The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Bangkok

The cyclone that devastated Myanmar's heartland has also roiled a political landscape dominated by the military for more than four decades.

Buddhist monks are regrouping after the battering they took nine months ago, civil society groups are emerging and foreign aid workers - often agents of political change in the wake of humanitarian crises - are present in unprecedented numbers.

The junta's grip on power remains absolute. But anger against the regime has probably never run so high.

"Perhaps incremental change will emerge from engagement on humanitarian problems," said Joel Charny, vice president of U.S.-based Refugees International who visited Myanmar just before the cyclone struck. People were already incensed by the brutal suppression last September of anti-government demonstrators, including the country's revered, saffron-robed Buddhist monks.