*! LETTERS SO BURMESE ? *

IN HER BOOK :  ''Letters from Burma'' Aung Suu Kyi wrote of the suffering of Burmese children :

''They know that there there will no security for their families as long as freedom of thought and freedom of political action are not are not guaranteed by the law of the land...........

The problem is with what the West wants her to be, Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general who delivered a report on the situation in Rakhine State, in western Myanmar, just as the violence erupted there, told me-

That the people in the West were incensed about Aung San Suu Kyi because, ''We created a saint and the saint has become a politician, and we don't like that.'' 

Caertainly Aung Suu Kyi has appeared unmoved. She has avoided condemning the military for what the United Nations has called a ''human rights nightmare''.

She shuns the word ''Rohingya,'' a term reviled by many Myanmar's Buddhist majority as an invented identity. Her communications team has proved hapless, and opacity has become a hallmark of her administration as she has shunned interviews.

At a rare appearance with Tillerson at the Foreign Ministry here, ''I don't know why people say that I've been silent.

''It's untrue, she insisted. ''I think what people mean is that what I say is not interesting enough. But what I say is not meant to be exciting, it's meant to be accurate. And it's aimed at creating more harmony.'' 

''Harmony is a favorite expression of hers, as is ''rule of law'' .

Both lie at a fantastic distance from the reality in Myanmar. It is a fragmented country still confronting multiple ehtnic insurgencies and ''always held together by force,'' as Derek Mitchell, a former American Ambassador, told me.

Since independence from the British  Imperial rule in 1948, the army, known as the Tatmadaw, has ruled most of the time, with ruinous consequences.

In many respect, the military continues to rule.  When her National League for Democracy won the 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyi did not become president. The world rejoiced and glossed over the detail.

The 2008 Constitution, crafted by the military, bars her from the presidency because she has children who are British citizens.

So she labors under the contrived honorific of state counselor. The ministries of Defense, Home Affairs and and Border Affairs -all the guns- remain under military control, as do the National Defense and Security Council and 25 percent of all seats in Parliament.

This was not a handover of power. It was a highly controlled, and easily reversible, cession of partial authority.

Aung San Suu Kyi's decision must be seen in this context. She is playing a long game for real democratic change.

''She is walking one step by one step in a very careful way, standing delicately between the military and the people,'' said U Chit Khaing, a prominent businessman in Yangon. 

Perhaps she is playing the game too cautiously, but there is nothing in her history to suggest that she is anything but resolute.

The Honor and Serving of the latest Operational Research and great writings continues to Part 3. !WOW! thanks author and researcher Roger Cohen.