Word: myanmar
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Before Nargis struck Burma, also known as Myanmar, no one outside the paranoid clique of Burmese generals imagined that foreign agents would be attacking anytime soon. But as the junta blocked foreign aid for cyclone victims and provided little relief of its own, some outside Burma considered a radical solution: a unilateral intervention to save Burma's beleaguered citizens. "I want to register my deep concern and immense frustration at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner referred to the U.N.'s "responsibility to protect...
...Ruling by Intimidation For years, Burma's ruling military has filled its state-run media with rants against the West. Even after the storm, the government's mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, demanded vigilance from the Burmese against "foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the state" and "stooges holding negative views...
...Here's one: if Burma's rulers continue to refuse help, the world should impose it on them--even if that requires military force. The Bush Administration has so far resisted the idea of a coercive humanitarian intervention--"I cannot imagine us going in without the permission of the Myanmar government," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said--which is somewhat surprising, since this is the same gang that unilaterally invaded Iraq. (Though considering how that turned out, maybe it shouldn't be.) But others have taken up the cause. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has called for the U.N. Security Council...
According to the US military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the danger of more storms hitting the region in Myanmar most severely damaged by the cyclone that struck on May 3 has not yet passed. Equally disconcerting is the little relief granted to the people of the region since the cyclone wreaked havoc, as the Burmese government is currently restricting large-scale international aid. The junta—the ruling government in Myanmar—has refused offers from the United States and other nations to send in search-and-rescue teams, food, and other crucial aid. With...
Apparently, the country's top brass disagreed. Although certain districts ravaged by the storm had their polls postponed until May 24, Too Chaung was declared one of the cyclone-struck regions that had already "returned to normalcy," as the government-run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, put it. That would be news to Too Chaung's residents, who were still tying together bamboo poles and palm fronds to build crude temporary shelters the day of the referendum. Villagers who voted in a nearby school filed out quietly afterward, hardly looking pleased about participating in what the junta has touted...