TONY CARTALUCCI Western think tanks have been increasingly busy cultivating a narrative to explain the sudden and spreading presence of militants linked or fighting under the banner of the self-proclaimed ‘Islamic State’ (ISIS) across Southeast Asia. This narrative — these think tanks would have audiences believe – entails militants fleeing Syria and Iraq, and entrenching…
Read moreIn a combined effort to counter the increasing presence of the Chinese Navy in South East Asia and the Indian Ocean region, India and Singapore took their military relationship much further with the island nation asking Delhi to dock its ships, when needed, at its Changi Naval base. This means that Indian Navy ships sailing…
Read moreLOOKEAST EXCLUSIVE An organisation linked to Maulana Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation has been soliciting donations to help Rohingya refugees according to a reputable source in the region who wishes to remain anonymous. The organisation, the Al Rehmat Trust, headed by Azhar, is purportedly a charitable organisation but is a front…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT Pope Francis met leaders of several faiths in majority-Buddhist Myanmar on Tuesday, stressing the importance of “unity in diversity” but making no mention of the Muslim Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh after a military crackdown. The pope held private talks with Myanmar’s military chief in Yangon, the first day of a visit…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon, has advised Pope Francis not to utter the word “Rohingya,” while in Myanmar. However, human rights campaigners have urged the Pope to use the word Rohingya publicly. Responding to the first reports of Rohingya Muslims fleeing an army-led crackdown in Myanmar in August, Pope Francis…
Read moreSUBIR BHAUMIK The Western press is going all out to expose Burmese military atrocities in Rakhine. There is nothing wrong with that. This morning I saw a short BBC documentary “Massacre at Tula Toli” on one village. The story comes from a Rohingya refugee family in a Northern Rakhine village, and while the woman claiming…
Read moreFRANCESCO SISCI There are grave, serious, and sobering consequences in the logic of President Donald Trump’s now famous statement about China not being at fault for its trade surplus with the United States and its disrespect of Intellectual Property Rights. If China is not guilty for this, then the West and other powers, which tried…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT Bangladesh and Myanmar on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to repatriate Rohingya refugees but without any time frame on completing the process. The two neighbours concluded the MoU following a meeting between foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali and Myanmar’s state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in the morning at Suu Kyi’s…
Read morePhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to shut down any mine that supports Maoist rebels waging a protracted guerrilla war to overthrow the government. The Philippines has been in on-again, off-again peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the communist movement, since 1986 to end a rebellion that has killed more…
Read moreESTHER HTUSAN Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the world is facing instability and conflict in part because illegal immigration spreads terrorism in a speech Monday that comes as her country is accused of violently pushing out hundreds of thousands of unwanted Rohingya Muslims. Suu Kyi did not directly mention the refugee exodus as…
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