Worry not Than Shwe. Harper won't kick your ass.

He can't.

A. He doesn't have the global gonads;
B. He doesn't have the available military force.

So you can keep doing this shit until the cows come home and rest assured that Canada won't do diddly-squat to stop you.

Cyclone survivors are being forced out of emergency camps and back to their flattened villages by Burma's military government, Amnesty International said Thursday.

The human rights organization said that since May 19, there have been 30 confirmed reports of people being forcibly removed from places of refuge in Rangoon and the northern part of the Irrawaddy Delta, one of the areas worst hit by the May 3 storm. Many are being relocated to their homes further south, which were destroyed and are yet to be rebuilt, Amnesty researcher Benjamin Zawacki told the CBC.

"This is in violation of their human right to health, to food, and perhaps indeed to the right to life. This is premature, it's arbitrary, and neither are the people prepared to move from an aid and assistance standpoint, nor are their original villages in any condition to receive them."

In a report released Thursday, Amnesty also cited several instances where the military government is offering aid to cyclone victims on the condition they provide physical labour in return.

Survivors have been forced to construct a landing pad for helicopters and construct and take down emergency relief camps, as well as clear debris and help reconstruct rural infrastructure such as roads, Zawacki said.

And just in case you think this is based on an isolated report...

In its report, Amnesty also cited 40 accounts of Burmese soldiers or local officials diverting, confiscating or misusing aid intended for cyclone victims.

Although the junta has granted greater access to the Irrawaddy Delta, "recent incidents of corruption and diversion of aid suggest a potentially serious threat to effective distribution of aid," the report said.

Most of the cases cited involved authorities confiscating aid from private donors or arresting them for refusing to hand the aid over.

Now, before I go too much further, I can agree with Harper's plans to bolster the Canadian Forces (not that it was his idea). His predecessor laid out all the ground work. In fact, Paul Martin was adamant that any commitment to Afghanistan would leave the Canadian Forces in a position to take on another contingency operation.

Are we there yet?

The truth is, Afghanistan has sucked the Canadian Forces into an abyss. We can't do anything else.

So when it comes to the Responsibility To Protect, we're out of the game. As LuLu has pointed out, it's one of those yucky UN things... and Bush's Chihuahua doesn't do the UN.

So, rest easy Than Shwe. You may be a murderous, corrupt, evil little prick. It doesn't matter. Kill your own people. Run a corrupt government. Steal international aid for your own uses. Live in unearned opulence. You are exactly the thing Steve Harper wrote about when he complained that Canada had not supported the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq.

Back then anyone could have been excused for believing that Harper meant what he said about dealing with threatening dictatorial regimes.

That was then. This is now. First we had Darfur; now we have Burma.

Big man Steve hasn't got the resources or the guts to stop you.... unless George Bush wakes up. Orders are, after all, orders.

So, go ahead. Be as bad or worse than Saddam Hussein.

Steve's busy. Elsewhere. And his mouth is full.

Thanks to Cat via email