Re: U.N. 'furious' as Myanmar aid 'seized'

On May 11, 1:21=A0am, Good soldier <Decypher_addr...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> On Sat, 10 May 2008 12:45:19 -0700 (PDT), bmo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 wrote:
> >On May 10, 12:12=A0pm, rst0wxyz <rst0w...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >> On May 9, 9:31=A0pm, "Sir Dalai" <Sir Da...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> >> > =A0 <bmo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
messagenews:d5cc774f-1656-4cd5-a82c-6cf=
09d2052c3@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> >> > =A0 On May 9, 3:49 pm, PaPaPeng <PaPaP...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >> > =A0 > On Fri, 9 May 2008 14:47:02 -0700 (PDT), bmo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> > =A0 > >What if only one grain of rice reaches the people? You're
sayi=
ng that
>
> Snip
>
> >The Burmese infrastructure is pretty weak and outside aid workers
> >could really help.
>
> >Say whatever you want about how lousy the aid workers are (I disagree)
> >but the bottom line is that many thousands of lives will be lost
> >because of the junta's actions. You could try to explain that away
> >with words it's still undeniably true. People are dying. If I were
> >Burmese I would want the aid workers to come in. The anti-US sentiment
> >and cynicism on this NG is so strong, but I bet if you were Burmese
> >you would welcome these life-savers with open arms. Most of the
> >complaints on this NG are just cynical West-ba****ng, not based in
> >reality.
>
> What are the "aid workers" who come into Burma going to do? Have you
> ever asked that question? Can you speak Burmese? Eat Burmese food,
> live in Burmese housing?
>
> What are you going to do to help? Are you going to dig wells, lay
> pipelines, drive a supply boat or truck? What are you going to do?
>
> Let us assume that a foreign doctor comes to help. He can do first aid
> work but that is about all as he can't communicate with the patients.
>
> I personally know an American Woman doctor who volunteered during the
> Thai Tsunami and realized almost immediately that she couldn't really
> do much good. She needed an interpreter to even communicate with the
> patients, Had to communicate solely through people who had limited
> English and was making possibly life or death decisions based on
> nearly no real information. So, being an honest individual, she
> resigned.

The junta is not capable of even delivering all of the aid in a timely
manner. They lack the helicopters.

We can go on and on about what happened or did not happen with at
various times, but I will assert that by accepting foreign aid workers
(like helicopter pilots) many lives can be saved. Doctors who don't
speak the language can work with the locals. It's certainly worth a
try,but the junta isn't allowing it. And they aren't allowing it
because they have a lot to hide. Not because they think it won't help.
And they even have the gall to have a national vote in the middle of
all this. These are shameless bastards who don't care about their
people at all. That is the real problem.

As for what we can do, well, that's a different question from how
badly the junta is screwing up.

FWIW, Google is matching donations up to 1 million $US.