So now that an awful disaster has fallen on the people of Burma what will the neo-liberal policy makers have in store for them.

As i see the news and the west pleading with the Burmese dictators to allow them to help i can't help but wonder what is going on in the background.

Will this help be compassionate, altruistic, and motivated purely by the suffering of the human animal?

Or will the help come with the usual strings attached. I.e., loans via the standard neo-liberal global institutions with the understanding that foreign multinats have easy access to develop Burma's oil, gas, and precious gems? (and wiggle in on China's influence in this country).

As we already know, human rights abuses and the displacement of people from their traditional lands for the purpose of exporting natural resources is already a big problem in Burma. Now that they are in shock from this disaster the standard modus operandi for the west is to use this opportunity to exploit them even further.

All of this will depend on the ruling authorities willingness to open up to the west of course.

So i guess what I'm wondering is will the western authorities help out of a desire to alleviate the suffering, or will they help out of a desire to ultimately profit and make geo-political gains (ultimately causing even more suffering in the end).

Note: Individual citizens the world over will no doubt assist out of a desire to alleviate suffering, not to profit. My question refers to western governmental and non-governmental institutions only.

Andrew

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Ethanol is a fabulous solution to our energy dilemma because it will provide more fuel for us to drive around and look for food.

-- Unknown

Oh, brother.



I'm sure you've noticed the massive Western exploitation following the tsunami, right?

The only exploitation I see here is someone who hates everything about Western civilization standing on a huge pile of corpses to preach.

Matt

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Well said.

Do tell us all EXACTLY what are you going to do for the people of the former republic of Burma, Andrewl? I mean, besides exploit their disaster for political points. Are you sending money? Polar bears?

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"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to
change it." -- Barack Obama

"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." -- W. Churchill

“There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state and self-reliance.” —William F. Buckley Jr.

Liberalism is so impressed with its own brilliance that results apparently don’t matter.

Yes.

The Rise of Disaster Capitalism | Naomi Klein
The Indonesian Quake: The rise of the relief and reconstruction complex

I have plenty more links if you need them but the most extensive research done into this, and meticulously sourced, is in Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine.

Why do you doubt this happening Matt? Or would you rather just talk about me?

Andrew

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Ethanol is a fabulous solution to our energy dilemma because it will provide more fuel for us to drive around and look for food.

-- Unknown

Money.


Andrew

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Ethanol is a fabulous solution to our energy dilemma because it will provide more fuel for us to drive around and look for food.

-- Unknown

Good for you. How much? Through what charity? When? Do you have a receipt? Can you prove it?

__________________
"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to
change it." -- Barack Obama

"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." -- W. Churchill

“There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state and self-reliance.” —William F. Buckley Jr.

Liberalism is so impressed with its own brilliance that results apparently don’t matter.

I can only suspect that there will be a combination of the two at work, and point out that the line between the two is not always distinguishable.
Charity, even from the purest of motives, often creates connections that, in the future, turn out to be profitable or politically beneficial.
Likewise, there are times when the wisest course of business or the most self-interested political policy is to provide relief to someone in distress.

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To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. -Theodore Roosevelt

What is up with that? Who are you, the charity gestapo?

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To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. -Theodore Roosevelt

With extensive research, you might find two more biased sources, but it would take a great deal of effort....

Yes, some of the aid came in the form of loans from the IMF. That does not qualify as "exploitation", IMHO.

Exploitation is, as mentioned before, climbing atop a pile of unburied corpses to trumpet a political agenda.

Matt

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I agree that both factors are at play. We are all human after all. But the problem i have is that these sorts of policies i mention here do not have a strong record of success, and ultimately leads to even more suffering. We see this currently in the food crisis where people have been forced out of subsistence farming in favor of corporate factory mono-culture farming and now that prices have begun to skyrocket for various reasons, they no longer can feed themselves. In latin america we see them turning rapidly away from these policies as well.

Andrew

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Ethanol is a fabulous solution to our energy dilemma because it will provide more fuel for us to drive around and look for food.

-- Unknown

This space is for political discussion.

The sources i provided draw on facts Matt. On what basis do you deny this is happening?

Andrew

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Ethanol is a fabulous solution to our energy dilemma because it will provide more fuel for us to drive around and look for food.

-- Unknown

Please re-read what I wrote. I am contending that the basis of this claim of "exploitation" - namely that some of the aid came in the form of loans - is nonsense being hyped by people who have a very obvious agenda.

Matt

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Ah yes, another fine example of the blanket dismissal, a la Larson.

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Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush?

--Hunter S. Thompson

Another example of failing to read, ala Pogo.

I stated that two specific sources appeared to be highly biased.

Two specific sources.

That's hardly a "blanket dismissal".

But hey, why bother reading what I wrote, anyway. It's much more fun to argue about what you wish I had said.

Matt

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