With Ye Htet, a scholar and trainer in nonviolent resistance at the Freedom Fighter Myanmar organisation. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the Arakan Army fights on and looks set to forcibly recruit, Aung Zeya pulls back, and we discuss transitional justice and nonviolent resistance to military rule.

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Timecodes—

1m15s :: News round-up6m38s :: With Ye Htet, nonviolence18m52s :: Transitional justice33m31s :: Close

Our guest—

Ye Htet, a scholar and trainer in nonviolent resistance at the Freedom Fighter Myanmar organisation

Rethinking justice in the present

It’s time to rethink the CDM

With Daw Khin Soe Win, previously chief of the Voice of America Burmese service, and Salai Dokhar, founder of India for Myanmar. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the leader of ARSA is arrested, the Arakan Army continues its military victories, we talk about the United States gutting the Voice of America, and also the new political umbrella organisation of Chin resistance groups.

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Timecodes—

1m10s :: News from Rakhine State and the region7m28s :: United States’ cuts threatening Myanmar11m14s :: With Khin Soe Win26m39s :: With Salai Dokhar43m03s :: Close

Our guests—

Daw Khin Soe Win, previously chief of the Voice of America Burmese service:

She interviewed Dau Aung San Suu Kyi after release from house arrest in 2011, and this is one of her most cherished memories.

And Salai Dokhar, the founder of India for Myanmar, a group based in India advocating for human rights and democracy in Myanmar:

From neighbors to negotiators: India’s role in resolving the Myanmar crisis

And for a press freedom insider’s take on what’s happened to Voice of America, try this piece by Liam Scott

And don’t forget to check out Frontier’s reflection on Naing Myanmar

With Andrew Nachemson, former managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, and a freelance journalist. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the military signs investment deals and signals more to come, as fresh sanctions and expropriations target the regime and its cronies. Andy and I speak about the unique political and conflict context in Mon State, through the lens of the New Mon State Party and its revolutionary faction, the New Mon State Party-Anti Dictatorship. 

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Timecodes—

1m01s :: Weekly news digest6m43s :: With Andrew Nachmeson, the New Mon State Party-AD14m36s :: Territory under the NMSP23m38s :: The NMSP and drones, threats to civilians39m33s :: Close

Our guest—

Andrew Nachemson, former Managing Editor of Frontier, and a freelance journalist.

Andy has many publications available via Google, and the article we discuss will be dropping on Frontier’s website next week. But for more context, check out his January dispatch from Karen State for Al Jazeera. And for more information on this week’s sanctions, see the Justice for Myanmar press releases about Canada and Switzerland.

With Dr. Evan A. Laksmana, Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Southeast Asian Security and Defence, and Editor of the Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment, at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing visits Russia with great fanfare, while resistance forces cohere—and attack each other. We discuss with Evan the prospects for any meaningful action on Myanmar from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

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Timecodes—

0m52s :: Resistance fractures and coheres4m14s :: Min Aung Hlaing goes to Russia6m27s :: With Evan, the ASEAN 5 point consensus29m30s :: China and Russia in relation to ASEAN33m58s :: Election prospects for ASEAN39m45s :: Close

Our guests—

Dr Evan A. Laksmana, Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Southeast Asian Security and Defence, and Editor of the Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment, at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mkZfQnAAAAAJ&hl=en

Frontier’s recent content referred to in the podcast:

How could I do any less?

Final crackdown

Uncertain fate for Lashio

Rethinking ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus

With Ko Kyaw Naing, an employee since 2012 of a civil society organization in Rakhine State, and also another unnamed guest, a Rohingya youth living in Sittwe. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the military stocks drones in Karen State, more chemical weapons accusations, some scam workers go free, and we speak about the impending attack on the Rakhine State capital, Sittwe. 

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Timecodes—

1m33s :: Weekly news digest5m07s :: With Ko Kyaw Naing, the Arakan Army’s attack on Sittwe11m01s :: AA administration18m11s :: With a Rohingya youth, on the ground in Sittwe34m41s :: Close

Our guests—

Ko Kyaw Naing, an employee since 2012 of a civil society organization in Rakhine State. Our second guest is an unnamed Rohingya youth, currently living in Sittwe, who declined to use a pseudonym.

There are no links or publications from our listeners this week, but we do refer to the Frontier feature from last year, No smoke without fire? Chemical weapons accusations continue. And Frontier’s other free content this week:

Rethinking ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus

Killing creativity: The junta’s cultural crusade

Severed lifelines: Tanintharyi communities starved of food and medicine

With Sean Turnell, Senior Fellow at the Lowy Institute. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the military ships nearly 1,000 Rohingya from Yangon to wartorn Sittwe, Chinese are repatriated from border scam compounds, and we speak about the military’s access to foreign exchange and other finance matters in the wake of the new report,  The Military, Money, and Myanmar: Breaking the Nexus.   

