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ARTICLES BY BERTIL LINTNER

LATEST ARTICLES

Covid-19 unleashes new wave of North Korean refugees

Asia Times, November 23, 2020
Pyongyang claims its Covid-19 response is the ‘envy’ of the world but refugees arriving in Thailand suggest otherwise
[read the article at www.atimes.com]

Why China prefers to maintain inflamed borders

Asia Times, November 18, 2020
China has border disputes with nearly 20 neighbors but the conflicts are usually more about leverage than territory
[read the article at www.atimes.com]

Burma

Election brings Suu Kyi and military closer together
Myanmar’s Covid crisis rooted in military misrule
Myanmar’s Slow and Uncertain Path to Real Democracy and Reform
Virus refugees fleeing Myanmar for Thailand
Why China wants Suu Kyi to win Myanmar’s polls
Rohingya refugees becoming Palestinians of Asia
Covid-19's hidden threat in Myanmar
China flips the electoral script in Myanmar
Covid-19 restores Myanmar military’s lost powers
Myanmar in denial with zero Covid-19 case claim
Myanmar, India give better ties a fighting chance
New age rebels winning the fight in Myanmar
China’s Belt and Road detours downstream in Myanmar
China virus infects Myanmar Belt and Road plans
Myanmar a perfect fit on China’s Belt and Road
ICJ ruling shows Rohingya crisis rights and wrongs
What China’s Xi will and won’t get in Myanmar
Suu Kyi no shoo-in at Myanmar’s 2020 polls
Domestic politics drives Suu Kyi’s genocide denial
Suu Kyi and the generals drift apart in Myanmar
Why Myanmar’s Wa always get what they want
Myanmar's Wa hold the key to war and peace
No way home, no way out for Rohingya refugees
As West retreats, China surges in Myanmar
Suu Kyi, military on a collision course in Myanmar
Rohingya refugee crisis is a ticking time bomb
Myanmar and India becoming brothers in arms
China bids to bring Yangon into a modern age
Reuters’ daring duo walk free in Myanmar
Myanmar's Wa seek peace through strength
Minorities, Money and Getting It Wrong in Myanmar
Peace march kicks up more war in Myanmar
A Chinatown mysteriously emerges in backwoods Myanmar
Full steam ahead for China-Myanmar high-speed railway
Why Suu Kyi can't and won't democratize Myanmar
Poor and isolated, Myanmar backs into a China debt trap
Getting away with murder in Myanmar
China seeks big-ticket payback from Myanmar
Trouble ahead, trouble behind for Myanmar
China seizes opportunity in Suu Kyi's isolation
Why India looks the other way on Myanmar
As West recoils, China surges south in Myanmar
Why China fears Myanmar's Christians
Myanmar military chief in a political firing line
Reuters duo not expected to serve full seven years in jail
Myanmar: where 'genocide' doesn't really matter
US pulls its punch on new Myanmar sanctions
Suu Kyi loses control of once hopeful peace process
The rebels who keep India and Myanmar apart
As Trump turns away, China gains in Myanmar
Will an alleged war criminal become president of Myanmar?
Myanmar peace process being destroyed on multiple fronts
China is conflicted in Myanmar's wars
How China gets what it wants in Myanmar
North Korea, Myanmar in a sanctions-busting embrace
Spurned by West, Myanmar's Kachin look to China
From hope to despair in Myanmar
China looms large over Myanmar war and peace
China-India vie for a strategic slice of paradise
France shows its hidden maritime muscles
Rohingya refugees as pawns in a geopolitical game
The ties that bind Suu Kyi's hands
