Global Voices online, which collects bloggers from around the world, linked to these pictures from the Democratic Voice of Burma (click through to see several different pictures).

The Burmese citizens are in a horrible place to handle the disease and chaos following the cyclone. Burmese access to the internet is one of the most restrictive in the world, with over 11 percent of all sites blocked according to 2005 testing by the Open Net Initiative. The Burmese press is notoriously restrictive, making communication, including disaster and reconstruction information, across towns very difficult. In 2000, the World Health Organization ranked Burma 190th out of 191 countries for public health care.

On one Burmese blog today was simply this call:

HELP! Critical Week Urgent Need Help Burmese Stop diarrhea and diseases Food and Shelter Clothing and Cash Proud and ignorant people Time to welcome the helping hands!

Water is unfit to drink, 10,000 may be dead, and aid agencies are struggling to figure out how to help.

These videos from Burma seven months ago come again to haunt us.

The political stranglehold in Burma is now strangling the survivors, who need edible food and clean water and accurate information.

The Democratic Primary and Burma

In September, Hillary Clinton's website shows no evidence that she reacted to the extraordinary protests by the monks in Burma. Here is Barack Obama's September statement:

While, ultimately, change must come from within Burma, the international community has an important role to play to signal strong support for the courageous Burmese people. I have supported sanctions against Burma and welcome the additional sanctions the President announced at the UN General Assembly. But far more needs to be done -- immediately. It is not enough for the US to act alone. We must take the lead in working with the other key international players, particularly ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), India, Japan, the European Union, and especially China, to join the United States in pressing for the peaceful resolution of the current crisis in Burma and making clear the junta should not use force against peaceful protesters, including Buddhist monks.

As the people of Burma stand up, we must stand with them."

The Presidential primary, post-Edwards, has been a disappointing forum for serious discussion of domestic policy. (Obama is right to call Clinton's "gas tax holiday" a gimmick--a condescending one at that, which supposes that people do not recognize the difference between structural and short-term relief--but his own domestic proposals can sound like the epitome of anti-climax after his rousing descriptions of what people are capable of.) However, the campaigns' debate on foreign policy is a serious one, not limited to Iraq and Iran, and the disaster in Burma gives us another opportunity to reflect on those differences.

For Clinton, the job of President is Commander in Chief and Trade Czar in Chief, and the daily work is a mix of protection and business. For Obama, the job of President is both Commander in Chief and diplomatic leader, and the job of the President is to actively engage in discussion, build the ties that enable diplomacy, and strengthen the power and legitimacy of the United Nations.

Why would that matter now, when one of the worst storms in history hits a country like Burma? Because the Burmese tragedy is tied to the Burmese government's repressiveness, which is enabled, in turn, by the power of China in the United Nations and in the international community, which is in turn enabled by the increased weakness of the United States as a moral leader in the world.

The basic premise of Obama's foreign policy is moral leadership and diplomacy, whereas the basic premise of Clinton's foreign policy is protection and strength. Protection and strength, no matter how smartly wielded, do not get us to a new international consensus with which we are better equipped to help countries like Burma.

We cannot stop cyclones, nor can we end all dictatorships, but we can return our international policy to one of moral leadership, and it will make a difference, at some small moments, in some of the worst disasters in the world.

Comments (25)

1. well...hate to say it but there's not much we can do.

   1. pray

   2. raise a ruckus diplomatically at the un

   3. kiss the burmese gov's ass to allow us to help their own people...

   4. try to get the communist capitalist chinese to intervene - but hell lets face it, those guys are as bad as we are when it comes to sidinng with an oppressed people of one of their client states and doing the right thing.

   and being a buddhist i hate my conclusions...

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/05/2008 @ 10:37pm

2. BERLIN, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The German government is to provide 500,000 euros

   May 5, 2008 (AFP)--The United States said Monday it is providing an initial sum of 250,000 dollars

   hmmmmmmm?

   Posted by frosty zoom at 05/05/2008 @ 10:50pm

3. Posted by frosty zoom at 05/5/2008 | ignore this person

   thats awesome. is the burmese gov letting it get through to those who need it? hope so...

