The levelling of new charges against Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's elected leader and pro-democracy champion, comes less than two weeks before she was due to be released from house arrest. This is no coincidence.
Even though Suu Kyi has been in one form of detention or another for 13 of the past 19 years, the military junta led by General Than Shwe still fears her as a living symbol of the country's lost liberty.
In recent weeks there have been signs that the generals were casting around for a pretext for keeping her locked up. One was the detention of her personal doctor, Tin Myo Win, who has now been charged with "encouraging a violation of the law".
Members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy say the charges against their leader, which carry up to five years in jail, have been trumped up in a transparent bid to ensure that she can play no part in next year's national elections.
The NLD has rejected both Burma's new constitution, implemented after a massively manipulated referendum last year, and the junta's "road map" to supposedly democratic rule.
Despite constant, harsh repression, including the holding of 2,000 political prisoners, Suu Kyi and her party retain sufficient influence to wreck the general's carefully laid plans. That's a powerful reason to keep on trying to discredit and silence her.
According to Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, the unannounced, uninvited arrival at her compound of a lone American, which led to her arrest for allegedly breaking the conditions of her house arrest, was a "godsend" for the junta.
The man was probably acting alone, he said, although it was not impossible that the incident had been fabricated by the authorities in order to compromise Suu Kyi.
Yet whatever the genesis of the incident, Farmaner said the generals would probably have found some sort of pretext to re-arrest her between now and her release date of 27 May.
Farmaner said the regime was anxious to rebut a recent finding by the UN that Suu Kyi was being held illegally and in breach of both Burmese and international law. By putting her on trial again (and almost certainly finding her guilty), they were, by their own perverse logic, legitimising the position.
Suu Kyi, who has now been jailed pending a scheduled trial on 18 May , has suffered from poor health in recent years, although the nature of her illness has not been disclosed. Latest reports say she has been making a recovery after complaining of exhaustion.
But her health overall is still said to be fragile. "The last thing she needs is the appalling conditions inside one of the worst prisons in Asia. It is very worrying," Farmaner said.
Judging by past performance, little practical help for Suu Kyi will be forthcoming from the international community. Ibrahim Gambari, a former Nigerian foreign minister who was appointed UN special envoy to Burma in 2006, is a figure of no account.
During his most recent visits, Than Shwe and other top regime figures declined to meet him. But Gambari's endorsement of the new constitution and the generals' plans for elections in 2010 has also discredited him with the opposition. "Gambari has lost the confidence of both sides. He is a lame duck envoy," Farmaner said.
The US and the EU maintain limited sanctions against Burma. But stronger action via the UN security council has been continuously blocked by China, which has large trade and resource interests at stake. While issuing statements of concern from time to time, the EU has not actively sought to change the junta's behaviour.
After coming to office in January, the Obama administration said it was reviewing policy towards Burma. Some officials suggested a less confrontational approach might reap dividends.
But the junta's continuing, egregious human rights abuses, its neglect of people displaced by last year's Cyclone Nargis, its sanctioning of narcotics and people trafficking, and its utter disdain for international opinion have stifled such hopes.
The US is expected to maintain its tough line while taking a more proactive diplomatic approach to try and engage the generals. That may include the appointment of a special US envoy.
After the desperate developments of the past few hours, that sort of initiative – in fact, any sort of initiative – is more badly needed than ever.