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Written by Uriel Araujo, PhD, anthropology researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts
Washington has been deepening its ties with the so-called pro-democracy forces in Myanmar, and, amid today’s New Cold War, this has prompted Beijing to warn against “external interference” in the country. China has been leading mediation efforts in the neighboring country, including talks between the ruling military junta and armed groups related to ethnic factions. Amid this delicate situation, the United States intentions in the nation are seen with suspicion.
The average Western person may have never heard of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, also known as Burma, but it is the largest country (by area) in Mainland Southeast Asia, with a population of about 55 million. It is a Dialogue Partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, and ASEAN, but is not a Commonwealth of Nations member, even though it used to be part of the British Empire. Although very rich in natural resources, (including oil, natural gas, and minerals), it is one of the least developed countries in the region. It is bordered by India and Bangladesh to its northwest, and by China to its northeast, while also sharing borders with Thailand and Laos.
Due to geography, the nation has historical links to China and India, and it also has a history of colonial exploitation and ethnic tensions, which helps explain why it faces today one of the planet’s longest-running civil wars, with the corruption, instability and poor infrastructure one can expect amid such a scenario. The military is involved in major sectors of the economy, including oil production, transportation, and even tourism.
The main ethnic group, the Bamars (about 68% of the population) is a Sino-Tibetan speaking group, their native language Burmese being the official language. It is also spoken in China, in parts of the Yunnan province (Dehong), which borders Myanmar.
Some history here might be pertinent. The country was once the largest Southeast Asia empire for a while, in the 16th century (under the Taungoo dynasty), but it was taken over by the British East India Company, after the three Anglo-Burmese wars, thus becoming a British colony in the 19th century. It was also later occupied by the Japanese, and then reconquered by the Allies, to become independent in 1948 – its post-independence history has also been marked by conflict, with a Burma Socialist Programme Party military dictatorship, then a 1988 transition to a multi-party system in name only (with a military council refusing it and governing the nation to this day). There was a controversial 2010 general election after which the military junta was officially dissolved in 2011, with a (nominally) civilian government taking power. In 2020 however the military once again seized power in what has been described by a coup d’état, followed by demonstrations.
One needs to remember that under Western (British) rule, the Burmese were placed at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, with White Europeans at the very top and some Christian minorities in the middle. Moreover, under the spirit of laissez-faire free-market, the British rules had the country open up to massive migration to the point of making Rangoon (now called Yangon, the country’s largest city and its former capital) the world’s greatest immigration port in the 1920, even exceeding New York City.
Indian immigrants suddenly became a majority of the population in largest cities, such as Rangoon itself, Moulnein, Bassein, and Akyab. According to historian Thant Myint-U: “This was out of a total population of only 13 million; it was equivalent to the United Kingdom today taking 2 million people a year”. In that context part of the oppressed Burmese population predictably reacted with a “racism that combined feelings of superiority and fear”, writes Thant Myint-U, in his 2006 classic “The River of Lost Footsteps” (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
With such a history, it is no wonder then that Myanmar is plagued with ethnic conflicts to this very day, which account for most human rights problems. Historically, the United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on the country (over the issue of human rights violations), while foreign investment comes mainly from China, India, Thailand, and Singapore. It is not hard to see how any further engagement with the US-led West has the potential to further polarize the country.
One may recall Washington passed the 2022 BURMA Act, which authorized nonlethal aid to pro-democracy rebel groups plus sanctions against the ruling junta. It even allowed Myanmar’s opposition, the so-called National Unity Government (NUG) to set up a liaison office in Washington, even though it has not even been formally recognized as the country’s legitimate government by the US itself. In April, Michael Haack (an expert in Myanmar who has conducted research on its politics for the Yale University MacMillan Center) wrote that the American “nonlethal” aid to Myanmar ethnic rebels could backfire: “the terms on which Washngton is offering nonlethal aid in Myanmar risk creating the outcome it has been seeking to avoid.”
In a rather underreported development, the US Congress earlier this year amazingly passed a $1.2 trillion funding package. According to Haack:
“Washington has been here before. The language used in the appropriation was taken from a previous funding authorization relating to Syria, where nonlethal aid included body armor and intelligence about enemy troop positions. That appropriation led eventually to the covert deployment of lethal equipment. The immediate impact of the U.S. move will be to irritate Myanmar’s neighbors, who will see it as an intensification of American involvement in the conflict.”
China certainly has stakes in the neighboring country, which it has made large economic investments in – it is also seen as a pathway for the Indian Ocean. The US is largely seen as an “outside” player, which does not have a full grasp of the complexities of the region. One might thus see yet another focal point for tensions unfolding in a global situation which already has plenty.