Mishandling the Rohingya Crisis May Open New Frontier for Terrorism
Bangladesh holds the key to Rohingya insurgency
No way back for Myanmar's Rohingya refugees
The truth behind Myanmar's Rohingya insurgency
Guest Column: Engagement with the Military?
Could US reset sanctions on Myanmar over North Korea?
Did the Dalai Lama prefer exile in Myanmar to India?
No justice for slain Myanmar lawyer Ko Ni
When will Suu Kyi challenge the military?
Myanmar as China's corridor to the sea
China captures Myanmar's peace process
A question of race in Myanmar
Myanmar's unspoken northern enemy
The People's Republic of China and Burma: Not Only Pauk-Phaw
Peace process in pieces in Myanmar
Peace process descends into farce
A Chinese war in Myanmar
Enter Russia into Myanmar's armed fray
Myanmar has a drug problem
Wa rebel group torpedoes Suu Kyi's peace drive
China uses carrot and stick in Myanmar
Suu Kyi falls short of great expectations
Assassination puts Myanmar on a razor's edge
Kachin war explodes Myanmar's peace drive
No peace in sight for Myanmar
Militancy in Arakan State
One Year on in Myanmar, Is Suu Kyi's Halo Slipping?
What Myanmar Stands to Gain - and Thailand Lose - From a President Clinton
Burma's Misguided Peace Process Needs a Fresh Start
Why US is no match for China's carrot and stick in Myanmar
Why it's Suu Kyi's turn to mend fences with China
How the NLD Can Fulfill Its Promise of Peace
New Approach Needed for Genuine Peace in Burma
Burma's Constitutional Collision Course
Opposition Wins in Myanmar, But Military Still Holds the Reins
The 1990 Election: Sorting Fact from Fiction
Myanmar Ousts Rising Political Star, Confirming Doubts Over Democratic Reforms
Same Game, Different Tactics: China's 'Myanmar Corridor'
Mysterious Motives: India's Raids on the Burma Border
How the West Was Won
The Core Issues Not Addressed
History Lessons
Kokang: The Backstory
State of Anarchy
The Forgotten Frontier
The Forgotten Frontier (PDF)
The Muslims of Myanmar
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Making Sense of Myanmar's Political Reforms (PDF)
Making a Mockery of Democracy
Does the West Really Want a Suu Kyi Presidency?
Who Are the Wa?
A 'Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement' - for What?
A 'Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement' - for What? (PDF)
Whose Army?
Whose Army? (PDF)
Finding a Federal Model that Fits
A Federal Model that Fits
The Ex-Pariah
A Tribute to Maung Thaw Ka
Burma: Faith and Resistance in Kachin
A Tribute to Maung Thaw Ka
Book Review: Images of a dark era
Book Review: Reminiscence of a resistance
Myanmar and North Korea: Friends in Need
Is the Burma-North Korea relationship a thing of the past?
Burmese-North Korean ties have a long history
Front companies, false flags hide North Korea-Burma ties
Book Review: Military Matters in Myanmar
Myanmar, North Korea stay brothers in arms
Burma - A Country Longing for Freedom
The Military's Still in Charge
Rain for Myanmar's peace parade
Thein Sein heads to the White House
Myanmar morphs to US-China battlefield
War trumps peace in Myanmar
Powers Seek Influence in Burma's Conflict
A well-laid war in Myanmar
The Burma Project
A wider war looms in Myanmar
Telling Burma's Story for Twenty Years
Myanmar airstrikes reopen ethnic wounds
More war than peace in Myanmar
The Kyi To the Great Game East
Burma: Trouble Brewing for China
Myanmar: Old atrocity, new implications
Book Review: A one-sided history
Misguided engagement in Burma
Burma 2012: Democracy and Dictatorship
