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Wall Street Journal Editorial
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.