It was always a safe bet that the military junta that rules Myanmar was going to come up with some way to extend the house arrest of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the prodemocracy forces in her country. The absurd charges leveled against her last week is proof yet again that the government is truly shameless.
Responding effectively to this latest outrage poses a challenge — not only for countries that have preferred to turn a blind eye to the junta's transgressions, but also for regime critics like the United States whose policies have been equally ineffectual in promoting change in Myanmar.
Myanmar, once known as Burma, has been ruled by military juntas since 1962. Their misguided, ill-conceived and paranoid policies have turned one of Asia's potentially richest countries into an economic nightmare. In 1990, the leadership thought it enjoyed enough legitimacy to hold national elections. It was shocked to discover that the people preferred a representative government. The opposition National League of Democracy (NLD), led by Ms. Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory, but the government refused to honor the results. Instead, it imprisoned thousands of democracy activists, Ms. Suu Kyi among them.