Empty Talks?

Burma President, Army Chief Meet Suu Kyi

Critics call it window dressing.

The president of Myanmar, also known as Burma, was holding rare talks Friday with opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and more than a dozen of the country's political and military heavyweights, in a meeting that came after almost a year of requests from Suu Kyi. Critics are already calling the meeting little more than window dressing designed to show participants at an upcoming East Asia summit that the regime is continuing "dialogue" with the opposition. The summit will be in Myanmar next month and President Obama is expected to attend. In reality, after a much-heralded "opening" in the country, including a return to nominal civilian rule, early reforms and peace talks with ethnic rebels have stalled.