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BREAKING: Myanmar deaths may top 100,000... WHAT?!?

cnn.com — The death toll from the cyclone that ravaged the Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar may exceed 100,000, the senior U.S. diplomat in the military-ruled country said Wednesday.

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  • Bukowsky, on 05/09/2008, -2/+34100,000 people?! What a tragedy!
    • poidh, on 05/09/2008, -2/+26And there'll be more, bcause the China-backed military dictatorship isn't too keen about allowing foreigners in to help.
      • Spuy767, on 05/09/2008, -0/+9I can see upwards of 50k more dying of starvation and disease as a result of the lack of humanitarian aid.
      • Emnsta, on 05/09/2008, -10/+2Foreigners, help? That's a good one
        • jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -1/+9Yeah, because all that food sitting in Thailand from foreign nations is just a clever ploy. Once they're allowed in they'll eat all the food, burn all the medicine and pour the water into the river.
          • PopcornDave, on 05/09/2008, -4/+2You forgot rape the women and children, and kill all the livestock.
    • jm1234567890, on 05/09/2008, -6/+2was that sarcastic? :S
    • Omar12, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2For anyone that feels like donating for the victims, here is a list of Agencies accepting donations.
      http://www.charlotte.com/364/story/612874.html
      • michaelb323, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4what good is donating if the resources aren't going anywhere?
      • LingNoi, on 05/10/2008, -1/+1What's the point, the Junta are just going to take your donation and keep it / sell it for cash.
    • maisteri, on 05/09/2008, -3/+2It's merely a statistic
    • rz8472, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5The real tragedy is that the Junta, which is one of the most evil, self-serving regimes in the world, insists that it wants total control over aid distribution. This is a government that changed their currency base to multiples and sums of 9 and ruined the entire economy - all because 9 was General Win's lucky number and an astrologer said he would live longer if he surrounded himself with the symbolism of 9. They can't be trusted at all to take care of their own people.
      • MALICiouSMAGgot, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1What the...?

        I'll never understand how such imbeciles ever come to power in the first place..
    • wigginz, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2Thank you Obvious Guy.
  • gubatron2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+26wow. We had something similar happen to us in Venezuela in 1999, they estimated 50k casualties, it's been almost 10 years after that and the nation still hasn't recovered completely.

    Can't help to think of how bad it must be there with double the loss.

    • elister, on 05/09/2008, -5/+5If my online reading is correct, didnt Chavez take command from the military who was overseeing the rescue operations? He had only been in power for a year. Perez, the previous president, was removed for being too corrupt and that he still had alot of support by those in the military?

      Whats with governments these days when it comes to taking care of their own? First North Venezuela, then New Orleans, now Burma. If the citizens of Burma actually survive this ordeal, they simply must take up arms against the Junta. Its an itch that the people have been wanting to scratch for a long time and this is the perfect time for it to happen. The Junta fears arms being smuggled in I guess, so fearful of armed citizens, they would rather let them die of starvation or infection than let in un checked teams of aid worker.
      • Naieve, on 05/09/2008, -2/+0I think this actually has more to do with the junta liking the outcome without foreign aid. Think about the leverage they have when they are the only source of food and water in the country. Think of all the emergency measures they can enact to take food from those that aren't affected and tell them with a straight face its necessary thus placing those people in the same positon. Leverage people, brutal dictatorships love it.
  • LemonDefragger, on 05/09/2008, -10/+14It's in the light of tragedies like these that I think the US and other countries should realize how much more we need to do than fight amongst ourselves.
    • chesterogilvie, on 05/09/2008, -8/+6It still doesn't mean the government should dump buckets of money on them. There are charities like the Red Cross that can help.
      • Benkelly11, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5Collecting money via charities takes time, they also don't have the means of aid delivery that international militaries do. There needs to be a quick supply of money initially which can only really be derived from public funds.
        • philipl411, on 05/09/2008, -2/+3Since when did the US military become and "international military"? they may be all over the world, but they are still the US Military
      • nowhereelse, on 05/09/2008, -6/+2What an asinine comment! Government's have billions to play with, charities millions. The government already took your money anyway. Do you intend to give more to charity or are you just saying that other people should?
    • doshindude, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3you don't seem to realize that they aren't letting us in to help. or any other country, for that matter.
  • shervin123, on 05/09/2008, -7/+36100,000 folks? Ouch, that means 1 in 550 is dead!
    • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+20Why are you being dugg down? Myanmar has 55M people. that's exactly 1 in 550.
    • ZenMojo, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1That would be half a million US residents.
  • Steven8890, on 05/09/2008, -24/+4Make to 1 million for free Stride gum!
  • booshack, on 05/09/2008, -2/+51The thing is, the junta are doing nothing to clean up after the catastrophy. This means that dead bodies are floating around everywhere, contaminating water supplies. Another estimate is 200.000 dead or dying NOW, and a total toll of 500.000 after the widespread disease due to lack of cleanup.

