Burma Cyclone

[Silent Hunter]

They're saying at least 10,000 dead...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7384041.stm

[2952-0-0]

So will the military that beats and shoots protesters help civilians this time?

[Franzl]

Terrible - I hope that the government will work to help their citizens in this time of catastrophe.

[JSojourner]

My prayers are with those suffering.

I am in the process of contacting Episcopal Relief and Development to see if our denomination is able to do anything to be of assistance.  If not (some areas just aren't accessible to us), then I'll be supporting the Red Cross or another reputable relief organization.

Let's all do our part!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

This is so depressing on so many different levels

[MasterJedi]

U.S. diplomat says death toll could exceed 100,000.

[Verily]

Terrible - I hope that the government will work to help their citizens in this time of catastrophe.

More like, "I hope this opens the floodgates to an overthrow of the Burmese junta."

[dead0man]

Despite all this, the bastards in charge are still going to rig a vote today.  link

[John Dibble]

Terrible - I hope that the government will work to help their citizens in this time of catastrophe.

No such luck. They've seized aid shipments and are basically not allowing aid workers in. They even decided they'd hold a referendum that would give the junta more power just because they had planned it already.

[Hash]

France2 showed a clip from the junta's propaganda station (aka, TV) that showed a retarded dance clip calling on people to vote yes. And they showed some generals handing rice to a person on stage in a mysteriously not devastated auditorium.

[Meeker]

There's apparently a column in TIME today that basically says the US should seriously consider invading the country, or at least take some sort of military action to get aid in.

[dead0man]

Oh yeah, the world would LOVE that!

(I'm not saying it's a bad idea)

[Joe Republic]

There's apparently a column in TIME today that basically says the US should seriously consider invading the country, or at least take some sort of military action to get aid in.

Yes, nothing would be more helpful to the people of Burma right now than an invasion!

[dead0man]

Well it's not like we'd carpet bomb the place.  One would assume that we would go after govt and military targets only.  Sure a few extra always die in this kind of thing, but if it saved the lives of 50,000 it might be worth it.


(I'm not suggesting we should)

[Flying Dog]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136321


Maybe there will be a huge "Support Myanmar Regime rally at the GOP convention?"

[GMantis]

Well it's not like we'd carpet bomb the place.  One would assume that we would go after govt and military targets only.  Sure a few extra always die in this kind of thing, but if it saved the lives of 50,000 it might be worth it.


(I'm not suggesting we should)

Invading would be very disruptive to delivering aid and would not be able to help until it's too late. Though the suggestion about airdropping supplies without the permission of the government and intervention in the case of an epidemic threat. 

[Sbane]

Oh yeah, the world would LOVE that!

(I'm not saying it's a bad idea)

This is exactly the problem with imperialism man. We of course would be invading to help the people of Burma but it would be those exact people who would rise against us. The reason is nationalism of course. A better idea might be food drops by the US military against the wishes of the burmese. Just have a couple F-22s protecting our planes, I am pretty sure Burma couldnt do crap. I dunno if this would work though. SAM sites just came into my mind.

[JSojourner]

Oh yeah, the world would LOVE that!

(I'm not saying it's a bad idea)

This is exactly the problem with imperialism man. We of course would be invading to help the people of Burma but it would be those exact people who would rise against us. The reason is nationalism of course. A better idea might be food drops by the US military against the wishes of the burmese. Just have a couple F-22s protecting our planes, I am pretty sure Burma couldnt do crap. I dunno if this would work though. SAM sites just came into my mind.

I wouldn't support an invasion of Burma under these circumstances, unless it was multi-national and involved the Chinese and Indians.  And they would almost certainly never agree.  Even if we wanted to go in, we don't have the troops for it. 

[Sbane]

Oh yeah, the world would LOVE that!

(I'm not saying it's a bad idea)

This is exactly the problem with imperialism man. We of course would be invading to help the people of Burma but it would be those exact people who would rise against us. The reason is nationalism of course. A better idea might be food drops by the US military against the wishes of the burmese. Just have a couple F-22s protecting our planes, I am pretty sure Burma couldnt do crap. I dunno if this would work though. SAM sites just came into my mind.

I wouldn't support an invasion of Burma under these circumstances, unless it was multi-national and involved the Chinese and Indians.  And they would almost certainly never agree.  Even if we wanted to go in, we don't have the troops for it. 

Yes an invasion is a little silly. Getting food in to these places must be the priority and China/India should show some leadership by getting the food into these places.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Thailand and China have to be exerting MASSIVE pressure on the regime.

[dead0man]

bump

The PRC is putting pressure on the junta by giving them lots and lots of money.
link

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Lots and lots of protestors are still dead, thousands more are in jail and will be until they die there.  Some are even being injected with HIV on purpose.  Good thing we didn't invade and make things worse!

[GMantis]

bump

The PRC is putting pressure on the junta by giving them lots and lots of money.
link

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Lots and lots of protestors are still dead, thousands more are in jail and will be until they die there.  Some are even being injected with HIV on purpose.  Good thing we didn't invade and make things worse!

Many more people would have died under an invasion, not to mention all the other problems it would have brought.

[dead0man]

Maybe, we'll never know.  What we do know is that teh Burma govt is one of the worst in the world and the PRC is their main ally. Oddly enough, just like the one of the other worst countries in the world, N.Korea.  Make of that what you want.