The Crisis in Myanmar Takes a Turn for the Worse

In lay July, the military Junta in Myanmar carried out its first executions in decades. Four activists were killed, including very prominant pro-democracy leaders. The military carried out these executions despite widespread international and regional pressure. 

These executions come a year and a half after the February 1 2021 coup that ended Myanmar's experiment in democracy. The military has imprisoned much of the civilian political leadership of the country, including the country's de-facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

The February Coup was met by widespread civil disobedience and, eventually armed resistance. Today, Myanmar is in the midst of a multi-pronged civil war in which the military is fighting various armed groups organized along ethnic lines of Myanmars many minority ethnic groups; as well as militias backed by the toppled civilian leadership. 

In this episode, we are joined by Gregory Poling, who directs the Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he is also a senior fellow. 

We discuss the recent executions in Myanmar and have a broader discussion about the changing countours of the conflict and what, if anything, the United States and broader international community can do to influence events in Myanmar.