Blood Railway: Crucial Mandalay-Myitkyinar Train

              (Based on the staff article from the KACHIN-NEWS-GROUP in October 2023.)

Bodies of Burmese burnt to crisp.

The most crucial train line in Burma, from the ancient capital city of Mandalay to Myitkyinar the Kachin State’s Capital, has been lying dead silently for more than two years since the people rebellion in Sagaing Division erupted after the hated Myanmar Army’s violent coup in 2021.

The nearly 600-mile long train line runs through most of the Sagaing Division, West of River Irrawaddy, to get to the Kachin State at the northern end of Burma now known as Myanmar.

For more than 100 years the train had been running daily between Mandalay and Myitkyinar like a clock-work till 2021. The train was the only reliable connection between Myitkyina and the rest of Burma. Plane trips were too expensive and the Irrawaddy there was too shallow to navigate and there were no roads back then.

Corruption Galore of MAH (Motherfucker) & His Generals

            (From various staff articles from the MYANMAR NOW in September 2023.)

Criminal generals of Evil Myanmar Army.

While the desparate people all over Myanmar have been lining up for hours everyday to buy state-rationed cooking oil, the power-mad dictator Min Aung Hlaing (well-known affectionately as the Mother-Fucker or Ma-aye-loe in Burmese) has been sending some of his top generals and their families to jails on serious corruption charges.

Rumours are that over 100 rich business cronies and at least 5 senior generals have been detained for more then a few weeks since the sudden collapse of Myanmar economy sending the general prices sky high to heaven and Myanmar Kyats dropping down to hell.

Deputy-General Moe Myint Htun, Brigadier-General Yan Naung Soe, and Home Affairs Minister General Soe Htut and their families are now in the Nay-pyi-daw Military Prison since early September. At least 100 business chronies are in either home arrest or in jails.

Israel Arming Horribly-murderous Myanmar Army

                    (Staff article from the FRONTIER MYANMAR on 05 September 2023.)

Israel is arming Killer Myanmar Army.

Sources reveal Israeli shipments to Myanmar military after coup: An Israeli state-owned company has sent four shipments of aircraft parts to Myanmar since the military seized power in 2021, as the air force ramps up attacks on resistance groups and civilians.

Israel has supplied the Myanmar military since the 2021 military coup, according to a major general in the Myanmar air force, who spoke with Frontier on the condition of anonymity, and new trade data shared by activist group Justice for Myanmar.

Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, a state-owned company that designs and produces both civil and military aviation equipment, has sent at least four shipments of “aircraft parts” since February 2021, the trade data shows. These follow four earlier consignments starting in 2019, despite existing arms embargoes from the United States and European Union.

The Battle for Chinland in Myanmar (Burma)

      (Matt Davis’s article from the ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA on 18 August 2022.)

THE BATTLE FOR CHINLAND: Two weeks inside a resistance army’s mountain stronghold as it wages war on Myanmar’s military dictatorship.

Bullets whizzed overhead as Dr Amos Dawt Za Hmung stepped out of his clandestine health clinic in Thantlang — a town in the hills of north-western Myanmar — into a street gripped by chaos. Moments earlier, he had finished performing surgery alongside his wife, Rebecca, a nurse, when the sound of powerful weapons struck him numb with terror.

The Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, had burst forth from their hilltop barracks overlooking the town and was now shooting, looting and setting buildings ablaze. Now Dr Amos was standing in the streets, weighing up an impossible choice.

Boris Johnson: Putin Is a Murderous Thug

                 (Hauser & Chen’s article from the CNN on 27 August 2023.)

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin “must have killed” Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and said there can be no peace negotiation with Putin on Ukraine.

Writing in a Daily Mail op-ed on Saturday, Johnson speculated about Prigozhin’s last moments, just days after a plane believed to be carrying the Wagner boss crashed in a field northwest of Moscow while en route to St. Petersburg. It is not clear yet what caused the plane crash, but US and Western intelligence officials that CNN has spoken to believe it was deliberate.

“It can’t have been more than a few seconds between the explosion aboard the otherwise reliable Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, and the moment the Russian thug blacked out in his vertiginous acceleration to earth; and yet in that instant I am certain that he knew with perfect clarity what had happened,” Johnson wrote.

HIMARS Missile System Test-firing In Australia’s NT

    (Major Dan Mazurek’s post from the AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE on 03 August 2023.)

