Seems the Burma military has taken over the government and detained the political leaders due to voting irregularities in their Nov elections. Voting irregularities--- that sure sounds familiar--- unfortunately our crooked politicians have not been detained.
Myanmar (also known as Burma) operates de jure as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Myanmar an "authoritarian regime" in 2019. This is following the military having given up some, but not all, power following the dismantlement of the Burmese military dictatorship, which ruled from 1962 to 2011. I see China in the shadows on the coup.... Just lik the old Soviet, China demands a large buffer zone, lest the subjects run away China’s Dynamic Grip on Myanmar
Wasn't that long the military rulers were killing Buddhist monks for protesting. Not sure them seizing power again is going to be much of an improvement.
China would like to annex Burma for its resources. A new "China Autonomous Zone" coming up. Like Tibet, Hong Kong, and others. Autonomous my tush.
Burma has a long experience in just staying a country. Buddhist in the surrounding countries have in many cases been replaced over the centuries and the poor nation has India, China, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos on its borders.. Given the nature of the country, lots of water, about 50 % still unsettled, and every one trying to get a piece of the action, the generals and the military are just a little worried. About 1.5 to 3 million Bengali's claim a chunk of the country as their homeland and basically want to join Bangladesh. Burma has expelled about a million and have some camps in Burma, and like the problems Israel has had, anyone born outside of the country still claims their right to move back in. The Muslim minority in the area bordering Bangladesh sided with the English in WW2, while the Buddhist sided with Japan, been infighting and a low grade civil war ever since. One thing I know, been to Cox's Bazar before it became a refugee camp, there is enough blame to go around for ever one and as usual, the Muslim's have the ear of the left, so they are always the winners and never do anything wrong. While we may complain about military rule, the ballot box and public opinion have not done well in the area. Either Communist, expansionist, or trying their best to destroy the individual nature and culture of the existing country. China has a problem with its Muslims, they want to leave the Han Chinese nation and create their own country, aligned with the other Muslim countries of course, and it is not about to happen.Ignore most of what goes on in the area, I know of no unbiased source of news, and with the recent regime change in our country, I am afraid to even follow the news on this particular topic.
Aung San Suu Kyi had the right idea, but was and still probably is being, somehow, influenced by corruption in the military. Between the rohingya and other internal conflicts, those that elected her could not hold off the coup after she was weakened politically.
She has always in my mind had the Gandhi problem, great mind,high ideals, a very strong willed and in some senses almost god like sense of life. But she has been largely ineffective in any sense other than a figurehead in this very corrupt world that we live in. When a sizable percentage of your own population and those countries that neighbor you want to destroy your culture and take your assets for their own use, it sometimes takes measures that may seem extreme. It doesn't make the military and the elite feel like democracy and self selection of the form of government is the only answer when they see what has happened in some of the countries in the region. A few million dead in Cambodia and Vietnam, many times that in China, the breakup of old India into several different countries usually at war with each other, and we could spend days talking about the failures in the area. The once dominant Buddhist religion is now almost a fringe religion existing at the will of the new communist, Muslim, etc, majorities, and on it goes. Being paranoid doesn't negate the fact that much of the world wants what you have and is out to get you. Kind of interesting to look at Myanmar as a country facing many of the problems that we face in the USA, and see their approach to the problems. As always, we have to look behind the curtain and try to figure out what is really happening. YMMV
