# The coup in Myanmar: purpose?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coup-in-myanmar-purpose/979157>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 1, 2023, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coup-in-myanmar-purpose/979157 "2023-02-01T12:46:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coup-in-myanmar-purpose/979157/1 "2023-02-01T12:46:48Z")

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Today marks the second anniversary of the most recent military coup in Myanmar, when the deposed a democratically elected government. Why did they do it? Do they have some kind of idea for how the country can be better governed for the common good, or do they just want to plunder and live as gods among men?

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coup-in-myanmar-purpose/979157/2 "2023-02-01T13:02:46Z")

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I was under the impression the leader of the government wanted to continue in power.

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**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coup-in-myanmar-purpose/979157/3 "2023-02-01T18:21:03Z")

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Myanmar has been continuously racked by multiple armed struggles for regional autonomy ever since it gained independence 75 years ago. I think virtually every border region is considered too dangerous for foreign travelers to visit. It doesn’t justify the generals’ authoritarianism and brutality in the least – they preside over one of the world’s most loathsome regimes. But part of their motivation stems from their belief that only an iron fist can keep the country together. (Corruption, self-aggrandizement etc. are, of course, also factors.)

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coup-in-myanmar-purpose/979157/4 "2023-02-01T23:19:26Z")

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> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
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> Do they have some kind of idea for how the country can be better governed for the common good, or do they just want to plunder and live as gods among men?

The latter. Of course.

Plus of course they feared being prosecuted by the democratically elected reformist government for their prior crimes against their own country. The easiest way to foreclose that risk was to take over again.

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**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coup-in-myanmar-purpose/979157/5 "2023-02-02T06:29:16Z")

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> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> Do they have some kind of idea for how the country can be better governed for the common good, or do they just want to plunder and live as gods among men?

Those aren’t alternatives, to them. The one means the other.