Like everyone else, Aung San Suu Kyi saw it coming. "I'm afraid the verdict will be painfully obvious," the symbol of Burmese democracy said last month, during her trial. And so it was: yesterday, she was convicted of breaking the terms of her house arrest. As a result of these manifestly trumped-up charges, she will serve 18 months further detention, removing her from the political playing field during next year's elections.
Just as predictable as the sentence were the subsequent calls from Western governments and activists for further sanctions. Yet, as Hillary Clinton acknowledged shortly after becoming Secretary of State, sanctions against Burma have not worked. Indeed, many people are beginning to realise that, as the Burmese historian Thant Myint U puts it, "in some ways, sanctions lock in the status quo".
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