Burma emergency enters its second week

At the beginning of last week, we were talking about a natural disaster. As this week begins, it is a man-made one that confronts the world. Sixty years ago next month, the world faced a similar man-made crisis.

With respect to the new emergency, there is one big question: how can the international community bring aid into Burma on a scale that will help the victims despite a local government that is unwilling to cooperate?

First, we should see that resolutions are passed by the Security Council that would compel the Burmese junta to accept international relief. But if the government of Burma still objects, then creativity will be required. We will need to consider the most secure means by which to bring relief aid into populations impacted by the cyclone. Bangkok Pundit has two posts (here and here) that point to why an outright invasion of the country would not be as easy as it looks, blogging:

The biggest problem is it will take time to get enough troops and hardware on the ground and to prepare. By that time, most of the people would be dead or have survived. The cyclone provides a rationale for the invasion, but I don't think an invasion would help the victims of the cyclone.

Indeed, time is of the essence. Now, my hunch is that the cyclone would have wiped out any Burmese military installations in coastal regions where the cyclone hit. It seems to me that aid might well be slipped in to towns and villages on the stricken delta region without much opposition. As far as I know, Myanmar does not have much of a navy. A commenter at TJTS blog (where Fonzi responded to a call for "an invasion of Burma" published in the Asia Times), a commenter named Hobby writes:

As for an invasion, I don't think a military invasion is what is required, but rather an humanitarian invasion - I think it's worth trying parachuting in supplies, together with helpful disaster relief/health/engineering type advice (not propaganda) written in Burmese, just to spread the word about what should be done.

Indeed, the choice is not necessarily either/or. That is, either let them die, or invade the country.

We need to focus on the geography of the affected region. We are talking about coastline, swampy flooded coastal terrain (see map). This terrain is remote, largely inaccessible by land, putting any junta military forces that would obstruct relief efforts at a huge disadvantage. Geography ought to work to the benefit of foreign navies coordinating relief efforts.

The outside world ought to be able to deliver large quantities of supplies into villages by speedboat and helicopter launched from naval vessels. The operation would be conducted from the sea, offshore the worst-affected region, the Irrawaddy Delta.

The historical precedent we need to consider here is not the tsunami relief effort of 2005 in Ache Indonesia, but the Berlin Airlift -- the West's response to the Berlin Blockade of 1948.

If a previous generation of Americans, French and British -- having just endured the worst war in history -- could mount such a heroic effort on behalf of Berliners (their former enemies), it is incumbent upon this generation to attempt so much for the Burmese. Like the Berlin Airlift that began sixty years ago next month, the coming international relief effort for Burma will be like nothing the world has ever seen.

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Photographs: show the Berlin Airlift.