New Mandala

Should war resume in parts of Burma’s borderlands, the country will simply return to its pre-1989 situation, and the challenges of national reconciliation and local sustainable development will begin again.
- Extracted from David Scott Mathieson, “Peace in name only”, The Irrawaddy, October 2009.

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But investigations by the media and concerned agencies in the next few weeks will find whether the ideal goal of forming a grand alliance against the hated military regime is too late or can still be a dream come true.
- Extracted from “The fall of Kokang raises questions”, Shan Herald Agency for News, 31 August [...]

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In the past week Burma’s State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) decided to stop pulling its punches with what we have come to know as the “ceasefire groups”.
In the northern Shan State there has been fighting on a scale that hasn’t been seen for decades.  According to Xinhua, tens of thousands refugees from the Kokang [...]

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Over at East Asia Forum I have a piece marking Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday and reflecting on some of the wider political context of June 2009.  It is available here.  I also noticed that The Irrawaddy has a selection of interesting Aung San Suu Kyi portraits to mark the occasion.
I’m sure I join [...]

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Those who pay attention to developments in the Kachin State haven’t seen a report like this for some time.  According to this report the Kachin Independence Army is preparing for “possible war” (i.e. the end of the 15-year ceasefire) with the Burmese Army.  Sabre rattling?  Sure.  But also a sign of things to come?  I [...]

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Getting news out of Burma’s more remote corners — such as the Kachin Independence Army/Organisation headquarters at Laiza — can be a difficult job at the best of times.  When there is inherent, and perhaps even deliberate, ambiguity thrown into the mix it is almost impossible.
Nonetheless I was startled to see the contrasting headlines for [...]

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From time to time we hear about Russian technicians and engineers doing their thing in far-flung parts of Burma.  And, of course, their are brigades of Chinese labourers all over the place.  But Thais? 
According to the Kachin News Group, a group of 40 Thais are currently building million-dollar factories in the Hukawng Valley (in the northwest [...]

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Long-term readers will know that the New Mandala brief often ranges far and wide.  For some time now we have sporadically posted material on the “rat explosions” that occur in certain parts of northern and western Burma, and in northeastern India.
Today New Mandala reader Aiontay has pointed me towards a new PBS documentary that explains [...]

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New Mandala readers willing to avert their gaze from Bangkok will find that this protest – centred, I might add, on events in a very different part of mainland Southeast Asia — is an important one.  Please be warned that the link contains some horrifying material.

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I read “Lifting the Bamboo Curtain” with some interest since Robert Kaplan has written several books and articles that I thought were quite good, although I have to admit most of the things he has written post 9-11 were difficult to digest given his almost sole focus on the role of the American military as an [...]

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