Word: gripped
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...week's crackdown. Rumors that Than Shwe, who has been ill for years, has picked junta No. 3 Shwe Mann - a purported economic pragmatist - as his favored successor have also raised hopes. But a change of guard may not mean much. The Burmese military has ruled with an iron grip for 45 years, and predicting its demise - or even nascent reform within its ranks - is a dangerous bet. Burma's generals may be faceless, but they have outlasted most of the world's better-known dictators...
...whose National League for Democracy won elections in 1990 that the junta ignored. Exile websites wondered whether this meeting meant that more moderate officers were holding sway. Rumors also abounded that Than Shwe's family had fled the country. But Burma's military has ruled with an iron grip for 45 years and predicting its demise - or even nascent reform within its ranks - is a dangerous exercise. Burma's generals may be faceless, but their staying power has outstripped that of the world's far better known dictators...
...course, no amount of Buddhist mantras chanted in Suu Kyi's name are likely to convince Burma's generals to give up power quietly. They have ruled with an iron grip, and with impunity, for nearly half a century, and have already brutally crushed one major democracy movement. With the clashes on Sept. 26, the regime once again displayed its capacity for violence. Burma's burgundy revolutionaries can only pray that their robes will not be stained further - by the color of blood...
...opposition leaders took no comfort in Musharraf's conditional agreement to loosen his grip on the military. If the man who tried--and failed--last spring to dismiss an increasingly independent Chief Justice of the Supreme Court loses at the polls next month, critics fear a declaration of martial law could soon follow...
...several Supreme Court cases concerning Musharraf's eligibility for another term continue into the second week of debate, analysts see this weekend's rash of arrests as signs of a government losing its grip. The Supreme Court could be turning against him, say some, or he no longer has the majority he needs to be reelected. "I think this is a sign of desperation" says Ayesha Tammy Haq, a prominent political talk show host. "Why else would you go and arrest a group of declawed politicians?" Or, she pauses, "it could also mean abject stupidity." Like Musharraf's attempts...