UN Envoy Julie Bishop Met Mad-Myanmar-Dictator

               (Simion Lewis’s article from the REUTERS on 30 October 2024.)

UN envoy says she met Myanmar army chief, calls for end to violence: United Nations Special Envoy Julie Bishop visited Myanmar's capital and met with the head of the country's military junta, she told a U.N. meeting on Tuesday, adding that actors in Myanmar had to move past what she called a "zero-sum mentality" to move toward a resolution of the Southeast Asian country's grinding conflict.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the army chief Min Aung Hlaing led a coup and arrested members of an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's on Feb. 1, 2021. Bishop, a former Australian foreign minister appointed to the Myanmar role in April, said any pathway to reconciliation required an end to violence, accountability and access for the U.N. and aid groups.

The U.N. says more than 3.1 million people have been displaced by the ensuing civil war between the military and a loose alliance of ethnic minority rebels and an armed resistance movement spawned out of the junta's bloody crackdown on anti-coup protests. "I have visited Naypyitaw and met with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and I will return," Bishop said of the previously undisclosed visit, without giving more details of the meeting.

Na-Pa-Kha Has Fallen: Ann Town Is Liberated?

(Translated staff article from the KHIT THIT MEDIA on 29 October 2024.)

Communications between the War Office at Nay-pyi-daw and Na-Pa-Kha the Western Military Command at Ann town has been cut-off, and the rumours are that Na-Pa-Kha has fallen, and AA the Arakan Army has liberated Ann the fortified military town in the Arakan State of Burma.

The concerned parents of a young Army-Sergeant-Clerk serving at the Na-Pa-Kha in Ann told Khit Thit Media that they had daily email and telephone contacts with their son till October-25, but on October-26 and 27 it was extremely difficult, and then on October-28 it was completely cut-off, and  when they contacted the Nay-pyi-daw War Office they were simply denied access.

Na-Pa-Kha at Ann has been under-siege for nearly four months and the Divisional CO Major-General Kyaw Zwar Oo seems to have fled to Sittwe where the Arakan State Chief-Minister Htein Lin has been taking refuge since the current AA offensive started last year. AA has now taken twelve townships out of all seventeen townships in Arakan State.

China Blockading KIA the Kachin Independence Army

 (Translated staff article from the MYANMAR NOW MEDIA on 18 October 2024.)

PLA shutdown Panwar Gate.

China has declared to completely shut down the border between the Kachin State and China due to KIA’s refusal to obey China’s order to stop the hostile actions against seriously weakened Myanmar Army. The border closure begins today on October-18.

On October-17, China’s Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Deng Xijun and his team of Chinese diplomats had an emergency meeting with KIO/KIA Chairman General Gam Shaung at Yin Kyang City in Yunan Province. Deng Xijun basically ordered KIA to stop capturing Kachin towns immediately, otherwise, KIA would face dire consequences from China’s stern actions for disobedience like the MNDAA the Kokang Army is now facing.

Apparently, KIA completely ignored China’s orders and went ahead with its plan to capture the crucial town of Pan-war and then Kan-pike-tee Pass. And Chian immediately blockaded Kachin-China Broder and sent in a PLA division to stop the Kachin people crossing the border.

Last Frontier in Arakan-War: Kyauk-Phyu Town?

(Based on a staff article from the MYANMAR AMERICAN NEWS on 20 October 2024.)

Out of seventeen townships in Arakan, twelve townships are now liberated by the Arakan Army (AA), while other five townships are on the verge of collapse. The liberated townships are Kyauk-Taw, Myauk-oo, Pauk-Taw, Min-Byar, Myae-Bone, Ponnar-Kyun, Yathe-Taung, Buthee-Taung, Mayng-Daw, Than-Dwe, Man-Aung and Yam-Byae. Other five townships sill under Myanmar Army’s control are Sit-Tway, Ann, Taung-Koke, Gwa, and Kyauk-Phyu.

One of those five townships, Kyauk-Phyu is the most important one for there are Chinese projects worth nearly twenty billion US$ in Kyauk-Phyu Town alone. Trans-Burma Crude Oil and Natural Gas Pipelines alone is worth more than five billion US$, the Kyauk-Phyu Deep Sea Port Project is worth nearly four billion US$, and the Kyauk-Phyu Special-Economic-Zone (SEZ) Project is worth more than seven billion US$.

According to the China’s China’s Special Envoy for Asian Affairs, Deng Xijun, those three large and strategically important projects, invested-and-owned wholly by China, is the one worry keeping Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wan Yi awake at nights.

Donald Trump Surges Ahead of Kamala Harris

           (Jesus Mesa’s article from the NEWS WEEK on 18 October 2024.)     

Donald Trump Surges Ahead of Kamala Harris in Nate Silver's Forecast: Former President Donald Trump received a boost from polling guru Nate Silver, whose presidential model, which tracks polling data and electoral trends, now favors the Republican to win the election.