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1 ...
    • lamiaconfitor, on 05/09/2008, -4/+12people are throwing bodies into rivers just to get them out of town :( they still refuse foreign aid workers. And we invade countries because we don't like their politics.
      • jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -2/+3So we should invade then? As long as it fits your morale rules, military invasions are justified?
        • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4Not saying we should invade Burma, but yes, military invasions sometimes are justified. Peaceful resolution for every conflict is of course the optimal solution, but sometimes that cannot be acheived. Sometimes you have to deal with governments that leave you with no choice but to take military action. The Nazi's are a great example of that.
        • lamiaconfitor, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Ethical standards. Having an oppressive government decide they get to divvy out/control/refuse aid in the face of this kind of tragedy is a hell of allot more dangerous then anything Iraq has ever done, after we carpet bombed their retreating army. There are times that war is justified. If you think not then you are willing to allow much more horrible things on this planet then you can, in the end, justify peace for.
        • jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2So, as long as there is no oil, its okay to overthrow governments for the 'good of the people' but if there is oil then the people are ***** out of luck cause we damn sure aren't allowed to invade and try to straighten ***** out?
          Don't get me wrong, I think invading Iraq was incredibly stupid but outside of the oil wealth how is the Junta in Burma fundamentally different than the Baath party in Iraq? Both regimes suppressed and murdered their citizens but the all of the sudden the same group of people screaming get out of Iraq and yelling get into Burma.
          • lamiaconfitor, on 05/10/2008, -1/+1its the diffrence between hundreds and thousands.
        • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3The saddest part, is that because of Iraq, the US military is more or less paralized and prevented from interfering in global conflicts. Take a look at what's going on in Lebanon right now. There's an aircraft carier right off the coasts of lebanon, but they aren't able to do a thing.
    • bertd, on 05/09/2008, -6/+3The Sun, which is an English tabloid, isn't exactly a very reliable source...
      • getbusylivin, on 05/09/2008, -0/+9I've heard the same story everywhere; cholera, dysentery, malaria - all being *allowed* to flourish.
      • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4The Sun, which is a huge ball of extemely pressurized hydrogen, is the only reason we're even able to have this conversation.
    • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -5/+10Can't help but remembering the 2004 earthquake in Iran, and the dictatorship their refusing the accept aid from Israel.
      http://www.israelnewsagency.com/israeliran10014.ht ...
      • Spuy767, on 05/09/2008, -6/+5Buried for not having enough anti-Israel spin!
      • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -2/+4* There.
      • lamiaconfitor, on 05/09/2008, -3/+4the US cherrypicked aid during Katrina. its not uncommon for a country to refuse aid from someone with whom they do not want to be beholden too. it is something completely different to blanket all aid (with the exception of goods capital) outright.
        • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3How is this a reply to my post? Or are you just piggybacking this thread?
          • lamiaconfitor, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2no, are you stupid? you are surprised that Iran refused aid from Israel... the US did the same thing. that is the point.
    • MWeather, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4It hasn't even been a week. It took that long for the US government to reach the Superdome. They didn't start clearing bodies for a month.
      • worldchanger, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3uh .... unless I'm mistaken, people were only AT the superdome because the authorities set it up as a shelter. in other words, they were already there. it took a week to EVACUATE it.
  • diargasm, on 05/09/2008, -5/+31The world population is expected to rise to around 10 billion by 2050. It's a tragic thing to what happened in Burma, but I think as a world we are going to see more deaths by natural disasters in our lifetime than ever before. The status quo for western society and lifestyle seems like at a tripping point. It didn't happen to us, but if it does it will hurt.
    • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -4/+6"than ever before"
      Every generation thinks they're living in the times prior to SOMETHING BIG because they want to feel special. We aren't.
      • Spuy767, on 05/09/2008, -0/+10Actually, we probably will, simply because the population explosions are in areas without an infrastructure capable of dealing with natural disasters.
        • worldchanger, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2last I checked, it didn't matter where you lived or whether there was a population explosion there or not.
      • IglooBurner, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Well every generation is more popular than the previous, so in the case of a great disaster like this, more people will be likely to die.
        Just imagine the San Fransisco earth quake happening now instead of the early 1900's, much more people will perish.
        • TrevorBradley, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Building codes are a good thing. I'm not saying we'll shrug off a 9.0 earthquake without any deaths, but we can shrug off 7's without any deaths. Things have changed a lot in 100 years.
          • IglooBurner, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0Yeah ur right, but it doesn't apply to every city thats prone to major disasters. Given underdeveloped coastal towns and cities that haven't changed much in the past 100 years with the exception of increased population, every major disaster scale will be their worst disaster to date.
    • Spoomeister, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I don't have a problem with that.
  • eigenweasel, on 05/09/2008, -1/+42And here http://www.strategypage.com/military_photos/200805 ... is a lovely picture of the USS Essex with 1800 Marines, each trained in relief operations, ready and willing to help but not able to do so because the gang of thugs that controls Burma doesn't want "foreigners" in their country.
    The natural disaster in Burma has been and gone, any further death and suffering there has been wilfully inflicted by their government.
    • Hangly, on 05/09/2008, -22/+8After Iraq and Afghanistan can you blame them for being nervous?
    • jozb, on 05/09/2008, -3/+20This is why I love the US. Even though the US gets a lot of bad rep, it is the (if not one of the) first to respond when some natural disaster happens in the world.
    • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -8/+3If I were them I'd be suspicious as well.
    • Duositex, on 05/09/2008, -2/+4At some point the United Nations should vote to send in troops to take this country over temporarily to save these people's lives. This is ridiculous. It's like genocide.
      • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -2/+3Oh don't be such a drama queen. They want help? They should ask for it.
        • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5How would you go about asking for help, when your government has cut off internet access, telephones, doesn't allow foreign journalists in, and refuses to accept international aid. This wasn't an elected government that has to do the people's bidding. It's a military junta. Perhaps from their perspective, there are many reason not to accept aid (This might portray the government as weak and unable to take care of the people), but this doesn't make the civilians suffer any less, and doesn't change the fact that they have been striken by a natural disaster, and are in dire need for aid.
        • IglooBurner, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4Oh they want help, they're dying for help, literally. If they have a voice u'll also hear they're cry for help.
      • Spoomeister, on 05/09/2008, -3/+1Yes, because that would have been absolutely the right response when it happened here in the U.S. after Hurricane Katrina.
    • IglooBurner, on 05/09/2008, -2/+0Its infuriating to see this happening. It shouldn't have taken those morons a ***** week do make this obvious decision.
      • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4It took a ***** week until the dimensions of this disaster started to emerge, since the burmese government pretty much put a blackout on what's going on.
    • Spoomeister, on 05/09/2008, -5/+2Yes, god DAMN that junta in Burma for refusing foreign aid in the face of a humanitariam crisis. Because we all know that if some natural catastrophe were to happen on a broad scale in the U.S., we'd accept all the help we could get, foreign or domestic.... oh, wait. That's right. Oops.

