BANGKOK: While US Sen. Jim Webb's high-profile visit to Myanmar offers an opportunity to turn around America's policy toward the military-ruled nation, any real warming of relations is likely to be a slow and uncertain process.

Webb's trip was "an important step" toward creating change, said David Steinberg, a Myanmar specialist at Georgetown University, adding it is too early to predict its impact.

He and other scholars believe it is highly unlikely the ruling generals will meet long-standing international demands to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of elections set for 2010.