Partyforumseasia: Machiavelli would have cringed. Removing a challenging rival from the party leadership and leaving him continue as speaker of parliament would have been a grave strategic mistake in his eyes. The man only half removed, Thura Shwe Mann, is popular, obviously more forward looking than the conservative military elite which had nurtured his career. But rising too fast over the peer group is always  dangerous. Being discussed as possible successor of President Thein Sein  was not endearing him either. But probably his most “dangerous maneuver”  was his apparent openness to a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi whose National League for Democracy (NLD) will most probably win the upcoming elections in November. For the moment President Thein Sein who seems to go for another term of office has eliminated Shwe Mann as rival for the presidency. But according to Machiavelli this victory will most probably not last. Shwe Mann does not lack ambition.