      Google "Katrina" and "international aid" some time.
      • IglooBurner, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2The report "Transforming the Aid Environment" argues that the "way in which the United States perceives foreign aid is perhaps best understood in the way in which the country acts when they are the recipient nation. When other countries offered the United States $854 million in cash and oil as foreign aid to help the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, they merely accepted 4.7% of the total aid offered, the rest went uncollected. There is no reason for not accepting the available resources, other than that aid is a political tool. The United States wanted to avoid the political influence aid has on the policies of the recipient nation."
      • philipl411, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4 1000 dead compared to 100,000 and estimated up to 500,000. Nice comparison.
        • Spoomeister, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2So it was alright for the U.S. to refuse foreign aid for Katrina b/c it was "only"1000 dead?
    • crocodilexp, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2That's great, but imagine North Korea or Iran sending an aircraft carrier with 1800 soldiers to assist with Katrina or the World Trade Center collapse? We'd be just slightly edgy, wouldn't we?
      • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1It's one thing not excepting aid from a country that vowes to destroy you. It's another thing not agreeing to accept aid from the UN.
  • goerg, on 05/09/2008, -17/+6when 2 die its a tragedy...
    when 100.000 die its only a number...
    sad but true
    • Llanowar, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4Read the first comment.
    • cramming, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4I never understand why people say this.
      • Hangly, on 05/09/2008, -5/+5I believe it's a quote from Nietzsche.
        • lamiaconfitor, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3then it should impress high schoolers.
        • masterofshadows, on 05/09/2008, -0/+8actually it was from a Soviet leader, Stalin i think.
      • AThoughtOrTwo, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4The quote I BELIEVE IS:
        Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god. Jean Rostand
      • jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Guess it gets borrowed a lot:
        “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.” -Stalin
    • Benkelly11, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5This is only true if you know the 2 people who died.

