The Globe: Burma (Updated Below)

There's not a whole lot to be said at this point about the hell that is playing out in Burma. If you've been following the story, you know that the death toll is likely to reach 130,000. You know that millions of residents are, as we speak, begging for food, stranded, and watching their loved ones succumbing to disease and starvation. And you know that only a tiny fraction of international aid is making it in to the people (and that there have been reports of military units stealing a lot of it) -- because the military government is doing a heckuva job all by itself.

Nothing quite summarizes the junta's disgraceful role in all of this better than the following two sentences:

"We have already finished our first phase of emergency relief. We are going onto the second phase, the rebuilding stage," state television quoted Prime Minister Thein Sein as telling his Thai counterpart this week.

Underlining where its main attentions lie, the junta this week announced an overwhelming vote in favor of an army-backed constitution in a referendum held on May 10 despite calls for a delay in the light of the disaster.

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UPDATE:

I wanted to respond in the main part of this post to Virginia's comment about China rather than keeping it to the comments section. She said:

"The crazy thing is that the situation in Burma makes China looks like a good guy. Reporters are traveling around there, citizens are speaking to them, some of them even have the balls to say that their government isn't doing enough. Aid and supplies are reaching people, soldiers are digging families out of the rubble - some things are happening the way they should in some parts of the provinces affected."

Very true, especially the "crazy" part. The contrast between the relief efforts in the two countries masks a very, very important irony: To a great degree, the Myanmar junta owes its hold on power to China. When I interviewed the UN's Special Envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, I kept pressing him on why the international community couldn't gain more traction in pressuring the dictatorship. He, of course, is an accomplished diplomat and thus would never come out and state that China is the biggest obstacle to progress in Burma, but again and again, the conversation came back around to China. Whenever the UN Security Council tries to pass a resolution against the junta, China is there to block it. Why? Of course you know: Money. Trade. Energy.

[Of course the rise of China also ties into much else that has been discussed on this blog, regarding the economy -- and to much which hasn't, including the genocide in the Sudan. But that's a post for another day].

And what is the latest news on the struggle to get aid to the people of Burma?

China Backs Myanmar in Resisting Demands to Take Aid
By Demian McLean
May 17 (Bloomberg) -- China is backing Myanmar as it resists pressure from the U.S. and other nations to admit more relief workers and supplies to help as many as 2.5 million cyclone victims at risk of disease and hunger.
Other countries must show ``due respect'' to Myanmar, said Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, at a briefing yesterday. ``Myanmar is a sovereign country. In the end, rescue and relief work will have to rely on the Myanmar government and people.''

So the really disgusting thing is that, with its history of keeping the people of Burma poor and oppressed to satisfy its own rapacious capitalism (China is communist in government, capitalist in economy), China gets credit for taking care of its own people -- while supporting the Myanmar junta in its decision to refuse outside aid.

Oh, and of course China itself is accepting international aid to deal with its earthquake.