Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi visits U.S.

Aung San Suu Kyi: kill the sanctions (GlobalPost, 9-21-12) "Our people must start taking responsibility for their own destiny."
Obama meets with Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi, Oval Office, 9-14-16 (Carolyn Kaster/AP).

The Lady Suu Kyi with Clinton in 2012
Aung San Suu Kyi visited the White House on Wednesday as Burma’s de facto leader six years after she was released from house arrest, a triumphant moment for the democracy icon and for the Obama administration’s policy of engagement with antagonistic or hostile regimes.
 
But unlike in Cuba or Iran, Pres. Obama’s decision to jump-start dormant U.S. relations with the long-isolated Southeast Asian nation [located between India and Thailand] in 2011 received critical support from Republican leaders. And the burgeoning democratic transition in Burma, also known as Myanmar [after the military dictators changed its name], away from a half-century of brutal military rule could represent a rare bipartisan success story.
 
Washington is rolling out the red carpet for Suu Kyi, who had breakfast with Vice President Biden and congressional leaders before visiting the Oval Office. She will visit Capitol Hill on Thursday.
After her meeting with Obama, the White House announced that the United States would end a long-standing national emergency against Burma and further ease trade sanctions in the latest effort to normalize relations. Administration officials said they hoped the move will spur greater U.S. economic investment in the nation of 53 million people.
 
“It is the right thing to do to ensure that the people of Burma see rewards for a new way of doing business,” Obama said. He called Burma a “good news story in an era when so often we see countries going the opposite direction.” More + VIDEO
A GlobalPost investigation tracks the narco-armies in Myanmar’s highlands fueling the region's worst addiction.

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