In Burma, a state-led economy, business links with China and India, widespread public-sector employment and other forms of patronage point to a wide range of interests bound up with the military regime. For every brave person willing to demonstrate, there will be many more who are ambivalent about change and others who will see their interests served by the military continuing in power. A subtle analysis of the changes which have occurred in Burmese society since the 1988 uprising - which are many - is crucial if outsiders are to offer appropriate and well-targeted interventions.
Burma's problems will not end with the downfall of the present government; rather it is likely to mark the beginning of a long and difficult transition.
Dr Martin Gainsborough
Director, Bristol-Mekong Project, University of Bristol
How will the west's kneejerk imposition of sanctions help the Burmese people? It is the ordinary people who suffer most. I visited Myanmar in November 2006 and witnessed terrible poverty everywhere. Although the Burmese grow crops in commercial quantities, sanctions prevent their access to world markets and reasonable prices. Surely it is not beyond the wit of the UN to come up with new approaches that target the problem, not the ordinary people.
Maureen McInroy
Hue City, Vietnam
China is the biggest arms supplier to the junta. It also gives loans and aid. It is estimated that over 1 million Chinese entrepreneurs and traders have settled in Burma in the last decade. China is eager to have a substantial slice of Burma's huge gas and oil reserves, and gain access to the Indian Ocean through the country. China's change in attitude to Darfur was influenced by the possible harm to the Olympic games. The threat of a boycott by blocs of leading international athletes could influence events more effectively than the UN.
Christine Petters
Newport, Isle of Wight
Attempts to end the suffering of the Burmese people founder on the economic requirements of China and India, which, just like the US or imperial Britain or Russia, will put their own economic needs before such fripperies as human rights. China presents us dreamers of the democratic dream with an intractable challenge. China has no truck with hypocrisy and is not compromised by a tarnished human-rights record - it has never had a human-rights record. It is futile to try to bully China. The only way to gain its cooperation in removing incompetent and tyrannous regimes is for the west to guarantee that China's economic interests in those countries will be protected and enhanced. So in return for help to get rid of the Burmese junta, the west should honour and protect China's economic agreements in the region. Don't waste time appealing to altruism; appeal to self-interest.
Nicholas Woodeson
London
Nick Campion, who challenges Richard Dawkins over the fact that the protests in Burma are led by Buddhist monks (Letters, September 27), should remember that Burma's monks are followers of Theravada Buddhism, a non-theistic philosophy. Professor Dawkins will no doubt be all the more impressed by the monks' courageous protests.
Gerry Abbott
Manchester
I'm sure that Professor Dawkins can speak for himself, but personally I'm enjoying the all-too-rare spectacle of religious figures matching their actions to their beliefs.
Richard Carter
London
