The West should fan Burma's flames of freedom It is true: there are no guarantees. Yet in the wake of this humiliation, the generals need a sign that reform has paid dividends - and, in particular, that the lifting of punitive US and EU sanctions is imminent. Indeed, this is the very issue alluded to by Mr Hague: how can we reward those rare dictators who see the light? How do we show them that razing your towns and killing your people is not the way to go? Despite a clear timetable for a free and fair election in 2015, Burma is still crippled by sanctions. In the West, caution remains the watchword. A spokesman for Baroness Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, says there are "strong expectations of a positive signal" when Europe reviews its sanctions later this month, but adds that it is waiting "to see the post-election process." While the EU waits, Burma's people continue to suffer. The country currently has some of Asia's worst figures on child health and poverty. According to the health charity Merlin, 70,000 children die every year from poverty-related illnesses, while 240 women in every 100,000 die giving birth. Tuberculosis and malaria are major causes of death. Save the Children claims that millions of young Burmese are malnourished, just under a million are underweight and more than a third have their growth stunted. The country's infrastructure is equally poor. It takes six phone calls to complete a conversation over its outdated cables, while many of the derelict buildings on Rangoon's streets have bushes growing out of their walls. It is easy - and accurate - to blame this on decades of dictatorship. Yet while neighbouring China receives ingratiating ministerial trade delegations from around the world, its many human rights abuses notwithstanding, Burma gets the wagging finger of censure and only the most cautious signs of relief. It is true that Burma has some way to go, and that its people have been offered the hope of democracy before. But this time, as William Hague noted during his visit earlier this year, the transition does appear to be "irreversible." It seems inevitable that the sanctions will be lifted at some point. But by dragging its feet and phasing them out rather than sweeping them away, the West will miss an opportunity. A generous and rapid response to these elections - whose basic fairness is indicated by the sheer scale of the NLD's victory - would reward Burma's leaders for doing the right thing. The faster the sanctions are lifted, and the economic benefits flow, the sooner they will be able to tell each other that their actions have served the nation. As diplomats gather in Istanbul to plot the next moves in Syria's depressing conflict, Burma's former military rulers stand - so far - as a counter-example to dictators everywhere. Wouldn't it be better for the West to show them, and others, that it pays to talk?