By Ellen Chambers — Renewed communal violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State underscores the imperative for greater emphasis on peacebuilding in the country’s troubled west. The recently established Rakhine State Advisory Commission, led by former-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, is essential…
By Paul Vrieze — When Myanmar foreign minister and state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in Washington on September 14, she is due to focus on gaining U.S. support for her country’s economic development, possibly through adjusting longstanding trade…
By Jacqui Chagnon — President Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos between September 6-8. He is expected to announce an increase in aid to speed up the cleanup of unexploded ordnance, remnants of the…
By Ellen Chambers — Myanmar’s second Panglong Conference — the cornerstone dialogue of the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) push for peace and national reconciliation in the long-running conflict between Myanmar’s military and ethnic armed groups — is slated to…
Who is he? Lieutenant General Yar Pyae heads the Myanmar Armed Forces’ Bureau of Special Operations 2, based in Shan State in the country’s northeast. He previously served as the chief of training and judge advocate general of the Myanmar…
By Chau Hoang — The recent controversy over former senator Bob Kerrey’s chairmanship of the U.S.-sponsored Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) deserves the attention of those interested in the progress of U.S.-Vietnam relations. The debate transcends the ethical merits of having…
By Richard Javad Heydarian — After months of grueling and highly polarizing election campaigning, the Philippines has finally chosen its next set of leaders. Rodrigo Duterte, the firebrand and highly controversial mayor of Davao City, appears to have won a…
By Zachary Abuza — The United States and the Philippines held their annual Balikatan military exercises from April 4 to 15. While the exercise identified no threat, the symbolism of training exercises that included retaking an oil platform and an…
In this episode we discuss the remarkable rise of Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Myanmar, or Burma. Following inauguration on April 1, 2016, the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi must now address…
By Aung Din — It was March 30, a beautiful but extremely hot summer day in Myanmar. The sky above Naypyitaw, the secluded capital, was clear. The enormous parliament compound was filled with thousands of people and I was one…
