Comments by "annoyed aussie" (@annoyedaussie3942) on "Can ASEAN leaders broker a deal to end violence in Myanmar? | DW News" video.

I don't agree with your reasoning, it's about trade versus human rights etc. Vietnam and Laos certainly don't agree with democracy so impossible for them to support democracy, Thailand although different situation is currently a military dictatorship. Some other ASEAN countries while being democratic can't be described as highly functioning free democracies. I am not saying that the approach is wrong, the hope is that as most notably Indonesia and the Philippines have gone from dictatorship to reasonably functional democracies others might follow one day. Truth is outsiders can't really force this, can only talk. More vibrant economies are more likely to become democratic so having ASEAN as a functional free trade block will help this.
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Soft sanctions can have some effect, this is just sanctioning leaders personally, hard sanctions like trade sanctions never work or virtually never and usually make dictatorships stronger because they can unite the country against the foreign enemies hurting them.
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@alans5414 Not all sanctions are the same, the US was the only country to adopt an investment ban starting in 1997, Australia adopted sanctions in 2007 against the leaders only and EU and a few others tended to be somewhere between US and Australian position , as far as did this have any influence on Myanmar's decision to have partial democracy, it's difficult to know. ASEAN had the benefit of course of saying if you do something sanctions will be lifted, a pretty strong negotiating tool.
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You just said non alliance ( which isn't true depends on country) so they should create an alliance. First of all that's contradictory and what would they stand for , how does a large reasonably vibrant Indonesian democracy and say Communist Vietnam have common values?
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@senoalamsyah7481 what do you mean?
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@senoalamsyah7481 Well it must be news to you then that Singapore is one of only 3 countries that can train troops in Australia and actually has what can be described as a joint military base for training. If that isn't an alliance nothing will meet your bar. In the case of other countries alliances don't have to be way out in the open, just an understanding if this scenario occurs then we will do this action together, most of the time this is how it would be and not publicised. Foreign affairs and militaries would be talking to each other all the time, Australia has a policy of offering education to many foreign military personnel, this is a soft diplomacy effort to maintain contact and good relationships which could help if there is some problem. I am not sure current situation whether it's changed or not but Australia was criticized for not cutting off these types of initiatives with the Myanmar military earlier this year.
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@senoalamsyah7481 never heard that term before but it applies to all alliances, Australia isn't in absolute agreement with the US all the time but any major conflict they go into Australia joins , the only country in the world to do so for last 100 years or so, this is so they are more likely to protect us should there be a problem. Singapore it's the same thing , should Indonesia do anything to either one of us we will act together. Every alliance in the world is built on what you describe as Realism in International Relations. We have no serious issues with Indonesia and it's just a natural precaution that both Australia and Singapore see benefits and is possibly based to some extent on historical events, while unsuccessful it was Australian troops trying to defend Singapore from the Japanese in WWII.
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@senoalamsyah7481 I agree with your last comment that it's not formal and either party could pull out quickly from what has been agreed behind closed doors. Australia does have a formal agreement with US and New Zealand which says if any one of our 3 nations are invaded then the other 2 shall send assistance but even that isn't actually enforceable, it's just if a country broke the agreement at such a time nobody would trust that country anymore. Australia has no obligation to send troops to any other conflict the US is involved in we just do it for the reason I mentioned above. It's true NATO is a highly active and extremely powerful alliance, I don't know the details but I believe what you say about it being comprehensive.
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@senoalamsyah7481 that's unfortunate , try to ignore such people. The internet has been excellent for world communication for just normal people but unfortunately it has given an outlet to nasty people and they come from all countries. As long as someone isn't offending me personally I have no reason to be angry, of course everyone has different opinions and sometimes strong disagreement. If someone attacks Australia unjustly I sometimes attack them or their country , so I am not perfect. I am guessing you are in ASEAN somewhere and I am very positive in this region Oceania plus ASEAN area, progress might be slow especially for those in the situation but if you were to look at Taiwan or South Korea 40 years ago they look like Myanmar looks today, things can change and my opinion is in ASEAN in an overall sense most countries will become wealthier with improved human rights but it can be slow. Although I don't know which country you are from I wish you and your country the best.
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@ChhormBorith So from what you just said it seems you are an American citizen who migrated from an ASEAN country, ASEAN has 2 communist countries they aren't going to change any time soon I would suggest. The concept of some united ASEAN is silly and who would ally with. Even a militarized ASEAN still needs to align with someone. Best how it is now, loose bilateral arrangements for the most part, nobody is anyone's puppet, sounds like you listening to Communist Party of China rhetoric, they call Australia and Japan both dogs and puppets of the US. China's target when speaking against Australia which is quite frequent is actually ASEAN I think. China likes obedience and pushes it's weight around like the US does in other regions, here the US listens to Australia, Japan and South Korea quite a lot which is good because we are all less interventionist than the US. Diplomacy is the only way and countries within ASEAN wish to keep a high level of independence which will never come from a gun but good diplomacy, even if all of ASEAN united in some military force it would still be less powerful than US or China or India . ASEAN and Oceania certainly don't want nuclear weapons and if any country went down that path I think everyone in the region would unite and object.
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