During the month, we are hearing quite a lot of Mr Derek Mitchell, US ambassador to Burma.
This weekend he was in Kachin State visiting the state capital Myitkyina and IDP camps, which ended with a statement expressing “the United State’s deep concern about the increase in tension in Hpakant” jadeland.

On Sunday, 12 October, he was also in Chiangmai meeting ethnic armed leaders, whom he had urged “not to overestimate their strength and advantage. They should not expect the US on the international community to support them more than they are being supported now. They need to make a deal with the government while they still have the advantage,” according to an informed source, who rejected the interpretation that Mr Mitchell has been “pressuring the ethnic armed groups to sign a ceasefire to give (President) Obama positive media coverage while he is in Burma (to attend the November Asian Summit).”

So what are the advantages we should be considering?
# 1. is that the Thein Sein government, being a transitional government, still have a lot of influence on the military, which we cannot expect the post 2015 President to be able to wield without provoking it, according to the same source

# 2. President Thein Sein, coming from  a rigged election, had been in desperate need of international support to prop up his legitimacy, according to another source. The invitation for peace talks with the non-Burman ethnic resistance movements is obviously one way of doing it

“That was why, according to the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) set up by the government, he was making concessions like ‘to establish a democratic and federal union on the basis of the outcome of the planned political dialogue,’” he said.

But as time goes by, the need will lessen, if the critics are right. The time for the ethnic armed movements to strike a solid deal is now and not so wait for the next president. “At least the one we have at present is the devil we know,” one added. “His successor, whoever he or she is, might be an angel but also one we cannot be sure of.”

Not that the ethnic movements should agree to anything without having a cast-iron guarantee in return.

But as 2014 draws to a close, all stakeholders, especially the armed resistance, appear to be increasingly pressed for time.

Of course, we all know Louis Armstrong had had all the time in the world, but it was for love. In contrast, what are we for?