Should ‘Irrational Exuberance’ Over Burma be Tempered?:-?
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN , The Irrawaddy, Thursday, December 22, 2011
Three weeks after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Burma, the US said it “will be prepared to take further steps” provided the Burmese government “keeps moving in the right direction,” according to a US State Department spokesperson.
... “We are currently taking steps to move forward on all of the actions that Secretary Clinton noted during her visit,” added the spokesperson, in an e-mailed response to questions about US policy after Clinton’s visit to Burma.
...
She added that, "If the regime is serious in its desire to have a better relationship with the United States, it must go beyond empty promises and actually deliver. They cannot continue to say they are going to release all political prisoners, they must actually release all political prisoners.":-?
...
More political prisoners are now thought to be up for release early in 2012, a move that could prompt overtures from governments such as the UK, whose Foreign Secretary William Hague will visit Burma in January 2012.:-?
...
One possible next step, according to Currie, would be for the Burmese government to permit international observers to work inside Burma during the country's upcoming by-election, which will be contested by long-time opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has given her blessing to the recent reforms in Burma. No date has been set for the by-election, but “free and fair” elections are one of the conditions set down by the US for the eventual lifting of sanctions on Burma.:-?