Burmese officials are again dropping tantalising hints that the regime, a tyrannical embarrassment to its neighbours, is about to free the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under arrest since May.
The latest hint came from a Thai general commanding troops near the Thai-Burma border, who was quoted in the Bangkok Post as saying: "I have received a good signal from Burma about the planned release of the opposition leader."
Last month, a senior Indonesian official said that he had received similar assurances from the Burmese authorities.
They threw Ms Suu Kyi and other opposition figures into detention after the government unleashed its thugs on opposition supporters during a demonstration, and then had the gall to blame its opponents for stirring up trouble.
It is hardly a coincidence that the junta's apparent willingness to free Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize winner, comes as the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) is gearing up for its annual summit in Bali in October.
By releasing her before the meeting, the Burmese government will remove an embarrassing topic from the agenda and deflect some of the international condemnation that has been sparked by its latest crackdown.
Cynical calculations aside, a decision to allow Ms Suu Kyi to go free indicates that Burma is feeling the heat. Even Asean, which is traditionally loath to criticise its own members, called for her immediate release in June.
Burma's neighbours are also coming under pressure to do more than just scold Rangoon.
Some US senators are dropping hints about cutting aid to Thailand for allegedly hampering aid to Burmese refugees and curtailing the activities of Burmese pro-democracy activists in the border areas.
Republican senator John McCain, of Arizona, fired off a letter to the Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, earlier this month, expressing his concern at such reports.
"The actions of Thai authorities against Burmese refugees, political exiles and ethnic groups raise serious questions about your government's commitment to the values that serve as the underpinning of any democracy," the respected Mr McCain wrote.
Thailand receives little bilateral aid from the US - only around $10m - which is mainly for anti-drug programmes, military training programmes and development aid.
But a stance against Thailand, although largely symbolic, shows how Burma's misrule has the potential to create trouble for its neighbours.
Even though Asean took the unusual step of criticising Burma's latest crackdown, it is reluctant to take tougher measures, such as expelling Rangoon from the 10-member group. The EU is split, with Germany reluctant to impose tougher sanctions. By default, the US has taken the lead.
President George Bush has signed a law banning the import of products from Burma. Mr Bush has issued an executive order freezing the US assets of senior Burmese officials and prohibiting virtually all remittances to the country.
It is probably only the robust US approach that is providing the Burmese strongmen with a cause for concern.
