The response of the British government to the Irish famine of 1845-52 was despicable. It directly resulted in Ireland losing about 20% of its population (reckoned from the census of 1841 to that of 1851). And it set in motion a process of depopulation such that resulted in its population halving by the first world war. Ireland is one of the very few places in the world that has a smaller population today than it did 200 years ago. I don't think anyone had any thought of invading Britain so that they could go in and sort it out, though of course Britain being the leading world power at the time might have put people off.

The Great Leap Forward was a self-inflicted disaster in China under Mao, who seemed (at least according to his latest contentious biography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao:_The_Unknown_Story) to have had very little concern about loss of life in the population. Plenty more where they came from, seems to have been his thought. Estimates of mortality range from 14m to 43m http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward, and that is just one of his trying little schemes, later came the Cultural Revolution. I don't think anyone had in mind invading the place to try and sort it out. Since Mao tried to avoid anyone entering or leaving the country to tell us about it, we didn't know very much about it at the time.

Than Shwe is one of the more egregiously callous national leaders at present around, with very competence in economics and development, although he demonstrates some considerable competence at remaining in charge (rather like Mao really). But actually he is rather less bad the previous chap. Ne Win was the guy who really impoverished the place by introducing the "Burmese Way to Socialism", and ruled the country on astrological principles. This resulted in bank-notes in unusual quantities such as 35 and 90; and driving on the right in an area of the world where everyone else drives on the left, so that available vehicles are mostly right-hand-drive. Ne Win also wins the prize for world's most incompetently rigged election, they managed to lose it by a ratio 20:80. He did in fact finally retire at that point, but the military just carried on running the place. Curiously a Burmese, U Thant, was secretary-general of the United Nations for 10 years during this period.

Like Iraq, Myanmar is a rather artificial construct. There is a central area where most of the people are Burmans, who are in fact rather numerous, perhaps two thirds the population, but they cover a modest proportion of the land area. But then all the way around the edges, which is rather hilly or mountainous country, are all sorts of other people, often not even in contiguous areas. The government recognises about 70 different ethnicities. (A substantial refugee problem exists in relation to one major group they don't recognise, the Rohingya.) At least in recent years the government has achieved ceasefires with nearly all of the large number of "liberation armies" that used to operate, sometimes several competing ones to an ethnic group. As we remember in Yugoslavia and Iraq, there is actually something to be said for peace. Previously there had been a situation of almost permanent insurrection by many of these various people going back as long as anyone can remember. And not all of these liberation armies have especially benign intentions, Myanmar being a big drugs-growing area.

Whilst certainly Myanmar deserves better government, can you imagine what kind of appalling crisis would be set off by an intervention?