Burma's obstruction cost 'tens of thousands of lives,' Robert Gates

2008-05-31 21:31:36 - 'We have reached out, frankly, to Myanmar [Burma] multiple times during this crisis in very direct ways,' Gates told an international audience. 'It's not been us that have been deaf and dumb in response to the pleas of the international community, but the government of Myanmar. We have reached out; they have kept their hands in their pockets.'

With US, British and French Navy ships off the coast of Burma poised to leave because they have been blocked from delivering assistance to the ravaged country, Gates said the US will not forcibly bring in supplies without permission of the government and will continue to 'respect the sovereignty' of Burma.

Gates told the annual Shangri-la conference held in Sinapore that there will be 'no change in our drive to temper North Korea's ambitions, a policy not possible without China's valued cooperation.'

Inspite of divergent views of the Republican and Democratic candidates, Gates said he is confident that the strong US ties to Asia will continue 'no matter which political party occupies the White House next year.'

Gates told a high-level security forum in Singapore that any speculation that the United States was losing interest in the region was "preposterous."

"I think this will be an area where there will be a strong and positive legacy in the future," he told the forum, six months before the US presidential elections.

"Any speculation in the region about the United States losing interest in Asia strikes me as either preposterous, or disingenuous, or both," said Gates, who will visit Thailand and South Korea after Singapore.

Burmese military junta is allowing entry to aid workers into the cyclone devastated areas at snail's pace. this is resulting chunk of of survivors continue to be deprived off any kind of support. This despite the regime's recent permission allowing access to aid workers in to cyclone hit regions, officials of Medicines Sans Frontiers said."We are aware that some villages have not received any kind of help yet," said Dr. Frank Smithius, chief of the MSF team in Burma.This is a fall out of lack of communication and difficulties in transportation and slow distribution of aid, Dr. Smithius added.

Following Burma's military supremo Senior General Than Shwe's meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, aid agencies said a few international aid workers have been provided access into the Irrawaddy delta, where the cyclone wreaked the worst havoc."Four weeks have elapsed after the storm and I think it is quite sad that many villages have not yet received aid," Dr. Smithius said.

Domestic volunteers and national aid workers in Rangoon said, access to the delta area has recently been made possible for both international and domestic aid agencies.

Irrawaddy delta and seaside areas adversly affected by the cyclone are major producers of rice, fish, and salt for the rest of Burma,and the government's mishandling of the relief work may likely to create serious countrywide food shortages and further political unrest. The soaring global rice and oil prices are also cutting into the budget of humanitarian agencies already on the ground, such as the Thai Burma Border Consortium, a primary provider of food for the border refugees and displaced ethnic minorities. Unless alternative funding can be found to meet the price increase, the border refugees like the cyclone victims will be going hungry soon.Only months after the violent assault on the country's spiritual leaders, Burma's iron bowl has been cracked by unseen forces.

The dissatisfaction among the people and unsafe cyclone survivors are shortly to fall in deah trap which will propel them to revolt or protest to bring change in Burma .Global watch over the Burma are waking world leaders that in the reality Burma is in need of political revivalas per reports emerging in their media.