THE country the world used to know as Burma and is now called Myanmar began to regain a reputation of being “normal” after its military dictatorship of almost 50 years was formally dissolved in 2011.
Today, President Thein Sein is treated by most of his counterparts -- in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other states -- as a legitimately elected leader. This despite the fact that the 2010 elections, which the dictatorship of the military junta claimed to be democratic, was not at all free. It was undemocratic and fraudulent, with the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. Its candidate was the former military junta chief General Thein Sein himself. He was proclaimed the winner (having supposedly garnered 80 percent of the votes.)
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