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Cyclone in Burma kills almost 4000, could reach 10,000- BECOME AWARE

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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7384041.stm

For those of you not aware of the situation in Burma, well maybe this is a sign that you should be. For decades, an oppressive military regime has ruled in the Southeast Asian country of Burma. The concept of freedom is non-existent, it ranks 190th in worst healthcare systems out of 191 countries, and the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, a nobel peace prize recipient, has been under house arrest for more than a decade. If that's not enough, well, you read the headline, and the military government is doing next to nothing to help, and foreign relief is difficult as well because of this. Change is long overdue for Burma, the people deserve it badly. I've been fortunate enough to visit this country, and it's absolutely beautiful, some of the nicest people I've ever met. Please learn about this country, become inspired to spread the word or do something, anything, to help. Check out some of these links. Thoughts?

http://www.fanista.com/burmaitcantwait/

http://uscampaignforburma.org/



May 5 2008 11:39AM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
my solution, send in some, special forces, kick some ass, kill the bad leader, and let democracy take its course....

people naturally want to be free right?
May 5 2008 11:48AM
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Snowcase
Posts: 11456 - Karma: 634
Yes but you have to understand poor people want to not be poor also. That's why they choose communism or they listen to someone who is using their lack of intelligence to come to power for his own benefit.
May 5 2008 12:00PM
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Dr_Feelgood
Posts: 1176 - Karma: 15
damn that sucks for them. mad AFP for them
May 5 2008 12:06PM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
so they are not poor under communism?  i think not.

would you rather be free, or live a sucky life under some crazy messed up leader?

also, if they embraced freedom, they would have a great chance of turning around there country really really fast, look at the amount of time it took Germany, Russia,  and italy  to  turn their country around.
May 5 2008 12:08PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
The leaders here were not chosen by the people by any means..They rose up in 1988, thousands were killed, and again last september where hundreds were killed or disappeared. It's a very delicate situation, but change can be made if we don't forget about their situation, which is what has always happened.
May 5 2008 12:10PM
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Snowcase
Posts: 11456 - Karma: 634
I never said that. I'm saying uneducated, poor people would choose communism because its the "easy" way out. What do you mean by turning around their country? Correct me if I'm wrong but Germany and Italy had no choice to change and the USSR didn't change until the 80's. Those were terrible examples.
May 5 2008 12:20PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
They have fully embraced freedom and lost their lives for it...multiple times
May 5 2008 12:26PM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
those examples i used were saying that they could turn around their country when dictators, tyrants, and general nut cases.  were taken out of power, and the country's began to thrive.
May 5 2008 12:27PM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
that is why if someone (the US) would help them, by killing the bad leaders  the people would then be free to live their free life's.
May 5 2008 12:29PM
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Aenigma
Posts: 11256 - Karma: 428
This seems vaguely familiar, and if I recall correctly it didn't quite work out that way.
May 5 2008 12:35PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
10,000 confirmed dead now. 75-80% of the city of Yangon was destroyed..I was in this city about 2 years ago. Please, spread the word.
May 5 2008 12:40PM
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ax_murderer
Posts: 3322 - Karma: 30
fuck you.

this kid(thread creator) is saying enough is enough, we should get involved. activists everywhere are probably saying we should get involved, Burma and everyone is probably going to be asking for our help, and then when we give them help OUR way, they are just going to bitch.
May 5 2008 12:50PM
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ax_murderer
Posts: 3322 - Karma: 30
its still working itself out...
May 5 2008 12:51PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
In this instance, it IS our problem. The people have wanted change for decades, but they live in fear of the reprucussions if they speak out. Unfortunately it might take a Cyclone that kills thousands to show people this isnt a place we can just close our eyes to. We must take action.
May 5 2008 1:25PM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
iraq is still a work in progress.
May 5 2008 1:28PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
bump bitches. This is big, don't ignore it. Take 5 minutes to write your congressman to say Burma has been oppressed for too long. These people have no freedom and we do, don't take that for granted.
May 5 2008 2:10PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8

Bump

May 5 2008 3:43PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
Bump dammit
May 5 2008 6:34PM
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Microcosm
Posts: 4765 - Karma: 153
bump for this.!
May 5 2008 8:20PM
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doublexl
Posts: 8407 - Karma: 27
if only it were all so simple...
May 5 2008 9:19PM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
everyone's gonna call us ignorant american fucks, but i have to agree with you there. Until our own society is some sort of perfect utopia, or at least extremely stable, i don't think we should go around solving every other nation's problems.

sure, i do feel bad about it, and i do believe that some humanitarian aid should be given after the cyclone, but i don't think we have the right to do any more. This is the world. Read through history, stuff like this has always, and will always happen. The world is not a perfect place.
May 5 2008 9:32PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8

This is not onl a US issue. This is not Iraq or Afghanistan.  Nearly everyone in the world agrees that Burma should be free. I'm glad I don't live in Burma too, I'm extremely fortunate for what I have, and the freedoms I've been given. But honestly, we can do something, even if its just spreading the word to a few friends, or writing your congressman. It takes fucking 5 minutes people.

