McCain meets Burmese rulers
U.S. Sen. John McCain, seen here at a D.C. meeting, is now in Myanmar to meet with senior government officials. Formerly known as Burma, the country remains torn by civil war even after a parliamentary election, which was widely regarded as a sham.
Sen. John McCain is now in Burma (also called Myanmar) to meet with Southeast Asia's most reviled government.
This is a remarkably high-profile visit with a regime under severe economic sanctions. And it's likely a signal that, if authorities relax their crushing grip on Burmese population, the U.S. may be willing to relax its sanctions.
McCain's stated mission: pushing the government to free 2,000-plus political prisoners and pressing them to take "reform" seriously.
Burma's new government, installed by the military through bogus elections, recently freed more than 10,000 prisoners. But it left more than 2,000 political prisoners — think 15 year sentences for distributing pro-democracy pamphlets — behind bars. Human Rights Watch called it a "sick joke."
As for "reform," McCain is clearly dubious. "We should greet what's happened so far in Myanmar with a healthy dose of skepticism," he told reporters in Bangkok before the trip.
Any serious reform would require an end to the government's decades-long battle with various ethnic armies vying to set up independent nations. And no one expects that to happen any time soon.
On Thursday, McCain is expected to meet with pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who won elections more than 20 years ago but has largely lived in military-imposed confinement since.
According to the AP, the senator called her "a person I have admired more than any other … living individual."
The outcome of her pending tour of Burma, he said, will prove how much the government can stomach a high-profile public display by their most popular opponent.
During three other similar outings — in 1989, 1996 and 2003 — she has narrowly survived assassination attempts.