It does not receive as much front page news in the United States as the Russia-Ukraine war or Israel-Palestinian conflict, but the situation in Myanmar, the country formerly named Burma, is no less grave.
The current fighting began four years ago, when a military junta under General Min Aung Hlaing toppled the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the latest chapter in decades of civil strife that began when independent Burma’s first parliamentary democracy collapsed under military pressure in 1962.
In this episode of History As It Happens, we delve into the complicated, violent dynamics that have torn Myanmar apart. One of the world’s most ethnically diverse lands, Myanmar has fragmented into quasi-autonomous statelets ruled by armed ethnic groups along its borders with India, China, Bangladesh and Thailand. The junta has consolidated its control over the central regions of the country while committing atrocities against pro-democracy civilian protesters.
“The dilemma here is that with what’s going on there, we cannot easily do anything about it,” said Priscilla Clapp, a senior adviser to the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. Ms. Clapp served as chief of mission and permanent charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Burma from 1999 to 2002.
“The country is closed. The military has shut it off from the world. And its neighbors have cordoned it off as well,” curbing humanitarian assistance, Ms. Clapp said. “There’s really nothing positive that could be accomplished by international intervention at this point because the military is absolutely determined to maintain control of the country.”
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