U.S. must not fall for the Myanmar generals’ dirty tricks again

Khin Ohmar

For decades, the people of Burma/Myanmar have resisted military dictatorship with everything we have, and for decades, the United States stood with us.

At our lowest moments, when we were imprisoned, tortured, exiled, or silenced, bipartisan majorities in the U.S. Congress passed laws to support our democratic struggle. U.S. leaders, both Republican and Democrat, condemned military atrocities, supported independent civil society and media, and stood firm in defending those risking their lives for democracy. Through sanctions, humanitarian aid, and symbolic gestures like the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, America sent a clear message: democracy was not a matter of convenience, but conviction.

Today, in contrast, the U.S. government is sending dangerously mixed signals about its position on Myanmar. Four cronies and armed dealers for the murderous junta had their sanctions lifted. And the junta, desperate and on the brink of collapse, has rebranded its illegal body—literally—in its latest attempt to whitewash its international crimes, escape accountability and gain false legitimacy through its sham election planned for December.

The lifting of sanctions of four military cronies and armed dealers and inaction on the junta’s rebranding is a betrayal of the people of Myanmar and the very values that the United States claims to uphold.

A change in name only

On July 31, 2025, the junta announced that it dissolved the so-called State Administration Council (SAC)—the illegal body formed by the military through its 2021 illegal and violent coup attempt—and replaced it with a newly named entity, the State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC). The name change was nothing but another attempt to trick the world. The war criminals who led the SAC, Min Aung Hlaing and Soe Win, remain as the SSPC’s chair and vice-chair – just like in the SAC. All ten members of the SSPC were senior junta officials just one day earlier. The ministries, chains of command, weapons, policies and acts of terror remain intact.

The junta changes its brand name on the door and expects the world to pretend something new has arrived. Nothing has changed except the public relations strategy – which itself is still an old tactic from the same playbook of its predecessors.

Under U.S., U.K., EU, and Canadian law, the SAC as a body was formally sanctioned — meaning that entities under its control were also effectively blocked, including state-owned enterprises, financial institutions, and ministries.

By changing its name from SAC to SSPC, the junta is trying to exploit a gaping legal loophole. It wants foreign governments and businesses to pretend that this new name represents a new authority so that trade can resume, foreign capital can return, and the path to “normalization” can quietly begin while it continues to intensify the campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar.

Indeed, on the very same day the junta renamed itself, it signed a contract with a Washington-based public affairs firm to “rebuild relations” between Myanmar and the United States. Another public relations contract was signed the very next day.

Clearly, this is a premeditated effort to whitewash the regime’s crimes, court U.S. interest in Myanmar’s rare earth minerals, and bypass the sanctions that still apply to the SAC.

The U.S. has not moved to close this loophole.

On the ground in Myanmar, atrocities have not slowed

While the junta plays legal shell games, the people of Myanmar continue to suffer. In the weeks since the name change, the junta has only escalated its campaign of terror.

Since late June, nearly daily airstrikes have targeted communities across the country. This is illustrated by looking at just one bloody week last month. On August 17, a junta airstrike in Mawchi, Karenni State, killed at least 32 people, including children. On August 14, the junta bombed a monastery in Mogok, Shan State, killing 21 people including three pregnant women. On August 11, a junta airstrike on a civilian site in Sagaing killed 16 people. These came as Myanmar reels from a devastating earthquake that struck the country on March 28, made far worse by continued junta airstrikes and its blocking of rescue and obstruction of relief efforts.

The junta has deregistered dozens of political parties, silenced the press, and continued to hold over 22,000 political prisoners, many of whom face routine torture and indefinite detention.

And yet, even as this violence intensifies, some major powers treat the military junta as though it is a legitimate actor preparing for a “transition.” This was clearly evident at the recently held meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, where the international criminal Min Aung Hlaing shook hands with leaders of China, India, Russia, and Indonesia, among others.

