Warning

"Washington will not accept any military takeover in Bangladesh. Bangladesh must restore democracy. We don't think there would a good election under emergency. We think the emergency has to be lifted. We think the rules for political activity need to be opened up" - US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard A Boucher

Source BDNews24

Insane!

Tons of food aids of WFP are waiting in Bangladesh to be flown to Burma for the Cyclone Nargis victims. Red tapes in visas from Burmese embassy are slowing the process of flying them to Burma.

Finally a plane carrying the UN relief was flown to Burma. Bangladesh Military had earlier sent two planes containing potatoes, biscuits to Burma.

Today we hear another low from the Burmese military rulers:

Burma's junta seized U.N. aid shipments Friday meant for a multitude of hungry and homeless survivors of last week's devastating cyclone, forcing the world body to suspend further help. The aid included 38 tons of high-energy biscuits and arrived in Burma on Friday on two flights from Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates.

"All of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated," U.N. World Food Program spokesman Risley said.

"For the time being, we have no choice but to end further efforts to bring critical needed food aid into Myanmar at this time," he said.

It seems they want to take the credit instead:

Myanmar’s government acknowledged taking control of the shipments and said it plans to distribute the aid itself to the affected areas.

In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, government spokesman Ye Htut said the junta had clearly stated what it would do and denied the action amounted to a seizure.

In a statement in the official media after Myanmar turned back a team of Qatari rescue workers coming in on an aid flight this week, the foreign ministry said Myanmar would accept ”relief in cash and kind” but not foreign aid workers.

Myanmar says it will accept aid from all countries, but prohibits the entry of foreign workers who would deliver and manage the operations. The junta is “not ready” to change that position.

Thoughts on Myanmar

Image details: Burma Copes With Aftermath Of Catatrophic Typhoon served by picapp.com

The cyclone Nargis was deadly as predicted and it caught Myanmar of guard. The figures we read everyday never seem to stop depressing you, from 22,000 to 100,000 - now 600,000).

Cyclone Nargis is a Category 3 storm packed winds of 190 km (120 mile) per hour. However BBC quoted a wrong info that It was the world’s deadliest storm in ten years. Only last November (2007) The hurricane Sidr made a downfall in Southern Bangladesh - it was a Category-4 equivalent tropical cyclone with 215 km/h wind speed and water surge of Tidal waves reaching up to a height of 3 metres (9.8 ft) were reported.

The cyclone Pundit Chris Mooney has details on why Nargis was so catastrophic:

"It had been a fairly weak storm, and then it just started exploding even as it headed toward the coastline. So people didn't even know there was a bad storm coming until maybe just 24 or 48 hours out. And it kept getting worse and worse and worse, and then it hit a vulnerable place."

(Image courtesy: The Intersection)

It may be noted that Bangladesh did prepare a lot for SIDR. A total of 2 million people in Bangladesh evacuated to emergency shelters. Otherwise the death toll would be catastrophic. Most of those who were dead defied the warnings and stayed home. The after cyclone relief and rescue operations were also swift. Over 40,000 Red Cross volunteers were deployed to order residents in the 15 affected provinces into special cyclone and flood shelters. In contrast to the Burmese situation, The Bangladeshi military forces played a significant role in providing helicopters and boats to reach to remote locations and of course helping in relief and rescue.

What did the Burmese Government do to protect its people? Eyewitnesses say that even no forces were seen to help cleanup the debris in the capital. And now slow relief work is not making the situation better for the victims.

This is the real tragedy of people when its ruler are so alienated from the people and are only concerned about their powers. God save the people of Myanmar.

Check Burma Cyclone for information, commentaries, links for donations etc.

Barack The Magic Negro

There are lots of efforts to stop him like calling him a magic negro but he is nearing the finish line despite all such twisted tricks.

The blame game

US President George Bush has joined his top diplomat Condoleezza Rice in suggesting that the growing prosperity of India's large middle class is contributing to rising food prices around the world (More in Economic Times).

