Myanmar or Burma

The author Bertil Lintner is a well-respected journalist and writer who has published several books on Burma.

Given the recent setbacks the Junta has faced in the battle field, this choice is interesting to say the least.

NAYPYITAW - Myanmar's ruling military junta has said the country could break apart if it fails to control the latest surge of attacks by ethnic minority militias and pro-democracy armed forces.

Myanmar’s junta leader Min Aung Hlaing held an emergency meeting with his military command chiefs on Tuesday after his northern Shan State infantry commander was killed on Sunday.

Myanmar’s military is facing its biggest military challenge since it seized power in a coup more than two years ago, after an alliance of opponents cut off key trading routes and seized towns and dozens of outposts near the Chinese border.

Despite fierce fighting in northern Shan State near its border, China continues to push Myanmar’s military regime for implementation of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in the country.

“Most regime troops have lost the will to fight. They choose to throw down their weapons in the face of our coordinated attacks,” said an MNDAA statement on Saturday.

106 bases and four towns had been seized by the Brotherhood Alliance, the MNDAA said.

Armed groups collecting taxes in Myanmar’s Lashio is nothing new, but a mysterious outfit is upping the ante by bombing public places if its demands are not met and refusing to negotiate.

Before the coup, many businesses in Lashio were expected to pay taxes to the ethnic armed groups the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Shan State Progress Party.

Since then, locals say the Kachin Independence Army has also moved into the area, further squeezing businesses. Once close allies, the KIA and TNLA have found themselves at loggerheads due to overlapping territorial claims and competing tax drives.