The present situation with the Military Junta refusing foreign aid and assistance brings up an interesting question. Can one force aid on another? In this case, can the United Nations actually use force and coercion on the Burmese government and compel them to accept aid and assistance from the UN and its member natons?
It is day six and the initial death toll (estimates of 200,000) will be added to - by day 15 with the situation unchanged from what it is today, we can expect deaths to have at least doubled (half a million).
What the Un cannot afford to do is to allow the Burmese military carte blanche to control the supplies distribution which is what the Burmese military are wanting to do. For one thing, they have not the experience, the equipment or the administration to do this even half efficiently. A photo in today's press (and stage-managed for the occassion) showed a long line of Burmese matelots unloading a supply ship on the Irriwaddy river. One sack at a time going down this long chain. Would take weeks to unload a ship at that work rate. Weeks! Another, and perhaps bigger issue is that the military will distribute the supplies not to where they might have greatest need, but to their allies and friends inside Burma, mainly the middle class and trhe military itself. In the hands of the Red Cross high energy biscuits can save many hundreds of thousands of children. In the supplies depots of the Burmese military they will become a weapon of war and the Burmese military only conduct war against their own people.
There is a hard, tough war of diplomacy going on right now and we must hope that the Burmese government will cave in. It will already be too late for tens of thousands of the Burmese but better late than never... It might make a terrific difference if China was brought on board. China has much influence over the Burmese government and they could use that influence for good. Perhaps if the Un stood aside in favour of a Chinese-led relief operation much good would come of it. It would be a win-win situation since China and her reputation could only benefit following the rather negative image China has developed of late thanks to its heavy-handedness in Tibet.
At the moment the Burmese people are in a l0se-lose situation and they are dying in their tens of thousands for so long as the present logjam remains unbroached.
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