Francis Wade

The mil­i­tary has much to lose from de­mo­c­ra­t­ic re­forms and may be us­ing the blood­shed as a way to re­assert con­trol.

Thein Sein must come clean on the am­bi­tions of his mil­i­tary to break away from Myan­mar’s past.

The free speech dis­course in Myan­mar is un­sur­pris­ing­ly lit­tered with con­tra­dic­tions, writes Wade.

A murky “mil­i­tary-gov­ern­ment nexus backed by pow­er­ful busi­ness forces is be­hind” si­lenc­ing en­vi­ron­men­tal move­ments.

Free­dom of speech will strug­gle to flour­ish in Myan­mar as its eco­nom­ic in­ter­ests are dom­i­nat­ed by pow­er­ful neigh­bours.

Drug ex­ports from Myan­mar con­tin­ue to es­ca­late, as dis­tinc­tions be­tween the il­lic­it trade and the ‘le­gal’ econ­o­my blur.

Suu Kyi’s si­lence on the Ro­hingya does not nec­es­sar­i­ly re­flect a cold heart, but shows that she has be­come a politi­cian.

Racial ten­sions are com­ing to a head in Myan­mar be­tween the Bud­dhist ma­jor­i­ty and the Mus­lim Ro­hingya mi­nor­i­ty.

In­dia is qui­et­ly seek­ing to di­lute Chi­na’s pow­er in the emerg­ing econ­o­my.

The coun­try faces chal­lenges in­clud­ing dis­trib­ut­ing aid mon­ey and lim­it­ing the dam­age of the West’s lib­er­al­is­ing agen­da.