Burma’s Thein Sein says military ‘will always have a special place’ in government - The Washington Post
▻http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/burmas-thein-sein-says-military-will-always-have-a-special-place-in-government/2013/05/19/253c300e-c0d4-11e2-8bd8-2788030e6b44_print.html
Thein Sein dismissed as “pure fabrication” the allegation from human rights monitors that the Burmese army condones or even participates in ethnic pogroms against the nation’s Muslim minority. The army “is more disciplined than normal citizens, because they have to abide by military rules,” he said through an interpreter.
...
Hundreds of political prisoners have been released, but hundreds remain, and the feeble judicial system that allowed so many to be locked away is largely unchanged. The military, including many of the same generals who were responsible for systemic abuses, remains a shadowy and unpredictable influence.
The Obama administration has lifted most commercial sanctions on Burma, in part because of lobbying from U.S. businesses that were put at a disadvantage when the European Union did away with all restrictions on Burma except an arms embargo.