Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
The first hint Soe Thun* had that his online sales job might not be exactly as advertised was that the hiring process lasted just a few minutes and took place over a voice messaging app. His recruiter, who gave her name as Lisa, told Soe Thun to send her a paragraph of...
Shut out of the Asean summit last week, Myanmar’s junta held its own meetings with representatives from China, India and Thailand in a bid to use its larger neighbours to leverage against the regional bloc and boost the generals’ “legitimacy”, analysts said. As leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia...
The illicit economy in Myanmar has risen following the military coup in February 2021. The rise of the illicit economy is seemingly in part intentional, because the military junta, which calls itself the State Administration Council (SAC), finds opportunities to exploit outlawed business. This article...
From Shwe Kokko to KK Park, a slew of brutal criminal enterprises now dot the Moei River that forms Myanmar’s border with Thailand. Survivors, ensnared by promises of legitimate work, spoke to This Week in Asia of trafficking, torture – and being forced to defraud strangers online. This story was produced in...
Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations again condemned the violence in Myanmar, triggered by the military junta's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy opponents. At a summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought support to counter China's...
As Myanmar government troops clashed with armed, pro-democracy resistance forces in the country's northwestern Sagaing region in June, concern rose over the dangers lurking beneath the ground, particularly around a Chinese-run copper mine in the area, reported Nikkei Asia...
Ye Myo Hein told The Times that the recent inclusion of Burma Act language in the NDAA was “perceived by Beijing as an increased U.S. involvement in Myanmar and a threat to China’s interests.” Jason Tower, director of the Burma program at the U.S. Institute of Peace, is among those suggesting...
VICE News’ Natashya Gutierrez investigates a dark new online scam industry built on violence and enslaved labor, gaining rare access to the human trafficking victims who were forced into stealing billions of dollars from everyday Americans...
Organized criminal groups from China operating on the Thai-Myanmar border are threatening internet users worldwide with online scams and financial fraud, using trafficked “cyber slaves” to carry out their crimes, according to a new report by the congressionally established United States...
On the sixth floor of a nondescript office building on K Street in Washington, D.C., nestled between a Subway and a Starbucks, Moe Zaw Oo is waging a rearguard political war to keep the remnants of democracy alive in his home country of Myanmar...