Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific Affairs subcommittee, has taken a real interest in the Obama administration's approach to dealing with Burma's military junta. Earlier this year, he placed a "hold" on the nomination of now-confirmed Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell--an uncontroversial pick with bipartisan support--that was so strong a North Korean nuclear detonation couldn't break it. According to a source familiar with the confirmation process, it was only after multiple, pleading calls from Secretary of State Clinton that Webb was finally convinced to allow the nomination to move forward in late June.
As Webb made clear at Campbell's confirmation hearing, during which he quizzed Campbell for 15 minutes on 2010 "elections" in Burma and the role of sanctions in penalizing this brutal regime, he views these planned elections as a potential opening for Burma's democracy movement, and he believes U.S. sanctions have been ineffective.
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