Condolences to friends in China, Myanmar/Burma

I know I’m late saying this, but I want to send heartfelt condolences to everyone in China and Myanmar/Burma whose universe has been shattered by the loss of loved ones, homes, or livelihoods due to Cyclone Nargis and China’s earthquake. The pictures, whenever I see them, are all searing, and I wish comfort and strength to all the traumatized surviving people of the two devastated areas.
I continue to be extremely concerned about the endlessly mean-spirited, politicized, and accusatory way in which most of the western MSM has covered the Myanmar losses. Today, even the WaPo’s usually wise Al Kamen got into the act, writing, “Human rights advocates were wincing at a photo on the wires of Agency for International Development chief Henrietta Fore shaking hands and beaming with a Burmese military thug at the Rangoon airport a few days ago.” Come on! Fore was delivering aid, and the Burmese officer was receiving it. In the circumstances, it was quite appropriate that both were smiling. Why refer to him in this context as “a Burmese military thug”?
I think that one thing that most western human rights activists and their many friends in the MSM, like Al Kamen, fail to understand is that humanitarian action– action that is designed purely at reducing the immediate suffering of our fellow-humans– should have its own space, quite insulated from the concerns of politicians and of the west’s self-styled (and often quite heavily politicized) “human rights advocates.”
Would Kamen and his “human rights advocate” friends have preferred that Fore had not delivered the aid? Or that she had delivered it while wagging a harsh accusatory finger at the general (thereby most likely dooming her ability to ever deliver any more aid?)
All quite bizarre: childishly accusatory and revealing these people’s deep ignorance of the meaning of humanitarian solidarity.
The western MSM’s coverage of China has generally been a lot better. But even there, I have seen unsubstantiated and quite inappropriate accusations of governmental ineptitude. On ABC News last night, a correspondent in one of the horrendously affected cities urgently told the camera something like, “Here, too, there has been a large degree of chaos. People have even had to stand in line for drinking water!”
Now the second of those statements quite obviously negates the first. When people stand in line for a scarce and desperately needed commodity, that denotes not “chaos”, but its opposite. And indeed, in the frame behind him we saw people standing in an orderly line awaiting their bottled water handouts.
Has that reporter ever seen “chaos”, I wonder?
Anyway, my media criticism is for now quite secondary to my desire to express my human solidarity with all those affected and with all those in those two countries who working so hard to help them.
For anyone seeking a range of (generally) non-politicized reports of the aid efforts that Burmese and non-Burmese bodies are undertaking inside the country, Reliefweb can give you lots of solid, up-to-date news. For example, this from Malteser International about the work of some of the 200 staff members they now have working in the country.
The report states: “As Malteser International has been able to start the relief activities in the disaster area right after the Cyclone, they are now also bundling the assistance of other organisations and partners and implementing it.”
They’re appealing urgently for funds and provide details of a bank account based in Koln, Germany, to donate to:

Donation Account 120 120 120
Bank für Sozialwirtschaft, Wörthstr. 15 – 17, D-50668 Köln
Sort Code : 370 205 00
IBAN : DE49 3702 0500 0001 0258 01
BIC: BFSWDE33XXX
Reference : “Cyclone Nargis”