December 31, 2004 ☼ Foreign Affairs
At first glance, it sounds whimsical. Surely, there should be no harm in allowing the world to see the death and devastation brought about by agents who have nothing to do with the ruling dictatorship.
The likely motive, however, behind the Myanmarese junta’s exaggerated underestimation of casualties and damage is that oldest one of them all — self-perpetuation of the regime.
If the true scale of the human tragedy were to come out, the international community would want to step in and lend a hand. And when that happens, those do-gooders would also begin to see all that other human tragedy, one whose causes are entirely human. The junta is not taking any chances at all; nothing, not even a natural disaster that has perhaps killed thousands, will force them to allow anyone in and take so much as a dekko.
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