Washington Post blasts failure of US policy on Myanmar

16 March 2015
Washington Post blasts failure of US policy on Myanmar
Washington Post questions US President Barack Obama's embrace of Myanmar. US President Obama (L) hugs Myanmar opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during the joint press conference at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar, November 14, 2014. Photo: Nyein Chan Naing/EPA 

In a critical editorial published on March 14, The Washington Post questions US President Barack Obama’s embrace and concessions for Myanmar in the face of what it says is the regime’s failure to keep its promises.
The editorial entitled, “A failing engagement with Burma,” the commentary raises the proposition made by a top US official that “Burma could be a model” for changing North Korea, but cuts it down.
“[North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un might well take a lesson from Burma, but North Koreans ought to hope that he doesn’t. What its record currently shows is that a dictatorship can reap the economic and political benefits of detente with the United States while offering only token political concessions. More than two years after the administration lifted sanctions on Burma and began providing it with nearly a billion dollars in aid, the military regime continues to persecute minorities, imprison journalists and repress peaceful dissent while defending a constitution that bans the country’s most important political leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, from becoming president.”
The editorial claims that according to Mr Obama’s five tests for measuring the transition from authoritarianism, Nay Pyi Taw has failed all of them.
Mr Obama now has no leverage with Nay Pyi Taw, says the editorial.