New Mandala

The U.S. Navy shadowing a North Korean cargo ship suspected of carrying weapons bound for Burma is the stuff of potboiler thrillers. Yet for two of the world’s most reclusive and repressive states, the only unique feature of these events is the fact that anyone is taking notice. For several years, Burma’s ruling State Peace [...]

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is arriving in Myanmar today. He will be here for 24 hours. He will land in Yangon with his entourage of about thirty people at around the same time that the court will reconvene for Aung San Suu Kyi and John Yettaw’s trials. Details of the UN Chief’s jam-packed schedule [...]

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I have to say it is childish of the Burmese generals to dream about acquiring nuclear technology, since they can’t even provide regular electricity in Burma…
- Extracted from a wide-ranging interview with Thakhin Chan Tun, former Burmese Ambassador to North Korea: “Burma wants the bomb”, The Irrawaddy, 27 June 2009.
New Mandala readers who pay attention [...]

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Remember Visit Myanmar Year? Back in 1996 the regime was touting its country as a new Southeast Asian destination for package tourists and those looking for an exotic alternative to more familiar and popular countries in the region. That year it targeted half-a-million visitors but fell far short at just over 300,000, which by the [...]

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If you’re a regular at a Yangon teashop, you might like to ask the owner where he buys his leaves. While foreign correspondents concern themselves with the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, talk in local media, marketplaces and street stalls has been preoccupied with reports about harmful chemicals and parasites in tea, chili, fish [...]

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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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The Shan Herald Agency for News has a report on the International Conference on Shan Studies that will be held in Bangkok in October 2009.  More details about the conference are available here.

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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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Not much needs to be said about the absurdity of a recent article from the government’s newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar. Naypyidaw’s decision to hand over ‘humanitarian assistance’ for internally displaced citizens in northern Sri Lanka is ludicrous to the many Burma watchers focusing on refugees and IDPs. The Myanmar government will not recognize its own exiled [...]

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I am delighted to announce the publication of Tai Lands and Thailand: Community and State in Southeast Asia. It has been published by National University of Singapore Press,  NIAS Press, and University of Hawaii Press. The book is the result of research collaboration that has been going here at the Australian National University over the past six or so years. It features [...]

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