Myanmar: Situation Update

Published on Dec 27, 2024 by Luke Hunt

Military analyst Paul Greening provides an update of the civil war in Myanmar and an outline of what might be expected from a joint security company being prepared by the military and Beijing to guard Beijing's interests. Click here to listen to the podcast. .

Chinese Boots in Myanmar

Published on Dec 26, 2024 by Luke Hunt

Chinese plans for Myanmar and its assets could have far reaching consequences in 2025. Michael Martin is an adjunct fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He returns to Beyond the Mekong amid speculation that China and Myanmar’s military junta are preparing to establish a “joint security company” to protect Beijing’s interests in the war-torn country.The junta has reportedly formed a committee to prepare an MoU for establishing a security company, which could be dispatched into Rakhine State, where fighting this year has been intense and the U.N. has warned  has warned that two million people are facing “the dire prospect of famine.”Click here to listen to the podcast hosted by Luke Hunt..

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....

New Year Old Problems

Published on Dec 16, 2023 by Luke Hunt

For many Cambodians 2023 was a grinding affair. Dominated by the jailing of dissidents, a one-sided election and a father to son transfer of power, it was a year that entrenched the ruling families while opposition politicians wilted behind bars or in exile.And while most eyes were on politics, the economy stagnated while human traffickers continued to ply their trade, resulting in co-ordinated sanctions imposed on individuals and corporate entities, as the year ended, by the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.“We will not tolerate criminals and repressive regimes trampling on the fundamental rights and freedoms of ordinary people around the world,” UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said as the sanctions were imposed on Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.Click here....

Hun Sen's Election

Published on Nov 1, 2023 by Luke Hunt

Prime Minister Hun Sen has won Cambodia's general election with absolute authority and will transfer power in a "generational" change of leadership, to his eldest son Hum Manet by the end of August.Additionally the children of cabinet ministers are to be hand the portfolio's of their fathers, an unprecedented if not extremely rare reshuffle in the history of government, ensuring power remains within the ruling families.Here is a list of links to background stories from immediately before and after the July 23, 2023, poll that culminated in that change.Naval Base to Test Hun Manet's Reationship with Washington. The DiplomatCambodia's Fate Mapped-Out. Election wrap from VOACambodia's 'Pantomime' Election wrap from UCA NewsPM Wins Big in 'Rigged' One-Sided Election. Hun Sen wins....