Tapping Brazil for soccer advice
When Brazil’s new ambassador to Myanmar, Gustavo Rocha de Menezes, presented his credentials to Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday, the diplomat received an unexpected request from Min Aung Hlaing – to help improve the country’s sporting achievements.
The same evening, Min Aung Hlaing watched the final of the inter-university football tournament in Naypyitaw before presenting the winners with a trophy.
Given that Brazil is a footballing powerhouse and that football is the most popular sport in Myanmar – which was once a giant of the game in Asia – it sounds reasonable to seek help from Brazil.
However, as Min Aung Hlaing fiddles with football diplomacy, his military is rapidly losing ground across the country to a coordinated resistance offensive.
The junta has lost over 30 towns since November in defeats that also saw the surrender of six brigadier generals overseeing military operations and the capture of another one. Even military supporters are now calling on the junta boss to step down.
So, is it ignorance or arrogance that’s driving Min Aung Hlaing’s obsession with football amid an ongoing military disaster? Only he knows the answer.
(Dis)Information Ministry
Junta Information Minister Maung Maung Ohn on Thursday urged students and lecturers at Myanmar’s agricultural college to read his ministry’s publications.
“You need to read our newspapers and websites if you want correct information,” the junta minister claimed during a seminar on ‘State Building and the Role of Media’ held by his ministry at Yezin University of Agriculture.
The reverse is true. Regime newspapers are full of propaganda reports about junta boss Min Aung Hlaing reconsecrating pagodas and watching football matches, “increased” agricultural output, and festivals the regime is holding here and there
There is no mention of the junta losing over 30 towns in northern Shan, Karenni, Chin, and Rakhine states and Sagaing Region to the ongoing resistance offensive. Also conspicuously absent is the news that several brigadier generals have surrendered and Myanmar’s cross-border trade with China has been halted.
The public reads junta papers only to check death notices. Meanwhile, they completely ignore so-called news programmes aired on the junta’s broadcasting mouthpieces.
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Regime boss takes call from Thai military chief
Thailand’s military chief General Songwit Noonpackdee held an online meeting with Myanmar junta boss Min Aung Hlaing to discuss border issues. Read more:
