Naeem's Blog

My scattered thoughts on the going-ons of Burma (I can't call it Myanmar - my childhood Quran teacher's from Burma, so I'll stick to that name) and its cyclone tragedy:

How the hell is Burma being compared to Somalia?? I've read that in various occasions, most notably this Slate piece which had the headline 'The Next Somalia?'.

Although there isn't any explicit explanation for such a comparison, I'm guessing its the proposed idea being kicked around that the UN should militarily intervene for humanitarian purposes and overthrow the Burmese junta that is denying international aid to the cyclone victims. They're comparing that to the military intervention (more like invasion) in Somalia last year where neighboring Ethiopia (under direct orders from the US) overthrew the UIC (Union of Islamic Courts) who themselves had taken over the inept puppet government and established peace and some sense of order.

Its obvious to any objective observer that the Ethiopia/US invasion of Somalia had nothing to do with humanitarian purposes. I've posted about this before, so I won't rehash that argument.

But I must admit that the situation in Burma is ripe for such a humanitarian invasion. If reports are accurate and the junta is in fact denying aid out of paranoia and distrust, then I do believe that intervention (military or otherwise) is justified and even necessitated.

This is not about arbitrary calls for women's rights or hypocritical denunciations of un-democratic rule - tactics used by the US and gang to carry out their imperialistic policies. This is about the most basic of human rights - the right to life. If the government is jeopardizing the lives of its citizens and enacting laws and policies blatantly endangering their health and safety, its the duty of every nation to stand up against this injustice.

This is not about freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, or any of these other freedoms that are politicized by the West in their hunger for global resources. This is about protecting a people who cannot protect themselves against the oppression of their own rulers.

That being said, I will also opine that this endless campaign to demonize the ruling junta is probably being spearheaded by Burmese pro-democracy opposition groups with Western governments and media-outlets (check this one-sided Time article) more than willing to play their role as lackeys and stooges (see Iraq and Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress who played the US and media like a violin in fomenting Saddam's overthrow).

So let's critically analyze the crocodile tears being shed by these critics of Burma's military leaders.

Burma has allowed aid from China, India, Turkey, and others while rejecting assistance from most western governments who had vocally denounced their suppression of pro-democracy Buddhist monks. So how come these western governments, if they are sincere in their wish to help the victims, don't simply send the aid via China or India?

Or maybe just go straight to food-drops, bypassing airspace authorization from Burma? They've never cared for airspace authorization when it comes to dropping bombs, so how come that's such a big deal when dropping aid?

Seems to me if there's a will, there's a way. No need for all this media hoopla and grandstanding...

And of course there is that double-standard thingy with the US. I vividly recall the US refusing Katrina aid from Cuba and Venezuela. So why are they acting surprised when Burma isn't accepting aid from the US, Australia, and company?

Methinks Burma isn't the only one politicizing this tragedy.

So yeah, I'm advocating military intervention if the junta doesn't wise up and place the interests of its suffering population ahead of its political ambitions - but not by the UN or the US (but who else is there?...sigh). They've proven that they can't act in the interest of the oppressed (see Serbia, Somalia, Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan), choosing their own interests and alliances before all else.