Burma Cyclone

Two new sites:

• Moe Gyo, meaning ‘thunder’ in Burmese, posting recent updates from inside Burma: http://moegyo.blogspot.com
• Burma Roundtable, listing cyclone-related vigils, etc. in NYC: http://nyburmaroundtable.googlepages.com/

Finally, from newsweek.com:

A leading Burmese exile discusses the junta’s slow response to cyclone relief and why many see the cyclone as divine intervention against their despotic leaders. Melinda Liu interviews Aung Zaw, the editor of ‘The Irrawaddy’ news magazine:

Read full interview here

–Karen

In the most recent radio broadcast of “Uptown Radio” - Columbia Journalism School’s radio program , host Annie Lok and reporter Michelle Stockman interviewed Maureen Aung-Thwin, a Burmese expert at Open Society Institute.

Aung-Thwin commented, among other things, on the military junta’s paranoia of letting in foreign aid workers who might be posing as journalists to expose the state of affairs inside.

Below is the introduction to the broadcast.

Intro: In the aftermath of a cyclone that killed tens of thousands of lives in Myanmar, the military government is still refusing to let foreign aid workers in to help. Host Annie Lok spoke with Maureen Aung-Thwin, the director of the Burma Project at the Open Society about the government’s isolationism.

Listen to the full interview here.

–Divya

The World Food Programme’s main spokeswoman, Bettina Luescher, spoke to the Wall Street Journal about immediate needs in Myanmar. Also highlighted in the second half of the video is the impact of the global hike in food prices and how it is adding to the problems of delivering international aid in Burma.

View the full video here.

- Lam