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A growing revolt in Myanmar
World Magazine ^ | March 31, 2021 | Angela Lu Fulton

Posted on 04/19/2021 3:24:19 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970

In the city of Naypyitaw on Saturday, Myanmar’s military junta celebrated Armed Forces Day, a holiday marking the beginning of Myanmar’s revolt against Japanese occupation during World War II. The weekend celebration came with a parade, a speech by coup leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and a lavish dinner party.

Meanwhile, across the country, soldiers and police shot largely defenseless anti-coup protesters and bystanders—including children—killing 100 people in the country’s deadliest day since the military’s Feb. 1 takeover.

The day also marked a major escalation of violence in another conflict in Myanmar: the military’s ongoing fighting with local ethnic groups. In the ethnic Karen region in eastern Myanmar, villagers in Day Pu Noh Valley in Papun District noticed a military fighter jet flying overhead in the afternoon. That night, the military dropped bombs on the village—the first airstrikes in the region in 20 years—killing three people and wounding eight. The district is held by the armed Brigade 5 forces of the Karen National Union (KNU), a leading political body representing the ethnic group.

Saw Aye Lay Htoo, 27, was holding his 2-year-old son in his lap when the bomb hit, according to Christian aid group Free Burma Rangers. The father died instantly while pieces of shrapnel cut the right side of his child’s face. Villagers grabbed their children and belongings and fled to the jungle, finding shelter in caves and rock crevices as the Free Burma Rangers tended to the wounded, provided rice, and passed out tarps.

(Excerpt) Read more at wng.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alwaysthesame; burma; coup; myanmar; nochange; tatmadaw
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Background on the military coup and conflict in Myanmar.

Note that I detect some historical revisionism on the part of the Burmese military in the first paragraph. After the British Empire subjugated Burma during the colonial era the dominant Burmese tribe (which had long oppressed weaker hill tribes around their central valley) resented British control.

The American missionary Adoniram Judson and others had begun making converts in the years before the British conquest, particularly among the Karen tribe. These early Karen converts, receiving a western education from the missionaries, naturally became the core of the British colonial administration.

So when the Japanese invaded Burma, the Burmese people didn't fight back. They largely joined the Japanese cause, hoping to throw off British rule (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_occupation_of_Burma). The Brits found allies among the frontier tribes, who carried on guerrilla war against the Japanese. But after the war the tribes were sold out as the British quickly gave independence to Burma without guarantees for autonomy for the tribes being established. Within a few years the Karen and other tribes were under attack and the cycle of oppression had restarted, continuing to this day as China looks to the Burmese military to exploit the tribal regions for cheap access to raw materials.

1 posted on 04/19/2021 3:24:19 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: EnderWiggin1970

In light of the recent corrupt national election in the USA forgive me if I am not so quick to judge the military in Burma for doing what they did.

I say that because if they were overthrowing an increasingly Marxist regime our media would never tell us about it.

So forgive me if I don’t immediately believe the military is wrong and the protesters are right.


2 posted on 04/19/2021 3:28:38 PM PDT by MercyFlush (Senator Joseph McCarthy was right. )
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To: EnderWiggin1970

The military was right to take control since not only did they have a fake election they also have tons of drugs funneled there with their corrupt government.


3 posted on 04/19/2021 3:34:02 PM PDT by bcr100 (ht)
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To: EnderWiggin1970

They were right to take over. However it sounds that they are no more competent then the Marxists they overthrew.


4 posted on 04/19/2021 3:36:59 PM PDT by The MAGA-Deplorian (Democrats are lawless because Republicans are ball-less!)
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To: MercyFlush

Also, I question the accuracy of the reporting. They sound somewhat like CBS and CNN both of whom are skilled at fabricating news.


5 posted on 04/19/2021 3:39:22 PM PDT by elpadre
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To: EnderWiggin1970
Karen National Union”

You can't make this stuff up! LOL.

And the name is Burma, not "Myanmar". These journalists always try to act posh and/or politically correct.



6 posted on 04/19/2021 3:39:47 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (Working like Crazy to support the Lazy.)
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To: elpadre

Ditto that.


7 posted on 04/19/2021 3:40:18 PM PDT by MercyFlush (Senator Joseph McCarthy was right. )
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To: bcr100

Why do people imagine the election there was in any way fake? What is your evidence?

