The Regime Clings To Power

George Packer updates us on the political situation in Burma. The junta's election laws made Aung San Suu Kyi ineligible for office. (Suu Kyi has lead the most important opposition party in Burma for twenty years.) The opposition responded by boycotting:

Once again, Burma and the world are moving in opposite directions. The U.S. might be ready to seek a compromise with the regime, but the regime is still doing what it does best: by its own brutal rigidity, forcing the opposition into a rigid and, perhaps, a self-defeating response.