Myanmar

The Rohingya — A lot of wars have been fought for so long that people just sort of forget about them. There’s a certain tug on the heartstrings when you hear about strangers in foreign lands experiencing impossible hardships, but that quickly fades once you start to hear the “same news” over and over. Alternate […]

The Naf River is a 39 mile long river that runs down the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar/Burma. It has recently been the last step in reaching the refugee camps for the Rohingya as they flee the documented atrocities in Burma, described as “textbook ethnic cleansing.” In their desperation, many Rohingya have tried to cross […]

Bangladesh/Myanmar Border — Recently, Bangladesh began a $280 million plan to relocate the massive influx of Rohingya refugees to an island that Amnesty International’s South Asia Director, Biraj Patnaik, has described as “uninhabitable.” He said pushing them out that way would be a “terrible mistake” as it is quite the distance from the other camps […]

Naf River, Bangladesh — Bodies turn up all the time on the Naf River, the water dividing the Burmese countryside from Bangladesh. Thousands of Rohingya have been fleeing the violence that has been described as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Fleeing with just their […]

Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar have canceled nearly $20 billion of hydroelectricity contracts with the same Chinese company, the Gezhouba Water and Power Group. This is a huge setback for the Chinese trade linking project, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which involves global infrastructure. This may represent a larger rejection of China’s economic imperialism in Asia. […]

It’s easy to forget about ongoing conflicts, after the news reports the same thing over and over again. Africa seems like the type of place where the conflict never ends, and without a solid knowledge of the geography, demographics and politics of the area, it all just sort of blurs together. The same goes for […]

Many people in my circles express a desire to go overseas and contribute toward some kind of cause at some point. Military veterans in particular are often interested in that kind of life–though it may not be easy, it’s rewarding, it’s an adventure and it serves a higher purpose. Like the military, it takes you […]

Karen State, Burma (Myanmar) has been an area of heavy conflict for over 70 years.  When most people look at areas of conflicts, they look at combat deaths, injuries or other trauma-related issues. However, the more serious issues are ancillary to combat—because of a war or other type of civil unrest, you have a severe […]

Burma’s (Myanmar) de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under harsh criticism in recent months, due to her apparent apathy toward the violence toward the Rohingya people. This criticism has begun to manifest itself into real action in taking away some of the honors she has earned during her years before she took […]

Myanmar (Burma) has been in a state of constant crisis in one form or another since WWII. Internal conflict has meant the government targeting ethnic minorities, whether they be Karen, Karenni, Kachin, Rakhine or most recently, the Rohingya. Against these tribal people they have committed numerous human rights abuses that have risen to alleged “ethnic […]

Over 9,000 people gathered in Washington DC on Monday for two purposes: to promote their culture and show the world who the Karen are, and to support the U.S. government in continuing economic sanctions against the Burmese military regime. Over 1,000 gathered in Nebraska’s capital city, Lincoln, for the same purposes. The Karen, an ethnic […]

On Tuesday, at least four Rohingya refugees drowned off the coast of Bangladesh. The rough waters tipped the boat, capsizing it and tossing its occupants into the water. According to UNHCR (the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees) and the survivors, there were a total of 42 people packed into the small boat […]