More than 10 days after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, killing an estimated 32,000 people and leaving up to three times that many homeless, the ruling military junta has let only a trickle of foreign aid into the country. Exasperated international leaders and aid agencies have been reduced to nearly pleading with paranoid Myanmar officials more worried about retaining power than helping their countrymen. With rain again falling and thousands starving and without shelter, patience and subtle pressure are sadly the only recourse.

U.S. and United Nations officials seem largely ready to give in to Myanmar demands that military officials, not aid agencies and not even well-meaning locals, be the ones to distribute food and supplies. The downside to this approach is that members of the secretive junta are likely to keep the best items for themselves.

The military stopped Kyaw Dhyu, the country’s top movie star, from handing out rice in the hard hit Irrawaddy Delta. He was told he could not give the desperately needed food directly to the people. The ruling junta has also issued just a handful of visas to aid agencies that have requested dozens.

While the response from military rulers is completely inexcusable, the situation is partly the result of the international community’s response to Myanmar, which was called Burma until the military put down a pro-democracy movement in 1988.

Since then, the response from the United States, and the rest of the world, has been largely negative. The country has rightly been criticized for its poor human rights record, lack of AIDS prevention, control of information from outside its borders, and rampant drug trafficking. Participants at the largest gathering of Burma experts, held in 2002 by the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, recommended finding some positive aspects, however difficult that may be. Increasing the country’s exports as a start to economic reforms was one suggestion. Myanmar’s neighbors, China and India, could play a helpful role in this regard.

Such political considerations are for later, however, as the international community must find a way to get food, medicine and other needed supplies to the more than 1.5 million people harmed by the cyclone. The military rulers, already tarnished for their violent response to last year’s protests by Buddhist monks, must decide whether to let thousands die in hopes of retaining their grip on power. Alleviating their fears of foreign intervention is necessary to tip the balance in favor of helping the victims of Cyclone Nargis.