Does not the overwhelming opposition of the people in the CDM, the strikes, and the joining together of the tribes tell you the opposition is real?


8 posted on 04/19/2021 3:41:38 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: elpadre

This is World Magazine. There was once a time when a Christian conservative magazine was looked up to here and World articles were more than welcomed here. Now what do I see? Knee-jerk reactions in favor of the Chinese communists and their military allies, cheering the murder and oppression of countless people? What has happened to FR?


9 posted on 04/19/2021 3:44:08 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: The MAGA-Deplorian

Why were they right to take over? Were they wrong when they gave up a modicum of power in the first place? What is the logic here?


10 posted on 04/19/2021 3:45:10 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: EnderWiggin1970

They used the same Dominion program for one that has been known since 2006 cheating occurs with it yet nobody does a thing about it. Also drugs and child sex trafficking happening all through that country.


11 posted on 04/19/2021 3:49:46 PM PDT by bcr100 (ht)
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To: MercyFlush

I see a lot of knee-jerk opposition to the democratic movement in Myanmar, in favor of the military dictatorship and effectively the Chinese government that underwrites them. But what I have not seen from the pro-authoritarians on FR is a shred of evidence to justify their views.

What is so great about the Chinese communist party and its exploitation of Myanmar? What is so great about a military junta that has murdered, raped, and oppressed millions of innocent people for decades? What is the evidence for “election fraud” in Myanmar?


12 posted on 04/19/2021 3:50:39 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: EnderWiggin1970

Say least Burma is dealing with their Karen problem.


13 posted on 04/19/2021 3:51:21 PM PDT by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: EnderWiggin1970

“...the Chinese communist party and its exploitation of Myanmar?...”

I haven’t heard about the CCP being involved. Tell me more.


14 posted on 04/19/2021 3:55:56 PM PDT by elpadre
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To: bcr100

I give up. I’ve been around FR far longer than people imagine. I attended the first rallies for Clinton’s impeachment in 97-98, when FR looked to have a great future spearheading the fight for freedom and a conservative, constitutional republic.

Now look at it. A bunch of crusty 80 year olds who do nothing but gripe online and grasp at the lamest shreds of evidence to bolster their fossilized views as they cluelessly throw their support behind authoritarians and leftists.

Yes, you’re right about the drugs and sex trafficking. I am ops manager for an NGO that supports around a dozen children’s homes in/around Burma as well as safe houses from trafficking in the region, so I could tell you a thing or two. I had thought there might be some feeling of support to do something to help among the audience at FR. But I can see FR is for griping and grasping at straws, not lifting a finger to do anything helpful. :-(


15 posted on 04/19/2021 3:58:05 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: bcr100
Gee, sounds familiar.
16 posted on 04/19/2021 4:01:39 PM PDT by Major Matt Mason
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To: elpadre

I posted a testimony from a tribal villager a few days ago that speaks to this. Burma is China’s 2nd largest arms customer. The military builds roads into tribal areas, not for helpful development but for oppression and exploitation of the tribes and for the natural resources which flow to China. Natives are utilized as slave labor and porters by the military (and sometimes left for dead by the trailside when the job is done).

I recall my director telling me about a native who mentioned being forced out of his home and off his land where the Tatmadaw built an airfield. “How much did they pay you” he asked. The local just laughed bitterly.


17 posted on 04/19/2021 4:02:23 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: EnderWiggin1970
Sorry, bud, but after the last four years (and probably 12 years), Freepers have a right to be skeptical about the news being fed to them about a place that is most likely a backwards, political mess. Sadly, some of Burma's messes sound strangely familiar.
18 posted on 04/19/2021 4:06:44 PM PDT by Major Matt Mason
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To: MercyFlush

Long-term US interests in places like Burma are often best served by doing NOTHING.

Simply maintain commercial and diplomatic relations, and in especially tense conflict zones LIMIT immigrants to the USA. Our deep state likes to do the opposite on both counts.


19 posted on 04/19/2021 4:12:57 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: bcr100
They used the same Dominion program for one that has been known since 2006 cheating occurs with it yet nobody does a thing about it.

They fill out ballots by hand and count them by hand in Burma.

20 posted on 04/19/2021 4:16:58 PM PDT by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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