Bible_Belt
Master Don Juan
Their people are dying after the cyclone; they won't let aid ships come in; and they are imprisoning the people trying to help.
And of course, the US lets the Burmese government push us around, push the rest of the world around by not letting them help their own starving people. I don't recall having to wait for permission to invade Afghanistan or Iraq.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/05/asia/myanmar.php
Burmese comedian who brought aid to delta is detained
Thursday, June 5, 2008
YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's leading comedian, who has been carrying out a private campaign to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis, has been detained by the police, his friends said Thursday.
Maung Thura, better known by his stage name Zarganar, was taken from his home in Yangon on Wednesday evening, the friends said.
The police ransacked the comedian's home and seized his computer files, which contained photos and videos of victims of the May 3 cyclone and the 2006 "champagne and diamonds" wedding of the daughter of the junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe, according to a friend of Zarganar, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The detention of Zarganar, 47, came as the government grew increasingly sensitive to criticism of its handling of relief operations for the cyclone that by official count left at least 134,000 dead or missing and about 2.4 million survivors in need of help.
On Thursday, four U.S. warships laden with supplies and 22 helicopters steamed away from international waters after more than two weeks of waiting for permission from the junta to help.
Private relief operations by Zarganar and Buddhist monks, who said they were acting partly because the government was not doing enough to help its own people, were widely seen here as a reproof to the ruling generals. The junta has been making it difficult for foreign aid workers to enter the delta and insists that all private donations be distributed through official channels.
"His arrest is a warning against Burmese who are trying to help fellow Burmese," said a friend of Zarganar. "This shows the worst in our government: The generals are concerned more about their security than the security of the people."
In an interview on May 19, Zarganar said the government had been warning his group of volunteers who were delivering aid. But he was undeterred.
"These are my people. I want to save my own people," he said. "That's why we go there with any donations we can get. But the government doesn't like our work."
"It is not interested in helping people," he said. "It just wants to tell the world and the rest of the country that everything is under control and that it has already saved its people. What we are doing contradicts its message."
Three days after the cyclone devastated southern Myanmar, Zarganar's group, in five teams, began making almost daily aid runs to the people in the outlying delta villages.
"There, you find people almost naked, with no food, and boys wearing girls' clothes," he said. "You find people who have lost their minds, people whose facial expression you can only describe as 'soulless."'
Zarganar said his operation was financed by fellow entertainers, ordinary people and rich businessmen who "want to deliver donations themselves but cannot" because of fear of the government. He said his group delivered 6.5 million kyats, or roughly $6,500, worth of relief goods a day.
On a typical trip, his teams start from Yangon at 5 a.m. After traveling by car, then boat and finally on foot, they reach their destinations at dusk. These "renegade aid runners" often use monks to scout routes free from military roadblocks, Zarganar said.
Zarganar built his fame largely through biting satire directed at the military government, under whose rule the resource-rich country has become one of the world's poorest and most politically oppressed.
But his jokes and political activism have come at a heavy cost. During the 1988 student uprising, he was thrown into jail for seven months. In 1990, when the party of the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, swept parliamentary elections but was barred from taking power, Zarganar was sentenced to five years in jail for making political speeches.
Last September, when the junta cracked down on an uprising by monks, he was detained for one month.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-myanmar-aid_05jun05,0,3961247.story
chicagotribune.com
U.S. Navy aborts aid mission to Myanmar
June 5, 2008
BANGKOK — The U.S. military aborted a mission to use helicopters and small boats to deliver aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims because the junta ignored repeated offers of assistance.
Adm. Timothy Keating, leader of the U.S. Pacific Command, has ordered the USS Essex to leave the Myanmar coast, after what he said were 15 separate efforts to persuade the junta to allow U.S. military helicopters to help deliver relief supplies.
"I am both saddened and frustrated to know that we have been in a position to help ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people and help mitigate further loss of life, but have been unable to do so because of the unrelenting position of the Burma military junta," Keating said.
The Essex and three other amphibious assault ships, which have been in international waters off Myanmar, formerly Burma, since May 13, will continue with their scheduled missions, Keating said in a statement issued by his headquarters in Hawaii.
But he added that "should the Burmese rulers have a change of heart and request our full assistance for their suffering people, we are prepared to help."
International aid agencies are struggling to increase their food delivery capacity in the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta, a complex network of rivers and islands, many of which are only accessible by small boats. Doctors Without Borders said the flow of supplies into the stricken region is still inadequate, and survivors in many remote villages have yet to receive any outside assistance.
However, the junta has refused to permit any foreign military helicopters to join the relief efforts.
In a statement Wednesday, White House press secretary Dana Perino said the U.S. military assets had been "immediately deployed to Burma in the spirit of goodwill to offer extensive and lifesaving assistance to the victims of Cyclone Nargis. Tragically, the Burmese authorities refused to accept this assistance."
The government says 78,000 people were killed by the May 2-3 cyclone and 56,000 are missing. Agencies have provided aid to about 1.3 million storm survivors.
