Myanmar, caught between a coup and a flawed icon.
Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images The coup in Myanmar has rightly been greeted with almost universal condemnation. The few exceptions Russia, China, Cambodia, Thailand, are governed by authoritarian leaderships and have little appetite for democracy and civil rights. Once again, Myanmar’s National League for Democracy’s leadership is under arrest, and students and civil rights activists fear military reprisals if they openly defy the Junta. Naturally, the latest iteration of military rule has once again thrust Daw Aung San Suu Kyi into the spotlight. Once again, she has become the personification of the struggle against military rule, a role she has spent almost half her life dedicated to. Under house arrest for fifteen years, she became an international icon for the struggle for democracy worldwide, winning the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Once more, the coup has thrust her into the global spotlight, and her image adorns everyth...