Armed Humanitarian Intervention.?

my note:: This is why liberals and even Obama will be no better than neocons -both believing bringing 'freedom' or humanitarian aid at gunpoint, an oxymoron if there ever was. Of course, I suspect the motivations underlying it are suspect. Does Mr. Kaplan champion brining armed humanitarian relief to Palestine, or the refugee camps there? Why does he and others avoid fixing the one problem that we in fact, have helped create - and the one, presumably, where we can have the most positive impact by doing less (and giving less aid to the wicked) ? Because, all animals are equal but some are more equal that others.

And now for something completely different…
Wednesday, May 14th in Foreign policy, War by Leon Hadar

…like doing an “armed humanitarian intervention” in Myanmar aka Burma.

Yep. This is what travel writer/military strategist/philospher Robert D. Kaplan — Rudyard Kipling for poor and stupid people — is proposing in “Aid at the Point of the Gun” in the New York Times today. He also reports that “there is an increasing degree of chatter about the possibility of an American-led invasion of the Irrawaddy River Delta.” Sorry, but I haven’t heard that “chatter.” I don’t get that channel on my Sirius Satellite Radio.

In a recent post I speculated that the Times may be trying to demonstrate its post-modernist sense of humor. Reading Kaplan’s analysis and policy recommendation I’m beginning to think that that is indeed the case.

“As it happens, American armed forces are now gathered in large numbers in Thailand for the annual multinational military exercise known as Cobra Gold,” Kaplan explains. “This means that Navy warships could pass from the Gulf of Thailand through the Strait of Malacca and north up the Bay of Bengal to the Irrawaddy Delta.” Great! And “because oceans are vast and even warships travel comparatively slowly, one should not underestimate the advantage that fate has once again handed us.” Thanks, Fate!

He then proposes that

a carrier strike group, or even a smaller Marine-dominated expeditionary strike group headed by an amphibious ship, could get close to shore and ferry troops and supplies to the most devastated areas on land.