Burma has been trying long and hard, it would seem, to provoke the United States into putting its money where its mouth is as far as human rights are concerned.
Finally, falteringly - and quite possibly reluctantly - President Bill Clinton has this week called Rangoon's bluff.
It is ironic that, for a nation which leads the world in terms of using economic muscle to force non-compliant regimes into doing things the American way, the US often takes the most circuitous route to do it.
But now that the administration has announced a ban on all new investment in the military-junta-run nation, it is worth looking at the context in which the decision was made - and why it took so long.
Economic sanctions have been in the offing since Mr Clinton took office in 1992. A multitude of reasons have been put forward since then to excuse the administration for not doing so: Washington wanted to give the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) the chance to clean up its act; the business lost to US companies was not worth the tiny effect sanctions would have; and, in any case, nobody else was doing it.
The latter reason has, at least, disappeared. In March, the European Union led the way by suspending duty-free imports from Burma under its General System of Preferences, at a stroke cutting off US$50 million (HK$387 million) of Burmese exports.