Please *DO NOT* donate money to the cyclone relief in Burma!
Sounds cold-hearted, yes? But it’s not.
Those who are familiar with the way in which the regime operates know that little if any of the official aid to Burma will end up being given to those who actually need it. For that reason I’m not in favor of aid pouring into the country at this point. If outside organizations were allowed to setup relief camps operated without interference from Burmese soldiers that would be a good start, but otherwise aid pouring into the country will actually strengthen the dictatorship while weakening the civilian population.
Even in the case where food and medicine is delivered directly to the victims of the tragedy, one of two scenarios will take place.
- After corrupt soldiers have helped themselves to the best of the aid shipments, they will hand out the remainder while taking credit for the shipments and pressure the aid recipients to make a loyal oath to the regime for “saving their lives”.
- Soldiers will simply take all of the aid supplies for themselves leaving nothing for the victims.
Not surprisingly reports of this very type of activity started to surface days ago. Here are some of the latest reports:
- Myanmar Victims Have Nowhere To Go
- Junta Keeps Aid Workers From Victims
- Starvation warning for Myanmar’s children
Though well meaning, blog posts encouraging people to donate to aid organizations such as this one made on O’Reilly’s Radar actually make the situation worse in Burma.
The bottom line is that the regime has no interest in saving people. Saving victims of the cyclone does not benefit their agenda. Therefore at this point there is not much the world can do other than sit by and watch a humanitarian disaster unfold.
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