US debt hits $40 trillion: Who does Washington owe?

 (Shola Lawal’s article from THE AL JAZEERA onc21 August 2026.)

US debt hits $40 trillion: Who does Washington owe and why does it matter? Heavy borrowing, increased spending and tax cuts by Democratic and Republican administrations have long raised concerns.

Total United States debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time  in history, according to a Department of the Treasury update on Wednesday. Ballooning debt, especially during President Donald Trump’s second term, which began in January last year, has raised concerns about a looming fiscal crisis for some time, with economists fearing a toxic combination of heavy borrowing, increased spending and lower taxes could land the world’s biggest economy in crisis.

The rising US debt comes despite Trump’s championing of cost-cutting and efficiency as a hallmark of his second term, with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative slashing between 250,000 and 350,000 federal jobs and cutting global aid since the start of last year. In May 2023, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted that the US would reach the $40 trillion mark in 2028.

Rise and Fall of MDY-PDF (Mandalay PDF) Gen-Z Army!

(Basing on staff posts from The JUSTICE FOR TRUTH on 15 July 2026.)

What exactly happened to the famous MDY-PDF, the Mandalay-PDF, which together with the mighty Palaung ARMY (TNLA) basically kicked the collective arse of Myanmar Generals and their raping-robbing-murdering-burning army during the 1027 operations in late-2023. And then in early 2024 as the following SHAN-MAN Operations, they liberated major regions of Mandalay Administrative Division and nearly captured Mandalay City itself?

But then they had suddenly lost all their captured territories in mid-2025 and utterly disappeared! I was horribly wondering what happened to the MDY-PDF and trying to find out the reasons for their sudden collapse. And finally, I did manage to connect the hidden dots and dashes and then figure out the following dramatic story.

Apparently, there was a violent internal coup by two medical doctors-turned-revolutionary- politicians (Dr Tayza-Soe and Dr So-Thura-Zaw) to take over the rich organization from the two main military leaders (Bo Mone-Dai and Bo Naing-Gyi) responsible for the earlier success that brought along military power and enormous wealth in the form of gold and precious gemstones from the naturally-rich Shan-Man region.

'mini-Mamdanis' reignites anti-communist Red Scare!

(Don Sheil’s post from the ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA on 01 August 2026.)

Wave of 'mini-Mamdanis' reignites anti-communist Red Scare playbook from Trump ahead of midterm elections: President Trump has reignited anti-communist rhetoric after a series of democratic socialist victories in Democrat primary races.  

US President Donald Trump and Republicans have been raising the alarm with voters about what they say is an impending political apocalypse for over a month. Their dramatic warnings speak of a "dark road of death" and "a philosophical war to save" the United States itself.

The threat, according to them: communism. Their argument goes like this: If Democrats regain control of both houses of congress in the November midterm elections, they will intentionally dismantle the country from the inside-out.

Indians hiring Only Indians in Aussie Govt Agencies

(Staff post from THE NOTICER on 01 August 2026.)

Aussie reveals Indians only hiring each other at federal agency: ‘Not very diverse’. An Australian public servant has revealed that Indian managers at a federal agency are only hiring other Indians, sparking a flood of similar complaints. The Public Service worker said in a post on Reddit this week that they were pro-diversity, but that Indians dominating hiring was having the opposite effect.

“I really don’t want to sound racist but I’m currently working for a federal agency,” the post read. “Over the last year our team of analysts got broken into silos and every manager of those silos is now Indian. Since then, the only new hires have been Indian from every single silo.

“I really have nothing against people that are not of my ethnicity, but previously we had complete diversity in the new hires in our team, from all over the world. East Asian, European (as in someone born in Europe, not white Australian), central Asian and South American. I know this sounds like crackpot One Nation nonsense, and I’m a big believer in diversity but this is really not feeling very diverse.”

Burma’s Fault Lines: Ethnic Federalism and Peace (2014)

 (Charmaine Benson Craig’s post from the DISSENT MAGAZINE in Fall 2014.)

Burma’s Fault Lines: Ethnic Federalism and the Road to Peace. As gross human rights violations against the country’s ethnic groups continue, can peace and democracy really take hold?

After more than half a century of war and broken ceasefire agreements, Burma is currently in the midst of landmark peace talks between its government and a coalition of ethnic resistance groups.

In July, the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT)—representing sixteen ethnic nationalities including the Karen, the Kachin, the Mon, the Arakanese, and the Shan—met in Kachin-held Laiza to discuss the terms of a proposed national ceasefire, under negotiation with the government since last November.

The ethnic nationalities, of which all but the Kachin and the Ta’ang have already struck bilateral ceasefire agreements with the government, are calling for greater administrative autonomy within a new federal Union of Burma, control over natural resources in their territories, and a guarantee that political dialogue with the government will take place within months of a national ceasefire accord.

2024 Cut-5-Cuts Blockading of Kokang Army By China

  (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.

Refined, but Not Destroyed, in the Fire (Isiah 48:10)

(AI post from the GOOGLE SEARCH on 23 July 2026.)

Isaiah 48:10 states: "See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."

It means God uses times of intense hardship, pain, and trials as a purposeful tool. Rather than destroying His people, He uses these "furnaces" to burn away character flaws, purify faith, and draw them into deeper dependence on Him.

"Not As Silver": In ancient metallurgy, silver ore was heated over a fire until the dross (impurities) floated to the top, and the silversmith skimmed it off. This process was continued until the metal was pure enough to reflect the smith's face.

By saying "not as silver," God means two things:  The intensity: Literal silver requires a very specific, controllable heat. The "furnace of affliction" He uses represents intense, overwhelming trials rather than a mild test.

The outcome: A human silversmith refines to produce a valuable commodity. God refines you for something much greater: to draw out all spiritual impurities and conform you to His likeness.

2021-Coup Turned Myanmar Into A Failed State!

(Joshua Kurlantzick’s post from COUNCIL on FOREIGN RELATIONS on 10 July 2026.)

How the Coup Turned Myanmar Into Asia’s Deadliest Conflict—and Why the World Is Looking Away: Five years after its generals seized power, Myanmar has collapsed into Asia’s deadliest war and a nearly unequalled humanitarian catastrophe. And yet, the rest of the world has decided to ignore the conflict amid other major geopolitical developments.

The war in Myanmar, driven by a 2021 coup, is now Asia’s deadliest conflict. ACLED, a conflict-monitoring group, counts more than 100,000 people killed since the military overthrew the democratically elected government in February 2021. The group calls it the most fragmented conflict anywhere—with over 1,200 armed factions—and considers Myanmar one of the most war-torn countries on earth.

It was not always this way. While Myanmar often seemed to be in a time warp through decades of autocratic military rule, it began to change. In the decade since the country began opening up its political system in 2011, the economy grew by an average of about 6 percent a year, and poverty fell steeply—from 48.2 percent in 2005 to 24.8 percent by 2017, according to the World Bank.

China, Russia and India make inroads in Myanmar

(Staff post from the BENGAL BAY POST on 06 July 2026.)

China, Russia and India make inroads in Myanmar with transit corridors: Competing regional powers accelerate massive transport and energy projects in Myanmar to secure vital Indian Ocean routes despite ongoing civil conflict.

Myanmar is emerging as a focal point in Asia's strategic connectivity race, with China, Russia and India simultaneously advancing major transport and energy projects that could reshape regional trade despite the country's ongoing civil conflict.

Myanmar government has intensified efforts to revive long-delayed infrastructure initiatives, viewing the projects as critical to transforming Myanmar into a regional logistics hub linking East Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean.