ANALYSIS - The world is running out of options on Myanmar

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The international community has few options left for Myanmar after the U.N. secretary-general's failure last week to engage the recalcitrant military regime.

Having risked his reputation by accepting an invitation to visit the isolated southeast Asia state, analysts believe Ban Ki-moon left with nothing to show for his efforts.

Denying Ban even a meeting with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the junta, more than ever, seemed impervious to criticism and comfortable in its isolation.

"The U.N. secretary-general card has (now) been played, Ban has lost and we're not very surprised," said Derek Tonkin, a former British ambassador to Thailand, now a Myanmar analyst.

"I don't know where the international community can go from here."

The situation is likely to be discussed at the regional forum of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phuket, Thailand, later this month, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in attendance.

But even if they have recently broken with tradition and ventured criticism, the smaller neighbours of Myanmar, the former Burma, are unlikely to achieve much and ASEAN's strategy of granting the generals membership as a way of getting them to accept regional norms on democracy will once again be shown up as a failure.

A statement reiterating demands for the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners is expected, but is likely to fall on deaf ears.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the weekend that the world was preparing to "respond robustly" to the junta, but Myanmar's snub of Ban and previous U.N. special envoys suggests diplomacy is futile and a tougher approach is needed.