There's not much use, as I see it, in writing diaries here that someone else is going to write - probably with a great deal more erudition.
We were all discouraged that the military dictators of Burma weren't thrown out by the recent demonstrations. The Generals had all the levers of power and they used them ruthlessly. They stubbornly refused to negotiate with the opposition. But just for a moment look at it from their point of view. What could they realistically expect if they handed over power? Trouble, nothing but trouble. It's not just the 18 year old mistresses ,the quavering "yes men", the Dom Perignon and the fine Cuban cigars. As soon as power slipped from their hands they'd lose all their wealth, be subject to humiliation, killed, or put on trial and eventually imprisoned for life. Some choice.
I'd like to propose a radically different approach, a return to an earlier less self-righteous age when old despots could fly off to The Riviera with their entourage, a few of their most treasured possessions (say, Imelda's shoes),and 20 million dollars. There they could live out their days on a slightly diminished scale. We're never going to get rid of Kim Jong-il and his ilk if all they can expect is to be treated like Marcos, Pinochet and Fujimora. The demonstrations at Tiananmen square might have had a different outcome if just previous to this event Honecker hadn't been humiliated when East Germany collapsed.
Better to buy them out, fly them to some tropical country with no extradition treaties and forget about them. It was much easier for Idi Amin to consider leaving Uganda knowing that Saudi Arabia would take him in. The same with The Shah of Iran and Egypt.
There should be only one caveat for all these men. If they ever make an attempt to return to power, they'd lose all their goodies and be put on trial for their innumerable crimes.