Wall Street Journal Editorial

[burma1un@xxxxxxxxxxx]

SLORC HAS THE LAST LAUGH

Wall Street Journal Editorial
Feb 27, 1997

Regular readers of this page know that we are not fans of economic 
sanctions. They fall into that basic category of trade weapons that 
we routinely eschew as counterproductive; at best they are blunt 
instruments. There is one thing worse than sanctions, though, and 
that is issuing empty threats to use them. If you draw a line in 
the sand and then look the other way while it is repeatedly crossed, 
you have done more harm than if you had drawn no line in the first 
place. Issuing a challenge and then back in off from the fight is an 
advertisement of weakness guaranteed to provoke more, not fewer, 
assaults on cherished principles or long-suffering people.

This is the situation the United States finds itself in with respect 
to Burma. Back in September, President Bill Clinton signed legislation 
mandating a U.S. ban on new investment in Burma if the ruling generals 
of the State Law and Order Restoration Council escalated repression 
against either Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi or members 
of the democratic opposition she leads.

The legislative descriptions of behavior that would trigger sanctions 
were rather amorphous. Perhaps the vagueness was deliberate. The law 
Mr. Clinton signed was drafted to head off much tougher legislation 
banning U.S investment in Burma entirely, and thus was a triumph for 
Burma's biggest American partner, the resource exploration company 
Unocal, and for the military regime itself.

This posturing could cost the Burmese people dearly, as Slorc grows 
increasingly brave in defiance of the spirit of the U.S. sanctions 
law. As current Secretary of Sate Madeleine Albright noted while she 
was still ambassador to the U.N. last December, the regime has been 
engaged in a kind of "rolling repression in which small steps forward 
alternate with crackdowns and episodes of intimidation and violence."

The latest is the massive military campaign under way to eradicate 
remnants of the Karen National Union army and some 3,000 Karen 
civilians now fleeing toward the Thai border.  Slorc and its supporters 
like to paint the Karen - and all 15 or so ethnic groups the government 
has tried to bring under its thumb - as criminals and a threat to 
Burmese stability and territorial integrity.

The fact is, the Karen National Union is a largely Christian, staunchly 
anti-Communist movement that has been resisting central control and 
struggling for autonomy for nearly half a century. While nine Slorc 
battalions go after the Karen, back in the capital of Rangoon, Burmese 
democrats remain firmly under the boot.

No one in the U.S. has ever offered a rational explanation for why the 
Clinton Administration signed on to the sanctions threat against 
Burma's regime while showering China's un-elected and often brutal 
ruling party with patient understanding in the name of constructive 
engagement. Perhaps Burma has been chosen by some unfathomable process 
of default as this decade's pinup victim, a place where governments 
and politicians can display their human rights credentials on the 
cheap.


There was never strong reason to believe that banning U.S. companies 
from doing business in Burma would bring a quick end to Burma's brutal 
and illegitimate regime. Although Slorc is widely hated at home, plenty 
of Burma's neighbors, and companies like Unocal, stand to make a fortune 
by exploiting the regime's dependence on their willingness to do 
business with a pariah.

What Mr. Clinton's State Department apparently does not understand 
is that nothing is more dangerous than crying wolf and passing a law 
you lack the courage to enforce. American diplomats may confuse some 
people with the ridiculous proposition that the U.S. can't impose 
sanctions because then it would no longer have the threat of sanctions 
to use as leverage.

We don't know who is fooled by this gobbledygook. Bur Slorc certainly 
sees through it. And if ever the United States or the international 
community do get serious about controlling the outrageous and 
destructive behavior of Slorc or any other rogue regime, they should 
not be surprised if the bad boys laugh in their face.