Helping Burma, Not Its Regime

In his Oct. 27 op-ed column, "On Burma, A Phony Realism," Fred Hiatt offered a distorted view of the International Crisis Group's report "Burma/Myanmar After Nargis: Time to Normalize Aid Relations." Mr. Hiatt acknowledged that Western sanctions have delivered neither democracy nor prosperity to the Burmese people but then attacked the report for saying just that.

The West's confrontational approach to Burma has shored up the regime's claim that it is defending the country against internal and external enemies, undermined Western influence, and impeded efforts to help ordinary people cope with repression and poverty. When a policy has been tried for 20 years with such spectacular lack of success, it is time to change tack. The cases of Somalia, Afghanistan and East Timor show how irresponsible it is to drive countries to collapse and how difficult it is for them to recover.

As we reported, the government's initial response to Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 100,000 people, was appalling, with international agencies and local donors prevented from delivering aid. But while the international media were focused on other issues, disaster response improved to the point that in July, the U.N. humanitarian chief described it as "a normal international relief operation." Corrupt officials have almost certainly stolen some aid, something that, unfortunately, happens in many countries. But that doesn't mean people should not be helped.

This opening should be seized. Carefully designed aid programs can address Burma's dire humanitarian and developmental problems without propping up the regime.