China vs. Birmânia
Publicado por JN em Maio 14, 2008
[...]The earthquake that flattened a swath of rural Sichuan Province on Monday killed more than 12,000 people, and thousands more are buried beneath rubble.
The government in Beijing has mounted an aggressive rescue effort, dispatching tens of thousands of troops from across the country and promptly sending Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to the disaster zone, accompanied by reporters. With a hardhat on his head and a bullhorn in his hand, he ducked into the wreckage of a hospital where scores of people were buried and shouted: «Hang on a bit longer. The troops are rescuing you.» Throughout the day, the images of Wen directing disaster relief officials and comforting the injured dominated the airwaves.
With images of the calamitous cyclone in Myanmar still fresh - and the authoritarian government’s languid response earning it international scorn - Wen and his fellow Communist Party leaders are keenly aware that their approach to this earthquake will be closely watched at home and abroad. And after two bruising months of criticism from the West over its handling of unrest in Tibet, the government can ill afford another round of criticism as it prepares for the Olympic games in August. [IHT]
A China e a Birmânia estão a ser forçadas a actuar devido a dois enormes desastres naturais que já mataram dezenas de milhares de pessoas. Ao contrário das autoridades da Birmânia, o governo chinês surpreendeu pela positiva com uma rápida intervenção. A Al Jazeera examina e compara a forma como os dois governos responderam aos respectivos desastres e convida William Hess da Global Insight para aprofundar a análise.
Começa a ser cada vez mais complicado para a Junta Militar da Birmânia esconder a sua má actuação ao longo de todo este processo. No jornal escocês Scotsman, escreve-se:
«AS HUNDREDS of thousands of refugees waited for emergency relief yesterday and for their leaders to act, the Burmese junta went ahead with a national referendum aimed at keeping its members in power.
The Burmese generals were visible all right. State television showed them handing out boxes of the small amount of aid allowed in from neighbouring Thailand. Unwittingly, it also showed that the Burmese leadership had plastered their own names over the true origins of the food aid to fool their own people into believing that the emergency relief supplies had come from them.»
Steve Nease, «Oakville Beaver»
Percebe-se que nem tudo corre bem quando uma ditadura militar já nem consegue passar a sua mensagem e a propaganda. Mas os generais bem tentaram.
Nate Beeler, «The Washington Examiner»
