Despite questions about the timing of his Nobel Peace Prize award, US President Obama went to Oslo and accepted the honor. As expected in his acceptance speech, the US president defended his earlier decision to order an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan and the continuation of his war against the al Qaeda terrorist movement.

“A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies,” he said. “Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms.”

Then he added: “To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism, it is a recognition of history.”

In his speech, Obama mentioned Burma as one of the countries where there is systematic abuse of human rights by a brutal and corrupt military regime. He paid tribute to opposition leader and fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for her commitment to democratic reform.

Obama’s administration has changed the course of the official US policy on Burma, adopting an approach combining engagement with the repressive regime while maintaining sanctions against its leaders and cronies.

Two high-ranking US officials visited Burma in November, but no progress has been made so far. Burma’s paramount leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe doesn’t blink.

In his Oslo speech, Obama said:  “Sanctions without outreach—and condemnation without discussion—can carry forward a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door.”

He also warned of consequences. “When there is genocide in Darfur, systematic rape in Congo, repression in Burma—there must be consequences,” he said.

Defending his policy of engaging rogue regimes, Obama said: “Yes, there will be engagement; yes, there will be diplomacy—but there must be consequences when those things fail. And the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression.”

Fine. We know that peace could not be attained without a fight. Suu Kyi’s father, Gen Aung San, understood that independence from British colonialists and Japanese occupiers could not be achieved without armed struggle. Burma’s ethnic minorities took up arms against military leaders to fight for equal rights and autonomy.

Since 1988, Burma’s urban nonviolent movement has made world headlines. But despite the world's admiration, non-violence failed because of the regime's brutal suppression of peaceful protests. The regime paid no heed to world opinion.

It's bitterly ironic that when students and activists in 1988 took up arms against the regime in the jungle they were named “terrorists.” International donors refused to help them for fear of being seen to finance armed struggle.

Suu Kyi’s repeated calls to open meaningful political dialogue has fallen on deaf ears. Monks and activists who marched peacefully on the streets of Burma's cities or who involved themselves in the nonviolent struggle are now behind bars.