The press must be wary of legitimizing the SSPC

The junta’s attempts to gain legitimacy can be bolstered when international media fail to question their propaganda. For example, in a recent Reuters article, reporter David Brunnstrom refers to the SSPC as a “civilian-led interim government”. In another article, DW’s Zsombor Peter similarly refers to the SSPC as an “interim civilian government”—uncritically repeating the junta’s own self-description. This language is not just inaccurate; it dangerously undermines the ground realities of the country and the people who have made immense sacrifices to end the military’s tyranny.

This sort of language gives cover to a criminal junta that has killed thousands and terrorized the people of Myanmar since the 2021 coup attempt. It lends legitimacy to an illegitimate entity that is doing everything it can to manipulate global perception while continuing its war on the people. And, last but not least, it shows how such world-renowned media outlets could have a shallow understanding of the crisis in Myanmar, where human suffering has been so immense. This is unethical narrative framing.

I urge media outlets, including Reuters and DW, to exercise vigilance and to avoid amplifying propaganda by the junta. The junta is not a “civilian-led” anything. It is the same military dictatorship—under a different name—that continues to attempt to impose its illegitimate rule and violently suppress the people’s dissent with blanket impunity.

When respected publications adopt the junta’s propaganda, they don’t just mislead the public, they undermine Myanmar and international efforts to uphold principles of democracy and human rights and to hold perpetrators of atrocity crimes to account by law. Reporting like this can mislead the very policymakers Myanmar civil society is trying to reach.

A betrayal of sacrosanct, foundational American values

Over a decade ago, when Myanmar began to “open up” under the quasi-military government of General Thein Sein, the U.S. and other Western governments made the same mistake that governments could risk making now. They moved to lift sanctions too quickly without a clear strategy and backup plan. They wasted all of these persistent measures which contributed significantly to the then-regime’s opening of the country to the world, while claiming the decision was framed as a reward for progress. But the reforms were cosmetic, the power of the military remained intact, and the root problems were left unaddressed. The generals gave just enough to entice the international community, then waited. The result was predictable.

In 2021, the military attempted another coup, tried to remove the elected civilian government, and unleashed a new wave of terror to bring the country back under military dictatorship. Today, we are living with the consequences of that mistake.

As I knew well, this military would not give up power in exchange of carrots, I warned the US State Department and urged them not to lift sanctions that easily. Once, a senior U.S. diplomat told me after the military’s 2021 coup attempt that I was right and he was sorry. Now I urge the U.S. again: do not fall on the same old trap played by the same bloody military. Do not hand over the carrot to this criminal junta but instead support the democratic movement to dismantle this murderous military institution and help Myanmar people build a peaceful federal union. Sanctions are one of the few tools the international community has to hold Min Aung Hlaing and his criminal junta and cronies accountable and to disrupt their war of terror against the people of Myanmar.

Instead of easing existing sanctions, the US must take immediate urgent actions by further sanctioning the junta in its new name and expanding not weakening sanctions on its arms dealers and cronies. It must also resume and increase humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable internally displaced populations forced to flee the military’s air and ground attacks and blocked from international aid, by directly supporting locally led aid missions through border-channeling.

The current U.S. administration may view this moment as a chance to pursue transactional deals, such to compete and secure access to rare earths. But lifting sanctions in favor of this criminal military junta instead of practically supporting the people’s revolution to end the junta’s violence is not diplomacy—it is a betrayal of sacrosanct American values.

The people of Myanmar have fought for decades to dismantle this brutal military tyranny. They are closer to succeeding than ever. The US must not risk rescuing an illegal murderous military junta that is on the verge of collapse—and harming the people of Myanmar and their democratic resistance movement that is fighting for liberty and to build a federal democracy.

Khin Ohmar is a Myanmar human rights activist who was involved in organizing the 1988 nationwide pro-democracy uprising. She is also the founder and chairperson of human rights organization Progressive Voice.

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