“The U.S. government, which for years had shunned Myanmar’s brutal military regime, now appears to be shifting course and engaging with it,” writes expert @JoshKurlantzick. “During a recent visit to Myanmar’s capital of Naypyidaw, ostensibly to help secure the release of a U.S. citizen (which he did), Michael Vance, the assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research, launched direct talks with Myanmar’s top generals.” “U.S. connections to the junta are bad news for the people of Myanmar, and they make little strategic sense for the United States itself,” he writes. “U.S. officials have apparently discussed with their Myanmar counterparts the possibility of access to Myanmar’s sizable deposits of rare earths. Washington is unsurprisingly looking anywhere it can for rare earths, because China controls the majority of them, and they are critical to new technologies including defense stockpiles depleted by the Iran war.” “It is hard to imagine a scenario in which Washington actually gets its hands on Myanmar’s rare earths. They are located close to the Chinese border. . . a war zone where Beijing wields dominant influence.” “Deciding to work with the regime grants it legitimacy and dilutes the global battle against authoritarianism at a time when autocrats are collaborating and winning all over the world.”