Good morning everyone. I’ve continued to watch the situation over in Southeast Asia in the aftermath of the tropical cyclone that struck the Myanmar Republic on Sunday. Listening to the latest news reports from CNN as well as reading articles from various sources on the internet, I’m finding that the situation is playing out much like I had feared. Yesterday afternoon, there was an article on CNN that quoted the highest ranking official from the United States in the Myanmar Republic that stated an international relief organization estimated that as many as 100,000 people could have died from the storm as well as another 70,000 people missing.

This morning’s news revealed that the military regime in Myanmar has finally begun to let aid airplanes with food, water, and other essential supplies land. However, they have been balking at the idea of letting aid workers come in to assist with the distribution of aid as well as other things. According to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, the leading international correspondent, the problem centers around the issue of visa’s for the foreign aid workers. As a result, there was a two day delay in the process of getting aid to those who desperately need it. Amanpour went on to say that this devastating cyclone is turning into Myanmar’s Katrina. This bureaucratic blunder by the military junta is bringing flashbacks of the poor response by the U.S. government in the wake of Katrina in August and September 2005.

When you couple this with the fact that the Myanmar Republic failed to heed the warning from the Indian Meteorological Service some two days before the storm hit, you are looking at a situation that could end up causing much upheaval in that country, which has had uprisings as recently as last fall. The military has been in power there since 1962, and has put key democratic leaders, and opponents of the government either in jail, or under house arrest. This situation is becoming more and more like the aftermath of the Bangladesh cyclone in 1971.