Military coup in Myanmar

[Admiral Yi]

He was a Japanese collabo, no?

[Duque de Bragança]

He was a Japanese collabo, no?

To achieve independence, before switching sides.
Mind you, the collabo stuff, to Brits in this matter, is what I hear sometimes from (East) Asians regarding the Rohingya.

[Sheilbh]

So is she back in some people's 'good books'?

Her not lifting a figure to help the Rohingya and her mealy words at the time, were active support for an enfolding genocide; she can go hang as far as I'm concerned.

I don't think she's back in anyone's good books.

He was a Japanese collabo, no?

That's not too surprising given British imperialism - or an issue for many people in colonised countries. I know that Bose and the Indian National Army are seen as heroic figures in the Indian independence movement.

Mind you, the collabo stuff, to Brits in this matter, is what I hear sometimes from (East) Asians regarding the Rohingya.

That is something the British did across the empire.

[OttoVonBismarck]

More than not being back in anyone's "good books" I think we should probably have given a more critical eye to international fawning over Suu Kyi way back in the beginning. I think her life story suggests like many of these unstable political systems in Southeast Asia, the idea of simplistic "good guys and bad guys" is not usually the best way to look at the situation. She was advocating for democracy in part because it was her path to power, but how much she ever really believed in what we in the West view as "appropriate liberal democracy" is an open question. Just because her enemies are bad dudes doesn't mean she was ever actually a benign figure.

[Darth Wagtaros]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55901774?__twitter_impression=true
Dance dance counter-revolution

[PJL]

If she had been more critical of the military situation against the minority Muslims in Burma, then her reputation would have been better worldwide and it's probablee that the military would have been much more hesitant to move against her now or even do a coup. Her real strength was from her international supporters more than the opposition to the military she had domestically.

[Barrister]

If she had been more critical of the military situation against the minority Muslims in Burma, then her reputation would have been better worldwide and it's probablee that the military would have been much more hesitant to move against her now or even do a coup. Her real strength was from her international supporters more than the opposition to the military she had domestically.

No, her real strength was the support from the people of Burma, who in an election in November gave her party over 80% of the seats.

[DGuller]

If she had been more critical of the military situation against the minority Muslims in Burma, then her reputation would have been better worldwide and it's probablee that the military would have been much more hesitant to move against her now or even do a coup. Her real strength was from her international supporters more than the opposition to the military she had domestically.

No, her real strength was the support from the people of Burma, who in an election in November gave her party over 80% of the seats.

How's that strength working out for her?  Myanmar military has a lot of experience maintaining power in the face of overwhelming popular disapproval.  It's the international sanctions that give them pause.

[Sheilbh]

How's that strength working out for her?  Myanmar military has a lot of experience maintaining power in the face of overwhelming popular disapproval.  It's the international sanctions that give them pause.

Really? The junta's more or less since independence except for the 2010s. I don't think sanctions or international isolation has ever been a major issue for them.

[Admiral Yi]

I believe China's patronage makes sanctions pretty toothless.

[DGuller]

Why did they let her out of the dungeon in the first place then?  Did they want to take a break from mismanaging the country for a while?

[Sheilbh]

Why did they let her out of the dungeon in the first place then?  Did they want to take a break from mismanaging the country for a while?

From memory I think it was a huge surprise when it happened. The military wrote the constitution and had a great deal of residual influence (I think they had a number of seats in parliament for example). Possibly their role was under threat because of how big her majority was?

But yeah from memory democratisation was a surprise and I don't remember many people being able to explain it and I think there's something similar going on now. This is a surprise (to an extent) and it's not clear why it happened now.

I believe China's patronage makes sanctions pretty toothless.

I think India too.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

If she had been more critical of the military situation against the minority Muslims in Burma, then her reputation would have been better worldwide and it's probablee that the military would have been much more hesitant to move against her now or even do a coup. Her real strength was from her international supporters more than the opposition to the military she had domestically.

No, her real strength was the support from the people of Burma, who in an election in November gave her party over 80% of the seats.

How's that strength working out for her?  Myanmar military has a lot of experience maintaining power in the face of overwhelming popular disapproval.  It's the international sanctions that give them pause.

sanctions are all fun and all that but their track record of getting rid of regimes that are really determined to stay in place isn't that great afaik

[Barrister]

sanctions are all fun and all that but their track record of getting rid of regimes that are really determined to stay in place isn't that great afaik

Sanctions aren't really the proper tool for regime change.  They're more useful if you're trying to induce a change in policy from an existing government.  There they have had mild to moderate success.

[Admiral Yi]

South Africa is the obvious success story.