A string of setbacks for the junta in Myanmar presents an opportunity

ON MARCH 17TH General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the junta that overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government in a coup more than three years ago, stopped at Bago, not far from the commercial capital, Yangon, to reconsecrate an ancient Buddhist pagoda. He struck the pagoda bell nine times, following an old superstition that this might avert disaster. It did him no good: that same day his forces lost yet one more town, Rathedaung, to rebel forces, this time in Rakhine state in the west.

As the junta loses its grip on the country, its sense of crisis is palpable. Yet for Myanmar’s battered people and democracy, the pressure under which the army finds itself presents an opportunity. The ethnic and democratic forces that have been fighting the army are more united than before. With appropriate support from outside, they may be able to start laying the groundwork for a future without the generals.