[JoesBro]

Ay oop, ar kid, -2 chippies in "Doodley" -and Lenny Henry as well? -must be hell of a place! Lived in Brum in the 1960's myself for a while -Kings Heath area.

[logpogingg]

The best thing I can say is that there are books out there such as:

The 4th Anglo-Burmese War: Britain and the Independence of Burma by Nicholas Tarling 1987 (out of print)

or

Aung San and the Struggle for Burmese Independence by Angelene Naw 2002

or

Burma: The Curse of Independence by Shelby Tucker 2001

Obviously I have no idea what your uni-teacher passed onto you about his/her experiences in Burma but perhaps they should have been put to paper to provide another insight onto the origins of this particular conflict.

Perhaps one other comment, remember that Britain had just spent 5 years in a global conflict, much of the national (and commonwealth treasure) had been expended, and they had no resources for the indigenous population let alone colonies and protecterates around the world. Faced with cries for independence, whether right or wrong, they granted it and went home. Some of these new nations never looked back but others descended into various levels of chaos.

[JoesBro]

It has been going on for 6 decades!

Then there is the ASEAN embarassment factor!

Not to mention the original British embarrassment, who scuttled out of Burma after hastily granting independence without creating a separate Karen state, as promised for all the help the Karen gave them in governing the country for decades.
(As you may guess this double cross does not appear in many British history books ! )