And of course, the US lets the Burmese government push us around, push the rest of the world around by not letting them help their own starving people. I don't recall having to wait for permission to invade Afghanistan or Iraq.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/05/asia/myanmar.php
Burmese comedian who brought aid to delta is detained
Thursday, June 5, 2008
YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's leading comedian, who has been carrying out a private campaign to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis, has been detained by the police, his friends said Thursday.
Maung Thura, better known by his stage name Zarganar, was taken from his home in Yangon on Wednesday evening, the friends said.
The police ransacked the comedian's home and seized his computer files, which contained photos and videos of victims of the May 3 cyclone and the 2006 "champagne and diamonds" wedding of the daughter of the junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe, according to a friend of Zarganar, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The detention of Zarganar, 47, came as the government grew increasingly sensitive to criticism of its handling of relief operations for the cyclone that by official count left at least 134,000 dead or missing and about 2.4 million survivors in need of help.
On Thursday, four U.S. warships laden with supplies and 22 helicopters steamed away from international waters after more than two weeks of waiting for permission from the junta to help.
Private relief operations by Zarganar and Buddhist monks, who said they were acting partly because the government was not doing enough to help its own people, were widely seen here as a reproof to the ruling generals. The junta has been making it difficult for foreign aid workers to enter the delta and insists that all private donations be distributed through official channels.
"His arrest is a warning against Burmese who are trying to help fellow Burmese," said a friend of Zarganar. "This shows the worst in our government: The generals are concerned more about their security than the security of the people."
In an interview on May 19, Zarganar said the government had been warning his group of volunteers who were delivering aid. But he was undeterred.
"These are my people. I want to save my own people," he said. "That's why we go there with any donations we can get. But the government doesn't like our work."
"It is not interested in helping people," he said. "It just wants to tell the world and the rest of the country that everything is under control and that it has already saved its people. What we are doing contradicts its message."
Three days after the cyclone devastated southern Myanmar, Zarganar's group, in five teams, began making almost daily aid runs to the people in the outlying delta villages.
"There, you find people almost naked, with no food, and boys wearing girls' clothes," he said. "You find people who have lost their minds, people whose facial expression you can only describe as 'soulless."'
Zarganar said his operation was financed by fellow entertainers, ordinary people and rich businessmen who "want to deliver donations themselves but cannot" because of fear of the government. He said his group delivered 6.5 million kyats, or roughly $6,500, worth of relief goods a day.
On a typical trip, his teams start from Yangon at 5 a.m. After traveling by car, then boat and finally on foot, they reach their destinations at dusk. These "renegade aid runners" often use monks to scout routes free from military roadblocks, Zarganar said.
Zarganar built his fame largely through biting satire directed at the military government, under whose rule the resource-rich country has become one of the world's poorest and most politically oppressed.
But his jokes and political activism have come at a heavy cost. During the 1988 student uprising, he was thrown into jail for seven months. In 1990, when the party of the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, swept parliamentary elections but was barred from taking power, Zarganar was sentenced to five years in jail for making political speeches.
Last September, when the junta cracked down on an uprising by monks, he was detained for one month.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-myanmar-aid_05jun05,0,3961247.story
chicagotribune.com
U.S. Navy aborts aid mission to Myanmar
June 5, 2008
BANGKOK — The U.S. military aborted a mission to use helicopters and small boats to deliver aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims because the junta ignored repeated offers of assistance.
Adm. Timothy Keating, leader of the U.S. Pacific Command, has ordered the USS Essex to leave the Myanmar coast, after what he said were 15 separate efforts to persuade the junta to allow U.S. military helicopters to help deliver relief supplies.
"I am both saddened and frustrated to know that we have been in a position to help ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people and help mitigate further loss of life, but have been unable to do so because of the unrelenting position of the Burma military junta," Keating said.
The Essex and three other amphibious assault ships, which have been in international waters off Myanmar, formerly Burma, since May 13, will continue with their scheduled missions, Keating said in a statement issued by his headquarters in Hawaii.
But he added that "should the Burmese rulers have a change of heart and request our full assistance for their suffering people, we are prepared to help."
International aid agencies are struggling to increase their food delivery capacity in the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta, a complex network of rivers and islands, many of which are only accessible by small boats. Doctors Without Borders said the flow of supplies into the stricken region is still inadequate, and survivors in many remote villages have yet to receive any outside assistance.
However, the junta has refused to permit any foreign military helicopters to join the relief efforts.
In a statement Wednesday, White House press secretary Dana Perino said the U.S. military assets had been "immediately deployed to Burma in the spirit of goodwill to offer extensive and lifesaving assistance to the victims of Cyclone Nargis. Tragically, the Burmese authorities refused to accept this assistance."
The government says 78,000 people were killed by the May 2-3 cyclone and 56,000 are missing. Agencies have provided aid to about 1.3 million storm survivors.