While his suggestion that the United Nations (UN) should take action given the military junta's inaction may be sound, the suggestion that the US government should act unilaterally is not.

Mr Goh says: 'In the past, the United States was quick to act unilaterally. But it has been slow to go it alone in the current disaster.'

He then suggests that it does what it did after the Asian tsunami in 2004 to help the disaster victims.

There is a serious problem with calling for unilateral action from any country, but especially from the US, no matter what the context or reason.

If the past 10 years hasn't made that gruesomely clear enough with tens of thousands of dead Iraqi women, children, and old people, I'm not sure what will. There is a long list of atrocities and Geneva Convention violations to choose from.

For starters, since World War II, the US has attempted to overthrow more than 50 foreign governments, dropped bombs on people of some 30 countries, attempted to assassinate 60 or so foreign leaders, tortured thousands, and, in the process of all these, killed millions and condemned many others to a life of despair. Does Mr Goh think the US government did all of this for the 'benefit of mankind' or the pursuit of 'democracy'?

Crimes against humanity must be addressed by global bodies if and when states initiate or fail to respond effectively to such crimes.

The decision to 'make a move' should ideally be arrived at by multilateral institutions in a democratic fashion, not by arm twisting. This is what the UN - a kind of global cop - is supposed to do.

We don't need or want the US in that role.

Merrill James O'Donnell