It is time for Burma's ruling generals to play the game again. Since 1988, they have played three significant political games: the cancelled election, the National Convention and the seven-step road map to democracy.
Each time, its aim is clear: find a way to defuse mounting international and internal pressure to change the status quo.
Now, it's game time again. On Monday, the junta appointed a deputy labour minister, Aung Kyi, to be a "Minister of Relations", a liaison officer to work with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The international community will see the appointment as a significant move. Yes, it seems to be significant because it's the first time a "minister for relations" has been created since 1988 when the military junta took power. But there have been three military officials who have played the liaison officer game with Daw Suu Kyi.
The three high-ranking military intelligence officers, Brig-Gen Than Tun, Maj-Gen Kyaw Win and Brig-Gen Than Tun (known as Than Tun Lay), ran messages between the junta and Daw Suu Kyi. But they never brought anything significant to the dialogue table.
Is it a joke or is it cause for hope? Let's look at the past. Soon after the military regime took power in 1988 after crushing the pro-democracy movement, it announced it would hold the elections to move toward democracy. The proposal was made when international pressure and political tension inside the country was high, following the junta's brutal crackdown which killed some 3,000 demonstrators across the country and imprisoned thousands of political activists.
At the time, the junta needed to do something to find a way around the international pressure. It held elections, and they looked serious and genuine. Many political parties, including Daw Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, ran candidates, and the NLD won by a landslide.
However, the election was simply nullified _ and 17 years later, the military regime is still in power.
Next, to deflect the international outrage over the fraudulent election, in 1993 the regime initiated the National Convention to draft a constitution, which has now gone on for 14 years.
The junta announced that the National Convention was successfully concluded in early September, but nothing fruitful can be seen from the entire process. Rather, it is viewed as a document through which the regime can hold on to power in a so-called "democratic" system.
Again, in 2003, the junta faced a serious political obstacle. Actually, it created the problem. In May of that year, the junta-organised mobs of thugs brutally attacked Daw Suu Kyi's motorcade in Depayin, Sagaing Division. Daw Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, the vice-chairman of the NLD, narrowly escaped the attack while dozens of her supporters were beaten to death. Many people viewed it as a failed attempt to murder the Nobel peace laureate.
Again, international outrage mounted against the military regime. So the generals played the game again. Then-prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt announced the seven-step road map for national reconciliation.
So far, only the first step of the road map, the National Convention, has been completed. The regime never announced a time-frame. Anyway, international clamour eventually faded away, and the junta managed to escape that crisis.
So now we have the current international outrage following the pro-democracy demonstrations led by monks. It's game time again.
In fact, appointing a "Minister for Relations" will buy diplomatic time. You can see it happening already. The state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar said: "In respect of Ibrahim A Gambari's recommendation and in view of smooth relations with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Deputy Minister for Labour U Aung Kyi is assigned duty as Minister for Relations."
Here we go again.
The move is just a bribe for Mr Gambari and the UN. At the same time, it is another delaying tactic. Hours after the announcement, some diplomats and activists said the move was quite significant. If they did their research, they might find that it was "significant", but not for the reason they think. What kind of messages did the former liaison officers carry to Daw Suu Kyi? Nothing was ever seen, and that is another way of saying that they brought nothing.
Having a liaison officer in itself is rather quaint. In fact, how hard could it be to open dialogue between the military leaders and Daw Suu Kyi? It needs only one condition: the generals must really want to talk. The only thing that is needed is political will. That, unfortunately, is what is lacking. Appointing a liaison officer is nothing more than a diplomatic card to find a way to escape from the current political pressure, inside and outside Burma.
The international community and Burmese dissidents groups shouldn't see the junta's recent move as significant. If you do, don't blame the junta for playing games, for tricking you _ blame yourself.
People have been fooled many times by the generals whom they called "stupid".
Barring a miracle, you need to be prepared to continue to deal with the generals' games in Naypyidaw for the next 20 years.
Kyaw Zwa Moe is managing editor of The Irrawaddy Magazine, based in Chiang Mai.