All over Burma/Myanmar...

This from Greg Sheridan this morning:

"All unnoticed, we might have reached an historic turning point in Burma."

All unnoticed?? People have been commenting ad infinitum on what may or may not be happening in Myanmar/Burma ever since the election...

He goes on:

"If a new and better Burma is struggling to be born, Australia is determined to be a midwife of history... As the only Western nation in the Southeast Asian region, and as a close ally of the US, Australia has an important role... It would be absurd to suggest Rudd's intervention [a combination of visit and letter] was decisive. But it has helped move the Burmese government."

It all sounds just a little overwrought – we're here, we're helping, if we end up on the right side of history, don't forget us...

And the problem is that Australia's alliance with the US could be as much a handicap as an advantage in reaching the elements in Burma's power structure that still profoundly mistrust the US and all its works.

Meanwhile, the US, of course, is in there too, on its own behalf: US special envoy Derek Mitchell "says he has held discussions with the new government in Naypyitaw about conditions under which American sanctions could be lifted... [but] did not elaborate on what he told the Burmese leaders they will have to do".

And like everyone else, he's leaving lots of room for dashing away again if engagement starts to become too politically costly. 

I'm glad we're all talking – but Myanmar's government is very new, very fragile, and very conflicted. Let's support the good moves by all means, but let's not smother what might be happening in an all-too-heavy embrace.