Failed path to peace in Myanmar
Burmese democracy still a distant dream
Myanmar's endless ethnic quagmire
The master plan for Myanmar
Deceiving the US over North Korean ties
Burma Ready to Play Ball With US
The limits of reform in Myanmar
Burma and Myanmar mean exactly the same thing
China-Myanmar: border war dilemma
US-Myanmar: Engagement as nuclear pre-emption
Realpolitik and the Myanmar Spring
India-Myanmar: a half-built gateway
China embrace too strong for Naypyidaw
China behind Myanmar's course shift
Burmese change aplenty but it's only skin deep
Burma Delivers Its First Rebuff to China
Book Review: Before the Darkness
Toys for the boys in Myanmar
Burma's Leadership Change to Nowhere
The Generals' Celestial Mandate
Fog lifts on Myanmar-North Korea barter
Myanmar, North Korea in missile nexus
Compound interest in Myanmar
Farce follows tragedy in Myanmar
Don't Believe the Hype, All We Are Seeing Is The Illusion of Change
US double talk on Myanmar nukes
The Burmese Junta's Latest Ruse
The Generals' Election
Behold, beware Myanmar's fourth empire
UN ignores Burma junta's drugs role
Deception and denials in Myanmar
Myanmar's nuclear bombshell
Burmese Election Show
Reaching Out to Burma
Clouded alliance - North Korea and Myanmar's covert ties
U.N. Mission to Nowehere
Tunnels, Guns and Kimchi: North Korea's Quest for Dollars - Part I
Burma's Nuclear Temptation
Crisis and Response - Part II
Book Review: Regrettable apology for Myanmar
Book Review: Stamping Out History
Myanmar back on a roadmap to nowhere
A Charity's Checkered Past
Book Review: Doing Wrong to Do Good
UN holds false hope for Myanmar
India stands by Myanmar status quo
Burma's Latest Uprising
China no sure bet on Myanmar
Book Review: Tales from the Land in Between
Putting the Boot In
Myanmar's generals hit where it hurts
Death of a drug lord
UN fiddles while Myanmar burns
Burma: Tragedy in the Temples
Book Review: Exploring Ethnic Diversity in Burma
The Burmese Way to Fascism
Book Review: Burma and Japan Since 1940: From "Co-Prosperity" to Quiet Dialogue
Trade and Security Trump Democracy in Burma - Part I
Facing the enemy within
Goons of Rangoon: The Generals Who Would Be Kings
Burma's Warrior Kings and the Generation of '88
Book Review: Perfect Hostage
Squaring the Circle
Book Review: The Odd Couple
Book Review: The River of Lost Footsteps
Myanmar's 88 Generation comes of age
Burma's Lost World
Myanmar and North Korea share a tunnel vision
Book Review: Superstition, Rumor and Gun Law
Burma: Too Much to Hide
How not to Grant Autonomy
Book Review: Burma and the KGB
Book Review: The Wa Conundrum
How World War II Shaped Burma's Future
Book Review: The Frontierslady
Myanmar Payback Time
Book Review: The Burma Campaign and Beyond
Book Review: Rediscovering Orwell
Burma: In the Dark
Book Review: An Iron Grip
Burma: Dangerous Bedfellows
Burma: The military digs in for the long haul
Burma: Black Sheep
Book Review: Stranger than Fiction
Book Review: Burmese Battleground
Perspective: China and South Asia's east
Book Review: More Than a Game in Burma
Burma: The Proof of the Pudding
Burma: Land of Wiles
Myanmar Gets a Russian Nuclear Reactor
Friends of Necessity
Political dialogue in Myanmar
Myanmar: Optimism Fades
Book Review: Burmese scholar drops integrity
Book Review: His Story, not History
Broadening the Breach
China's Ambitions in Myanmar
The Politics of Headhunting in Southeast Asia
Myanmar's Chinese Connection
Lord of the Golden Triangle
Loss of Innocence

