Free Republic

Nearly seven years after the Myanmar military killed thousands of Muslim Rohingyas, in what the UN called "textbook ethnic cleansing", it wants their help.From interviews with Rohingyas living in Rakhine State the BBC has learned of at least 100 of them being conscripted in recent weeks to fight for the embattled junta. All their names have been changed to protect them. "I was frightened, but I had to go," says Mohammed, a 31-year-old Rohingya man with three young children. He lives near the capital of Rakhine, Sittwe, in the Baw Du Pha camp. At least 150,000 internally displaced Rohingyas have...

Going further than the Treasury Department's tacit support for debanking alleged "hate groups" after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, a State Department component that "strengthen[s] resilient democratic societies" developed a more sweeping plan for financially choking off disfavored narratives a month later. The U.S. Agency for International Development wrote a "Disinformation Primer" that appears to have been started in "late 2020," judging by a reference to the most up-to-date "social media initiatives" by Facebook and Twitter "to address disinformation and misinformation."It was still being written at least 10 days into the Biden administration, referring twice to the Jan. 31,...

Biden claims that he cares about the religious rights of “all” people -- when he clearly means only “all Muslims.” On May 16, President Biden issued a brief video ostensibly dedicated to expressing his support for the religious freedom of “all” people (though in reality dedicated to only one religious group): All people should be able to practice their faith with dignity, without fear of harassment or violence. We will defend the right of all, as we stand with you. That’s why I ended this shameful Muslim travel ban. And that’s why this administration will speak out for religious freedom...

[Make sure to read Daniel Greenfield’s contributions in Jamie Glazov’s new book: Barack Obama’s True Legacy: How He Transformed America.]Muslims celebrated Christmas in Nigeria by massacring around 100 Christians across a dozen communities. The Jihadis hacked Christians to death with machetes and burned down churches as part of a genocidal campaign that has killed 52,000 Christians in over a decade and forced millions to leave their home and become refugees in the African nation.In America, not a single person marched, rallied or protested over this actual genocide.The rampaging mobs crying that Hamas is suffering genocide remained silent. Black Lives Matter...

The pastoral center of Christ the King Cathedral in Loikaw, Myanmar, was bombed on Nov. 26 and occupied by the Burmese military the next day, according to reporting by Agenzia Fides, the news arm of Pontifical Mission Societies. Though no one was killed in the bombing, the pastoral center’s ceiling collapsed and Bishop Celso Ba Shwe and the 80 refugees taking shelter in the church were forced to flee, per the Hong Kong Catholic news service UCA News. Shwe said in a statement published by Agenzia Fides that “the Burmese army tried to take the Christ the King Cathedral complex...

NEW DELHI -- Fierce fighting in Myanmar has raised "deep concern" in India, which is closely monitoring security along the countries' shared border while bracing for an influx of refugees. The military regime that seized power in Myanmar in February 2021, ousting the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, is facing arguably its biggest test yet in the form of a coordinated armed resistance. The renewed instability has raised alarm in countries that border the troubled Southeast Asian state, including rival powers India and China. Operation 1027 -- as the resistance offensive is named, after the date it...

Events in Myanmar’s renewed civil war took a dramatic turn these past three weeks, reminding us not to forget about the world’s longest running conflict. Just prior to the break of dawn on Oct. 27, 2023, the Three Brotherhood Alliance of the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army launched a surprise assault — called Operation 1027 — on junta forces in northern Shan State. Within a couple of weeks, the three ethnic armed organizations have reportedly seized over 150 military outposts and several key towns astride a strategic road to the Chinese...

Democrats across Congress are calling on President Biden to allow Palestinians entry into the U.S. on humanitarian grounds as war drags on in Gaza. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., together with Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Was., led a letter of 103 colleagues to the president asking him to grant the Palestinian territories Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and/or authorize Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Palestinians already living in the U.S. The TPS program allows those from war-torn or crisis-wracked countries to legally live and work in the U.S., but does not give them permanent residency. It allows...

DAVE EUBANK MAKES an exploding gesture with his fist to alert the guerrilla soldiers following him of the danger ahead. “From here until we pass the road, the trail is lined with mines,” he says, scanning the mountainous Burmese jungle for signs of trouble. “Watch where you step.” As his signal relays down the line, conversations fall silent and the air hums with only the sound of heavy breathing and hundreds of footsteps on hard-packed ground. Eubank picks up the pace, slashing through brush and thorny stalks that tear at his clothing. A former U.S. Special Forces officer and ordained...

Authorities in Vietnam said Friday they will prosecute 84 people accused of being involved in deadly attacks on two commune offices in central Dak Lak province and ordered them held in pre-trial detention. It isn’t clear who was behind the June 11 attacks, which left nine people dead, or what motivated them. On Friday, the Ministry of Public Security said it had confirmed that “organizations and individuals from overseas” had been involved, without getting more specific. “Materials and evidence collected by security forces show that the incident took place with the support and guidance of several organizations and individuals from...

