Tag Archives: Myanmar

Is Turkey’s recent spelling change about being more authentically Turkish? Or is there more to the story? In June 2022, the United Nations agreed to change the spelling of the country known in the English-speaking world as Turkey to Türkiye, heeding a request by the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In January 2023, the U.S. State Department also …

Only time will tell whether or not Myanmar will reciprocate to Beijing’s overtures, but owing to the lack of alternatives offered by Washington, Myanmar seems to have a very simple choice to make.

Twelve reporters have been killed so far this year and 172 are in jail, according to a new report on press freedom worldwide. The US places 48th of 180 countries ranked, down two spots from 2018.

Both China and India should wake up and take Bangladesh a little more seriously, says one analyst.

India was silent on the plight of the Rohingya since Hindutva project architects did not want to include the Muslim. But in the end, the gravity of the tragedy forced it to express concern.

It is high time for the international community to take stringent and decisive measures to halt the ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity perpetrated against Rohingya Muslims.

Myanmar has long valued ASEAN for the protection it provides not only from the wider international community but also its fellow members. But the unwillingness of Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya issue has pushed ASEAN members towards new forms of protest. This failure is already a tragedy, but for ASEAN it might become a disaster.

Myanmar’s November 8 election will be different in many ways from all such exercises of the past and are expected to prove to be one more essential step towards political reforms.

Myanmar must find a solution to the socially and economically devastating Kachin insurgency. And it needs to bring other smaller armed ethnic groups formally into the present arrangement. They must be brought into the main peace-making process as soon as practicable.

For long-term happiness, Myanmar’s minorities will be seeking greater autonomy and the chance to defend their cultural heritage. Even if all goes well, balancing their interests against those of the majority will be a permanent conundrum.