Is Myanmar Failed State?

Published on Dec 29, 2023 by Luke Hunt

Throughout 2022, when Cambodia was chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the nagging questions inside the corridors of power were fairly straightforward. Is Myanmar a failed state? Why negotiate with a junta that has little or no control over the country? Luke Hunt writes for The Diplomat.Those questions were put on hold as Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen attempted to negotiate the bloc’s Five-Point Consensus with junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, creating a veneer of public respectability for all parties until Phnom Penh passed the ASEAN baton to Jakarta.Indonesia has since indicated a tougher stand and as atrocities have escalated, including four massacres allegedly committed by the military this month, such questions are again being....

A Dutchman in Cambodia

Published on Nov 18, 2023 by Luke Hunt

Hans van Zoggel taught English in his early 20s when he first met Cambodian refugees in The Netherlands. He was barely out of college and jobs were hard to come by but he left home for the Thai border camps where he succeeded in putting his students in touch with their relatives.He was also struck by their plight – refugees and internally displaced people huddling in a mishmash of shabby huts and surrounded by the Khmer Rouge. He stayed and went to work in the camps where he prepped those lucky enough to be accepted as refugees for a life in the United States.Click here to listen..

An Illustrious Photographer

Published on Oct 3, 2023 by Luke Hunt

French photographer Roland Neveu has spent five decades covering Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. His work also took him from South America to Africa and Hollywood, where he shot stills during film productions for Oliver Stone, Brian de Palma, and Ridley Scott.His world had changed dramatically during his university days in Paris of the 1970s when student protests interrupted Neveu’s studies. He picked up the camera to “capture the moment” then headed for Thailand and eventually Cambodia.As a young photojournalist, he was among the handful of reporters who remained in Phnom Penh in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge marched in, heralding one of the great tragedies of the 20th century.Over the next two decades he covered the Soviet....

Myanmar's Civil War

Published on Mar 20, 2023 by Luke Hunt

Three podcasts focussed on the conflict in Myanmar, which erupted after the military seized power from an elected government in February 2021. Since then National Unity Government (NUG) and its armed wing the People's Defence Force (PDF ) have formed the backbone of the resistance..Security-risk consultant Ross Milosevic has worked across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East for almost three decades but his focus has often remained on Myanmar. He backs international support for the forces arraigning against the generals and notes the similarities between Myanmar and Syria, and the realities of China.Listen on PodbeanListen through The DiplomatThe United States-based organization Unbound Now has spent the last decade focused on the prevention of human trafficking, professional training, and survivor advocacy.....

NUG: Stepping Up

Published on Mar 20, 2023 by Luke Hunt

Ever since the West turned on the military taps and flooded Ukraine with weapons capable of stopping the Russian advance, the backers of Myanmar’s ousted government have asked: “what about us?” It’s an understandable question. Luke Hunt writes for The Diplomat.The National Unity Government (NUG) and its armed wing, the People’s Defense Force (PDF), are in dire need of weaponry as they push the civil war from the jungles into junta-held provincial zones where the military responds with Russian-made fighter jets and artillery.But the Western response has been limited to sanctions.The latest sanctions just announced by the European Union include travel bans on 16 individuals and entities, including the junta’s energy minister, high-ranking officers, the ministry of defense and private companies....