Webb’s mission to Burma


by Neil Robertson    
2:00 pm - August 16th 2009

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You’re not exactly spoilt for choice, but you’d be hard pressed to find a more interesting member of the U.S. Congress than Jim Webb. A decorated Vietnam veteran who still defends the decision to go to war; an outspoken opponent of the invasion of Iraq; a journalist & author; a former Secretary of the Navy; a former Republican and now the Senior Democratic Senator from the traditionally conservative state of Virginia.

But it’s not just Webb’s rich life story which makes him interesting; he’s also won admirers for the kinds of issues he works on. Whilst widely-regarded as conservative, Webb is one of the few politicians to speak out about the vast inequalities of wealth in the United States, even going so far as to speak of ‘class struggle‘. He’s also started trying to raise awareness about America’s broken prisons, and is proposing reforms to the criminal justice system and drug laws which might lead to fewer people rotting away in jails.

But it’s Webb’s mission to Burma which will stand as the most significant moment in the Senator’s short legislative career. As the highest ranking American to visit this vile dictatorship in 10 years, there’ll be much comment in the next few days over what might have been achieved, what could be achieved in the future and what this reveals about the Obama administration’s foreign policy.

aung san suu kyi jim webb 1

The first superficial signs seem positive. The release of Alan Yettaw, the man arrested for trying to meet imprisoned democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, was described by his own lawyer as ‘impossible’ prior to the meeting, and yet he will soon be back on American soil and subject to the barrage of media offers which will follow. Additionally, in meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, Webb achieved what even the U.N. Secretary General has not yet been able to.

But the longer-term consequences are much harder to predict. Just as President Clinton was criticised for having his picture taken with Kim Jong-il, so critics of the Obama administration will claim that this trip threatens to legitimise one of the most repressive regimes on the planet. Exiled Burmese democrats have already warned that the meeting will be manipulated by the military junta for propaganda purposes, and I’m sure they’re right. Furthermore, there does seem to be little ground for compromise with a regime for which brutal suppression of human rights is the primary means of self-preservation.

Yet it’s not entirely clear to me that there was any realistic alternative: successive sanctions regimes have failed, the state remains able to trade with its neighbours and, crucially, the dictatorship retains the quiet support of the Chinese. Also, in the context of President Clinton’s trip to North Korea, a similar outreach to the junta was perhaps inevitable. Given the rumours about Burma’s collusion with the Koreans to obtain a nuclear weapon, it seems sensible for Washington to have at least established some form of diplomatic contact. In the event that Burma did join the nuclear club, the voices for dialogue would suddenly become much louder and more numerous.

At the moment, we can’t see Webb’s visit to Burma as anything other than an experiment which has yielded one small success. It remains to be seen how much further the United States is willing to go to engage with either Burma or North Korea, and whether either of those states will be able to make the kinds of concessions that American diplomacy demands. What is clear, though, is the extent to which the Obama administration is committed to trying the kinds of diplomatic overtures which haven’t been considered by the foreign policy establishment in a very, very long time. With so few alternatives, our only recourse may be to hope that they’re right.

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About the author
Neil Robertson is a regular contributor to Liberal Conspiracy. He was born in Barnsley in 1984, and through a mixture of good luck and circumstance he ended up passing through Cambridge, Sheffield and Coventry before finally landing in London, where he works in education. His writing often focuses on social policy or international relations, because that's what all the Cool Kids write about. He mostly blogs at: The Bleeding Heart Show.
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Story Filed Under: Blog ,Far East ,Foreign affairs ,Realpolitik


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Reader comments


1. Daniel Hoffmann-Gill

Webb has been one of my favourite US politicians for some time: http://danielhg.blogspot.com/2006/12/jim-webb-vs-george-w-bush.html

I have no truck with people who have knocked CLinton and thus the Obama administration for the photo taken in North Korea, or those that say that by going to Burma you give credence to the regime.

It’s like the old ‘we do not talk with terrorists’ line, diplomacy only works when it operates without tedious rules and when short term losses of face are forsaken for long term goals that will bring a safer world and a resort to discussion before warfare.

2. Neil

It’s like the old ‘we do not talk with terrorists’ line, diplomacy only works when it operates without tedious rules and when short term losses of face are forsaken for long term goals that will bring a safer world and a resort to discussion before warfare.

Indeed. I’ve actually got a degree of sympathy for (some) people who worry about the message you send out by flying top US officials flying out to the world’s various despotic hinterlands. It is, in some ways, a slightly cynical thing to do, because it suggests that US interests will always come above a state’s human rights abuses in diplomatic relations. But the thing is, I just don’t see how there is any alternative at present. Certainly in the example of Burma, you could argue that one of the reasons they’re flirting with acquiring nuclear technology is because of a paranoia built up over years of isolationism & castigation from the international community. Maybe with slightly improved dialogue that’ll change, I don’t know, but there is little to be lost at this stage by trying.


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