The UN, = Gutless.

Picture; pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Just what kind of show are the UN running when they give an optimistic assessment of the chances for a resolution to the problems in Burma when the envoy they sent was treated with disdain by the ruling junta?

The only commitment received by them was from Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who stated that she is "ready to cooperate" with the government and is committed to pursuing a dialogue with the ruling junta. “It is my duty to give constant and serious considerations to the interests and opinions of as broad a range of political organizations and forces as possible”.

She has been under house arrest for the best part of twenty years for having the gaul to win an election.

In a small concession on Friday Suu Kyi was able to meet with three executive members of her National League for Democracy and a party spokesman -- the first time they have met in more than three years.

Members of her party said Suu Kyi was " optimistic" about prospects of the process for reconciliation.

Around 110 people are believed to have been killed, in violence by the government stemming from protests against massive hikes in the price of fuel, including 40 Buddhist monks. Video smuggled out of the country showed unarmed protesters being beaten by the military regime's security forces, and one man thought to be a Japanese journalist, was shot and killed at close range.

Burma’s military junta admitted that it had detained more than 2,900 people during the crackdown, (they claimed that only ten were killed). Many of them are still believed to be in Jail.

Among the notable non-successes of the trip by the UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari are the following: -

The military junta has rejected proposed three-party talks that would have included pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

A proposed meeting with the country's most powerful figure -- junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe was rejected.

Kyaw Hsan got on his high horse and told Ganbari: "I would like you to know that Myanmar is a small nation and if a big power bullies her ... we will have no other way but to face this and endure."

On Friday, the day before Gambari's arrival, the junta announced it would expel the top U.N. official in the country, resident coordinator Charles Petrie.

The UN would see positives in being beaten around the head with a dead and stinking fish if this is good news.