Why now? Because they have finished rigging everything for this to happen. And the dictator running the junta - Min Aung Hlaing - have always had the desire to be called “President” of the country. Head of Junta isn’t sexy enough for him. And this election will force some of the countries to recognize the military government (who have their own political party) allowing him to go on overseas as head of state and host foreign dignitaries on visits in Burma. Currently, the only countries he can visit are Russia and Belarussia as head of state. Even China while allowing him to visit for the first time this year didn’t host him as head of state but just another foreign dignitary at a regional meet in a minor city. He’s an ass who’s in love with the trappings of being president of a country.

The military’s ambition was always to legitimize their rule through an election system that’s rigged in their favor - the constitution was written by them, the electoral system was set up by them. They won the first election in 2011, but to their surprise, lost to the NLD in 2016. They thought they would win in it in 2021 with an ultra-nationalist policy, but again lost to NLD so they staged the coup. This time they’ve banned most of the opposition parties, disqualified them from running and put them in jails, and made conditions that are almost impossible for others to participate in the election. And on top of that, I am sure they will cheat. This will legitimize their rule. They will seek recognition from other nations on the back of this election. China is pushing for elections too for whatever reason.

In the early days of the coup, Burmese people naively asked for US intervention of the coup, in similar ways we saw the US intervene in the Philippines, Taiwan, and Korea in the decades past that led to a democracy. The cynical and popular answer was that Burma held no oil, i.e. no strategic value for the US. Rare earths may soon change that.

While all the production from Burma goes to China for processing due to proximity to China, there is a way for the exports to be coursed to Thailand, via the same routes opium and other narcotics have been shipped out of Burma in the decades since CIA encouraged opium farming in Eastern Burma to finance the Chinese Republican army fighting the Red Army.

Or like the Chinese, he will play both sides - the junta and the rebels.

There we go. She’s asking for it explicitly what Trump’s been dangling in her face.