15 August
First I want to note that Wa Lone contributed to the Reuters piece about Buthidaung being set ablaze. I have been reading Mickey Bergmanâs book wherein he speaks of Wa Lone being involved with the early democracy education work carried out by the Richardson Center. Years later, part of the confrontation between Gov Richardson and DASSK over the whitewashing of the Rohingya Genocide had to do with her defense of the militaryâs entrapping Wa Lone and his fellow reporter after theyâd reported on this issue. Things could have ended much worse for him and Iâm pleased to see him reporting alongside the other excellent reporters who are bylined in the story.
August 8 is an important date in Burma history as protesters gathered on 8/8/88 especially to fuck with Ne Winâs numerological destruction of their dollars into his own denominations. I wasnât involved in commemorations.
MYNT writes:
TL;dr: Regime still doesnât get that ruling by fear is doomed to failure. Also dooming them are skyrocketing commodity prices.
Also following up to what @GagHalfrunt shared from Reuters, Rohingya contacting me are ringing alarms of a second genocide as Rohingya are being crushed between the the Arakan Army (AA) (which also has been accused of forcible recruitment of Rohingya men into its forces) and the regime. Itâs nuanced. There is also a fresh Al Jazeera report on Youtube from Aug 10 (âHundreds of Rohingya killed in Myanmar: Fighting between junta and rebel group intensifiesâ) of a massacre of 200 villagers by the tatmadaw forces as theyâve clashed with the AA. Iâve pledged to not repost links that include atrocity footage which is in the opening few seconds of that piece.
Elsewhere:
Clarifying in case you didnât click on the Irrawaddy link posted by @GagHalfrunt about extending emergency rule, this is how the regime kicks the election date can down the road.
APâs headline for that reads âMyanmarâs military regime extends state of emergency by 6 months as civil war ragesâ - it implies that the election isnât happening because of âcivil war.â I believe I said in commentary here near Day One of the coup, that theyâd be doing this, citing any excuse, for years to come - unless they are 100% assured of an electoral victory. So, no surprise here and they could be citing civil war even if they werenât presently getting their asses kicked.
Put another way: You can set your clock to these election delays.
Edit: Adding Miemieâs piece in The Diplomat.
As the military junta in Myanmar continues to face mounting losses on the ground, the dominant narrative has shifted from âthe military is too big to failâ to fears of Myanmar becoming a âfailedâ or âfracturedâ state.
Prof Byrd offers a reply to the armchair analysts with a deep understanding of the place, the culture, and fractures that do exist.
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Also top news, Junta âoffers an olive branchâ (terrible journalism given what the SAC actually said) and the armed groups reply accordingly.
Reuters: Myanmar junta urges armed opposition to join political fold in elections
Theyâre âofferingâ while still calling the opposition âterrorists.â There are some gems in the replies. First the obvious
NUG spokesperson Nay Phone Latt said the offer was not worth considering, and the junta had no authority to hold an election.
BBC got more quotes
The Karen National Union (KNU), which has been fighting for decades with the military for more autonomy along the border with Thailand, told AFP news agency that talks were only possible if the military agreed to âcommon political objectivesâ.
âNumber one: no military participation in future politics. Two [the military] has to agree to a federal democratic constitution,â KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee told AFP.
âNumber three: they have to be accountable for everything they have committed⌠including war crimes and crimes against humanity,â he said. âNo impunity.â
If the junta does not accede to these demands, the KNU will âkeep putting pressure on [the junta] politically and militarily,â he added.
The military has been nervous about war crimes charges in the past - long before Rohingya at the Hague. They were very nervous after Saddam was taken out. KNU knows this. These demands are a way of saying KNU is not going to compromise whatsoever on current gains or future existence.
They also know that repeating the demand of âno military participation in future politicsâ raises a cheer from Bamar in the cities as KNU continues to shelter hundreds of their siblings who remain on the regimeâs hit list.
And this take is very Burmese:
âThey are hanging goatâs heads but selling dog meat,â Soe Thu Ya Zaw, commander of the Mandalay Peopleâs Defense Forces, wrote on Facebook.
