Armchair Talking Head

“…but it will always be Burma to me.”

Before last year, that quote from J. Peterman of Seinfeld fame was the only thing I knew about the southeast Asian nation.  In my American Foreign Policy course, while others got the attractive roles of Secretary of State, Israel, China, etc., I got to “play” the part of the military junta government of Myanmar which is officially recognized as Burma to the United States government as we do not officially recognize the junta as  the legitimate government.  The ruling junta is beyond backwards.  They moved the capital from Yangon to a hideout in the hills because of a feared invasion coupled with an odd astrological interpretation.  People in Myanmar live like the 1800’s, and disease and starvation is commonplace in normal times.

These are no normal times.  In the well-publicized aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, the people of Myanmar are suffering from the oppressive junta more than ever.  Nations are lined up at the ready to deliver the aid needed to the hundreds of thousands of survivor, yet the junta refuses most aid.  Thus far, only minimal aid has been let in from the US and others.  Even then, there are reports that the high quality food aid is being stolen and stockpiled by the junta and replaced with low quality foods.

Myanmar exists solely by the help of China who, if you haven’t heard, has their own horrible natural disaster to deal with at the moment.  The US should lean on China to persuade the junta to allow US and other foreign aid to flow freely into the battered nation.  If they refuse to accept aid, the Bush Administration should look to the successes of the Marshall Plan in Eastern Europe for inspiration here.  We fought Communism with aid, and on a smaller scale we can fight the backwards, oppressive ruling military junta by air dropping the shelter supplies, food, medicine, and potable water they so desperately need.

With the sting of Nargis still fresh, and the possibility of yet another Cyclone hitting the Irrawaddy Delta, the “Yangon Airlift” is needed now more than ever.