      Plus, Stalin is hardly the right man to go to for quotes about how to feel about death.
    • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -2/+1cramming: People love repeating meaningless platitudes.
      • Spuy767, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3Those are only funny if you ahve a clever picture surrounded by a black border on which to place the text.
  • 3rdDay, on 05/09/2008, -2/+12Astounding after the tsunami that an event that they had so much warning of could cause so many deaths. And the junta is refusing aid entry!
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7391 ...
    Burma's military junta says the country is not ready to accept foreign aid workers, amid mounting criticism of its response to the devastating cyclone.
    The foreign ministry said Burma was happy to accept aid, but insisted it would control the distribution itself.
    The statement follows pressure from the United Nations to speed up the issuing of visas to foreign relief experts.
    The World Food Programme's Paul Risley said the delays were "unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts".
  • Hangly, on 05/09/2008, -16/+2How do 100,000 people die in a cyclone? Is a cyclone some kind of weather I've never heard of? I thought it was more or less like a tornado.
    • cramming, on 05/09/2008, -1/+15Correct me if I'm wrong (someone), I think it is more or less the same thing as a hurricane, just under a different name as it's in a different part of the world.
      • Narcowski, on 05/09/2008, -3/+2Yeah, it's a hurricane that spins the other way pretty much.
        • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3It's a hurricane that wasn't developed over the Atlantic.
          • jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4Are you sures it's not just a hurricane that was lab based out of a top secret US government facility? I mean it did do something awful, so somehow it has to be the US's fault right?
    • crimsonc, on 05/09/2008, -1/+7Yes it's a hurricane.
      • Spuy767, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1Cyclones are generally more powerful than hurricanes.
        • schnikies79, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4Cycles ARE hurricanes. They are the same thing, just in a different part of the world.
    • secrity, on 05/09/2008, -1/+12Buried for not knowing how to use wikipedia, or a dictionary, or google, or any of thousands of sources.
  • Berkana, on 05/09/2008, -1/+26The military junta ruling in Myanmar/Burma has a unnecessarily large standing army of about 400,000 soldiers, which it rapidly mobilized to crush non-violent demonstrations by Buddhist monks during the "Safron revolution", but a week has gone by since this devastating cyclone, and this same military junta has yet to mobilize the military to help rescue the lost, bury the dead, and bring relief to the people. They have yet to give the go-ahead for foreign aid workers waiting to help the victims, for fear that they will be embarrassed by what the people say about them. What sick, disgusting, selfish evil!
    • Naieve, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0This is the problem with most major humanitarian crises. The brutal regimes in control don't want your help, they like the death. It gives them more power. Now they will control ALL the food and water. Talk about leverage.
  • spankaccount, on 05/09/2008, -7/+14Why does Bush get to deal with all the huge disasters... 9/11, Katrina, Darfur, John Kerry, and now this!!!
    • weeman43302, on 05/09/2008, -3/+10They're all his fault!
    • secrity, on 05/09/2008, -12/+4It is not that there are more disasters, it is because he and his minions are so bad at handling them.
    • jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -1/+6WTF does 'Why does Bush get to deal...' even mean? Just throwing around bottled angst or was there a fleeting glimmer of rationale to that comment?
    • worldchanger, on 05/09/2008, -3/+3dugg for John Kerry.
  • jackieokennedy, on 05/09/2008, -19/+3Although i know the Junta is very afraid of International help coming into this very secretive regime and land, i kinda suspect the western countries (USA ?) falsely increasing the death toll in order to rush international intrusion ...

    We will see.

