Myanmar all but fell from the international conscience in 2023, with the world subsumed by the Ukraine war, conflict in the Middle East and the dumpster fire of domestic American politics Myanmar, which competed with Sudan for most neglected conflict, was further marginalized by misconceptions that its post-coup civil war had settled into a grinding […]

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The unprecedented “Operation 1027” resistance offensive launched in late October 2023 continues to make advances on Myanmar military positions in northern Shan State. Hundreds of ruling State Administration Council (SAC) bases have fallen or been abandoned to the rolling onslaught of the Three Brotherhood Alliance (3BA) comprised of the insurgent Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army […]

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Ahead of Myanmar’s 76th Independence Day on January 4, the official preparations appear morose, half-hearted and unconvincing. By any objective assessment, “independence” from British colonialism has lost its mojo at a time the military regime is immolating Myanmar as a functioning society. The five “objectives: of this year’s anniversary are as discordant as the State […]

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Myanmar’s military is still reeling from the surprise Operation 1027 insurgent attacks in northern Shan state that overran over 140 bases, captured large caches of weapons and raised potent new questions about the State Administration Council (SAC) coup regime’s survival. But is the SAC’s extraordinary setback driving it to use banned chemical weapons against the […]

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The stunning Blitzkrieg of Operation 1027 in northern Shan state over the past two weeks will possibly go down as the most pivotal and daring feat of arms in Myanmar’s many decades of civil war. In the early hours of October 27, combined forces of multiple ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and a handful of allies […]

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To celebrate the eighth anniversary of Myanmar’s manifestly moribund Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), the ruling military regime laid on a lavish celebration on October 15 in the gargoyle capitol of Naypyidaw. VIP attendees included Chinese special envoy Deng Xijun, Indian Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri and Thai Vice Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow. The State […]

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Myanmar’s grueling civil war permits few sunrays amidst unremitting attacks against civilians by the military State Administration Council (SAC) junta and the asymmetric struggles of multiple anti-military revolutionary groups across the country. But a report released on September 26 by the Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN), “A shifting power balance”, indicates that a multi-pronged revolutionary […]

The post Where the revolution is working in Myanmar appeared first on Asia Times.

A bewildering factor of mass atrocity crimes is the need for so many onlookers to seek to normalize the aftermath. Six years on from the military campaign against the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar –  where over 700,000 civilians were forced out of northern Rakhine state into squalid camps in Bangladesh, with several thousand murdered and […]

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The United Nations Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths made a visit this week to Myanmar’s military capital Naypyidaw, and went mano-a-mano with dictator Min Aung Hlaing, recently self-appointed prime minister and head of the State Administration Council (SAC) junta. Griffiths, also the head of the Office Coordinating Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), […]

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It was with a heavy dose of dejected familiarity that anyone from Myanmar over the age of 30 must have received the news in recent days that Aung San Suu Kyi had her prison sentence reduced and moved from incarceration to house arrest. For foreigners, at least those who worked in the country before 2011 […]

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The world’s largest marble Buddha, now under construction in Myanmar’s military capital of Naypyidaw, will reportedly be able to withstand 193 kilometer-per-hour winds and earthquakes measuring as high as 8.8 on the Richter scale. The gargantuan 25-meter Buddha, weighing over 5,000 tons and etched from over 20,000 tons of marble, is nearly complete after three-plus […]

The post Biggest Buddha cries for Myanmar’s little dictator appeared first on Asia Times.

There will likely be few public celebrations of World Drug Day today in northern Shan state, home to one of the world’s most rampant and lucrative narcotics production zones. But there may be some smug satisfaction expressed among the region’s assorted gangsters and others cashing in on the post-coup disorder in Myanmar. This year’s theme […]

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United Nations Special Envoy to Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer is leaving her position in mid-June after some 20 months of being stonewalled by the generals of the State Administration Council (SAC). Heyzer always faced an insurmountable challenge since being appointed to the position in October 2021, just eight months after the SAC’s military coup d’etat sparked […]

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As if Myanmar’s fortunes couldn’t get any worse after two years of military repression and civil war, tropical Cyclone Mocha battered western Myanmar on May 14, the worst natural disaster to affect the country since the Cyclone Nargis disaster in 2008. A Category 5 storm, with winds of over 200 kilometers per hour and tidal […]

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The Arakan Army (AA), one of Myanmar’s most audacious and effective insurgencies turned 14 years old this week, underscoring what can be achieved by anti-military resistance as civil war rages on multiple fronts. “Felicitation” notices were duly made to the rebel group and its leaders on the day, standard communications among resistance groups to each […]

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Myanmar’s military regime on Tuesday (March 28) took the major step of deregistering the National League for Democracy (NLD), the clear winner of the November 2020 nationwide elections. The State Administration Council-controlled Union Election Commission (UEC) announced that following the release of the amended Political Party Registration Law in late January, existing political parties had […]

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The Myanmar military staged its annual Armed Forces Day event today (March 27), celebrating its 78th year of destroying a country they have sworn to defend. It’s an opportunity for senior officers, serving and retired, to play dress up and watch human toy soldiers march in formation and affect strength by numbers and hardware. The […]

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The inevitable slew of Myanmar coup d’etat two-year anniversary statements, opinion pieces and social media posturing will all promote defiance and eventual victory even as grim statistics of murders, arson and displacement are arrayed to condemn the criminal rule of the military’s State Administration Council (SAC). A central theme will inevitably be a call for […]

The post Myanmar’s anniversary of stalemate and shame appeared first on Asia Times.

Myanmar’s military State Administration Council (SAC) regime has managed to cling to power since its ill-fated February 2021 coup toppled a democratically elected civilian government. But the SAC has faced unprecedented resistance against its illegitimate power grab, from seasoned insurgents, street protestors, a new National Unity Government (NUG) in exile, and hundreds of Peoples Defense […]

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Whoever devised the motto for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2022 must be experiencing distressing chagrin following early August’s ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM). “Addressing Challenges Together” rings less resounding as a theme with the Myanmar military regime’s aggressive recalcitrance to work with the regional grouping on anything of substance. Since agreeing […]

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