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Timecodes—

1m15s :: Weekly news digest7m35s :: With Sean Turnell, the military’s finances10m40s :: Foreign exchange13m30s :: Sanctions on Myanmar’s banks21m16s :: Financing the resistance28m06s :: Multilateral institutions noting the NUG37m06s :: Close

Our guest—

Sean Turnell, Honorary Professor of Economics at Macquarie University, Senior Fellow at the Lowy Institute, and author of the 1999 book Fiery Dragons: Banks, Moneylenders and Microfinance in Burma, and more recently, An Unlikely Prisoner: How an Eternal Optimist Found Hope in Myanmar’s Most Notorious Jail. Sean advised the National League for Democracy government on economic matters from 2016-2020, was detained and locked up by the military for 650 days following the 2021 coup, and now serves as Special Advisor to the alternative National Unity Government’s Interim Central Bank.

The Military, Money, and Myanmar: Breaking the Nexus

And here’s links to the Frontier Myanmar interviews with Dr Sui Khar and Thai opposition MP Rangsiman Rome.

With Sue-Lin Wong, Southeast Asia correspondent for The Economist. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, ASEAN continues talking consensus, Sittwe fighting begins in earnest, and we speak about the scam industry in the region, as hundreds of trafficked victims go free from Myawaddy.  

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Timecodes—

0m58s :: Weekly news digest8m33s :: With Sue-Lin Wong, the scam industry15m06s :: Why do people fall for scams?17m22s :: Coercion and worker trafficking23m11s :: Chinese experience of scams25m26s :: Absent connection to CCP31m45s :: Future of scams 34m52s :: Close

Our guest—

Sue-Lin Wong, Southeast Asia correspondent for The Economist.

Introduction to Scam Inc.

Online scams may already be as big a scourge as illegal drugs

And read Frontier’s editorial this week on the dangers posed by Elon Musk.

With Lorcan Lovett, independent journalist and Substack writer, with bylines in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, the Sunday Times and more. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, conscripts are barred from monasteries, fuel dries up at key border towns, and we discuss the final fight in the Chin National Defense Force push for Falam, in Chin State.  

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Timecodes—

0m54s :: Weekly news digest8m14s :: With Lorcan Lovett, fighting in Falam15m18s :: Reinforcements18m35s :: Freedom of movement24m08s :: Civilian and rebel life28m40s :: Chin resistance schism37m54s :: Close 

Our guest—

Lorcan Lovett, an independent journalist and Substack writer.

Lorcan’s Substack, “On Myanmar”

His first Chin State dispatch: “They plucked out his eye with a motorbike key … I wanted to kill them”

And—

The Institute of Chin Affairs report referred to in this podcast can be found here.

For more context on the Chin resistance split, check out this Frontier feature from last year.

With Erin Murphy, author of the book Burmese Haze and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, and Minnie, a Myanmar INGO practitioner actively engaged in various initiatives related to gender equality, social inclusion, democracy and human rights. Through USAID funding, her work has focused on projects that aim to create a more transparent government, civic inclusion, and include the voices of marginalized communities. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, Chinese representatives visit Lashio, Bhamo airport is lost to the Kachin Independence Army, and we talk all about the USAID funding freeze.

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Timecodes—

1m36s :: Weekly news digest

5m32s :: With Erin & Minnie, USAID funding freeze

9m28s :: Forewarning and U.S. strategy

15m50s :: Importance of USAID to Myanmar

21m09s :: Effect on AID workers

24m59s :: Near term future

30m47s :: Close

Our guests—

Erin Murphy, author of the book Burmese Haze and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Minnie, a Myanmar INGO practitioner actively engaged in various initiatives related to gender equality, social inclusion, democracy and human rights.

With Vox, a Digital Security Trainer from the Myanmar Internet Project (MIP) and Spring Revolution Security (SRS). This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the MNDAA signs a ceasefire, nearly everyone talks scam centres, the Arakan Army pushes further towards the beach resort town of Chaungtha, and we discuss the new Cybersecurity Law enacted on January 1. 

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Timecodes—

1m26s :: Weekly news digest10m32s :: With Vox, the development of the Cybersecurity Law14m57s :: Origins of law with NLD & experts17m37s :: The law’s problems21m23s :: Influence on the economy and business31m53s :: Close Our guests—

Vox, a Digital Security Trainer from the Myanmar Internet Project and Spring Revolution Security.