While RediffNews quotes FAO's data to blame US for the global food crisis.

Indian blogger Aparna Ray coins her protest in a limerick:

"Prez George Bush, it has come to pass,
Has laid blame on our Middle Class.
It seems we have hurled,
The rest of the world,
Into crisis by not chewing grass!"

Tech guide

* Using Twitter in emergencies.

* Video to explain Twitter.

* How to make short videos with your mobile phone.

* Facebook vs. LinkedIn: Which is better for business?

* How Google Earth ate our town!

* One page guides to social networking.

* Real people don't have time for Social Media.

Will international correspondents be redundant?

"The old cartoonish model of parachute journalism was a reporter from New York or London, with a crisis mentality and a short list of questions. The new model is hundreds, or thousands, of homegrown bloggers piecing together many perspectives — counting on a hidden hand of links to sort out differences and shape a “lede” on the story. Kenya and China present the most striking examples of how the new model is pushing back on the old one."

Christofer Laydon talks to Ethan Zuckerman and Solana Larsen of Global Voices Online on the future of Journalism among other things.

Click to listen to Chris’s classroom conversation with Ethan Zuckerman and Solana Larsen here (71 minutes, 33 MB MP3).

Mobile phones as a development tool

Grameen's phone lady concept is a decade old and now the mobile phones have become so affordable to the mass that the phone ladies are almost dead by now. Except mobile internet telecenters is there anything remarkable happening in Bangladesh using mobile technology?

In the developing world, especially in Africa more and more innovations are coming up to use the potentials of the cellphone networks. Mobile phones are now providing banking services to the poor, text messaging are being used for advocacy and communication. More and more citizen journalists are using mobile phones as a media to record and send videos, photos and text from remote areas.

The United Nations Foundation and The Vodafone Group Foundation has published a report titled :"Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use" (click to download pdf -1MB).

This report examines innovative uses of mobile technology by groups working to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. The report identifies emerging trends in "mobile activism" through 11 case studies, and highlights the results of a global survey of NGO usage of mobile technology.

Also check their first report "Mobile Phone Banking and Low-Income Customers Evidence from South Africa" (click to download pdf).

I wish NGOs in Bangladesh would learn from these studies to use the potential of the mobile phone growth in the country.

Cost effective water purification system

A much awaited invention from the creator of Segway. The $1000 eco-friendly water regenerator named Slingshot can take nearly any source of moisture -- including ocean water, urine or sewage--and quickly turn it into safe drinking water. And it comes to Bangladesh first:

"Iqbal Quadir, the founder of Grameen Phone, the largest cell phone company in Bangladesh, is collaborating with Kamen to provide this regenerator in his country in a field trial."

New Blogger

Welcome Dr. Mahathir Mohammad to Blogging.

(Via Global Voices)

Cruel politics with US presidential candidate McCain

Which one of his children is not like the others?

Bangabandhu in Bollywood

Renowned Bangladeshi columnist Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury is producing a film on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Guess who will be playing the role.

Its Amitabh Bachchan, the legendary actor of Bollywood.

Reuters India also reports:

His son Abhishek Bachchan will act in the role of a young Mujib. Amitabh's daughter-in-law and former Miss Universe, Aishwarya Rai, and renowned actress Shabana Azmi will also act in two key roles.

Shyam Benegal, the only director to won India's National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi five times, will direct the movie.

Amitabh is a powerful actor and I don't have anything against the choice. But I wonder why we had to turn to Bollywood to produce a cinema on Bangabandhu. It remains to be seen whether the real history is altered through Bollywood style dramatization or not.

Sad but true that politicization of Bangabandhu's deeds (both by Awami League and anti Awami League forces) have alienated the true Sheikh Mujib from the hearts of many Bangladeshis. And we have to rediscover them through Bolloywood.

Update: Bachchan denies plan to play Mujibur Rahman