Government In-Fighting Inhibits Rescue Missions

When disaster strikes, America responds by sending in perhaps her only reliable export: the military.

To be sure, the storm that ripped through the Irrawaddy Delta in southern Myanmar on Saturday is a tragedy. Early reports estimate that upwards of 100,000 people could die as a result of going without clean water, medical supplies, and food. Already reports estimate 22,000 people have died in a region that houses around six million people.

This morning I awoke to an angry radio personality (Fred Grandy) excoriating the government of Myanmar for not allowing United Nations officials into the country to distribute supplies. According to a CNN article, The United Nations workers needed permission from Myanmar's Ministry of Social Welfare before distribution could begin. The UN's hand-delivered request was denied.

In response to this denial, the supplies--enough to feed and care for 95,000 people for one day--remain on the tarmac, and the United Nations has halted all future flights bearing supplies to the region. Other governments in the region continue to assemble supplies to funnel into the region, but the geographic challenges of the affected region (a significant portion is underwater) are hampering immediate progress.

On the surface, Grandy probably has a legitimate point: why is Myanmar's government preventing supplies from reaching her people? What kind of government would actively prevent aid from reaching her citizens?

Well, we have our own example in the United States (hurricane Katrina), where the big, lumbering "Department of Homeland Security" failed miserably to provide for our citizens. Instead, as the link shows, private companies--such as big, bad Wal-Mart--did far more, and in a much more efficient manner--than anything Bush, Brownie & Co. could put together. Although utilizing the market in response to tragedies is superior to any government, I'm going to (attempt) to make a different point in this post.

Instead of bitching about the Myanmar government's callousness when it comes to her citizens, why is there no criticism of the UN's decision to cease all flights into the region? Why does the UN insist on having its own troops distribute supplies? It seems the United Nations is doing what disappointed toddlers do when the game doesn't go their way: they take their ball and go home.

And more citizens suffer. It seems the ultimate goal of the UN's relief project has nothing to do with helping people in need, and has everything to do with subverting the authority of a sovereign nation's government. Only from today's hackneyed "The World is Flat" viewpoint can a nation's government be recast as the villain when failing to capitulate to an unelected body's demands.

This is not a defense of Myanmar's government, either. My point is, if I'm a member of Myanmar's government, and an unelected "world body" steps in and demands jurisdiction over my country, I'd be a little hot, too.

And so it goes with America's efforts to alleviate suffering in the region. From the same CNN article linked above, we get this gem:

One senior U.S. military official told CNN that the United States is presenting Myanmar with an aid plan that would minimize the presence of American troops on the ground.

Oh good. I love how that sentence just takes for granted that US troops will be on the ground in Myanmar. The only question that remains unanswered is how large of a footprint the US will demand as part of her "aid" package. How generous of the US--willing to provide aid to a country that they don't even recognize!

Given the US' reputation in the region (and the world), I hope Myanmar refuses US aid, too. But of course that won't happen. If there's one thing the United States is an expert in, it's bullying her way into the internal affairs of another nation, sometimes even when American presence is neither wanted nor needed. Since the United States' two biggest exports are her (worthless) dollar and her (weakened) military, the cyclone that struck Myanmar's coast was, if you'll pardon the pun, the perfect storm for US imperialism in the region.

Imperialism was on Grandy's mind this morning as well. In fact, he went so far as to call for another "coalition of the willing" to band together and oust the government of Myanmar. Yes, even natural disasters are cause to call for regime change in another country, as I'm certain Grandy is not alone in harboring that sentiment. With four US Navy ships converging on the region and negotiations for a US "aid package" underway, it seems Myanmar's fate is already sealed.