...it all started so well. Your nationalist-marxist-buddhist regime under strict isolation from the rest of the world just slipped through the world's radar, because 1962 we were troubled with Cold War and Birma was just far away from everything. Purporting to be sort of socialist republic was a brilliant idea: in the Wesern world nobody expected from socialist states but to treat its people like prisoners; it was their reason of state and folks like you at the back of beyond could well hide beyond socialist heavyweights and fool us all.
How much money from USSR did you encash for claiming to be a socialist republic? I'm pretty sure things went exactly like in some african dictatorships: suppress your people, put a cap upon ethnic unrests, deny all types of development and open a swiss bank account. Was it so? Wasn't that a great time?
Unfortunately, though your policy in the early 70s made several educated Burmese people leave their country, the rest of your population just wasn't stupid enough - you almost had to change your paradigms, but the next putsch put things back in order for you. As usual, you found the inner enemy for the 1988 crisis (Ne Win's daughter and grandchildren) and sentenced them to death, or better, Cold War is over, put them under house arrest.
Saw Maung, it must be said, for you surely was way too sentimental. Okay, he followed your traditions and crushed the opposition, but, folks!, promising and executing democratic elections in 1990 was definitely a big mistake! Just imagine: in 1990 all your former socialist friends were just vanished and lots of countries tried to become democracies. Claiming to do so got you in a tight spot, because people from everywhere were watching! How could you!
Than Shwe, your poor copy of an enlightened military dictator with appeals to sort of Burmese glasnost, surely isn't your darling any longer: I'm sure that the knuckles of some of you turned white when he was extending his tenure. What do you want to do now? Ah, wait, now I know! You're doing what you're best at: let him wear out in fighting against democrats, monks, everybody, let him appear as world's complete asshole and after some fights then implement just another general officer! A new man for difficult times, bright and shiny, with new medals at the chest, perhaps a little bit younger... Yeah, that's it! Now I understand completely.
You lunatics. Your people will sweep you away, one day.