“It’s a Trap”
May 25th, 2008Western “donors” have offered Myanmar one hundred million dollars if western aid is allowed to come in and help in the hardest-hit areas of that country. The junta agreed, but it is not clear how true to their word they will be or how much access workers will be given to how many of the truly hard-hit places. I think it’s incredible to offer them a hundred million dollars when we know that aid is difficult to disperse even under the best conditions and we therefore have reason to suspect that much of this money would simply go into the pockets of the ruling regime. The difficulty in this situation is in figuring out how to give as much aid to as many people as possible without giving credibility and power to the evil regime that rules this country. If it’s possible, we should insist that no money exchange hands, only aid in the form of workers personally entering the country, but what sort of incentive do these murderous hermits have then? What a moral trap this disaster has become for those who would do what is best and right in assisting those killed by a terrible event and those who would exploit it for their own privelege and gain.