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Articles, publications, books, tools and multimedia features from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest news, analysis, research findings, practitioner guides and reports, all related to the conflict zones and issues that are at the center of the Institute’s work to prevent and reduce violent conflict.
เนื้อร้ายอาชญากรรมลุกลามทั่วทั้งทวีปเอเชีย
ในเขตพื้นที่ที่กฎหมายเข้าไม่ถึงแถบลุ่มน้ำเมยซึ่งใช้แบ่งเขตแดนระหว่างไทยกับเมียนมาร์ที่ถูกควบคุมโดยกลุ่มอาชญากรคือ พื้นที่ที่มีความพยายามปราบปรามแก๊งอิทธิพลติดอาวุธเหล่านี้ โดยรัฐบาลจีนกดดันรัฐบาลเผด็จการทหารของเมียนมาร์ ซึ่งบางครั้งถือเป็นลูกน้องที่ภักดีของรัฐบาลปักกิ่ง โดยให้ประเทศไทยตัดการส่งกระแสไฟฟ้าไปยังศูนย์กลางการพนันและการฉ้อโกงขนาดใหญ่ที่ดำเนินการโดยกลุ่มอาชญากรจีนที่มีที่ตั้งอยู่อีกฟากของแม่น้ำเมยในประเทศเมียนมาร์ โดยที่กองกำลังรักษาชายแดน (Border Guard Force: BGF) ภายใต้การดูแลของทหารในพื้นที่ซึ่งเป็นพันธมิตรกลุ่มอาชญากรได้ตอบโต้ด้วยการขู่ว่าจะปิดการค้าชายแดน หลังจากนั้นเครื่องกำเนิดไฟฟ้าขนาดใหญ่ก็ปรากฏขึ้นในเขตปกครองนั้น โดยกองกำลังรักษาชายแดนและกลุ่มอาชญากรเป็นผู้นำ ทั้งนี้ไม่มีคำอธิบายหรือการดำเนินการใดๆ จากฝ่ายกองทัพเมียนมาร์ ผู้บังคับบัญชาได้รับผลประโยชน์จากอาชญากรรมเหล่านี้ (หากไม่ใช่ผลประโยชน์ของทั้งกองทัพ) ทำให้ธุรกิจยังคงดำเนินการต่อได้ตามปกติ
Căn bệnh ung thư “tội phạm” lây lan ở Đông Nam Á
Trong chính quyền yếu kém ở quanh các khu vực do nhóm tội phạm kiểm soát trên sông Moei ngăn cách Thái Lan và Myanmar, một cuộc trấn áp các băng đảng xã hội đen có vũ trang sẽ diễn ra như thế này: Trung Quốc gây sức ép lên chính quyền quân sự Myanmar - đôi khi là tay sai của Bắc Kinh - buộc Thái Lan phải cắt điện đối với một trung tâm cờ bạc và lừa đảo lớn do các băng nhóm tội phạm Trung Quốc cầm đầu ở bên kia sông của Myanmar. Lực lượng Biên phòng do quân đội giám sát trong khu vực, cấu kết với các băng nhóm tội phạm, đáp trả bằng những lời đe dọa đóng cửa biên mậu. Sau đó, những chiếc máy phát điện khổng lồ xuất hiện trong khu vực được bộ đội biên phòng và các băng đảng tội phạm lắp đặt. Quân đội không có bất kỳ hành động nào và không giải thích. Bản thân các chỉ huy, nếu không muốn nói là quân đội, được cho là hưởng lợi từ hoạt động tội phạm. Mọi hoạt động vẫn diễn ra như thường lệ.
A Criminal Cancer Spreads in Southeast Asia
In the fractured authority surrounding crime-group controlled enclaves on the Moei River separating Thailand and Myanmar, this is what a crackdown on armed gangsters looks like: China presses Myanmar’s military junta — a sometimes client of Beijing — to make Thailand cut electric power to a large gambling and fraud hub run by Chinese crime syndicates across the river in Myanmar. The military-supervised Border Guard Force in the area, a partner of the syndicates, responds with threats to shut down cross-border trade. Then, giant generators appear in the enclave, deployed by the border guards and the gangs. The army, without explanation, does nothing. Individual commanders, if not the army itself, are believed to profit from the criminal activity. Business as usual continues.
Five Takeaways from China’s Latest Diplomacy
China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, has been on a whirlwind diplomatic tour in recent weeks, with high-profile meetings in Europe, Myanmar, Pakistan — where he also met with Taliban officials — and back home in Beijing with the U.S. ambassador to China. With U.S.-China relations as frosty as ever, Qin’s meeting with Ambassador Nicholas Burns signals that both sides want to manage better manage their differences. In Europe, Beijing is promoting its peace plan for Ukraine despite European concerns that Beijing is decidedly pro-Moscow. Meanwhile, amid crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar, China is wielding its clout to advance its own interests in spite of the implications for long-term stability.
The Limits of Beijing’s Support for Myanmar’s Military
Since late 2022, Beijing has increasingly signaled the limits of its support for Myanmar’s junta against pro-democracy forces and protection against international efforts to hold the army accountable for its crimes. In particular, Beijing has demonstrated a reluctance when doing the junta’s bidding internationally results in significant political costs vis-à-vis its relations with Southeast Asian states or its reputation at the United Nations.
Two Years of Myanmar’s Junta: Regional Instability, Surging Organized Crime
Two years ago today, Myanmar’s military snuffed out the country’s democratic government in a coup and set about restoring the grim dictatorship that dominated the Southeast Asian nation for 50 years. But the generals’ initial moves — jailing civilian leaders, shutting the free press, issuing heavy-handed decrees — were the only things that went according to plan. To date, the coup has instead triggered myriad unintended effects. None are more urgent and consequential than the instability and crime that the generals’ power grab triggered across Southeast Asia, and none more directly implicate U.S. interests in the region.
Myanmar’s Criminal Zones: A Growing Threat to Global Security
International media and law enforcement are waking up to a new post-COVID trend in transnational crime: the proliferation of criminally run zones in Myanmar and across Southeast Asia, and an explosion of human trafficking for labor in these ungoverned enclaves.
Amid War in Ukraine, Russia’s Lavrov Goes on Diplomatic Offensive
As Russia’s unprovoked and illegal war against Ukraine enters its seventh month, the Russian government continues its diplomatic offensive to prevent more countries from joining international condemnation and sanctions for its military aggression. Between July and August, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled to Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Cambodia — the last as part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. This tour represented an evolving reorientation of Russian foreign policy from Europe to the Global South that has accelerated since Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
Why Myanmar’s Desperate Generals Executed Prominent Pro-Democracy Figures
From virtually the moment Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s democratically elected government last year, the generals have faced a popular uprising that they met with escalating brutality. Even so, their decision last week to put to death — by hanging — four high-profile democracy advocates sparked shock and outrage at home and around the world. USIP’s Jason Tower, Priscilla Clapp and Billy Ford discuss what is behind the coup regime’s bloody move and its implications for Myanmar and international efforts to bring peace and democracy to the Southeast Asian country.
China Bets Strategic Projects, Regional Stability on Myanmar Coup Regime
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Myanmar last week was the first by a senior Beijing official since a military coup toppled Myanmar’s elected government in February 2021. Its ostensible purpose was to co-chair the foreign ministers meeting of a Chinese-led subregional framework known as the Lancang Mekong Cooperation Forum. Its deeper — though related — significance was to deliver a crystal-clear message on the conflict raging in Myanmar: China has chosen to bolster Myanmar’s military in its fight against a rapidly growing popular resistance movement and will support the junta’s position within key multilateral platforms.