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/05/2008 @ 10:56pm

4. Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/5/2008

   I believe that amount of money equals the "kiss the Burmese gov's ass to allow us to help their own people" point you made.

   Posted by Benchrest at 05/05/2008 @ 11:10pm

5. Posted by Benchrest at 05/5/2008 | ignore this person

   i know - i'm just humoring frosty - he always tries bravely to counter my creeping cynicism with coutering evidence...

   but sumthin's better than nuthin i suppose...

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/05/2008 @ 11:17pm

6. or let me express myself in buddhist scripture...

   "Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." Buddha

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/05/2008 @ 11:20pm

7. didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." Buddha

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/5/2008 |

   come to think of it - kinda reminds me of some days i had when i was teaching...

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/05/2008 @ 11:26pm

8. nargis?

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/05/2008 @ 11:36pm

9. but sumthin's better than nuthin i suppose...

   Posted by ibbleblibble

   actually,

   i thought both sums were pathetic.

   imagine 500-3000 billion iraq war dollaritos helping people instead.......

   Tuesday, May 6, 2008 12:57:33 AM

   Posted by frosty zoom at 05/06/2008 @ 12:52am

10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nargis

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/06/2008 @ 12:54am

11. not to trivialize.

    god bless us all.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/06/2008 @ 12:54am

12. Posted by frosty zoom at 05/6/2008

    again...

    "Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." Buddha

    lol - he had a great sense of humor, didn't he?

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/06/2008 @ 12:59am

13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nargis

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/6/2008

    yeah - i wiki'd it...and have gone back and reread the blog entry 3 times (which is about 3.5 times how many times i usually read these things) and can't figure out what a legendary, ageing indian actress has to do with this...

    oh well...nargis to you to, zephyr!

    and nargis to you also, frosty!

    a merry nargis to each and every one of you!

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/06/2008 @ 01:05am

14. ibbleblibble

    i think it's just a name, like andrew or katrina.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/06/2008 @ 07:49am

15. is that Liberals tend to confuse moral vanity with leadership.----Posted by marybretbrad at 05/6/2008

    Yes, it's a good thing conservatives don't do that.

    Posted by Mask at 05/06/2008 @ 09:09am

16. the problem is that morally vacuous ideologues cannot recognize virtue even if it slaps them across the face.

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/06/2008 @ 09:55am

17. Trickle down moral vacuity. Gosh, regressives.

    Posted by Sorelish at 05/06/2008 @ 11:14am

18. Posted by Sorelish at 05/6/2008 | ignore this person

    "this is how i think and feel - you must too! and if you persist on condemning my iniquity that just means YER A HYPOCRITE! because everyone is really just as morally vacous as me because i can't or won't comprehend anything else!"

    yup...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/06/2008 @ 11:52am

19. You rarely make mistakes, in my mind, Ibb & you post plenty! You are erudite & more importantly, facile & quick. I respect you.

    Posted by Sorelish at 05/06/2008 @ 12:54pm

20. Posted by Sorelish at 05/6/2008 | ignore this person

    cut that out! i'll start thinkin i'm right or sumthin'!

    lol

    ;)

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/06/2008 @ 1:01pm

21. Posted by Sorelish at 05/6/2008 | ignore this person

    cut that out! i'll start thinkin i'm right or sumthin'!

    lol

    ;)

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/06/2008 @ 1:01pm

22. and doublepost!

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/06/2008 @ 1:01pm

23. Tuesday, May 6, 2008 12:57:33 AM

    Posted by frosty zoom

    What and spend money meant for killing on helping folks. What are you, some kind of dammned Commernist.

    On MBB saying "I agree with Obama..." Has anyone checked Weather.com for Hell's forecast - I think snow is coming.

    Posted by leftofcenter at 05/06/2008 @ 2:43pm

24. LOC: That was funny. I hope the little bit helps or gets to the people who need the help the most. I hear now the death tolll is ~22,000. It's a shame the their government did not warn them or is helping to make sure they have basic needs. What a world...

    Posted by k330k at 05/06/2008 @ 3:17pm

25. with intermittent hurricanes.....

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/06/2008 @ 3:22pm