Promote development while keeping one's distance

Myanmar's regime has sentenced opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to another 18 months of house arrest. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung analyses how democratic states can behave towards the country's military junta: "The tragedy in Burma can continue. It is not to be expected that the military which has ruled the country since 1962 will hand over its power following the announced elections [in 2010]. It is not yet clear whether the calculated mildness of this most recent trial was meant to signal perhaps a certain willingness to talk. Great scepticism is called for. … It seems sensible to promote development instead of an isolation that is largely incomplete anyway. The problem with this, however, is keeping the necessary distance to despots. For those who don't disassociate themselves from them politically make themselves partially responsible for the situation in the country."

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