New Mandala

This New Mandala special interview was conducted in recent weeks.  The interviewee is a disaster worker who has recently returned from several months working on emergency shelter in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in Burma. They prefer to be identified simply as a “disaster worker recently returned from Burma”.
Nicholas Farrelly: Could you give our readers an [...]

[Read more →]

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the discussion being held at the ANU in relation to Cyclone Nargis. I didn’t write up a report immediately after the event as the organisers chose to hold it under what is called the Chatham House rule. Under this rule “participants are free to use the information received, [...]

[Read more →]

Prompted by the question from long-time contributor Roger Casas I thought I should put up some pictures of roads in the eastern Shan State.  These shots are all, unfortunately, a bit dated (they were taken between 2002 and 2005) but should give readers a bit more of a feel for road infrastructure in the wedge of Shan territory between Thailand [...]

[Read more →]

[Stanley A. Weiss is the Founding Chairman of Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, DC, and a frequent op-ed contributor to The International Herald Tribune.  In his most recent article he explored the politics of sanctions against Burma and the danger of branding sanction opponents as apologists for the regime.  His interview with Ma [...]

[Read more →]

A recent report by Ashley South published by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions will be of considerable interest to those New Mandala readers who are hungry for more details on the nitty-gritty of life in Burma today.
The report:
…focuses on the ongoing abuses of [Housing, Land and Property] rights occurring under military rule today, particularly in [...]

[Read more →]

A Chinese company is currently intending to build a hydroelectric dam on the Nam Tha river in northwestern Laos (other dams are being planned on the Nam Ou, also with Chinese funds). The project is called Nam Tha 1, which means maybe that there will be more dams in the near future(?). Four Chinese experts are currently [...]

[Read more →]

Over the coming months, New Mandala will publish a series of interviews with academics, activists and writers who contribute to major debates in mainland Southeast Asian Studies.  These interviews are designed to probe the experiences, arguments and ideas that have helped shape the field.
The third in New Mandala’s series of discussions with prominent personalities is with the University of North [...]

[Read more →]

Another Chinese-backed infrastructure construction initiative in Burma has prompted The Irrawaddy to publish a long and detailed report.  By the sounds of it, a genuine highway, and not the standard two-lane secondary road, is now planned.
Perhaps, one day the full length of road between Kunming and the Burmese coast will look something like this:

…however, in my experience, it will [...]

[Read more →]

The most recent monthly installment at Mekong Currents is a wide-ranging discussion titled “What to do with Burma?“.  It focuses on regional efforts to integrate and develop Southeast Asia’s most controversial country.�
Written by Rosalia Sciortino - a long-time Southeast Asia analyst who is currently an Associate Professor at Mahidol University - this month’s essay overviews Burma’s place in the development of the Greater [...]

[Read more →]

Asia Times Online is carrying a long article that overviews the construction of roads, and particularly the refurbishment of the Stilwell Road, linking India to China across the mountains of northern Burma.  Little in this article will surprise New Mandala readers who closely follow developments in that part of the world.  �
The report notes that:
Of the three countries through which the [...]

[Read more →]