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Here’s a sample of the comments on this post.
Thank you, Luke. It was getting confusing trying to keep up with the different issues in Burma. This map and your explanation helps a lot.
Nice! Yeah Chiang Mai is where I used to live. I spent five years there, and have probably spent another year if I counted all my vacations back there since (my parents still live there).
You could honestly go to Myanmar as a tourist and, if you stay on the path set before you, you’ll probably think nothing is wrong. However, it’s a thin and shakey facade, and they don’t want you to see what goes on behind closed doors, or it’ll seriously hurt the tourism industry.
Next time you’re in Thailand, take a trip to the border town of Mae Sot, west of Chiang Mai. There you can see what the Burmese government is responsible for.
Thanks Luke, I will follow your links.
Several years ago I went to Phuket to dive. I spoke briefly to the local people about about Myanmar. The message was, “don’t go there”. I spent about 10 days in Laos – mostly upcountry – it didn’t seem too grim. The home-made distilled products were … stimulating. I was thinking about going to Chang Mai but it didn’t happen.
Hi! I’ve actually been covering this for a while, if you look up my article history I’ve been following the conflict in Burma for quite some time. All the links provided (the text in blue in this article) are links to my older articles, and there are a lot more if you want to peruse the site.
Personally, I have been to Karen State a few times, the longest being around a month trip. I haven’t been to Rakhine (where a lot of the conflicts are happening now), but I have a bunch of connections there and all across the rest of the country.
I totally agree, Myanmar is not an “over there” issue. I lived in northern Thailand right next door for 5 years, and it was very close to home for me. This conflict directly affects many that are close to me, which is why I continue to report on it! It’s so easy for us Americans to become disassociated with the rest of the world.
However, as I’ve been writing all these articles, I felt like readers needed an overall look at what’s going on — a specific killing here or journalists arrested there means a lot more if you have some context. Hopefully this can serve as that!
Good story, good start. How about some links to more information about Burma and these conflicts? I will do some digging but give us the benefit of your knowledge, post a few links. Myanmar is not an “over there” issue. My daughter is an RN in Iowa. There is a significant Karen immigrant community in her area and she worked with them. Karen state is 3rd world with poor health care and almost nobody speaks English.