UNAided Burma

After days of dithering, the military junta in BUrma first allowed humanitarian aid from the rest of the world. Ships arrived carrying food, medicines and other things.

Now it appears that the junta has seized supplies. To what end is unclear.

A U.N. official says the World Food Program is suspending cyclone aid to Myanmar because its government seized supplies flown into the country.

He says the WFP has no choice but to suspend the shipments until the matter is resolved.

WFP spokesman Paul Risley said Friday that all "the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated." The shipment included 38 tons of high-energy biscuits.

In the meanwhile Peter asks that anyone with contacts in Burma get in touch with World Wide Help. So far, though, it doesn't look like anyone has any useful information there.

But in general, there's no hand-wringing, life-changing angst on behalf of Burma as there was with the tsunami, or the Bombay rains, or the bomb blasts on the trains is there? It's as if the country had dropped off the face of the earth.

PS: The news is constantly updating, so don't be surprised to find that the linked page no longer has the quote I've used in my post.