CHIANG MAI, Thailand — President Bush breezed through Thailand on his way to the Beijing Olympics and used the occasion to rail at the Burmese government — putting smiles on the faces of Burmese activists here.

This city, about 75 miles east of the Burmese border, is the capital of the Burmese resistance. And, as many Burmese noted, Bush's visit coincided with an important anniversary. On Aug. 8, 1988, Burma's military junta crushed the first major citizen uprising, killing 3,000 people.

"I want the people of your country to know, the American people care deeply about the people of Burma, and we pray for the day in which the people will be free," Bush told a group of Burmese dissidents. The same day, Laura Bush spent two hours visiting a Burmese refugee camp in Mae Sot, near the border.

All of that should have roused many of the 2 million Burmese refugees living in Thailand to new heights of fervent protest. Instead, the visit and the anniversary passed here with scant excitement and little note. In fact, after 20 years, many in the Burmese exile community seem to have lost hope. For decades the United States and other nations have piled penalties on top of sanctions. Presidents and prime ministers have fulminated. The response from Rangoon — stubborn indifference.

In Bangkok on Aug. 8, a grand total of 30 Burmese refugees protested in front of — the Chinese embassy. China, the military junta's steadfast supporter, sells the regime the rifles and other weaponry it uses to kill democracy demonstrators.

"We are here because China is the main supporter of the military regime," one protester outside the Chinese embassy exclaimed.

The next day, Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Thailand's Chulalongkorn University told the Burmese exile press, "The cause of Burma's freedom, democracy and human rights was poignantly served, but whether Mr. Bush and his wife's gestures will make any difference on the ground is doubtful." Even Laura Bush reflected the mood. "Twenty years have gone by, and everything is still the same or maybe worse in Burma," she said.

A dozen exile groups here regularly publish magazines, newsletters and investigative reports decrying the sad state of life in Burma. One exile group, the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand, has just published a report on the mistreatment of women from the Kachin state (a province of northern Burma) who look for jobs in China.

A young Kachin woman researched the report in China and Burma, and she told me she found that Burmese women looking for work in China are frequently kidnapped. Some are taken to public markets, hands tied behind their backs. They "described being shown to many men before being chosen and sold" for as little as $730, the report said. Once purchased, they become involuntary "brides." Many are impregnated, and their babies taken from them, then sold.

The group published this report on Aug. 5. Two weeks later, it had not been mentioned in even one newspaper or wire service report among the several thousand worldwide indexed by the Lexis-Nexis service. And of course, once again, the Burmese junta said not a word.

Shirley Seng, a supervisor for this group, described the resignation she and others feel.

"Tomorrow will be 20 years," she told me on Aug. 7. "How can we continue fighting? Nothing changes." She pursed her lips and looked away.

"Every day we are busy with hardware and software as our ammunition, any way we can. But there's never any answer." Of course, many dissidents have made careers of resistance, funded by foundations and charities in the United States. Their protest rhetoric cannot falter — unless they want to give up their grants.

But with six months left in office, President Bush seems uncharacteristically realistic about the limits of his clout. Talking to a Burmese exile radio reporter, he said: "I wish there was a magic wand to wave; there isn't. On the other hand, the people that are listening to your radio broadcast have got to know that the president of the United States, and a lot of other people in America, are concerned and care about how they live, and want them to be free.

"Whether that happens tomorrow or not is doubtful. I make no promises to your listeners except that we'll continue to try."

Joel Brinkley is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a professor of journalism at Stanford University. Reach him at brinkley@foreign-matters.com.