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More Bad Times in Burma
Just when things in Burma looked like they couldn't get any worse, they did.
As discussed on this blog previously, in a post about a Rambo movie, of all things, the Burmese people are some of the most oppressed in the world. A civil war has raged in that country for nearly half a century, leaving many thousands displaced. Rumors of massive human rights abuses, including genocide, have gone mostly unheard, and attempts by NGOs to infiltrate the country have been met with fierce resistance by the country's corrupt government.
The massive cyclone that devastated the small Southeast Asian nation last week, leaving more than 20,000 dead and 40,000 more missing, has brought the already impoverished country to its knees. The extent of the damage is hard to gauge, even after several days, because of the harsh restrictions imposed by the country's military government. According to recent reports, the dictatorship that has ruled Burma since the early ‘60s is making all aid workers apply for entry visas, a process which can take several days. Meanwhile, more than a million Burmese people must wait without food, medicine, clean water, or electricity.
While countries across the globe offer aid, the Burmese government continues to stick to its guns, offering to accept only cash donations, rather than the food and medical supplies its people so desperately need.
Tonight's guest, former president and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Jimmy Carter, has spoken out against the Burmese regime before. Last year, when Burmese monks made world headlines with their protests, Carter offered to visit the country as a special envoy. Not surprisingly, the government wasn't interested.
According to Carter, one of the countries that can and does exert influence on the Burmese government is China. Already under scrutiny for its internal human rights abuses, Tibet policies, and ties to genocide in Darfur, this adds more fuel to the anti-Chinese fires that have been burning alongside the Olympic torch on its way around the globe. The Burmese people need help, and China can offer it. Whether it will or not is a different story.