Tragedy in Myanmar/Burma, finger-pointing from Laura

Yesterday, Laura Bush, a woman famous only for being married to a
president, gave an extraordinarily inappropriate, finger-pointing press
briefing about the recent cyclones in Myanmar.

Huge kudos to the Wapo-dot-com columnist Dan Froomkin for the comments he expressed today about this affair:

When a country run by a despotic and
isolationist regime is laid low
by a massive natural disaster, the diplomatic thing to do is to respond
with a show of compassion. Not kick ’em when they’re down.

More
than 22,000 people have died in the staggering devastation caused by
this weekend’s cyclone in Burma. But when First Lady Laura Bush made
her first-ever visit to the White House briefing room yesterday, to talk about what’s going on in that country, it was not
to deliver a message of goodwill.

Rather
than announce the launch of a massive relief effort that could take
advantage of a rare diplomatic opening, the first lady instead tossed
insults at Burma’s leaders, blamed them for the high death toll, and
lashed out at their decision to move forward with a constitutional
referendum scheduled for this Saturday.

Mrs. Bush’s finger-wagging is particularly rich: delivered within 60
hours of the cyclone having struck– plus, coming from the spouse of the man “in charge”
of cripplingly ineffective US governmental response to Hurrican Katrina.

I must say, I’m getting fed up of all the US-based “celebrities” who
decide to adopt and advocate for some pet international human rights
“cause”.  Laura Bush is only the latest of a long stream of these
people.  Do we have any reason to believe, in her case or that of
any of the many other “issues celebs,” that they have any particular
depth of understanding of the issue concerned that would warrant them
getting so much more publicity for their views than the people who
study these issues and regions in depth for their professions?

Mrs. Bush’s oration was also notable for a few other things:

1. She insisted on using the name “Burma,” which is used by many of
   the country’s citizens, particularly those in the political opposition,
   rather than “Myanmar”, the name also used by many citizens– as well as
   by the government there.  A small point, perhaps, though officials
   in Greece and the government of “Macedonia” could tell you that the
   matter of a country’s name can sometimes be an enormously big
   matter.  Mrs. Bush gave no nod to the complexity of this issue–
   by, for example, noting that “the country’s official name is currently
   Myanmar.”  She simply called it Burma throughout.  In
   diplomatic terms, this was extremely disrespectful.
2. She was incredibly accusatory, stating at one point: “The
   regime has
   dismantled systems of agriculture, education and health care.” Now, I
   could certainly be persuaded that theYangon/Rangoon government’s
   administration of these systems has been far from effective, and that
   many of them have fallen into serious disrepair.  But to state
   baldly that the regime “dismantled” them, with no qualification at
   all?  Why should anyone take this woman seriously? (Also, we could
   look at thre Bush administration’s own record in some of these areas?)
3. She happily told the assembled press people that the reason she
   had come out with her statement with what, in the circumstances, seems
   like incredibly unseemly haste (and lack of forethought) was that she
   was about to rush out of Washington DC to work on her daughter’s
   wedding, “and I wanted to be
   able to make a statement about Burma before I left.” Giimme a
   break!  The conduct of diplomacy on serious matters of life and
   death should be held hostage to her wedding-planning schedule???

In the hours since Mrs. Bush’s press conference, many more facts
have emerged about the situation. Reuters tells us
that the casualty toll has continued to rise: “The death toll includes
10,000 who died in just one town, Bogalay, 90
km (50 miles) southwest of Yangon. A further 41,000 people have been
reported missing.”

Reuters also makes clear that the Myanmar government has accepted
international aid to deal withe cyclone’s effects and, after assessing
the horrendous scale of the damage, the government has also postponed
the constiututional referendum previously scheduled for next Saturday.

It strikes me that Laura Bush’s massive mis-step in the world of
international diplomacy underlines some key lessons:

1. Finger-pointing is seldome helpful and often merely ends up
   making the finger-pointer look foolish.
2. Don’t rush to judgment before the facts can be broadly known and
   carefully assessed, and above all:
3. People who live in glass houses, regarding their own records (or
   those of their spouses), should be very wary of throwing stones?

Have a good time planning the wedding, Mrs. Bush.  I hope it goes
beautifully. But maybe keep your pro-Burma “hobby” out of the official
domain from here on?