It will be fascinating to watch how the (Dis)United States will deal with post-coup Myanmar as part of their 24/7 “containment of China” frenzy. The (jade) elephant in the elaborate room housing the military coup in Myanmar had to be – what else – China. And the Tatmadaw – the Myanmar Armed Forces – knows... Read More

As the genocidal horrors in Myanmar unfold, I am kicking myself for having risked my skin to go see then sainted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. This event occurred in Rangoon (now Yangon) in 1996 when Suu Kyi was the revered democratic opposition leader resisting the nation’s brutal military regime. The western media loved her,... Read More

Few people have ever heard of Myanmar’s Rohingya people. Not many more could find Myanmar on a map – particularly after its name was changed some years ago from Burma to Myanmar. The exception is Burma’s sainted lady leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who became a worldwide celebrity and Nobel Prize winner. The media loved... Read More

When is genocide not really genocide? When the victims are small, impoverished brown people no wants or cares about – Burma’s Rohingya. Their plight has finally commanded some media attention because of the suffering of Rohingya boat people, 7,000 of whom continue to drift in the waters of the Andaman Sea without food, water or... Read More

[The Asia Times Online yearender, which appeared on Dec. 22, 2012. It can be reposted if ATOl is credited and a link provided.] The passing year was the People's Republic of China's (PRC) first opportunity to get up close and personal with the United States' pivot back to Asia, the strategic rebalancing that looks a... Read More

The piece reproduced below originally appeared at Asia Times Online on November 12, 2012 under the title Myanmar Fixates on Rohingya Calculation. Its thesis is perhaps better represented by the title of this blog post, Burma Washes Its Hands of the Rohingyas. It can be re-posted if ATOl is credited and a link provided. ATOl... Read More

The Belt of St. Mary Comes to Russia and the Buddha's Tooth Visits Myanmar One thing that’s pretty clear is that religious movements are, for the most part, conservative and have served as bulwarks of authoritarianism (and a shield against challenges to the wealth and power of the privileged) at least since the days of... Read More

BANGKOK - It's an honor to be part of a group that includes the spectacular Michelle Yeoh. Malaysian-born film superstar Yeoh - of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame, among countless others - confirmed this week she was deported on arrival from Burma/Myanmar on June 22, "for no reason and without providing any justification". Well, the... Read More

Kim Jung Il has been very good to me. I have an article up on North Korea at Asia Times under the pen name Peter Lee, titled A convenient North Korean distraction. Kim Jung Il has also been very good to the United States and Japan, providing a conventional security threat that plays to America’s... Read More

Remember Burma? Or Myanmar? You know, the country that some people wanted us to invade after that big storm, Cyclone Nargis, in May 2008 because the junta wasn’t admitting international aid the way they thought it should be done? And China Matters attracted vituperative comments and cancelled subscriptions because I stated that: the Burmese freedom... Read More

Chairman Mao once observed that to be a successful prophet, one must predict often. Last year, in one of their many pronouncements, Chinese astrologers predicted that natural disasters would smite the globe in 2008. The recent cyclone in Burma (Myanmar) and the massive earthquake in China seemed to tragically confirm the astrologer's predictions about the... Read More

Somewhere in imponderable nirvana, the Buddha may be exhibiting the faintest of smiles. Or is he? What a heavenly sight - the discreet, barefooted, crimson- and maroon-clad Buddhist monks of Myanmar, formerly Burma, able to affirm publicly their supreme moral authority and righteousness, supported by an exhausted, abused population, against the ravages of a pitiless,... Read More