    Unauthaurized air dumping of food and help as suggested by the Americans, is most of the case useless and regarding the Junta very stupid, i won't be surprised if Americans planes are shot down.
    • secrity, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4"i won't be surprised if Americans planes are shot down"

      That usually results in massive aid, whether it is of the sort wanted or not.
    • akuma1, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4You say the USA or other media falsely increasing the death toll, It is the other way around the Junta is downplaying those numbers. My wife is from Burma and when the "state run news" puts out numbers everyone knows it ss at least 10 times more than what they say.
      • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -2/+1I don't believe you. This is definitly a lie by the bush government to take over the Burmese oil fields.
        • PopcornDave, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2You're close. It's actually a lie by the Bush administration because they want to corner the market on the breeding of the Burmese cat.
          /sarcasm
  • CarStan, on 05/09/2008, -2/+1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWquK9s6fP0
    This makes me sad every time
    • spankaccount, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I can't tell if the singer is serious or joking...
      • worldchanger, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1no kidding. the music doesn't exactly fit the lyrics/topic. o.O
    • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0What the hell? What a crappy song.
  • DaviDaviDaviD, on 05/09/2008, -2/+6This is a real tragedy. I wish all of those with family in the region my sympathies.
    • jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4That and a bag of rice should get a couple of them a meal or two.
  • Hurlzz, on 05/09/2008, -19/+3ITS OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAND!
  • RubineBoy, on 05/09/2008, -10/+2I first read "The dead toll of the cylon".
  • Kmap, on 05/09/2008, -6/+10 AID PLEDGES
    UK $10m
    UN $10m
    Japan $10m
    US $3m
    France $3m
    Australia $2.8m
    • nusuni, on 05/09/2008, -6/+6Assuming your figures are accurate, that is just the govt pledges. As a whole the US population and private sector will donate far more than the people and companies of any other country in the world.
      • Benkelly11, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Might have something to do with having the highest population of all developed nations though.

        It's unimportant though, this isn't an excuse to compare how charitable we all are. I am impressed by the UK govt. donation though. Hope it reaches the right people.
        • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3It was a former British colony after all.
      • IgWannA, on 05/09/2008, -8/+1you actually believe that?...
      • ZenMojo, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2That's a lot of assumption, especially since it wasn't true about the tsunamis.
    • gstrauss, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1Source??
    • Kmap, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7392 ... - Source World Food Programme
      • Naieve, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1You are forgetting to add in the money the UN gets from the United States. The pledged support of the US Military standing by with relief supplies and helicopters to transport the sick and wounded to aid stations. ETC...
        Who do you think is paying the most for those UN airplanes flying there?
        You think they are free?
        Seen the cost of gas lately?
    • thegreatgazoo, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3Well, since the junta is currently seizing all food coming in (according to the Wall Street Journal), other than having various countries do air drops not sure what we should do?

      • worldchanger, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2even to do air drops you need airspace clearance.
  • macmangb, on 05/09/2008, -12/+7You should all know that China is stopping aid from entering into the country. They are not content in just ruining Tibet.
    • Bovorik, on 05/09/2008, -3/+3Any verifiable evidence of this - that Beijing's actively preventing relief from getting to the people that need it?
      • macmangb, on 05/09/2008, -6/+5http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11575287/

        Don't fool yourself, China is a terrorist country and you support them so are you.
        • patleeman, on 05/09/2008, -4/+9One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. One mans government is another man's oppressor. Its all relative, things are not as black and white as, "If you don't believe the same things we believe, you are our enemy". That is the type of reasoning that makes America so hated in the world.
        • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4Freedom fighter and terrorist are not mutually exclusive. One can be a so called freedom fighter, fighting for the freedom of his own people, while he has complete disregard for the value of lives on the other side, and has no moral restraints from murdering innocent children and women, all for the "freedom" of his people.
          America is mostly hated in the world because of jelousy. People around the world would love to have the same freedom and liberties that the Americans enjoy. It isn't just by chance that America has immigrants from every possible country in the world. Allies or enemies.
        • yeti22, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3Dugg for the insightful link, not your paranoid lashing-out at Bovorik for asking the obvious question.
    • Bovorik, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4How does that equate to "China is stopping aid from entering" Burma?
  • dillonstars, on 05/09/2008, -3/+14Burma not Myanmar please.
  • Miff, on 05/09/2008, -15/+0The tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004 killed 120,000+ people and it didn't make much of a splash (hehe) in the media.
    • CA55IDY, on 05/09/2008, -5/+2thats just a drop in the ocean
    • schnikies79, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Really? I guess you tuned it out because it was damn near 24/7 in the media.

