1 Nov 2021
This may go somewhere, or nowhere.
He may be able to broach some topics with the regime where others have fallen short. His split with DASSK was so acrid, although it had to do with the Rohingya, the coup leaders may decide that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
They are laying low about any talk of getting Americans released, but this happens to be a special area of focus for the Richardson organization and there are excellent people there.
I’m remembering Chris Rock’s routine about Jesse Jackson succeeding where the official channels failed to get hostages released elsewhere: “You really want to get revenge? Release them to ME.” The most well known American being held is Danny Fenster. He just had his bail hearing a few days ago. Justice delayed as the judge has reportedly suffered a broken arm. The next hearing is Nov 3. I suspect this has something to do with the timing of this trip.
This appears to be a jointly led trip, Richardson and a former US Ambassador to Indonesia. So, there are regional implications here after ASEAN had uninvited Min Aung Hlaing to their latest summit.
More about the Richardson org and this area of expertise:
It’s a long video but shows what a special role they play as (perhaps) unofficial partners to the official US diplomacy channels.
I may keep updating as I remember things I forgot. 79 year old NLD member Win Htein has been given a 20 year sentence by the kangaroo court for “treason” which one charge levied for opposing the treasonous coup.
