Asia goes to POT!

[suggs]

"Take me back to dear old Blighty..." yea...England...I've heard of it...a nation obsessed with hobbies and pub closing hours.
Hey, don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of irresponsible "Lets not take anything seriously, this is the internet" posting.
Problem is, words, like Stephen King, DO have power. I just think natural disasters are beyond the pale of decency. Yeah its an arbitrary fence, but without fences, you can end up falling off the cliff, into an abyss of horrible moral nothingness.

[suggs]

ps thanks to Lloyd George and the Manics for the above melopost.

[Neoteny]

So... does anyone think we should have, kinda, you know, forced some humanitarian aid into the Myanmar region? Maybe that's the American in me coming out, but doing nothing seems to be letting the people down quite a bit.

On another note, it's good to see that China's emergency response is all of seven times better than the US'. If Louisiana got hit by an earthquake, I'm fairly certain that Bush would just say "f*ck 'em. They should have known better."

[joecoolfrog]

So... does anyone think we should have, kinda, you know, forced some humanitarian aid into the Myanmar region? Maybe that's the American in me coming out, but doing nothing seems to be letting the people down quite a bit.

On another note, it's good to see that China's emergency response is all of seven times better than the US'. If Louisiana got hit by an earthquake, I'm fairly certain that Bush would just say "f*ck 'em. They should have known better."

There really is no way of forcing aid into another country short of declaring war and nobody seems too keen on taking on the Chinese who in effect are pulling the strings in Burma.
The country has been in tatters for years and its human rights record is appalling, people were dying in droves long before this latest natural disaster. The obvious leverage against Peking is to disrupt or boycott their showcase Olympic games, the resulting lack of face would wound the Chinese leadership immensely but nothing will happen for fear of rocking the economic boat. Despite all the bluster that is coming out of Europe and the USA the fact is that our governments are puting political expediency in front of humanitarian need.

[Neoteny]

So... does anyone think we should have, kinda, you know, forced some humanitarian aid into the Myanmar region? Maybe that's the American in me coming out, but doing nothing seems to be letting the people down quite a bit.

On another note, it's good to see that China's emergency response is all of seven times better than the US'. If Louisiana got hit by an earthquake, I'm fairly certain that Bush would just say "f*ck 'em. They should have known better."

There really is no way of forcing aid into another country short of declaring war and nobody seems too keen on taking on the Chinese who in effect are pulling the strings in Burma.
The country has been in tatters for years and its human rights record is appalling, people were dying in droves long before this latest natural disaster. The obvious leverage against Peking is to disrupt or boycott their showcase Olympic games, the resulting lack of face would wound the Chinese leadership immensely but nothing will happen for fear of rocking the economic boat. Despite all the bluster that is coming out of Europe and the USA the fact is that our governments are puting political expediency in front of humanitarian need.

I'm not talking about taking on China, though. Surely China wouldn't have a problem with helping these people in any way possible...

[joecoolfrog]

So... does anyone think we should have, kinda, you know, forced some humanitarian aid into the Myanmar region? Maybe that's the American in me coming out, but doing nothing seems to be letting the people down quite a bit.

On another note, it's good to see that China's emergency response is all of seven times better than the US'. If Louisiana got hit by an earthquake, I'm fairly certain that Bush would just say "f*ck 'em. They should have known better."

There really is no way of forcing aid into another country short of declaring war and nobody seems too keen on taking on the Chinese who in effect are pulling the strings in Burma.
The country has been in tatters for years and its human rights record is appalling, people were dying in droves long before this latest natural disaster. The obvious leverage against Peking is to disrupt or boycott their showcase Olympic games, the resulting lack of face would wound the Chinese leadership immensely but nothing will happen for fear of rocking the economic boat. Despite all the bluster that is coming out of Europe and the USA the fact is that our governments are puting political expediency in front of humanitarian need.

I'm not talking about taking on China, though. Surely China wouldn't have a problem with helping these people in any way possible...

If China said boo then the Junta in Burma would jump !

[Pedronicus]

I'm not talking about taking on China, though. Surely China wouldn't have a problem with helping these people in any way possible...

If China let some westerners loose in Burma and they just happened to stumble across the Burma oilfields that fuel chinas cars....... oh deary me!!!

[Nobunaga]

... Keeping up with the news on this? Upwards of 70,000 dead in west China. Horrific.

... China is enacting a period of mourning, shutting down all places (and websites) of entertainment for a few days. I can appreciate the sentiment I suppose, but this goes too far. But it's China, where no true freedom exists anyway, so no surprises here.

... FOX News has a reporter in China, keeping us all up to date on the goings-on (radio reports - don't watch TV news). This guy is in Shanghai and I'm over here thinking, "Shanghai?!" That's east coast China. It wold be like some guy up in Maine giving updates on Hurricane Katrina. Then I discovered - no foreign press allowed in the disaster zone.... but Shanghai? Hell, at least go as far west as Beijing!

... Last point and something to keep an eye on. I haven't seen it reported much yet but it very well might be (because it makes the US look bad). US aid to China is abysmally low. 500K, compared to millions pouring in from other nations. That's how you can expect it to be reported.

... The problem is, the International Red Cross has not yet approached the US for assistance. Instead, officials in China are asking that donations be sent to certain government banks. If anybody here knows anything about China, it should be easy to figure out why our contribution is so low. This is a huge money-making opportunity for these men and women. Pisses me off to hear 500K was sent, actually.

...