‘Burmese generals throw in the towel’ was the headline in the Times (12 November). ‘President Thein Sein, the former Junta general, promised to hand over power to Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.’

Office maybe, but not power. The fact is that the military of Burma (these days also called Myanmar) have not yielded political power to the will of the people. 

On the Common Dreams website Mark Farmaner explains the constitutional reality (www.commondreams.org/views/2015/11/09/think-burma-democracy-now-think-again): to end economic sanctions and their pariah status, but having no wish to surrender control of the country and aware that they couldn’t win an election, the solution for the military elite was a new constitution which has the appearance of democracy yet which still left them in control.