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o Engage or Not To Engage with Myanmar’s Criminal Rulers: That Strange Feeling of Déjà Vu by Maung Zarni

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  In 1974 the first coup regime of the Revolutionary council shed its snakeskin into a socialist constitutional government led by the cadres of whom the military officers were the nucleus. This faux transformation was accompanied by the officers in green uniform slipping into Myanmar sayong , junking their military ranks and assuming the civilian honorific of “U” (pronounced Oo). The mastermind behind this performative transformation of the military rule into a pseudo-civilian representative government was the late general Ne Win, the originator of Myanmar’s textbook one-party military rule. General Ne Win (6 July 1910 – 5 December 2002), who became the Commander in Chief of Myanmar military on 1 Feb 1949 staged the coup on 2 March 1962 and died as U Ne Win, the disgraced Chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party on 5 December 2002. This is his obituary. However, neither Myanmar people nor the outside world, including the Association of South East Asian Nations have been fool...

Chomsky Canceled, Eisenhower Stays: How the Left’s Cancellation Criteria Hurts Them by Bruce E. Levine

  What sins can and cannot be forgiven? Earlier this year, the organization Americans Who Tell the Truth (AWTT) announced , “Taking Down Noam Chomsky’s Portrait,” literally canceling Noam Chomsky from its portrait gallery . This is no surprise. It is a surprise that AWTT deems Dwight Eisenhower’s CIA coup-approval sins to be forgivable, and he remains worthy of an AWTT portrait. Furthermore, AWTT inconsistently applies its “Chomsky cancellation criteria” by continuing to display portraits of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Mark Twain; and AWTT gives the Left’s harshest indicter of Chomsky, Chris Hedges, a pass for his very different sins, and his portrait remains. AWTT is a nonprofit organization founded in the wake of the Bush/Cheney administration’s lies about the reasons for attacking Iraq. AWTT’s website states that “The organization is dedicated to promoting civic engagement, social justice, democracy, and environmental stewardship” and its “portraits and narratives highlight cit...

“Total Whitewash”: New Pentagon Report Claims U.S. Killed No Civilians in Boat Strikes by Nick Turse

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  The War Department delivered its unreleased annual report on civilian casualties to members of Congress on Tuesday, two government officials told The Intercept — one of whom called the report “a fucking joke.” The report found that U.S. attacks likely killed or wounded hundreds of civilians. The other official deemed the report, which covers allegations of civilian harm stemming from military attacks in Iran, Somalia, Yemen, and the campaign of boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, a “total whitewash.” It’s the latest in a series of recent Pentagon reports that have called attention to U.S. failures to prevent, mitigate, or adequately track civilian harm after self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth gutted civilian harm mitigation and response or CHMR programs. Shockingly, the Pentagon’s review of its 2025 attacks found that no civilians were killed in the Trump administration’s campaign of boat strikes, according to the officials, despite the fact that the U.S. ki...

Palestinian officials report over 5,400 casualties in Gaza since start of US-backed 'ceasefire'

  The Gaza Health Ministry said in its daily statistical report on 11 August that over 5,400 Palestinians have been killed and wounded in the besieged strip since the US launched its so-called “peace plan” and ceasefire process in October 2025. The ministry said on Tuesday that 1,259 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza since US President Donald Trump launched his plan last year. The number of wounded stands at 4,146, it added. Israel has not stopped attacks and ceasefire violations since the 2025 US plan was launched. It has also illegally occupied 70 percent of the strip. Hebrew media reported this week that Tel Aviv informed Washington that it will not stop carrying out strikes on Gaza.  According to the 10 August Channel 13 report, Israel told the White House it was prepared for a deal to halt “targeted assassinations” in the devastated enclave. However, this would not apply to anybody who “took part” in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023. In ...