Ms Kyaw's killing is the latest in a series of assassinations of high-profile government supporters. Four days before she was attacked, a well-known nationalist and pro-military supporter, Tint Lwin, was fatally shot in the head while at a tea shop in Yangon, the country's main city. He had been in hiding after surviving a shooting last summer. Ms Kyaw was targeted early in the evening of 30 May while parked outside her house in Yangon's Yankin Township. First reports said she had been killed, after an image of her lying face down in her car was shared on social media....

'These inhumane degenerates need to face real consequences' The three teens accused of killing and eating a beloved swan in an upstate New York village are refugees, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. Manlius Police reported Faye the Swan and her four cygnets missing from the town pond last Monday, which prompted horror from the Manlius, New York, residents. Locals flooded Manlius police with tips the next day, which ended in the arrest of 18-year-old Eman Hussan of Syracuse, New York, and two minors, aged 16 and 17. The posse are refugees from Myanmar and attend high school in the...

On this date in 1948, Burma hanged six for a shocking assassination that haunts the country to this day. The previous summer — specifically, at 10:37 a.m. on July 19th — independence hero/proto-head of state Aung San and six members of his cabinet had been massacred by gunmen. The trail quickly led back to rival pol U Saw, himself a former Prime Minister of under British colonial rule. U Saw had once defended in court the hero of a peasant revolt that the British had quelled with some difficulty. His own maneuverings were heretofore of a more slippery character, having...

Chinese-owned companies in Myanmar are allegedly responsible for illegal mining operations that are destroying the natural landscape of Myanmar’s border region with China, local miners of dysprosium and terbium — two heavy rare earth minerals used in clean energy products and smart electronics — told the organization Global Witness for a report published on Tuesday. Global Witness revealed on August 9 how illicit rare earth mining allegedly supported by Chinese businessmen in Myanmar has ravaged a mountainous border region called Kachin Special Region 1, writing:

Strong mag. 5.9 earthquake - 54 km south of Keng Tung, Kengtung District, Shan State, Myanmar (Burma), on Thursday, Jul 21, 2022 at 11:37 pm (GMT +6:30) - 5 hours ago Updated: Thu, Jul 21, 2022 22:07 GMT - 2 minutes 21 Jul 17:32: Magnitude recalculated from 5.8 to 5.9. Epicenter location corrected by 0.5 km (0.3 mi) towards NE. Update Thu, 21 Jul 2022, 17:21 Significant magnitude 5.5 earthquake 62 km south of Keng Tung, Myanmar (Burma) 5.5 quake 21 Jul 11:37 pm (GMT +6:30) 5.5 quake 21 Jul 11:37 pm (GMT +6:30) The German Research Centre for Geosciences...

WEEKS AGO… The military government in Myanmar has seized the bank accounts of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, after a coup provoked by widespread allegations of voter fraud. The Myanmar military government has seized several bank accounts belonging to or affiliated with George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and issued arrest warrants for 11 members of the organization “on suspicion of giving financial support to the civil disobedience movement against the military junta.” Officials said the Open Society Foundations broke “restrictions on such organizations’ activities” by depositing $5 million into its Myanmar bank accounts. It is also accused of stealing $1.4...

News AnalysisAfter five years of terror against the Rohingya in Burma (also known as Myanmar), the U.S. government finally designated it as a genocide. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the determination on March 21 at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.The genocide designation took so long because Washington did not want to drive the Burmese regime further into the arms of China. Officials had hopes of instead easing the Burmese military junta from the illiberal embrace of Beijing.But after a coup in February 2021, less than two weeks following President Joe Biden’s inauguration, a deteriorating environment for the...

Creatures get trapped in amber all the time, but most prehistoric finds are insects. Amber is a great material for preserving arthropods because of their already tough shells that will hold on even if the insides disintegrate. But what about a lizard? Retinosaurus hkamentiensis is a new extinct species of lizard that was unexpectedly found trapped in Burmese amber. No one expected an entire reptile to be preserved so well, from its scaly skin down to its skeleton.

The landslide occurred in the Hpakant area of northern Kachin state at 04:00 on Wednesday (21:30 GMT Tuesday). Myanmar, also known as Burma, is the world's biggest source of jade, but its mines have seen numerous accidents. The landslide is believed to have been caused by an overflow of rubble discarded from lorries to the open-pit mines. The rubble creates large slopes that can be dangerous in an area denuded of trees, forcing those looking for fragments of the semi-precious stone to labour in hazardous conditions. Rescue teams consisting of about 200 people from Hpakant and the nearby town of...

LONDON (AP) — Rohingya refugees sued social network powerhouse Facebook for more than $150 billion, accusing it of failing to stop hate speech that incited violence against the Muslim ethnic group by military rulers and their supporters in Myanmar.