Richard Walden of the HuffPo, who last week said we have to “dance” around vicious tyrants like the inept leaders who run Burma, has a new post up today. He writes:

I hope the advocacy groups realize the immediacy of the terrible suffering inside Myanmar where over 100,000 have died and an estimated 1.5 million are in immediate jeopardy from a lack of water, food, shelter and health care. The advocacy groups should partner with the relief NGOs and quietly help raise the private funds necessary to put Myanmar back on its feet without replaying Laura Bush’s incendiary talking points in the days following the storm.

I doubt that there’s an advocacy group on the planet that doesn’t see “the immediacy of the terrible suffering” inside Burma. The only people who don’t seem to get it are the those actually in charge of Burma. Here’s the latest from the UN:

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called an emergency meeting on Burma’s aid crisis, as the junta refused to open up to a full-scale relief effort despite grave fears for two million survivors.The secretary-general said he would call in representatives of several countries later today to discuss a strategy for escalating the humanitarian response in Burma, with relief groups warning they are running out of time.
Mr Ban said too much time had been spent on trying to deliver supplies and obtain visas for international aid workers whose expertise is urgently needed to bring help to the remote and flooded disaster zone in the south.
“Even though the Myanmar (Burmese) government has shown some sense of flexibility, at this time it’s far, far too short,” he said in New York.
“The magnitude of this situation requires much more mobilisation of resources and aid workers,” he said.
Mr Ban said the operation to help the Burmese people was entering its “second stage”, reflecting views that almost two weeks after the storm hit, it may already be too late for many sick and hungry victims who have got little aid from a government that insists it can manage the catastrophe alone.

Too bad the UN didn’t listen to Laura Bush two weeks ago. Lots of lives could have been saved.