Burma Update: UN SG Ban Ki Moon Claims Foreign Aid Allowed

[stinglikeabee]

The Times Online:  Burma's junta leader has agreed to allow access to all foreign aid workers to help with the relief operation after Cyclone Nargis, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said.
Mr Ban made the announcement after more than two hours of talks with Senior General Than Shwe, the reclusive leader of the country’s military regime, whose

Comments

[parlance]

We just got an Amnesty International call to action this morning specifically for ASEAN leaders to put pressure on the Myanmar government. This is one time I was hesitant to take part because I was pretty sure that's what they were already doing without additional shoulder-tapping.

[stinglikeabee]

You're right, and there's more. AMNESTY and ASEAN have a beef for decades now, and the extra pressure is not going to help. I know Amnesty means well, but speaking as a person who has seen how ASEAN works from the inside, this will be seen as yet another way the West tries to interfere in Asia.

One of the big reasons why ASEAN is working quietly is to avoid the spotlight falling on them. Not a single country in the group has an open and free democracy (not even Singapore, for all its success). Better to band together to preserve the status quo, that's the motto.

[parlance]

Thanks for that insight. And I'm glad I refrained.