Filed under: International Response, Lessons and Theory, Opinion/Editorial, Uncategorized | Tags: humanitarian intervention, iraq, madelaine albright, new york times
In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, former U.S. secretary of state, Madelaine K. Albright offered three reasons why the world didn’t intervene more forcefully in Myanmar.
The introductory excerpt to the piece:
“THE Burmese government’s criminally neglectful response to last month’s cyclone, and the world’s response to that response, illustrate three grim realities today: totalitarian governments are alive and well; their neighbors are reluctant to pressure them to change; and the notion of national sovereignty as sacred is gaining ground, helped in no small part by the disastrous results of the American invasion of Iraq. “
Read the full op-ed here.
–Divya
Filed under: From the Field, Latest News, Media, Uncategorized | Tags: irrawaddy delta, junta, new york times, reporter
The latest New York Times story says that a visit to some of the Irrawaddy Delta villages hardest hit by the cyclone suggests ”that the story of the death and destruction, compounded by the junta’s actions, has been neither fully told nor even fully seen.” Their reporter inside Myanmar is still anonymous.
–Karen
Filed under: From the Field, International Response, Latest News, Media, Uncategorized | Tags: farmers, internation, mizzima, new york times, Photos
The Burmese news site Mizzima has posted new photos of from the Irrawaddy region.
Also, the latest from the NY Times: Weeks After Cyclone in Myanmar, Even Farmers Wait For Food.
–Karen
Filed under: From the Field, Latest News, Uncategorized, Videos | Tags: aid complications, new york times, seth mydans
Great New York Times video that includes interviews with the anonymous Times reporter inside Myanmar and Seth Mydans, reporting from Bangkok. Watch the video here.
–Karen
Filed under: From the Field, International Response, Latest News, Photos, Uncategorized | Tags: ban ki-moon, cyclone nargis, new york times, UN
Here’s the link to ‘pictures of the day’ on the New York Times website. Among other events across the globe, the photographs capture the trail of destruction left behind by cyclone Nargis as UN Sect. General, Ban-Ki-Moon surveys the scene.
– Divya
Filed under: From the Field, International Response, Latest News, Media, Uncategorized | Tags: bogale, irrawaddy delta, new york times, reporters
The unnamed New York Times reporter(s?) in Myanmar have been doing great work to report the suffering of the people in the Irrawaddy Delta region. The following line is from a report on Bogale – one of the hardest-hit areas – in today’s paper. 95 percent of the houses in Bogale are believed to have been destroyed in the cyclone.
<<This reporter, whose name is being withheld to avoid detection by the government, was able to reach some, but not all, of the worst-affected areas by hiding in the bottom of a boat.>>
–Karen
Filed under: From the Field, International Response, Latest News, Uncategorized | Tags: aid, new york times, relief, stolen, Yangon
This just in, from the unnamed New York Times writer in Yangon: Some Myanmar aid reportedly stolen
The lede:
<The directors of several relief organizations in Myanmar said Wednesday that some of the international aid arriving into the country for the victims of Cyclone Nargis was being stolen, diverted or warehoused by the country’s military.>
Filed under: Donations, International Response, Media, Uncategorized | Tags: china, Donations, earthquake, freakonomics, nargis, new york times
Interesting piece in the NYT Freakonomics blog by Stephen J. Dubner about donations after natural disasters. Notes that international donations for Myanmar cyclone relief are still quite low– and that media coverage, not surprisingly, causes big jumps in the amount of money raised.
Update:Dubner discussed the piece this morning on the new NPR show The Takeaway.
–Karen
Filed under: From the Field, Latest News, Photos, Uncategorized | Tags: aid delays, Burma, cyclone, cyclone nargis, Divya, military junta, new york times, Photos
Here are links to three telling slideshows from the New York Times which illuminate the situation on the ground in Burma and the havoc wreaked by Cyclone ‘Nargis.’
Myanmar struggles in cyclone aftermath
Myanmar junta allowing little aid after cyclone
–Divya
Filed under: Latest News, Lessons and Theory, Media, Uncategorized | Tags: bangladesh, climate change, cyclone, new york times, nicholas d. kristof, nicki bennett, on the ground, sidr
American aid worker Nicki Bennett just posted from Bangladesh on Nick Kristof’s On the Ground blog on nytimes.com. She’s been doing reconstruction work in the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr, which ripped through Bangladesh six months ago.
Here’s an excerpt:
<<While an earthquake measuring 6 or 7 on the Richter scale might kill tens of thousands of people in places like Kashmir (2005) or Iran (2003), a quake of the same magnitude in a place like Japan or California leads to far fewer deaths and less damage.
What’s the difference? Poverty, exclusion, inequality and bad policies.>>
She goes on to make the important point that due to climate change, floods and natural disasters of this magnitude seem likely to increase in frequency. With that in mind, Robert Kaplan had an interesting piece in the Jan/Feb ’08 Atlantic Monthly, entitled “Waterworld” about how Bangladesh is dealing with climate change.
– Karen
