UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Myanmar (Burma) for the July 3-4 weekend in what both friends and detractors view as a major political gamble. With an agenda that asks the ruling military junta to open its doors to national "reconciliation" (which would end their solitary rule), Ban is convinced he can persuade the country's recalcitrant leaders that reforms are for their own good.

The deck is stacked against him. He arrived on the day the show trial against...