Cyclone a big boon for military junta

don't let this smily face fool you, General Than Shwe

More than one million homeless in Myanmar were battling to stave off disease and hunger Thursday, with the military government still limiting foreign assistance six days after a massive cyclone.
With death toll estimates near 100,000 and the clock ticking for those who survived, Myanmar's junta -- long suspicious of the outside world -- came under new pressure to fully open up to help from abroad.

Aid was only trickling in despite warnings that specialists were needed to deliver food and water through disaster zones strewn with rotting bodies, and it was unclear if the regime was giving visas to foreign aid staff.

The United States, one of the military junta 's most vocal critics, announced it was not sending an aid flight after earlier saying it was, adding to the sense of confusion and frustration over the international relief effort.

There is another way of looking at this continued denial of permission to give aid in Myanmar. How much easier is it to rule a dictatorship when you have less people to worry about? Is this payback time for the protests?

If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. Niccolo Machiavelli