Burma: Did the Junta Blink?

This morning several news agencies report that Senior General Than Shwe, the military dictator of Burma (Myanmar), has agreed to allow foreign aid workers into the cyclone-hit areas of Burma. Reuters reports that it "looks like a rare concession from the junta's top general -- if it proves to be true."

Today's Wall Street Journal reports on the work of Burma's monks to help the estimated 2.5 million cyclone-displaced people who need shelter and food. An informal network of "Buddhist monks, Internet-savvy activists and pro-democracy students" is delivering aid to people neglected by their government, WSJ says. It continues:

The impromptu relief work has already greatly enhanced the prestige of Myanmar's Buddhist clergy, which includes some 500,000 monks and remains the only large organized force independent of the regime.

Most aid workers from big international aid organizations such as UNICEF and the Red Cross have been barred from entering cyclone-devastated areas, and many reports say the junta is not distributing food and other supplies delivered to the Yangon airport. Burma's monks have stepped into this void. As I wrote earlier this week, money raised by some Buddhist organizations is passing through a network of monasteries and into the hands of Burma's monks, bypassing the junta.