Myanmar

Last month, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Swiss diplomat Christine Schraner Burgener as his Special Envoy on Myanmar, marking the…

Myanmar: no country for young men

After two years in the job, Myanmar’s President U Htin Kyaw resigned last Wednesday. The 71-year-old has been in poor health for some time. A close confidante of Daw Aung San Suu…

The urgent need for leadership on the Rohingya crisis

Jubaida is one of a million refugees in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh. When she thinks back six months, her memories of playing marbles with friends rest oddly alongside episodes of…

Russian pragmatism on display in South East Asia

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Myanmar recently in a clear display of Moscow’s pragmatism. Many Western observers, especially from the US, present Vladimir Putin…

Democracy and peace frustrated in Myanmar: remembering U Ko Ni

It is one year since U Ko Ni, a prominent lawyer and advocate for constitutional reform, was assassinated in Myanmar. This was one of many incidents in 2017 that indicated a sharp…

Best of The Interpreter 2017: The Rohingya Crisis

In July, shortly before an escalation of clashes in Rakhine state intensified the exodus of Rohingya people from Myanmar, Elliot Brennan wrote of Myanmar: Naypyidaw has failed to…

What a realistic solution to Myanmar’s Rakhine State crisis might look like

Myanmar and Bangladesh recently announced an agreement for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh to return to Myanmar. After Pope Francis visited both…

Myanmar: The limits of sanctions

Imposing sanctions always creates challenges. Sanctions provide targeted states with an excuse to shift blame onto outside forces. They tend to concentrate wealth into the hands…

Myanmar’s evolving maritime security landscape

Myanmar links South and Southeast Asia and lies on maritime shipping routes from the Indian and Pacific Oceans. A key pillar of its national development agenda is establishing an…

Defusing the ticking time-bomb in Cox’s Bazar

Over the last month, almost half a million Rohingyas have fled from Rakhine State in Myanmar to Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. That represents approximately half of the entire…