The latest projections from the Silver Bulletin model show Trump holding a slight edge in the Electoral College, with a 50.2 percent chance of winning compared to Vice President Kamala Harris' 49.5 percent, despite Harris leading significantly in the popular vote probability at 75 percent. It is Trump's first lead in the model since September 19.

The slight edge in the Electoral College probability means that in more simulations, Trump is winning enough battleground states to secure a majority of electoral votes, even though Harris may win the popular vote or a narrow majority of electoral votes in other simulations.

Kamala’s Momentum Is Gone: Democrats Freaking Out

          (Alex Shephard’s article from THE NEW REPUBLIC on 17 October 2024.)  

Harris had opportunities to break away from Trump. She squandered them: On Monday, Donald Trump’s brain broke. After medical emergencies in the crowd cut short his town hall in suburban Philadelphia, the former president decided he didn’t want to leave the stage.

Instead, for half an hour, he swayed as the loudspeaker blasted a playlist of his favorite songs—among them “Ave Maria,” “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and “November Rain”—and his increasingly confused supporters streamed out.

Trump’s abnormal behavior is central to his political appeal, but this was something different. He did not seem well. As has been increasingly true, he looked old and diminished and more than a little confused.

At the same time, Trump is more extreme than ever. Before the aforementioned town hall detoured into a zombie dance-off, Trump said of migrants, “So they’re coming in, many are coming in from jails and prisons and mental institutions and stay-in asylums … and they’re coming as terrorists.… It is an invasion like we’ve never seen before.”

Myanmar Army’s Addict Soldiers: Captive Ya-Ba Market

(Translated staff article from the KHIT THIT MEDIA on 18 October 2024.)

Myanmar Army officers have been forcing newly conscripted soldiers to take Ya-ba pills (Meth or Ice tablets) by telling them that the pills will relieve exhaustion from the lack of sleep at the frontline facing the rebel ethnic armies. Ya-Ba is a Thai word: Ya is pill or medicine, and Ba is crazy or mad. So, Ya-Ba is the Crazy Pill in Thai.

Khit Thit Media was contacted by many draftee soldiers, from the First Batch of National Conscription Program, with bitter complaints of being forced into drug addiction in the Myanmar Army. Following is a typical complaint from one 18-year-old Myanmar soldier now being stationed at Pin-long Town in Shan State South nearly overrun by TNLA the Pa-laung Army.

His Army Company CO, a Captain has encouraged him to take Meth-emphetamine pills (widely known as the Ya-ba pills) so that they will be alert and active all the time. He also taught his new soldiers how to use and enjoy the expensive pills provided on credit.

Surrendered Myanmar Army Soldiers and Their Families?

(Translated staff article from the MNDAA’s KOKANG NEWS on 17 October 2024.)

Surrendered War-dogs: Officers at the front row.

After the Lashio City was liberated in last August by MNDAA the Kokang Army, thousands and thousands of Myanmar Army soldiers and their families had laid down their arms and surrendered to the MNDAA.

In accordance with MNDAA’s strict policy of treating the enemy soldiers, either captured or surrendered, with respect and dignity (even though they all are undeserving Myanmar Army war-dogs) our MNDAA has kindly returned most of the surrendered and their respective families to wherever they wanted to return.

Since August-6, MNDAA has steadily released most of them and sent them to secure places of their choice. But some families are still refusing to leave Lashio as their husbands or sons are still being detained as the POWs here in Lashio.

Elon Musk: Trump’s Secretary of Cost Cutting?

(Annabella Rosciglione’s article from the WASHINGTON EXAMINER on 13 Oct 2024.)

Trump to put Musk in charge of trimming bureaucratic fat: ‘Secretary of cost cutting’: Former President Donald Trump said he would informally make tech mogul Elon Musk his “Secretary of Cost Cutting.”

Speaking with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures, Bartiromo asked Trump about the looming national debt in the context of Trump’s various tax proposals, which he said would be addressed with “growth.”

She then asked him which federal agencies would be on the chopping block in a second Trump turn, to which Trump said Musk would be better suited to answer the question. “You’ve also said that there’s a lot of fat in government that you would want to part of,” Bartiromo said. “So, what agencies would you want to shut down?”

Starship Rocket Booster Re-Caught by Musk's Chopsticks

               (Staff article from the ABC NEWS AUS on 14 October 2024.)

SpaceX's mechanical 'arms' successfully catch Starship rocket booster back at launch pad, marking engineering milestone: Elon Musk’s SpaceX has successfully managed to "catch" the booster rocket from its Starship spacecraft back on the launching pad about seven minutes after take-off.

