Asia’s Forgotten Crisis

Attempting to hide evidence of its cruelty and the country's devastation, the repressive military regime in Burma has cut all internet connections. But satellite images show burned villages and huge camps of displaced citizens. People of Burma march in protest daily, risking their lives to protest a corrupt and inept government that provides no sense of order or security for its people. International intervention is warranted, argue Michael Green and Derek Mitchell in Foreign Affairs: “If anything, Burma has evolved from being an antidemocratic embarrassment and humanitarian disaster to being a serious threat to the security of its neighbors.” No census has been taken since the early 1980s, but more than 50 million people live under the increasingly erratic rule of the military junta. Green and Mitchell review the disjointed efforts of China, the US, Russia, India, Japan and members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations in dealing with the government, which changed the country’s name to Myanmar. Isolation, sanctions, economic enticements and diplomatic chastisements do not work when conducted separately, nation by nation. Without immediate, coordinated and firm international intervention, Myanmar's instability, refugees and economic hardship could quickly spread beyond its borders. – YaleGlobal