Myanmar government hijacking aid shipments; OK’s US to send 1 plane with supplies
The military junta government of Myanmar wasted no time once international aid shipments hit their soil: they immediately seized it. Reports are now coming in that they’ve basically repackaged it, stenciling the names of their generals on the boxes along with “Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand.” In short, they want to hide from their people that they’re incompetent and completely unable to provide for them. Additionally, the generals who are putting their names on the boxes are redirecting the shipments to their regions which are not necessarily the places the shipments need to go.
While still fiddling with visas for the international disaster workers, the junta has approved the US to send 1 - that’s “one” - C-130 cargo plane with relief supplies. Don’t get me wrong, the Hercules is an impressive craft, but the amount of supplies one can load onto 1 of them won’t put a dent into a disaster need of this magnitude. I’m also far less optimistic that any supplies we send will actually make it to the people who really need it.
In the end, I fear, the government there will do far more to kill more people than the disaster has done.
I’m a resident of northern Virginia, near Washington, DC. By profession, I’m a network engineer for a very, very large company in the IT field. I work with several federal agencies in my job. Politically, I lean conservative on most issues dealing with matters of law, finance, national security, and personal responsibility. I’m more moderate in the social arena but don’t confuse that with the so-called “liberal” stance. You’ll get the picture.