      I heard about it for months after it happened.
    • MrSlumberjack, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3try 230,000
  • Nintendesert, on 05/09/2008, -1/+9The real disaster in that country is the junta that's ruling it, I suspect they've killed far more than this cyclone has in their quest to hold onto and extend their power. And now they refuse entry of international aid.

    I don't even know how many hundreds or thousands of Buddhist Monks they slaughtered.
    • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -3/+2Do you base your suspicion on any FACTS?
  • nusuni, on 05/09/2008, -2/+9I don't know what makes me more disgusted: the fact the dictatorship won't let in foreign aid, or the fact that anti-american idiots are using this as an excuse to bash america.
    • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5Anti Americans will use anything to bash America. Even the unexpected ending of last nights lost episode is the bush administration's fault.
  • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -12/+2Natural selection at its finest. Darwin would be so proud right now.
    • IgWannA, on 05/09/2008, -0/+7wow, either you have no idea how natural selection works or you are just plain racist.
      • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -6/+1"Poor and stupid" isn't a race, son.
        • yeti22, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Holy ***** dude. You're a gigantic *****!
    • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1You're living proof to the failure of Darwin's theories.
  • jacekpoplawski, on 05/09/2008, -12/+9Please don't compare 100.000 people from far away country with 3000 Americans in 2001, that was important!

    PS. Yes, that's irony.
    • cvindustries, on 05/09/2008, -4/+7One was caused by nature. The other came at the hands of other people. Dumbass.
    • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -5/+2People care more about their fellow nationals than foreigners, which seems ***** retarded IMO. I have equal amounts of care for everyone (ie null).
      • jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4if it helps there probably aren't 3 people on the planet that give a ***** about you either.
    • 1timeuser, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1You just managed to compare the two. good job *****.
  • ripple123, on 05/09/2008, -4/+8Almost as many as Rambo killed.
  • s8n666, on 05/09/2008, -11/+3Let me know when it hits 6,000,000 and then I'll get involved.
  • christopherRB, on 05/09/2008, -7/+1It's global warming. Blame Bush
    • randeepjalli0, on 05/09/2008, -2/+4??????serously? like you honestly believe that? I mean I hate him as much as the next guy, but blaming THIS on him.... thats a reach.....
  • rune420, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4What makes it even worse is that Burma is a major exporter of rice for the region, and this storm has ravaged the crops this season. Not good news when we're already in the middle of (or just beginning) a world food crisis.
    • IgWannA, on 05/09/2008, -3/+2the vast majority of rice produced and exported around the world is from thailand.
      • rune420, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3That is wrong. Here are some figures: http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/waob/wasde//2 ... (see table WASDE-457-24)
        Thailand is the biggest exporter of rice, granted, but from those figures you see that Thailand only represented about 1/4 of the total world exports, not the majority.

        Also have to remember that recently Egypt, Vietnam, India and others have all banned or cut their exports recently, so the market is a lot more vulnerable now to news like this than it used to be.
  • taradisiac, on 05/09/2008, -11/+3Someone said it a lot better than I could: It's much easier for a parasite to infect a wounded host.
  • weizilla, on 05/09/2008, -3/+7how is this breaking news? it's been reported on the news websites and stations for the last 2 days
    • yeti22, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2The number is what has changed. The Burmese government's official figure is 22,000 dead.
  • soinie, on 05/09/2008, -3/+6Isn't that the country that was murdering protesting Buddhist monks and dumping their bodies in the swamps a few months ago? Karmic retribution is a bitch in heat.
    • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3The military junta that killed the monks weren't the ones harmed by the storm. It's the poor underdeveloped people of the country, who had no hand it the clashes. This isn't Karmic retribution, this is "God" playing a sick sad game of sim city with these poor people.
    • yeti22, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2You don't seem to understand karma very well.
  • thanakar, on 05/09/2008, -3/+4While this is a tragedy this is not breaking news. This info has been around a few days now.
  • itstodd, on 05/09/2008, -3/+9and guess who they are going to look for to cough up the aid. Yep dem damn evil americans. Its pretty pathetic how evil we are until someone need us.
    • FairDinkumMate, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3First of all, the logical response to your comment:
      Why don't you try reading news &/or the other comments & see how much the US has offered in aid(along with what other countries have offered).
      Now my true feelings:
      YOU SELF-CENTRED PRAT! Tens of thousands of people(whose NORMAL life is so hard a life you cannot possibly imagine) are suffering a great deal & all you can worry about is how IMPORTANT you think you, your country & your money are - STFU
    • Cayfox, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Why is that pathetic? There really isn't any irony or confusion there: when you do bad things, you're being evil. When you do good things, you're being good. It isn't rocket science. Giving aid to people who need it is admirable. Invading or destabilising sovereign nations because they have something you want isn't.
      • dkapuchino, on 05/10/2008, -1/+1Now, which poor sovereign nation did we evily invade?
        Would that be Afghanistan, with the Taliban government, giving support and harboring Al Qaeda terrorists, That were responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, including 9/11, the attack on USS Cole, the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, tha 2002 bombinds in Bali, and many many more?
        Are is that good old Iraq, who has attacked Iran with chemical warfare, Invaded Kuwait, fired missles on Israeli cities, unprovoked, gave money to the families of any suicide bomber to blow himself up in an Israeli town, tortured and assassined any opposing his government.

