There is good reason to believe that the Burmese dictators are on the verge of taking the ultimate step to snuff out legal opposition to their appalling misrule. The generals already have begun saying that the National League for Democracy (NLD) and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, exist only at their whim anyway. In a series of striking tirades from the forbidden capital of Pyinmana, the regime has been laying out details of what they claim is an elaborate, international terrorist plot against the junta.
More and more, the attacks have centred on the NLD. The party, said information minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, "has connections with expatriate groups, terrorists and destructive groups".
Burma, of course, has been attacked by terrorists. Even a military dictatorship has both the right and duty to take action to punish terrorists, and to move to prevent further attacks. But in its explanations of how it is dealing with attacks on Rangoon shopping malls and up-country locations, the regime has drawn a mostly unbelievable web of conspiracies, hearsay and fabrication.
In half a dozen Castro-length news conferences, authorities have failed to draw any line at all between Mrs Suu Kyi or her party organisation on one hand, and either terrorism or anti-government violence on the other.
The most notable thread holding together the generals' version of politics, insurgency and terrorism in Burma is just how many groups and individuals are involved.
Of course, there is huge opposition inside and outside Burma to the military regime, its dictatorial methods and the lack of freedom and democracy. But the generals are mistaken if they believe they can credibly link the NLD to violent insurgents, let alone outright terrorism. If the regime proceeds to the final step of outlawing the NLD, the international community will have a duty to respond.
The claims of the military junta, even more opaque and isolated since their move out of Rangoon, bears some inspection. Like the popular social networking legend, they seem to think that no two groups can be separated by more than six intermediaries. The generals have elaborated a giant, terrorist network of Burma-based insurgents including the NLD, expatriate groups in Thailand, Europe and America, and commanders among foreign governments _ Thailand and America unnamed but included.
This is largely risible, and can mostly be dismissed. Of course, there is no doubt that Burma and Burmese have been attacked by terrorists _ just not by a world conspiracy. And there is evidence that the insulated and politically in-bred military leaders actually believe such tripe.
Their proof of a foreign-led conspiracy, for example, includes the fact that foreign diplomats in Rangoon have been seen talking to NLD members. Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan stepped up the heat on Mrs Suu Kyi last Thursday. "Their Western masters ... are giving instructions," he told a news conference. They have "incorrect polic[ies] such as confrontation, defiance of authority, utter devastation, blocking the nation and relying on the external elements".
Those are pretty serious charges, or they would be in a nation with respect for freedom and law. Mrs Suu Kyi has been locked up for most of the past 18 years, mainly at home because even the military dictators cannot figure out a law she has broken.
The regime has referred to a group called NLD (Liberated Areas), which it says supports violent attacks against the army. But the generals have provided no evidence beyond their word that the group has anything to do with the NLD which won the only Burmese election since 1962.
The junta certainly knows violence when it sees it. There is evidence that backs up claims by the resistance forces that the army has uprooted at least 11,000 villagers, burning their homes to force them to flee. The 140,000 refugees in nine camps on Thai territory speak eloquently to the support and credibility that Burmese give to their government.
If that regime proceeds to outlaw the NLD and further harm Mrs Suu Kyi and her supporters, the United Nations and its members must move quickly to retaliate. Burma is reviled for failing to bring in democratic reforms, but it cannot be allowed to stomp on freedom-loving people again.