Myanmar's armed forces and the Rohingya crisis

"In the wake of the 2016 and 2017 “area clearance operations” against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, this report explores the structure, training, and ethos of the Myanmar armed forces to clarify the implications and challenges of, as well as the prospects for, a solution and an accounting for past events. Drawing on an in-depth review of the literature, extensive field experience, and interviews, the report is produced by the Asia Center at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) as part of its effort to inform policy and strategies on managing violent conflict"

Australia and the Republic of Korea: still allies or just good friends?

Australia's participation in the Korean War of 1950-1953 had more to do with domestic factors and wider international considerations, than with any feelings of affinity with the Korean people. Circumstances have greatly changed since then, but some remnants of that military involvement still survive in the form of the United Nations Command (UNC) and the Sixteen Nation Declaration of 1953. While tensions between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea remain high, the possibility of the UNC becoming involved in a fresh outbreak of hostilities will always remain. Prime Minister Bob Hawke has clearly stated that Australian security interests are not directly engaged in the Korean peninsula, but considering the growth in Australia's bilateral relationship with the Republic of Korea s{nce the war and the alliances both countries now share with the United States, Australia would face a difficult decision should there be another security crisis in Kore a, and Australian assistance once again be sought

Interpreting Myanmar

Since the abortive 1988 pro-democracy uprising, Myanmar (formerly Burma) has attracted increased attention from a wide range of observers. Yet, despite all the statements, publications and documentary films made about the country over the past 32 years, it is still little known and poorly understood. It remains the subject of many myths, mysteries and misconceptions. Between 2008 and 2019, Andrew Selth clarified and explained contemporary developments in Myanmar on the Lowy Institute's internationally acclaimed blog, The Interpreter. This collection of his 97 articles provides a fascinating and informative record of that critical period, and helps to explain many issues that remain relevant today

The terrorist threat to diplomacy: an Australian perspective

Since the problem of international terrorism assumed importance in the late 1960s, diplomats and diplomatic facilities have been singled out as prime targets for terrorist attack. In addition, a number of states appear not only to support these attacks but have themselves resorted to similar tactics as a means of expanding their foreign policy options and conducting a form of surrogate warfare against their opponents. Efforts by governments to protect diplomats and diplomatic facilities have achieved only limited success, but initiatives at the regional and international levels have revealed a remarkable degree of consensus among states on this complex and sensitive issue. To date, Australia has remained relatively free of this and other kinds of terrorist violence but, as an active participant in world affairs, it seems inevitable that it will become more affected by this problem in the future. Yet while the world's diplomats and diplomatic facilities are under greater threat from international terrorism than ever before, the institution of diplomacy is still secure and, paradoxically, may even be growing stronger. This is a fine distinction, but an important one for the perspective it offers on proposed measures against international terrorism and, in particular, the Reagan Administration's approach to this problem. There is a threat to diplomacy from a few maverick states but a greater danger to the international order would arise from an over-reaction on the part of others

Against every human law : the terrorist threat to diplomacy

Over the past fifteen years, terrorism has become a subject for academic debate in much the same way that guerrilla warfare was popular with scholars in the 1950s and 1960s. A great many books and articles have been written on terrorism since the problem assumed renewed importance around 1968. Some of these studies have approached the subject from an historical perspective. Others have concentrated on the challenges posed to liberal states or have looked at the possible state sponsorship of terrorist groups. While most of these works mention the specific problem of terrorist attacks on diplomats and diplomatic facilities as part of their overall treatment of the subject, few examine it in any detail. Even those recent studies which concentrate on international terrorism tend to treat the terrorist threat to diplomats only in passing

Burma's secret military partners

Since the armed forces (or Tatmadaw) took back direct control of the country in 1988, Burma has consistently been branded a pariah state by the Western democracies, and made to endure a wide range of political, economic and military sanctions. As a result, the Burmese armed forces have lost much of the access they once enjoyed to the arms, training and military technology of their traditional suppliers, such as the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany. Some countries, however, have deliberately ignored this body of international opinion and developed close defence relations with the Rangoon regime. While a few, such as the People's Republic of China, have barely troubled to conceal such ties, there are other smaller and diplomatically more vulnerable countries which have attempted to hide the links that now exist between their armed forces and arms industries, and those of Burma. Three countries which stand out most strongly in this latter group are Singapore, Israel and Pakistan, all of which currently enjoy significant military partnerships with Burma. Suggestions that Germany has quietly resumed its former links with the Tatmadaw, however, remain unconfirmed

Burma's North Korean gambit: a challenge to regional security?

Bilateral relations between Burma and North Korea were abruptly severed in 1983, after Pyongyang sent secret agents to Rangoon to conduct a terrorist attack against a visiting South Korean presidential delegation. Formal diplomatic ties have still not been restored. Over the past few years, however, these two economically stricken but highly militarised pariah states seem to have found some common ground. Depending on how it develops, this relationship could extend beyond mutual support to have much wider strategic implications. In particular, reports that the military government in Rangoon has sought to acquire strategic weapon systems from Pyongyang, such as submarines and ballistic missiles, have aroused concern in regional capitals and in centres like Washington. There have even been suggestions that North Korea is secretly helping Burma to build a nuclear reactor, raising the spectre of a future Burmese nuclear weapons program that could be used as a bargaining chip against the United States