Myanmar's cyclone and our impotence.

AP reports:

"YANGON, Myanmar - Bodies floated in flood waters and survivors tried to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails, while the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said Wednesday that up to 100,000 people may have died in the devastating cyclone . . . Shari Villarosa, who heads the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar, said food and water are running short in the delta area and called the situation there 'increasingly horrendous.'"

This time around, unlike with New Orleans, W & Co. are all over it. The US wants to send $3 million in aid and the US Navy but, for some strange reason, the military junta in Myanmar is resisting our help. AP reports, Charge d'Affaires Shari Villarosa, the top US diplomat in Myanmar says, "It's a very paranoid regime."

Condi, who this time isn't out shopping for shoes, says "It should be a simple matter. This is not a matter of politics, this is a matter of a humanitarian crisis and it should be a matter that the government of Burma wants to see its people receive the help that is available to them." [AP]

OK, number one: calling the country Burma not helping, and not very diplomatic. Number two;
deciding to award the junta's most hated foe Aung San Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal the day after the cyclone hit might have something to do with the junta's reluctance to except our "help."

And when W. says something like "We're prepared to move US naval assets to help find those who lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation," I would be paranoid, too, judging by the past perfomance of this administration.

I can't seem to recall a situation ever where a country in the world rejected US assisstance in a disaster. This is how low we've sunk in the eyes of the world.

Instead of calling the regime in Myanmar names and threatening them with more sanctions etc, why can't we just give all that aid money to the UN or China or whatever. If W. & Co. are so concerned about the "people" then we need to do something now. Every problem isn't solved by sending US naval assests.

Btw, where the hell are the super rich Chinese and their million man army? They have no problem backing up the regime in Burma no matter how brutal it is, no matter how many of its own people it kills, but when it comes to a humanitarian crisis like this, they're . . . oh right, crushing the Tibetans.