Burma Supporters

There are many reasons why it is so difficult to exert pressure on the Myanmar government. China and Russia protecting them in the UN is a major reasons. Their resources in an increasingly resource-scarce world give them tremendously leverage. The knowledge that the world is ultimately going to do nothing, no matter what they do to their people, is quite the ace in the hole.

But Than Shwe and his military government also have significant powerful support among U.S. allies. For instance, former Japanese ambassador to Myanmar, Yoichi Yamaguchi, has come out in favor of crushing the democracy movement. Yamaguchi makes all sorts of ridiculous claims, such that economic growth has led the nation's people to trust the government, never mind that economic issues are at the core of the recent uprising and the government has nothing to build trust, unless trust can be built from the end of a baton.

But the larger issue is that such dissenting voices undermine what little moral sway the rest of the world does have over Burma. Somehow, it seems fitting that Dick Cheney or some other high-ranking Republicans would have a stake in supporting the Burmese government. They seem like a Republican's kind of regime.