Re: Burma junta blasts aid donors - Burma's ruling junta lashed out Thursday at aid donors who promised millions of dollars for cyclone relief, saying survivors didn't need "bars of chocolate."

In article <546cc1d8-d4ae-43d0-9c21-48d2fe156dae@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
rst0wxyz <rst0wxyz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On May 30, 2:52 pm, bmo...@xxxxxxx wrote:
On May 30, 10:25 am, rst0wxyz <rst0w...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:





Burma junta blasts aid donors
State-run media say only $150 million pledged for cyclone relief
Associated
Presshttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/30/MNCT10VVH...
Friday, May 30, 2008
(05-30) 04:00 PDT Rangoon, Burma --

Burma's ruling junta lashed out Thursday at aid donors who promised
millions of dollars for cyclone relief, saying survivors didn't need
"bars of chocolate."

State-run media criticized donors for only pledging up to $150 million
- a far cry from the $11 billion the junta said it needed to rebuild.

The Myanma Ahlin newspaper, a government mouthpiece, said cyclone
victims from the hardest-hit areas could get by without foreign
handouts.

"People from the Irrawaddy Delta can survive on their own, even
without bars of chocolate donated by the international community," it
said, adding they can live on "fresh vegetables that grow wild in the
fields and on protein-rich fish from the rivers."

The reference to chocolate bars appeared to be metaphorical. No aid
agency is known to be distributing them, and they would not be
practical in the country's tropical heat. Paul Risley of the U.N.'s
World Food Program, which is directing the effort for emergency food
supplies, said his agency provides rice, ready-to-eat meals of rice
and beans, and high-energy biscuits.

The newspaper commentary also slammed an unnamed monetary institution,
saying its refusal to help cyclone survivors was "an act of
inhumanity."

World Bank Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub said last week that the
bank will not extend any financial aid or loans to Burma because it
has not paid its debts for a decade.

The article said the same countries that criticized Burma, also known
as Myanmar, for not opening its door to aid workers were being stingy
with relief aid. It appeared to single out the United States without
naming it.

"There is one big nation that extended economic sanctions on Myanmar
even before it was known that a powerful cyclone was going to strike
Myanmar," it said.

Despite the blistering rhetoric, the United Nations reported that
dozens of visas had been approved for international relief workers to
enter the country. It said more foreigners were also being allowed
into the delta, which had been off-limits to Westerners since the
storm left 1.5 million homeless.

It was an apparent sign that the isolationist government planned to
keep its promise to allow in humanitarian workers from all countries.
The last 45 pending visas were granted to U.N. staffers, while Save
the Children, Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF have sent more than
14 workers in recent days into the delta region, a U.N. statement
said.

Japan, which has so far donated $13 million in aid, sent a 23-member
medical team to the country Thursday, the Foreign Ministry said in
Tokyo.

This article appeared on page A - 12 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Of course the bit about donors sending chocolate bars is not true. The
junta is once again trying to hide their own indifference and
incompetence by blasting the people who are trying to help them. They
are trying to fool us but few are fooled.

Come on, Bill Moore, chocolate IS part of America. Ever since WWII,
chocolate was and has been part of our gift to every country, every
kid knows it.

"Everyone knows" is not much of an argument, especially since the article you
posted contradicts it:

The reference to chocolate bars appeared to be metaphorical. No aid
agency is known to be distributing them, and they would not be
practical in the country's tropical heat. Paul Risley of the U.N.'s
World Food Program, which is directing the effort for emergency food
supplies, said his agency provides rice, ready-to-eat meals of rice
and beans, and high-energy biscuits.
-------

I think it's safe to say that the "chocolate" comment is just the junta being
the jerks that they are. What a bunch of scum.



.

Relevant Pages