It is a pity that our embarrassed former president, seriously, could not find Myanmar on a map. Because, if he knew where he was or what was going on there in the last two days, think of the torment he would suffer when he learned that a coup had just taken place on the basis of an unfounded allegation of widespread electoral fraud in the elections of November last year. .
No doubt he would be jealous to know that in a place he could not begin to enchant, the capital of Myanmar, Nay Pyi Taw, the military actually did what they hoped they would do for him and reversed the will. people, the rightful winners arrested at home, shut down the media and installed their elected leader in power.
While in the case of Myanmar, that leader is now General Min Aung Hlaing, the public statement read on behalf of the new leaders would no doubt have left the instigator of the failed coup in America with envy. He said that the electoral lists used in the November elections “proved to have huge discrepancies” and that the authorities responsible for resolving these issues failed to do so. That the elections, which should have been postponed because of COVID, were affected by “terrible frauds” that sparked unrest throughout the country and that they would therefore be forced – in the name of democracy, caution – to declare a state of emergency. He concluded that “the authority of the law, government and jurisdiction of the nation is vested in the commander-in-chief.”
What a terrible moment it would have been for him when he read these words – or if someone had read these words to him – and thought about how close he came to living that anti-democratic dream of his. The leaders of the coup would have triggered his envy, as he should have arrested their predecessor, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, while for him there was only a threat that will be chanted at rallies. yahoo with red hat.
Of course, in his narcissism, our failed insurrectionist certainly sees this week’s events in Myanmar in terms of his own life and his shattered dream of a dictatorship that could have been, and not in terms of the deep retreat he represents for the people there. In its profound simplicity, he would not have been able to fully understand the underlying complications associated with this coup – that while the real winners of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party were deprived of their legitimate role and supporters had their voices stolen, the deposed they themselves were not the clear champions of democracy we hoped they could be when they won the election for the first time in 2015. Since then they have monitored, activated and tried to excuse the ongoing genocide against the majority Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar .
These complications are challenges for all those who have to face the reality of the coup. When Suu Kyi took power after 15 years in prison, President Barack Obama was quick to embrace her as a hero. Her administration lifted sanctions while overseeing democratic reforms. Many of the new president’s foreign policy team, Joe Biden, participated in reshaping US policy at the time and developed high hopes for the strategically located Southeast Asian nation. I know from conversations with several of them that they felt angry and to some extent betrayed by Suu Kyi’s position on the Rohingya.
That being said, Biden and his secretary of state responded quickly and clearly to the news of the coup. Until Monday, Biden condemned the coup as “an assault on the country’s transition to democracy.” Declaring that the US will defend democracy, he said his administration would immediately review whether the coup justifies the re-imposition of sanctions against the new regime. The day before, a few hours after the news from Naypyitaw, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the coup leaders to “release all government officials and civil society leaders and respect the will of the people of Burma.”
The clarity and speed of the Biden administration’s response – which included holding briefings with Congress on Monday afternoon – was welcome. Promoting and defending democracy was one of the clearest themes expressed by the new administration’s foreign policy team. Strong statements similar to promises of sanctions had already been made about Russia’s efforts to crush protests following the arrest of Alexei Navalny and about the abuses of the Chinese regime in Hong Kong.
While the previous administration responded to such cases, they often did so slowly and, in the case of democracy aggressors such as Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong Un, without teeth and sometimes even weakly. For others, as in China, Saudi Arabia or the Philippines, their message was also mixed. And imagine how difficult it would be for that administration if it were still in power to condemn Myanmar’s military leaders. What would he say? “We condemn the coup that was exactly the same as the one we tried to base for exactly the same reasons.”
However, for Biden, Blinken and their team, the challenge now will be to come up with a policy that works to restore democracy, without at the same time restoring leaders who will continue the persecution of the Rohingya. Also, because unilateral sanctions are so ineffective, they will have to find a way to cultivate significant international pressure, including from neighbors in the region who have been at risk in the past and refer to the Chinese in these matters. China, which has major interests in Myanmar, has so far adopted a neutral line on recent events.
However, the Chinese warned the Myanmar army against such measures when China’s foreign minister met with them last month. In recent years, they seem to be more comfortable with the Suu Kyi government than with the mercurial military leadership. Chinese pressure would be key to reversing, as it did in containing Kim’s threat to North Korea. This is where international diplomacy becomes even more difficult, especially given the many aspects of the dispute with Beijing over the new administration.
However, the new administration has expressed its commitment to take the kind of blockade and diplomatic approach of the old school associated with building the international coalition and the case of Myanmar, such as the one associated with defending democracy in Russia and elsewhere, will be a first test. if they can not only restore America’s status, but actually work to develop new, better forms of international collaboration.
According to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, the new foreign policy team has already begun “intensive multi-level consultations” with international partners and allies. Biden called on the international community to come together on this issue. And so begins work on one of the first international crises this administration has faced in less than two weeks.
But even in the early hours of the response, the Biden team was a welcome contrast to its predecessors in responding quickly, defending democracy, embracing diplomacy, knowing where Myanmar is on a map and, of course, not participating recently. to the very kind of coup we are rightly now condemning.