They say a week is a long time in politics. What about twelve days? It is this length of time that the great western powers have dragged their collective heels in abject neglect of the Burmese people. Serendipity, in the form of the equally tragic Chinese earthquake, has enabled the west to get away with doing next to nothing to help the estimated 1.5 million displaced people of Burma. Any right minded person surely now sees that the term 'liberal interventionalism' is nothing more than a smoke screen for big business to have its way. There is no morality at play in the invasion of Iraq; it is simply a business decision. Invading North Korea isn't as profitable a business as destroying Iraq and bleeding it dry.

It seems liberal interventionalism has had its day in the sun. The obliging western media hailed the interventions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Sierra Leone as foreign policy at its triumphant best. Our leaders are elected by us, and entrusted by us to make tough decisions. Sometimes they get it right, other times they get it staggeringly wrong.

What everyone can see is that the Burmese Junta is an absolutely disgraceful regime, and its ineptitute and paranoia are leading to the deaths of countless defenceless Burmese. As many civilians may already have died as were lost in the entire 2004 tsunami, when 230,000 were unaccounted for. Over a million civilians are at risk as a direct result of decisions made by a dictatorial government that places pride and security ahead of the care of its people. On the most optimistic estimates, only 30% have yet received any help at all. As the French veteran aid worker, Pierre Fouillant, of Comité de Secours Internationaux, reportedly said yesterday, "It's like they are taking a gun and shooting their own people." And what is the western reponse? Words. Nothing else.

Gordon Brown called the Junta's position "utterly unacceptable". The aid minister, Douglas Alexander, professed himself "horrified". The foreign secretary, David Miliband, used the words "malign neglect ... a humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions". The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon, registered "deep concern and immense frustration". In France, Nicolas Sarkozy found the inaction "utterly reprehensible", and in Germany Angela Merkel found it "inexplicable". George Bush declared the regime "either isolated or callous". Isn't this fantastic. How caring our great leaders are.

In the name of democracy, Iraq burns. In the name of diplomacy, the people of Burma continue to die. If ever so-called humanitarian intervention were justified, it is now. On the most optimistic estimates, only 30% have yet received any help at all. Wake up Gordon. Wake up George. Your inaction is a disgrace.

By Paul Tuthill/MOLI