5-21-08, 9:11 am

Original source: The Guardian (Australia)

The natural disasters that have caused so much destruction and loss of life in recent times are going to continue and perhaps become more frequent and destructive.

Climate change is forecast to intensify destructive aspects of the earth’s climate with intensified cyclones, droughts, floods, storms and a rise in sea levels. Most governments are not yet implementing the urgently necessary measures to change the situation. One example is the failure of the Australian government in its recent budget to introduce worthwhile programs to support renewable energy technologies.

Earthquakes will continue and whenever they occur in populated areas, such as big cities, the loss of life and the destruction of property will be immense. Imagine the loss of life if an earthquake should occur beneath the city of Sydney or New York or San Francisco. The earth will continue to shrink as its centre slowly cools and the tectonic plates grind against each other. In the last few years major earthquakes have occurred in Pakistan, China, Japan and Indonesia.

The way in which governments meet these crises will determine to some extent the loss of life and the speed of recovery as well as the proper preparations for such events which have to be regarded as inevitable sooner or later.

The speed and the response to the earthquake in China is an exemplary example of a speedy and massive response to a massive natural disaster. All the necessary resources were thrown into the region hit in a matter of hours.

Troops, volunteers from across China, medical personnel, hospitals, means of transport and government agencies were immediately thrown into the task of rescue and this will continue into the future reconstruction.

This was made possible not only because the response of government leaders was swift but also because the collective spirit of the Chinese people is nurtured by China’s socialist system.

This can be compared to the tardy and completely inadequate response of the governments of Myanmar after the recent cyclone and the US when cyclone Katrina devastated New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico.

Instead of finding the way to open up to the rest of the world and to its neighbours the military government of Myanmar has turned inwards and neither trusts its own people nor outside countries who want to help.

The understandable reasons for the Myanmar government’s attitude, which are rooted in the years of hostility and interference in their internal affairs, are problems that have to be met and overcome. Their failure to overcome this problem is now intensified by their response to the current humanitarian crisis.

In the case of the response of the Bush administration to the devastation of New Orleans, which the Australian media now chooses to forget as it lambastes Myanmar, was also very tardy, ill-planned and inadequate.

Rescue efforts were under resourced. Many lost their lives as the sweep of the tidal flow devastated homes. The levies protecting the city from just such an occurrence were inadequate and had not been strengthened despite warnings. It took a number of days for President Bush to visit the area and then he only flew over New Orleans in a plane

That the western capitalist powers are now playing politics with these natural disasters should be plain for all to see. The inadequate response of the government of Myanmar is being seized on to justify some sort of invasion irrespective of government permission. In other words Myanmar’s sovereignty is to be disregarded and torn up.

This idea was behind the remark of Kevin Rudd when he spoke of 'smashing down the doors' into Myanmar. Australia’s former Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, who now heads the so-called International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, has the same idea.

He is quoted as saying in connection with Myanmar: 'We will have to face the question of whether in the name of humanity some international action should be taken against their will — such as military air drops, or supplies being landed from ships.'

This is the mind of an old colonialist at work and is extremely dangerous for every smaller country in the world — do as we say or face the consequences!

From The Guardian (Australia)