Contents: Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after Buddhist-Muslim violence; Growing violence by Sri Lankan Buddhist hardliners against Tamils; North Korea says it will denuclearize if the regime is ‘secure’
The United States slammed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland, for its biased treatment of Israel and providing a platform for the most egregious violators of human rights like Iran.
Contents: Bangladesh formally protests Burma’s (Myanmar’s) troop buildup near border; April monsoon rains will have disastrous impact on Rohingya camps in Bangladesh
Contents: China’s Mekong River dams criticized for affecting other countries’ livelihoods; In policy shift, US sides with Indonesia in South China Sea over Natuna Sea
Contents: Rohingya ARSA attack on Burma (Myanmar) police complicates fantasy repatriation plans; Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh continues to grow
Contents: Burma (Myanmar) blocks UN investigator from investigating atrocities against Rohingyas; Burma officials, including Aung San Suu Kyi, may face genocide charges
Contents: UN asks for 2018 increase in humanitarian aid despite compassion fatigue; Humanitarian crises continue to grow year after year
Contents: Burma makes farcical agreement with Bangladesh to take back Rohingya refugees; China proposes farcical three-point solution to Rohingya crisis; India and China support Burma on Rohingya ethnic cleansing for business reasons
Nearly a dozen U.S. State Department officials have accused their boss Secretary Rex Tillerson of breaching American law by excluding Iraq, Myanmar, and Afghanistan from a U.S. list of countries that turn a blind eye to the abhorrent use of child soldiers, reports Reuters, citing internal government documents.
Contents: Bangladesh builds huge refugee camp for 800,000 displaced Rohingyas from Burma (Myanmar); Rohingya crisis expands into Kashmir, creating a mega-crisis
The Rohingya received very little sympathy from Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun of Syria, who said during an interview with Indian media that Rohingya refugees are a security threat to host countries such as India, while the government of Myanmar has been targeted by a propaganda campaign.
Contents: Burma’s ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims passes a major milestone; Burma has possible parallels to Pol Pot’s Cambodian Killing Fields
Buddhist protesters allegedly threw petrol bombs in an attempt to block aid shipments to Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Burma, amid accusations from the United Nations of military-induced ethnic cleansing in the region.
On Tuesday, the effective (but not official) leader of Myanmar, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, gave her first major speech on the Rohingya crisis. Reviews of the address from international observers have been mixed, with some applauding her for unambiguously condemning human rights violations, while others say she appeared to question whether the Rohingya are suffering such violations at the hands of her government.
Contents: Burma’s (Myanmar’s) ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas leading to humanitarian catastrophe; at press conference, Boris Johnson and Rex Tillerson make delusional statements; Rohingya genocide forces India to choose between Burma and Bangladesh; North Korea fires another ballistic missile over Japan
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy is on his way to Myanmar, where he will meet with officials to discuss the government’s response to Rohingya insurgents and the resulting mass flight of Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh. He will not, however, be allowed to visit the conflict zone and see for himself how government forces have been treating civilian populations.
On Wednesday, the unofficial leader of Myanmar (formerly Burma) canceled a trip to the U.N. General Assembly, ostensibly because she is needed at home to deal with a terrorist insurgency. Most observers outside Myanmar believe the formerly celebrated, Nobel-winning Aung San Suu Kyi is hiding from the international community that once lauded her, because her government is conducting a campaign of repression – perhaps even ethnic cleansing or genocide – against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Contents: Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi under fire for allowing Rohingya ethnic cleansing; BBC reporter Jonathan Head returns from Burma’s government-controlled visit; Generational explanation for Burma’s genocide and ethnic cleansing; The future of Burma and the Rohingyas
Contents: Floods in South Asia kill 1,400 people in four countries; Kenya’s president Kenyatta lashes out as Supreme Court judges as ‘crooks’; Burmese Buddhist attacks on Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar becoming full-scale genocide
Contents: Violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar/Burma escalates dramatically; Rise of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) militant insurgency
As we contemplate the fallout from CNN’s effort to hunt down and intimidate the creator of a ten-second comedy video, let us note that people have been jailed around the world for social media posts. Here’s what happens when governments and cyber-vigilantes start deciding that certain “hateful” individuals no longer deserve the privilege of online anonymity.
Contents: Sri Lanka targets radical nationalist Buddhists in Bodu Bala Sena (BBS); Brief generational history of Sri Lanka and Bodu Bala Sena (BBS)
Tun Lon Sein, a newly arrived refugee from Myanmar who was headed for resettlement in New Bern, North Carolina, on a taxpayer-funded flight that began in Thailand, appeared in federal court on Friday.
The language of “dramatic increases” and “soaring crime rates” common to public policy discussions seems inadequate for the meth epidemic in Bangladesh, where drug seizures in rural Islamic communities have increased by eighty thousand percent over the past nine years.
Contents: Pope Francis apologizes for Catholic Church’s role in 1994 Rwanda genocide; A century of genocides
In a speech that lasted over an hour to the Filipino community in Myanmar, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to “give all” to support President Donald Trump and berated the European Union for opposing his use of extrajudicial killing, asking, “why do you have to f*ck with us?”
Contents: Thousands flee from Myanmar into China to escape army clashes with ethnic militias; Myanmar faces an investigation for ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims
In a series of tweets, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif slammed U.S. President Donald Trump while praising Pope Francis for his alleged “denunciation of #MuslimBan” and of the Rohingya genocide going on in Myanmar.
The government of Myanmar arrested a Buddhist monk on Tuesday for hiding over four million methamphetamine pills and a cache of “a grenade and ammunition” in his monastery. The incident highlights one of the world’s most sprawling drug epidemics in a nation former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has regaled as an Obama White House success story.
Contents: Devastating UN report on Burma shows scale of ghastly atrocities; Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s government may have to respond to the report; Generational Dynamics interpretation of Burma (Myanmar) atrocities
Contents: Trying to keep up in a world in a state of hysteria; Leading Muslim government advisor in Myanmar (Burma) is assassinated; Ethnic cleansing of Myanmar’s Rohingyas threatens regional stability
Contents: Britain’s hospitals run out of beds as Red Cross declares NHS in ‘humanitarian crisis’; Violent protests in Sri Lanka over China’s takeover of Hambantota seaport
A top Sunni theologian has faced backlash on social media after he praised Buddhism and described its founder as “one of the most humane characters in history.”
Contents: Video emerges from Burma (Myanmar) showing police beating Rohingya Muslims; Syrian opposition groups suspend negotiations of peace talks
An armed insurgent group of oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority members in Myanmar who carried out a deadly attack against border guards in October is receiving support from diaspora members in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, reports the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG).
Contents: Syria’s Al-Assad, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah score victory in Aleppo; US’s Samantha Power makes excoriating attack on Syria’s al-Assad, Russia, Iran; Human Rights Watch reveals more ethnic cleansing imagery from Burma (Myanmar)
Contents: Evidence of Burma ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas continues to mount; Burma’s Rohingya attacks generate calls for military action in Malaysia; Jihadists become radicalized by the Rohingya slaughter
Contents: UN: Burma (Myanmar) committing ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Rohingyas; Bangladesh is blocking Rohingya refugees fleeing from Burma violence; Tens of thousands flee from northern Burma across border to China
Contents: China puts army on high alert along border with Burma (Myanmar); Burma’s army appears to be exterminating Rakhine State Rohingyas
Contents: Communal violence grows in Myanmar (Burma) between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims; Syria and Russia resume bombings of women and children in Aleppo