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with all the debt we have you would think 🤔 our government would try a pay it off rather than over throwing governments all over the world..!
it can’t overthrow government(s) anymore when it’s been red lining it’s economy for the past 20 years… the sad truth is that china and india both are responsible for allowing it to continue with loans that it knew would be used against them -but did not care “in the least”!… why?… probably because they have too much of their brain trust embedded in western europe and north america that effectively makes them all hostage(s) to the terrori$t they kept feeding for far too long!!!…
this is why china and india hauled away the crime scene in lower manhattan 23 years ago on wednesday that serves in aiding and abetting that crime and the gift that has kept on giving as both a blessing and a curse ever since!
russia included for doing nothing through staying silent in bringing all those criminal(s) to the unsc and hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity!
the big con job is them using america as their bully and making the world not know they’re doing it
look your englands barracks that’s the big secret. go and google the queens address to congress see for yourself who’s the boss and then if you still don’t get it from that visit do the pope’s too. the church and crown govern america really
youre being deceived so that you don’t kn ow the truth and they run everything they control the press the popes postmaster general of the world he rules over every form of communication and where his powers aren’t supreme crown law partners with him, the two them together reign over the world.
for a start your alleged government is the second catholic government ever look at the activity, the transformation the radicalism. observe and deduce. next your alleged government is about 40 trillion in debt they are borrowing from the fed, ie england, to allegedly fund whatever. look google this, 70 years after iranian coup, the british still won’t confess to their crimes | chris hedges report then you’ll start to get a clue
pertinwbt to every situation today is the role of the british empire absolutely a c jointly as corporations both the british and the dutch east india trading companies and in america especially the virginia trading company.
a history of corporate rule over the people a tradition of fascusm cause that’s what it really is rule by corporations. that’s what we live in a global. fascist world of corporate governments, at every level. federal, state, local in partnership with private banks insurers health care education.etcetera. all governed by the authority for rule of corporate law.
like the basques, the burmese are caught in the middle of many nations, but unlike the basques, they have a nation as well, and are unfortunately sitting on oil that for some reason, the yanky panky yanks seem to think belongs to them, so the yanks are bribing parties to help the yanks, yank that oil from the burmese for a cut of the action for the willing thugs…
it’s all a lie the scarcity of resources as the justification for mum and dad to send johnny marching off to war its a lie. theresx so much oil they have to hide it. same with all the other “scarce resources” there’s tonnes of everything and everywhere. land water air food minerals everything an abundance really except of generosity caring and sharing.
i thought the idea was to monopolize any and all sources of cheap energy, like hydrocarbons, to keep the rest of the world on a drip line of economic development so sparse, that we saw free energy patent holders disappeared like farts in the cia wind of zionist controlled globalist hegemony. a hegemony that destroys the people with communist doctrine and self annihilation through debauchery of morale and the destruction of family. hard to do to people with independent access to cheap energy.
the feudalism 2.0 model, where it is not the king who owns the forest, so no wood for you, but because we have to ‘save the planet’, so no oil for you, no cold fusion, no water cracking hydrogen car tech, no zero point motors, no passive electron harvesting tesla tech, definitely no wind mills on your own home, oh no, your zionist controlled local council wont allow that, too ‘unsightly’, but the gov can ruin the country side with massive wind farm abominations o mock us all.
feudalism 2.0 is already over. we are at feudalism 3.0 and as you prolly already know, 3.0 is the injected nanoweapons, sensors, and the wireless control grids, tethering all injected to a cloud, where punishment is push button efficiency. the second anyone steps out of line, the punishment is instantaneous death, or torture metted out continuously, wirelessly, until you die or capitulate to their ‘operating parameters’ designed to keep you under full control as a zero threat factor.
us empire or the british had nothing to do in myanmar. they could only exacerbate deads in civil population. china would reject any interference from the empire in the asia mainland, so the exceptionals would have to retreat to phillipines, japan, probably indonesia, and south korea. myanmar would be ruled by the asian regional powers so the empire has to retreat. myanmar would be ruled by the asian sword liked or not to the supreme hegemon.
just ignore history, colonial great britian, the us war machine bases all over…the arms dealing, the us backed coup vs. the military coup which overthrew the zionist captured burmese gov before that… naw, throw history on a gas lighting bon fire so any retarded commentary afterward suddenly sounds plausable…. lol…how many popes and bishops brag about the burmese emeralds on their rings at dinner? fathom me that batman?
all conflicts end when all countries and their citizens appoint us and eu approved leaders and follow the diktat and control by the us and eu related to business, governing and military. otherwise the us and eu will never let up with their attacks on all nations outside of their club.
america is run by jews. yellen, blinken, garland, mayorgas and chief of staff (who handles the retarded biden) zients are all jews.
most americans (except for the evangelical retards) are against these policies. but jews always get their way in the modern west, and so they make trouble for china.
i hope the chinese keep that in mind, that most of the trouble from america comes from jews.
putin gonna throw them down the well, unless we save him the hassel and do it ourselves… i think he’s busy with brics and some smo thingy…