Biggest democracy bows to dictatorship
While junta boss Min Aung Hlaing was visiting Russia on Wednesday, where he signed agreements on cooperation in various sectors, Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Abhay Thakur was holding separate talks in Naypyitaw with Deputy Prime Minister and PM’s Office Minister Tin Aung San and Deputy Foreign Minister Lwin Oo. The envoy and junta generals discussed India-funded projects in Myanmar, focusing on the electricity, energy, trade, and transportation sectors, while exploring ways to strengthen ties in areas of mutual interest.
The meeting coincided with a Yangon forum organized by the Myanmar-India Friendship and Development Association for businesspeople from India, Myanmar, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Africa. The forum aimed to attract support for Myanmar’s agricultural sector and promote economic development.
In January, the Indian ambassador visited Rakhine State’s capital, Sittwe, to inspect Sittwe Port, part of the India-funded Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Corridor, which will connect Kolkata with Sittwe by sea.
India, the world’s largest democracy, is one of a handful of countries that have embraced the junta despite its brutal war on its own people that has claimed over 6,200 civilian lives, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
As authoritarian governments like Russia and China seek to carve out their interests in troubled Myanmar, India is straining every sinew not to lag behind.
Honors among thieves
Since his coup in 2021, Min Aung Hlaing has regularly abused the country’s honors system to bolster his image as a legitimate leader. In so doing, he has squandered billions of kyats to confer hollow titles on individuals from various fields.
Just before he visited Russia this week, Min Aung Hlaing decided to lavish another set of honorary titles on the spouses of ruling and retired generals.
Two years ago, on Peasants’ Day (March 2), the junta boss awarded his own wife, Kyu Kyu Hla, along with the wives of former dictator Than Shwe, ex-deputy junta chief Maung Aye, ex-president Thein Sein, Myint Swe, former Prime Minister Soe Win, and ex-vice-president Sai Mauk Kham the title of Agga Maha Thiri Thudhama Theingi, one of Myanmar’s highest religious honors, for their alleged contributions to the promotion and propagation of Buddhism.
On the same annual holiday this year, the regime handed Thiri Thu Dhamma Theingi titles to the wives of current deputy junta chief Soe Win, former vice-president Tin Aung Myint Oo, former vice-president Nyan Tun, and Myat Hein, former Communications Minister and current vice-chair of military’s proxy Union Solidarity Development Party. The title is a second-class religious honor.
The annual honors list also rewarded male loyalists of military regimes, including Than Swe-era ministers Aung Thaung, Aung Min, Thein Zaw, Khin Maung Soe, former Lt-Generals Thet Naing Win and Khin Zaw Oo, and former foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin, along with current foreign minister Than Swe. All were awarded the Sithu title, perverting its original purpose of recognizing major contributions to the country.
Not content with bestowing mere earthly honors during his Moscow visit last week, Min Aung Hlaing went a step further – hailing Vladimir Putin as the reincarnation of a rat king.
Russia is one of the junta’s main allies and arms suppliers.
With love from Russia – and Belarus
Myanmar and Belarus signed 14 memoranda of understanding – eight on economic cooperation and six on academic ties – during the Myanmar-Belarus Business Forum overseen by Min Aung Hlaing in Minsk on Thursday.
The MOUs cover cooperation in auto manufacturing, tractors, dairy products, and fertilizer production, according to the junta’s Investment and Foreign Economic Relations Minister Kan Zaw.
The Belarus tie-up followed hard on the heels of Min Aung Hlaing’s goodwill visit to Moscow at the invitation of Vladimir Putin, where they discussed cooperation in trade, investment, energy, transportation, construction, banking, information technology, tourism, science, and health.
Min Aung Hlaing jetted from Moscow to Minsk on Thursday for a goodwill visit at the invitation of Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko. He met with Lukashenko on Friday and awarded him with the Agga Maha Thray Sithu (Grand Commander Order) – one of Myanmar’s highest honors. The title was awarded as a “gesture of friendship”, according to junta media. That friendship includes supplying the junta with missiles and other weapons used against civilians resisting military rule.
Shunned by the international community, the junta boss is now working to expand ties with regimes like Russia and Belarus beyond the arms trade.
Wooing tycoons in Moscow
The junta boss paid a goodwill visit to Russia at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, attending the Myanmar-Russia Business Forum and meeting with Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov on Wednesday. At the forum, Min Aung Hlaing hailed… Read more
A fly on the Kremlin wall
Min Aung Hlaing met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Grand Kremlin Palace on Tuesday. It was Min Aung Hlaing’s fourth visit to Russia since he seized power in 2021. They oversaw the signing of 10 MoUs covering sectors including nuclear energy, education, sport, trade and investment, and many others, the Kremlin said. How was this visit different from Min Aung Hlaing’s previous trips? Read more
