Observers say Myanmar has history of xenophobia

As the international community waits to deliver desperately needed aid to Myanmar's cyclone survivors, it is getting a lesson in the mind-set of the country's military rulers: reclusive, xenophobic generals who despise the Western world.

Six days after Cyclone Nargis slammed into Myanmar's western coast, killing more than 22,000 people, the impoverished country's needs remain enormous. After initially pleading for urgent help, the junta now seems in no rush to welcome it.

"The military regime is extraordinarily xenophobic. They are afraid of everything," said Sean Turnell, a Myanmar expert at Australia's Macquarie University.

Among the junta's fears are internal uprisings, a U.S. invasion, globalization and its capacity to dilute traditional Burmese culture. In the aftermath of Saturday's cyclone, the junta appears to be afraid of losing face with its people.

"If they can't handle the situation and they let Westerners come in with helicopters, this will demonstrate to their own people the shortcomings of the military," Turnell said. "They are more concerned with control and maintaining an omniscience in front of their people than saving lives."

Myanmar's Foreign Ministry indicated Friday that it wants relief supplies but not foreign aid workers in the country, saying in a statement carried in state media that the government was delivering emergency aid "with its own labor to the affected areas."

After days of stalling, the junta gave clearance Thursday for the first major international airlifts carrying aid to cyclone survivors. But it was not allowing U.S. military planes to fly in critical relief and continued to withhold visas for several U.N. teams seeking entry, said Richard Horsey, a U.N. spokesman in neighboring Thailand.

A foreign military's presence in Myanmar would mark a major concession for the junta.

"They're afraid that if foreign soldiers come in they are the spearhead to overthrow the government," said Josef Silverstein, a retired Rutgers University professor who studied Myanmar for more than a half century.