May 5 2008 11:23PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
10,000 in just one town, 15,000 total and counting.
May 6 2008 12:29AM
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charmander
Posts: 10636 - Karma: 373
theyre asians, ive them a week and theyll have anti-cyclone glasses or someshit
May 6 2008 1:06AM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
i just read, it is supposed to go past 22,000 deaths now.


May 6 2008 9:59AM
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coolhandluke
Posts: 4465 - Karma: 153
you're not supposed to have figured that out.

people going around saying "stop the genocide in darfur" but fail to offer realistic advice on what to do (given our lack of success in that general area of africa) leave themselves a loophole to bitch later

people going around saying "free tibet" but fail to offer realistic advice on how to deal with the jabba the hut that is china leave themselves a loophole to bitch later

can the thread creator elaborate on what we are supposed to do?  become aware?  anyone that has read a newspaper (mostly likely online) or watched the news is aware.  recall how when the government there renamed the country Myanmar, and few (if any) western countries acknowledged the name change?  we are not on good terms with burma/myanmar.  remember the last time we got involved with "helping" a country in southeast asia (vietnam), started small with some advisors, then came paramilitary, then came our whole dang military.  remember the most notorious UN humanitarian effort in our lifetime; somalian warlords seizing the food and supplies (sent by the UN and RedCross) which led to UN troops then US troops getting fucked in our first real urban combat where we had to be "careful" about civilians (rather than previous wars where boeing-made-bombers flatten the piss out of everything before the ground-pounders arrive).  plus everyone loves to point out that we went into iraq mostly recently without the UNs approval.  so this time, lets sit back and wait for the UN to give approval, send in their own aid, and send in its own non-american troops to protect the aid when things go south.  those americans that feel compassionate are still welcome to donate time, money, aid to their favorite group (RedCross, DoctorsWithoutBorders, etc) but given how the world hates us i'd rather not see our government do anything.


May 6 2008 10:35AM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
I'm pretty sure that if you took a poll, until this week, very few people knew where Burma was, let alone what the situation was there. I can say this is true of myself until I went there a couple years back. Sure, last September when all the protests went down it got some coverage, but then people forgot about it. Really, how often do you see it in the news? Never. So yes, we do need to become aware, and unfortunately it takes a cyclone that destroys the country to really shed some major light on it. I have never said that the US should attack the country or anything like that, this is a worldwide effort, it's largely a UN effort, but the fact of the matter is, we have freedom to express our opinion to our government, and the people of Burma doesnt, and they have specifically asked us to use our freedom to promote theirs. At the very least we should be doing that.
May 6 2008 11:11AM
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Dr_Feelgood
Posts: 1176 - Karma: 15
yea man i just saw that shit again today. they showed before and after photos on today and the shit was nuts. the island turned from green to brown. and 15000 people dead?? from one storm??? unbelieveable...
May 6 2008 11:14AM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
It's now confirmed at over 22,000 dead, with some 40,000 still missing. The thing we have to remember though is communication is extremely shitty with this government, they are very secretive, so really who knows what the actual death toll is. They do not like to admit they have a major problem on their hands.
May 6 2008 11:17AM
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wrenegade
Posts: 6631 - Karma: 41
The government in Myanmar/Burma live in a fortified bunker in the middle of a rainforest. Seriously. No joke. They do not care about their people, all they care about is holding on to power.

Unfortunately for those 41,000 others missing they are probably dead as well. And if somebody doesn't get potable water and other supplies to the survivors in 48-72 hours, the death toll could easily double.
May 6 2008 12:10PM
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Quinny
Posts: 3477 - Karma: 163
Can we add this to the long list of reasons why the UN is the most worthless bureaucracy on the planet?
May 6 2008 12:24PM
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Bhayter10
Posts: 942 - Karma: 8
bump
May 7 2008 12:57AM
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coolhandluke
Posts: 4465 - Karma: 153
worst bureaucracy alive.  (league of nations sucked bigger eggs)
May 7 2008 2:50AM
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Campeador
Posts: 7516 - Karma: -1,227
That whole region is ridiculously overpopulated.
May 7 2008 4:03AM
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Casey
Posts: 7891 - Karma: 24,913
people naturally join militias and war with rival gangs if its a chaotic state of nature tho
May 7 2008 4:37AM
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Quinny
Posts: 3477 - Karma: 163
Same difference...an ultimately powerless alliance that has the "power" to wag their finger at you.
May 7 2008 9:46AM
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