is that really what they want to happen to them?

[kevin2323]

There's a reason why Karl Rove was put in charge of hurricane recovery for the gulf region (why does this strange choice go completely unchallenged?).

This recent criticism of the Burmese falls under the category of "accuse your opponents of being afflicted with your biggest weakness". That's Rove 101, right next to "thugging up" the image of N.O., finding quotes out of context ("Chocolate City"), taking skewed facts like "New Orleans sits in a bowl under sea level" and driving it all into the public conciousness until we all accept it as fact. And of course, the Democrats don't fight it, and after a few years of this, it seems like about half accept these talking points at least on some level.

This is all about the continuing Norquistian mantra that---whoops! Government just can't seem to do anything right (sad horn). Those citizens in toxic trailers, in strange cities away from their families, suffering through all the obstacles to rebuilding--they are all part of the Bush admin's little punchline to the joke that government is just a big mess that needs to go. And lucky for them, they have the Louisiana government perfectly cast to play the part.

That $500,000 to the Chinese is their way of letting them in on the joke. It's dry humor, it's not for everybody.

[JulieSA]

Good lord. What a nut. Yeah, the Burmese government shouldn't be criticized, except for that little genocide they're pulling off.

[ceindependence]

"Consequently, tens of thousands of Americans who'd survived the storm and the flood, waited for days on the bare pavement of I-10 with little or no water, food, or medicine, exposed to the elements, with the clothes on their backs their only belongings. ............."

How about some accuracy/honesty in history! There were not "tens of thousands waiting on bare pavement. They did have adequate warning in advance of the storm. It was the democrat mayor and democrat govenor who held up the evacuation, note, BEFORE the storm arrived. Also note, the storm came ashore east of NOrleans and it was the day after the storm that the surge overwhelmed the levees and flooded New Orleans. For a week the storm was in the Gulf and everyone knew it was headed towards the Texas to Florida coastlines. This was in the newspapers, on the televisions and the radios. Mayor Nagee had access to plenty of school buses to evacuate his citizens and did not want to use them. These are not opinions but verifiable facts. These are not political statements, they are facts. Facts are not political, they are just true. I have the newspaper quotes where the govenor, BEFORE, the storm refused access to the State National Guard to the federal government for evacuation assistance.

The facts go on and on, but you wish to ignore to advance your agenda. You want to advance your agenda, fine, but be honest when doing so!

[FLGuardsman]

Check your facts dude. Katrina hit Florida as a Cat 1 Hurricane around 6PM on a Thursday. Friday morning it was in the Gulf and was expected to hit FL somewhere around the Big Bend. It wasn't until Late Saturday Early Sunday that Katrina changed course and headed West towards Louisiana. That isn't enough time to evacuate a city the size of N.O. I evacuated in 2004 when Frances hit and it took 4 hours to just make the normal one hour drive to Orlando. After that fiasco I decided not to evacuate for Jeanne. Its also pretty expensive to evacuate..­.gas...foo­d...lodgin­g. Its real easy to judge people when you don't know their situations, nor when you have never been through Hurricanes. I do

[jhNY]

Why is it so important to you to blame the impoverished for their own lack of mobility? Why is it so important to you to prove that it was the democrats' fault? The federal (read republican­s-in-charg­e-of everything) post-Katrina response was miserable and piss-poor. And of course, the major problem that N.O. faced derived from the failure of federally built, federally designed levies that were actually constructed poorly and cheaply and under-spec, a project over which the citizenry had zero control. And how about those formaldehyde trailers? And the ice trucks to nowhere at great cost?

Is the 9th Ward built back now? Have the citizens returned in their former numbers? Nope. And I'll tell you why. The Bush prolicy has been-- 'Look. All the poor democrats are fleeing the city. If we stall the recovery long enough, they'll never come back. Result? One less urban area in democrat hands. Problem solved!'

[mamacat]

And while flood waters were surging through New Orleans, and while people were drowning, our Republican President was on vacation, playing guitar for reporters. That also is a matter of historical fact.

The culpability of our national leaders in a catastrophe of this magnitude has to be recognised as greater than the failings of any one local leader. The problem extended over several states, not just one small parish.

[fogbreath]

"...it was the day after the storm that the surge overwhlemed the levees and flooded New Orleans."
please explain how the "surge" came a day after the storm.
as Haryy has tried to explain to those of your stripe, the levees designed and built under contract to the USACOE were poorly designed and poorly constructed, therefore they failed in a storm that had they held, would have left the city of New Orleans with "wet ankles".

[Dan Stewart]

If your point is that because the people of NO had warning of the hurricane the government did a fine job then...ahem, I think your ideology may be distorting your perspective just a bit.

Besides, you talk about “warnings” as if the people of Burma had none. They actually have meteorologists in Burma, and radios and TVs too -- and they too had warning.

Of course, just as their government interfered with storm victims receiving international aid, so did the Bush administration. That happens to be a FACT too.