He knew his voice was quavering. But Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s top envoy at the United Nations, kept going. The military rulers who had overthrown Myanmar’s elected government and gunned down peaceful protesters were illegitimate, he said.

The words stumbled out, both a bit too high and a bit too low.

"We will continue to fight,” he said, "for a government which is of the people, by the people, for the people.”