Army missile system on target in first firing: The Army tactical missile system (ATACMS) has been fired in Australia for the first time, demonstrating the type of capability Australia will need to defend its northern borders.

The ATACMS, fired as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre, is a US-made long-range tactical precision surface-to-surface missile, combining advanced technology and intelligence-driven targeting.

1st Brigade Commander Nick Foxall said capabilities such as this would have a big impact on the ability to deny access to enemies as the Army's focus in the north shifts to littoral operations. “Army is entering a new period, and exercises like Talisman Sabre, where we work with our partners and new capabilities, only enhance the defence of Australia,” Commander Foxall said.

Singapore Suspended Corrupt Transport Minister?

                                (Staff article from THE HINDU on 02 August 2023.)

Singapore PM Lee bars Indian-origin Minister from duty, slashes his pay amid corruption probe: Indian-origin Transport Minister S. Iswaran was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on July 11.

CPIB’s probe into Transport Minister S. Iswaran involves billionaire Ong Beng Seng, the man widely credited with bringing Formula-1 racing to Singapore. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on August 2 barred Indian-origin Transport Minister S. Iswaran from duty and slashed his salary after he was arrested last month in relation to a corruption probe.

Mr. Lee was speaking in Parliament on a recent spate of scandals that has rocked Singapore, a country otherwise known for its corruption-free and stable politics. He spoke on the ongoing corruption probe involving 61-year-old Mr. Iswaran and the resignations of two Members of Parliament (MPs), former Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and Cheng Li Hui, over their extramarital affair.

WAGNER: Putin’s Mercenaries from HELL

               (Joshua Yaffa’s article from THE NEW YORKER on 31 July 2023.)

On May 20th, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, stood in the center of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, and recorded a video. The city once housed seventy thousand people but was now, after months of relentless shelling, nearly abandoned. Whole blocks were in ruins, charred skeletons of concrete and steel. Smoke hung over the smoldering remains like an early-morning fog. Prigozhin wore combat fatigues and waved a Russian flag. “Today, at twelve noon, Bakhmut was completely taken,” he declared. Armed fighters stood behind him, holding banners with the Wagner motto: “Blood, honor, homeland, courage.”

More than anyone else in Russia, Prigozhin had used the war in Ukraine to raise his own profile. In the wake of the invasion, he transformed Wagner from a niche mercenary outfit of former professional soldiers to the country’s most prominent fighting force, a private army manned by tens of thousands of storm troopers, most of them recruited from Russian prisons. Prigozhin projected an image of himself as ruthless, efficient, practical, and uncompromising. He spoke in rough, often obscene language, and came to embody the so-called “party of war,” those inside Russia who thought that their country had been too measured in what was officially called the “special military operation.” “Stop pulling punches, bring back all our kids from abroad, and work our asses off,” Prigozhin said, the month that Bakhmut fell. “Then we’ll see some results.”

The aura of victory in Bakhmut enhanced Prigozhin’s popularity. He had an almost sixty-per-cent approval rating in a June poll conducted by the Levada Center, Russia’s only independent polling agency; nineteen per cent of those surveyed said they were ready to vote for him for President. His new status seemed to come with a special license to criticize top officials in Moscow. Prigozhin had accused his rivals in the Russian military, Sergei Shoigu, the defense minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of general staff, of withholding artillery ammunition from Wagner. “That’s direct obstruction, plain and simple,” Prigozhin said. “It can be equated with high treason.” In the battle for Bakhmut, he said, “five times more guys died than should have” because of the officials’ indecisive leadership.

WTF is Going on in Thailand: Pita Vs Thai Army?

                  (Adam Simpson’s article from THE CONVERSATION on 20 July 2023.)

Why was the winner of Thailand’s elections blocked from becoming prime minister? The Thai parliamentary election was held over two months ago and yet, the country still has no prime minister or government. While much remains in flux, one thing appears certain – the popular reformist leader of the party that received the most votes in the election, Pita Limjaroenrat, will not be the country’s next prime minister.

In demoralising, though familiar, scenes this week, the Constitutional Court announced Pita would be suspended as an MP until a ruling is made on allegations he knowingly held shares in a media company when he contested the May election.

The parliament then voted to void his prime ministerial nomination, preventing him from contesting a second vote in the legislature for the premiership. (He had already failed in one vote last week.) Pita is clearly the people’s choice for prime minister. And under a more democratic system, he would already be sitting in the PM office.