On May 12, 3:21=A0am, "ltl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" <ltl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> http://www.wa****ngtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/06/AR200...
>
> -------------------------
>
> But exiled Burmese political analyst Aung Naing Oo, who fled Burma in
> 1988 and is now based in Thailand, labeled Laura Bush's attack as
> "totally and utterly inappropriate."
>
> "She is trying to score political points out of people's disaster," he
> said. "That will clearly not go down well with anyone in Burma. This
> is about humanitarian issues -- people are dying. This is a time for
> the U.S. government to say, 'We are giving you money.' They don't need
> to score political points here."
>
> Ye Htut, a Burmese government spokesman, also accused the first lady
> of politicizing the tragedy. "I would like to say that what we are
> doing is better than the Bush administration response to the Katrina
> storm in 2005, if you compare the resources of the two countries," he
> told re****ters.
>
> He said the government issued a cyclone warning two days before the
> storm struck.
>
> In this environment of hostility, the prospect for effective and
> timely cooperation between the junta and Western governments -- let
> alone U.S. military personnel deploying on the ground -- remains
> uncertain.
>
> "At one level, the regime worries that events could move out of their
> control if they let in Western aid groups, and lose that really tight
> control that they have had," Turnell said. "But they must also be
> extraordinarily mindful of the potential that this could cause unrest
> in the country," he said. "People are already jumping onto the fact
> that the army was out on the streets so quickly in September and
> asking, 'Where are they now?' "
>
> Thant Myint-U, a Burmese historian and former U.N. official, said that
> "the problem is that everything, including aid, has been politicized,
> with suspicions on all sides." But he noted that "if in response to
> this tragedy, the aid community and the Burmese authorities can work
> well together, keep politics entirely away and show that effective and
> impartial aid delivery is possible, I think that would be a great step
> forward."
Maybe so. But the fact that some peeople are using this tragedy to
score political points does not change the fact that the s*** who run
Burma are letting thousands die simply so they can continue to oppress
the people of Burma. That is a far bigger deal than whatever Laura
Bush has to say. But LT doesn't care.
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