Dancer from the dance
On Tuesday, as the regime commemorated the signing of the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, Min Aung Hlaing vowed once again to crush opposition forces and reiterated that he would not give in to demands made through armed violence.
However, as anti-regime groups continued to drive his junta troops out of their areas, he spent the following day watching a traditional performing arts competition in Naypyitaw.
Those who sympathize with the Myanmar military might have been angered by photos of National Unity Government Defense Minister U Yee Mon inspecting Pinlebu, a town on the border of Sagaing Region and Kachin State seized by anti-regime forces earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the Kachin Independence Army seized a junta-allied Border Guard Police battalion in Pangwa near the Chinese border and launched an offensive on a battalion near the border trade town of Kanpiketi this week. Hsipaw town in northern Shan State has fallen into the hands of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, while the Karen National Liberation Army captured an artillery battalion headquarters in Karen State’s Lay Kay Kaw.
Fighting has also been raging in Thantlang Township in Chin State and Ann and Gwa townships in Rakhine State, where the regime has lost more than half of the state.
Despite intensifying its aerial campaign over the past month, junta ground troops have proven incapable of defending territory against resistance attacks. The regime has been struggling to defend Taung Khan (Tawnghkam) village in Mandalay’s Nawnghkio Township, control of which will give anti-regime groups access to Pyin Oo Lwin, the seat of the junta’s military academies.
Yet, Min Aung Hlaing is busy watching dances and organizing a national-level sports festival scheduled for December, perhaps to create a false impression that he remains in control.
Fleeing reality
The Food and Agriculture Organization may have put Myanmar on its list of global hunger hotspots, but junta boss Min Aung Hlaing sees things differently. “Myanmar has been recognized as a country contributing to global food security,” he says.
In a video address to commemorate the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement on Tuesday, Min Aung Hlaing echoed his predecessors. “Myanmar has self-sufficiency with rich oil and gas resources” and, as a result, is not afraid of “pressure from foreign powers”, he said, referring to economic sanctions by Western governments.
But millions of citizens are going hungry in the country, which has been rocked by civil war, high unemployment, and inflation since 2021 coup.
Min Aung Hlaing made his nonsensical statement after nearly 900,000 acres of paddy and other crops were destroyed by recent floods triggered by Typhoon Yagi.
He began to spout the false notion that Myanmar, as a farm-based economy, could help solve the global food crisis in 2022 after he was given free rein to utter nonsense about food security at the 7th Eastern Economic Forum in Russia that year.
Conscription nightmare part 6
Amid reports of conscripts fleeing or being killed on battlefields, the military regime will be starting military training for the sixth batch of conscripts.
The regime has yet to announce the date, but the fresh recruits have arrived at regional command headquarters in Ayeyarwady Region and Mon State. It is, therefore, likely that the training will start in the next few days.
The junta rushed to train the first batch of conscripts in April, two months after activating mandatory military service, to replenish an army depleted by casualties, desertions, and a recruitment crisis. Five batches of conscripts have been trained so far.
They were sent straight to the frontline after completing the training. Though it is impossible to determine their casualty numbers, accounts by anti-regime groups reveal that most of those who died in recent clashes were conscripts.
Meanwhile, many conscripts were either snatched from their homes or the streets or chosen by lot. They are unwilling to fight and are ready to flee when the opportunity arises.
The regime has threatened to arrest the parents or torch the homes of conscripts who flee, but this has not discouraged those frightened by death from fleeing the frontline.
Recently, some conscripts who completed training in Tanintharyi Region’s Myeik city fled to anti-regime groups.
Regime extends census
Few if any citizens who have not yet been counted are expected to take up the regime’s offer to let them provide their names to census officials by the end of the month. Read more
Junta boss repeats vow
Min Aung Hlaing launched a broadside against enemies, including ethnic resistance groups, pro-democracy forces, the elected NLD government, and foreign countries, at a scaled-down anniversary of 2015 ceasefire. Read more
Double drone attack on junta number 2
Regime Vice Senior General Soe Win reportedly survived a double drone strike on the command headquarters in Monywa. Read more
China reportedly planning to welcome coup leader
In a major shift in Chinese policy toward the regime, Min Aung Hlaing could visit Beijing as
soon as this month, sources say. Read more