        Take a look at this:
        http://fdd.typepad.com/fdd/2006/01/alert_saddams_c ...
        Then tell me if the US should have just stood beside and allow this to continue.
  • drmangrum, on 05/09/2008, -4/+2Can this figure be trusted? Either the people doing the estimating have NO clue what they are doing or they are lying to garner more sympathy and aid from other nations. First it was a couple thousand, then 4 or 5k, then 10k, now 100k? The Myanmar gov't estimated 22k. I want to see how they come up with these numbers. Are they the current dead? Are these figures factoring in collateral deaths from disease, hunger, lack of fresh water? That's some awful big variation in numbers.

    Now if 22k died immediately, and they project 100k if cleanup isn't executed immediately, that I could believe. Once disease gets a foothold, it will look like the second coming of the bubonic plague.
    • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1The variation in numbers stems from the fact that the myanmar gov't put a complete media blackout on what's going on in the country. They control the media, they control the communicatio lines. Being so, the numbers are naturally kept lower than they truly are, until the full scale of this disaster becomes known.
  • CaptTu, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6As reported by the BBC today...
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7392331.st ...
    The World Food Programme has halted aid shipments to Burma after it says two plane-loads of food were impounded on arrival by the military authorities.
    Military leaders appeared to be putting their pride and entrenched suspicion of foreigners before the lives of their people.
  • fenderwasher, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Ah yes, the old $ list posted above. These people don’t need $$$, the junta has over $2billion in cash reserves from selling natural gas to Thailand (source: 5/9 WSJ). What these people need is food, water, shelter, electricity, clothing, medicines, sanitation and the other basics of survival as well as highly skilled people to deliver all that relief. The $3m listed for the USA only represents a cash donation, but when you include all the expense the USA will incur in providing relief the good old USA will far exceed any country on this planet in terms of recourses provided. Most people have no idea that it takes about $1 million per day just to keep the lights on many US NAVY ships. We have 3 such ships idling off the coast with supplies to provide relief. Bring in an aircraft carrier like we did for tsunami relief and the costs per day jump to almost $10 million just to keep the lights on.

    And before the jokes and the snide comments come about what an aircraft carrier can do in a natural disaster here is a quick summary. A typical Nimitz-class carrier like the USS Abraham Lincoln that provided relief the tsunami victims have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and supplies to and from their flight deck.

    We don’t need to send any more $$$, the juntas to let us in and help.
    • Raidendesu, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2well said
    • crocodilexp, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Yes, we're helping, but I don't quite buy the "$10 million just to keep the lights on". It's not that the lights normally be off if the carrier was just sailing around and not on a humanitarian missions? This is a case of an idling resource (which we're paying for anyway) actually being utilized, so it's a net gain.
      • fenderwasher, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0There is approximately a $10 million overhead cost per day that you and I pay to keep a Nimitz class carrier functioning weather its at sea, doing a humanitarian mission or conducting operations in the Persian Gulf.

        1,747 relief missions flew off the deck of the Abe Lincoln as part of its tsunami relief mission. Are you saying that we would have flown these missions if the Abe was sailing the South Pacific? Just the fuel cost alone of those missions was in the 10s of millions. How about the 1,000s of people that were treated in the carrier’s hospital and that cost; would we have treated this same number of people if we were in the North Atlantic in January of ‘05?

        I’m not saying you, crocodilexp, do not think this way but as a general question why should that cost not be included in the calculation of our humanitarian contribution? By the way, I’m not including the cost of the training for the thousands of our men and women that execute these missions.

        All I am saying is that the US contributes a tremendous amount of aid both $ and non-$ to many disasters and the non-$ always to seem to be dismissed in this case as an “idling expense” that we would incur anyway.

        Hypothetically, if we agreed then that this is an idling resource that we would incur this $10 million daily expense anyway and therefore not be considered part of our humanitarian contribution why then do we include that $10 million daily expense when calculating the $$$ costs of Iraq? If it costs $2.7 billion for a 270 day mission ($10 million per day x 270 days) in the Persian Gulf to help support operations in Iraq and we would incur this $2.7b if the Abe Lincoln was in the South Pacific anyway than that $2.7b should be excluded from the Iraq tab.

        I think it should be included the Iraq tab and in the humanitarian tab.
      • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1They don't just sail around. The soldiers are let onto the mainland.
  • Spoomeister, on 05/09/2008, -3/+5Are celebrities singing about it? Is there a phone number I can call (that I won't call, obviously) to give money? Is there a pin I can wear? Have they figured out what color ribbon represents Burma yet? Were any Americans hurt, missing or killed?
    No, to all 5 questions, you say? Well then. Not much of a tragedy, is it? Now, tell me again how many Americans died in Iraq this morning.
    /sarcasm
  • captainboog, on 05/09/2008, -6/+2I know it's tin-foil hat type stuff (you'll say), but I can't help but wonder if this storm was created by a western power. The U.S. most likely has the capability to do something like this if it so desired. It has shown many times a willingness to kill several hundred thousand if not millions of innocent civilians in the pursuit of its agenda. Maybe somebody ran a simulation and decided that this was just the thing to collapse the ruling party in Burma. Same story as that big tsunami that primarily hit the biggest muslim country on earth, the part of which had been in an armed rebellion. Suddenly there were American soldiers all over the place, delivering aid. I'm just saying, if you throw out the concern for innocent lives, these things are definitely possible.
    • spankaccount, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Your right, thats tinfoil hat stuff. WTF are you on?
      • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I don't know, but get me some as well.
    • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I'm sorry to brake it to you, but the United states never really existed. Neither does the internet. And cyclones? give me a ***** break. Who could really believe that a small little storm can do so much damage.
  • Low023, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3What a very sad situation, I just hope that number doesn't continue it's upward trend any further.
  • Th0rus, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3The government there seems like they are trying to cover this whole thing up like it never happened. They wont let aid in or international media in to cover the devastation.

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/09/myanma ...

  • BradMW, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Feelin' like Katrina without FEMA
  • mrbrianxyz, on 05/09/2008, -3/+1i can haz cyclone?
  • Shivetya, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Y'know, I would not mind waking up Saturday and hearing on the news that Bush authorized the military to go in Friday night and remove these fools. There are just some things military intervention is a must.
    • dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Sadam hussein was much worse to his people. Look at how the US is being bashed over that.
    • Naieve, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1We would get a year in and the world would start screaming the murderous Junta would do better. Things would fall apart, we would leave, chaos would reign. More would die.
      It's called a self fulfilling prophecy.
      War simply doesn't work for Democracies in the age of the information superhighway.
    • faithfreedom, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Too bad for people who were born in the wrong country.
  • Naieve, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1The Junta doesn't want the aid or foreign influence. This tragedy plays right into their hands. They can take food from those who have it in their country to feed those that don't. Placing the entire country in the palm of their hands.
    Food and water are great leverage if you are a brutal enough to use them.
    Look at Africa.
  • BulkHedd, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2I think I heard that the Burmese "government" had at least 2 days warning but they did not pass this on to the citizens at all.
    Also, today is a federal holiday there so they won't be doing anything else for the people until Monday.
  • zackk, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1Junta does want the foreign aid but not aid workers. The reason is http://tinyurl.com/4kbybp Shame on you, Junta!
  • PlutoCatsRulez, on 05/12/2008, -0/+0You MUST check this out!

    http://www.plutocats.com/corporatezombie/index.htm ...
  • dwightbenignus, on 05/18/2008, -0/+0Callous as it may be, what business is it of ours to be sticking our noses if a government says we're not wanted? It's this kind of thinking that got us into trouble in Iraq, and the Bush administration rightfully justified the genocide of the Kurds there as well. It is not the duty of Americans to help out others by writ, without taxpayer approval. The spirit of charity begins with the willingness to give.
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