http://www.wa****ngtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/06/AR2008050600647_pf.html
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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."
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