Recycling the booster rockets for SpaceX's smaller Falcon 9 rockets has saved the company millions. What's next? NASA has ordered two Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade, and SpaceX eventually intends to use it to send people to Mars.

SpaceX pulled off its boldest test flight yet of the enormous Starship rocket on Sunday, catching the returning booster back at the launch pad with mechanical arms. Towering almost 121 metres tall, the empty Starship blasted off at sunrise from the southern tip of Texas near the US-Mexican border.

Cut-5-Cuts: China Blockading MNDAA the Kokang-Army!

 (Concise translation of Thuta Zaw’s article from MYANMAR NOW on 4 October 2024.)

MNDAA the Kokang Army has recently declared, as the obivious response to China’s relentless pressure, that its members are now being prohibited from travelling to the Western Nations especially the US, and the ASEAN nations. The MNDAA also prohibited all their members from meeting or discussing the crucial matters with those nations.

That is in addition to its declaration stopping all collaboration, either politics or military, with US-aligned NUG (NLD’s exile National Unity Government based in US) or any international organization that opposed China, in early September this year. But China wants more than those written assurances from seemingly recalcitrant MNDAA. China wants the Kokang Army to withdraw from the prized Lashio City they captured from Myanmar Army this year on July 25.

To force MNDAA to meet that impossible demand China has been severely blockading the Kokang Territory as their so-called Cut-5-Cuts Operation along the Chinese Border since last September. Strictly No Electricity, No Water, No Internet, No crucial supplies such as rice, fuel, medicines, and essential-consumables, and No Cross-border Movement. The whole Kokang-China border has been tight shut by a division of PLA, the People Liberation Army.

War in Arakan (Yakhine) State: 2023-2024,OCT

 (Based on the AA’s WIKIPEDIA Page and IRRAWADDY’s Yakhine War Video.)

The Arakan Army (AA) and its civilian wing the United League of Arakan (UAL) were founded in 2009 and quickly became one of Myanmar's strongest rebel groups. They fought against Myanmar Army and gained territory in northern Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in southern Chin State by 2020.

The Arakan Army then announced a unilateral ceasefire in November 2020 to facilitate voting in the 2020 general election. After the resurgence of civil war by 2021 Coup, the Arakan Army focused more on expanding their administrative capabilities. However, over the 2022 monsoon season, the ceasefire broke down. With the military's attention diverted to the increasing resistance elsewhere and increasing popular support for an alliance with the NUG, the AA sought to expand its influence into southern Rakhine.

On 26 November 2022, the Arakan Army and the Myanmar junta agreed to a temporary ceasefire brokered by Yōhei Sasakawa of the Nippon Foundation. Arakan Army spokespeople maintained that they agreed to the ceasefire for humanitarian reasons, as opposed to international pressure. The Arakan Army did not withdraw from fortifications held at the time of the ceasefire.

‘Two lions in a cave’: Divisions in Chin State

 (Angshuman Choudhury’s article from The FRONTIER MYANMAR on 28 Aug 2024.)

‘Two lions in a cave’: Revolutionary divisions in Chin State: The Chin resistance has split into two rival coalitions, one of which has the backing of the powerful Arakan Army, while both are keen to engage Indian authorities across the border.

Since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, Chin State has emerged as a key battleground in the countrywide armed struggle against the junta. The Chin National Front, formed in 1988, was one of the earliest groups to join the war against the military regime. Numerous Chinland Defence Forces – reflecting not only different townships but also the various ethno-linguistic groups that make up the broader Chin population – also emerged to join the fight.

In recent months, however, the Chin resistance has taken on a new shape, as latent fault lines between various factions have come to the surface. Until late last year, a common Chin front had been fighting the junta under the dual ambit of the Interim Chin National Consultative Council and Chinland Joint Defence Committee , both formed in 2021.

Proxy Israel Liquified Hezbollah Leadership For US?

 (Based on staff articles from the ABC NEWS AUS and The DAILY MAIL UK.)

On October 23, 1983, Hezbollah killed 241 U.S. military personnel, including 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers in a terrorist bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.  Minutes later, a second suicide bomber killed 58 French paratroopers.  Six innocent Lebanese civilians also lost their lives. 

The abhorrent and shocking attack on the Beirut barracks remains to this day the single deadliest day for the U.S. Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima. On October-23 last year United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in the press statement that “Today, forty years later, we mourn those service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon lost in both attacks and we honor their legacy.  We think of their families and friends, who continue to feel the painful absence of loved ones.”

Almost a year later on 27 September this year, US-Proxy Israel, with the use of more than 80 American-made 2,000-pound bombs widely known as the Bunker-Busters provided free-and-abundant by the US to Israel, blew up (or liquified) a multi-storied apartment building 60 ft above the massive underground bunker being used as the Hezbollah Command-and-Control Centre in the Suburb of Dahiyeh in Beirut the Capital City of Lebanon.