Rick Raw: Myanmar’s Heartless Junta Plays Politics with Victims of Cyclone

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

The aftermath of Myanmar’s devastating cyclone has left over 100,000 people dead and thousands more homeless, starving, and with no potable drinking water. This calamity has been compounded by Myanmar’s totalitarian junta’s use of the tragedy to spread propaganda and demonstrate to the world that it rules with an iron fist. The free world governments should threaten the junta with removal by force if they do not give the various aid organizations carte blanche to help the people.

Over a million people could die of starvation and disease if the aid organizations are not allowed into the country. On May 13, a U.S. military cargo plane, loaded with 14 tons of supplies flew out of the Thai air force base of Utanpao and finally was cleared to land in Myanmar. But the junta immediately took control of the shipment, meaning there was no guarantee that the supplies would make their way to the people who need it.

In contrast, the controlling communist leadership of the Republic of China opened its airports and boundaries to any country that wanted to help the victims of China’s catastrophic countrywide 7.9 earthquake May 12th , that killed over 20,000 people and rising rapidly–a much bigger disaster than the cyclone in Myanmar. Indeed, the Chinese didn’t need any bad PR before the Olympics, which is already causing protests around the world.

At the UN, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized Myanmar’s junta’s slow response to helping the cyclone victims. Three of the UN Security Councils’ five veto-empowered members–France, Britain, and the United States–are considering a possible resolution that would require Myanmar’s junta to open its doors to more aid. Of course, to the despotic junta, a resolution means nothing.

The truth is: The junta will only respond to a show of force. That is: If US Marines show up with heavy ordnance and surround their headquarters’ building, demanding action or else the junta will be wiped off the face of the map, they will have to comply. Then a temporary multinational government could be installed until the people could get back on their feet to hold a national election. Why are we messing with this tin-horn junta that rules a dirt-poor ox-cart society? Sometimes you have to have the courage to use force with these idiots.

Just today, May 14th, the Myanmar junta barred foreign aid workers from reaching cyclone survivors in the hard-hit regions. More seriously, the junta has been handing out rotten food and poor quality biscuits. The high protein biscuits that were sent into the country by the United States were diverted to the junta’s warehouses for themselves.

Meanwhile, most supplies are piling up at Yangon’s airport. The junta has no equipment to lift cargo off the supply aircraft. Moreover, the country has no large trucks to haul the cargo to outlying regions. To make matters worse, the monsoon season has begun, with rain soaking supplies left out in the open. The United Nations estimates that the death toll is rising rapidly from the initial 100,000 dead as people starve to death or die of disease.

Given the junta’s total lack of compassion and cooperation with unilateral humanitarian efforts to save Myanmar’s population, now is the time to send in the Marines or an international coalition to force the junta into action. The free nations of the world can not stand by and let millions of Myanmar citizens die because of a heartless regime’s efforts to manipulate the disaster for propaganda purposes. The aid organizations are considering helicopter drops into the worst hit areas, whether the junta likes it or not. It’s a step in the right direction