Overshadowed by ongoing fighting in Eastern Europe and the Middle East as well as growing tensions between the US and China, the ongoing conflict in Myanmar nonetheless constitutes a critical component of what is a larger global conflict. Depicted by Western governments and Western media as an isolated, internal conflict between a “military dictatorship” and the forces of “democracy,” in actuality the conflict represents…

Chittagong (Chattagram) Hill Tracts (CHT) – a home to Jumma ethnicity, have been a source of perennial upheaval in Bangladesh for years. However, the Bangladesh military has successfully neutralized the separatist militant groups in the region through Operation Dabanal – which was later re-established under the name Operation Uttaron. This insurgency in the country has helped the Bangladesh Army garner immense experience in counter-terrorism operations…

At no time, at least in its modern history, has Myanmar ever been a peaceful place – and for that, the British Empire is to blame. For the sake of administrative convenience, London grouped together in one nation peoples of vastly different ethnic origins, languages and cultures who previously had no idea they were living together in a single country. Following its independence in 1948, Burma was driven by continuous localized conflicts between numerous ethnic groups and the central government…

The remarkable recent developments in the above-mentioned countries are interesting because they characterise the development of the situation in the vast Indian Ocean region. This region, however, has been included for almost two decades in the more general political and geographical category of the Indo-Pacific. The struggle between the world’s leading players for control of the situation in the Indian Ocean region as a whole, but mainly over the largest trade route passing through it, has been manifesting itself in recent years…

Changing geopolitical realities and the deteriorating image of the United States are resulting in novel alliances around the world. The unipolar world under the hegemony of the United States has sparked a sense of injustice and maltreatment due to its dictatorial attitude. Military and diplomatic interventions by the United States have widened the gulf between the global north and the global south. In the recent geopolitical shifts, Russia and China have emerged as the new superpowers of the world. The global south looks at them as the new viable option for an alliance…

While a mid-November meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in San Francisco was interpreted by some as a thawing in relations between China and the US, Washington continues onward, expanding its policy of encircling and containing the rise of China through economic, diplomatic, and military means. The most likely explanation for US overtures toward China, precipitating the recent meeting, is Washington’s familiar game of seeking to appear to be pursuing diplomacy all while actually undermining it…

Since the end of October this year, the situation in Myanmar (thirty years earlier called Burma) has again been the subject of increased attention from world news agencies. Although not as close, of course, as in the cases of armed conflicts in Ukraine, and now in the Middle East. However, the first reports of a sharp intensification of hostilities between government forces and armed formations of several insurgent movements, which began simultaneously in various regions of Myanmar, standing many hundreds of kilometers apart, did not pass the front pages of world publications…

In early September, a truly historic event took place. Russia and Myanmar re-established air links after 30 years. What does this do for our travelling enthusiasts? Should we expect a tourism boom to this exotic country? How promising is Myanmar for the Russian tourism industry today? Maya Kotlyar, the founder and head of MAYEL Travel, one of the most quoted public experts in tourism, will help us to understand these issues. – Dear Maya, Although Myanmar is quite an exotic tourist destination, you have a lot of experience in sending tourists there…

Myanmar has always been a crossroads of migration routes and trade routes. Indochina as a whole is one of the most favorable places for the development of homo sapiens, therefore, since ancient times, many often not very close ethnic groups have lived on the territory of the country. It is not surprising that by present a relatively small state is a patchwork of fourteen administrative entities, in each, with the exception of the capital, there is at least one separatist armed group. Together, this entity is called the Union…