Cambodia

Review: Hun Sen, the great survivor
Few clear lines in Preah Vihear ruling
Book Review: Mindset of a mass murderer
No Love Lost Among Khmers and Thais
The Day of Reckoning in Cambodia?
Temple Furor Exposes Delicate Ties
Odd couple: The royal and the Red
One Big Happy Family in Cambodia
Dining with the Dear Leader
Book Review: Dutch Footprints Along the Irrawaddy
Book Review: On the Trail of a Killer
Book Review: Dead and Buried?
Book Review: Cambodia's Bad Dream
Cambodia: Royal Pain
Casinos: Betting on the Border
Economic Monitor: Cambodia
Economic Monitor: Cambodia
Economic Monitor: Cambodia
Cambodia: Drugs and Politics

Laos

Laos the latest China debt trap victim
Little Laos teeters towards big debt crisis
China-Laos friendship 'blossoming'
China comes to the Covid-19 rescue in Laos
China winning new Cold War on the Mekong
Laos Steps into the Globalized World
Laos: At the Crossroads
Fear of foreigners in Laos
Laggard Laos turns the economic corner
Book Review: An American in Vientiane
Economic Monitor: Laos
Laos: Never Say Die
Book Review: Laos as it Really Was
Economic Monitor: Laos
Book Review: Missing Millions
Lao Royalty: Kingdom Come?
Political Dissent in Laos
Political and tribal dissent in Laos

Golden Triangle

Asia’s drug ‘kingpin’ more Hollywood than reality
Society: Tribal Loyalties
Museums: Dark Journey
Travel: The Golden Triangle

Indian Ocean

The fatal flaw in America’s Indo-Pacific designs
China eyes a Covid-19 edge in the Indian Ocean
Covid-19 sows Islamic trouble in Maldives paradise
Quarantined Maldives needs China to survive
Legal storm clouds gather over Diego Garcia
India, Japan joining forces to keep Indian Ocean calm
Maldives teeters towards post-election chaos
India wins, China loses in Maldives election
New Cold War in the Indian Ocean
Myanmar as China's corridor to the sea
Island states targeted in great power competition

Indonesia and East Timor

Inside the Papuan Resistance
Papuans Try to Keep Cause Alive
The Aceh Paradigm
Interview: Jose Ramos Horta
Ethnic and Political Crisis in Indonesia
East Timor: can it stand alone?

North Korea

Covid-19 unleashes new wave of North Korean refugees
As sanctions loom, Russia keeps North Korea at work
Why Kim really sought out Putin
China's shifting view on the Korean Peninsula
How North Korea works around sanctions
Front companies keep North Korea afloat
China resets the tone of US-North Korea talks
North Korea disables nuclear test site, with big bangs for cameras
What China wants from North Korea
No sign yet Kim really intends to denuclearize
Why the Trump-Kim talks will fail
North Korea, Myanmar in a sanctions-busting embrace
North Korea eludes coal export ban via Vietnam
North Korean missiles officially banned and widely available
North Korea's long history of killing overseas
Kim clan's third generation myth
As US loses patience, North Korea holds a chemical card
Tougher scrutiny for North Korean-Southeast Asian ties
Myanmar and North Korea: Friends in Need
Is the Burma-North Korea relationship a thing of the past?
Burmese-North Korean ties have a long history
Front companies, false flags hide North Korea-Burma ties
Deceiving the US over North Korean ties
North Korea's King is Dead, But the Military Still Rules
Fog lifts on Myanmar-North Korea barter
Myanmar, North Korea in missile nexus
North Korea's missiles aimed for Iran
Brazil, North Korea: Brothers in trade
Pyongyang Freely Plies the Seas
Clouded alliance - North Korea and Myanmar's covert ties
Tunnels, Guns and Kimchi: North Korea's Quest for Dollars - Part II
Tunnels, Guns and Kimchi: North Korea's Quest for Dollars - Part I
Book Review: Exodus to North Korea
Odd couple: The royal and the Red
North Korea's Living Exports
A Perilous Escape From Pyongyang
North Korea and the poor man's bombs
North Korea's IT Revolution
North Korea's burden of crime and terror
North Korea's golden path to security
North Korea's underground railroad to Thailand
Korea: Pyongyang's 60-year obsession
The North Korean Enigma: Sons and Heirs
Myanmar and North Korea share a tunnel vision
The long reach of North Korea's missiles
North Korea's creepy-crawly capitalism
North Korea: The Pixel People
North Korea: Shop Till You Drop
Burma: Dangerous Bedfellows
North Korea: Myth Making - Dynastic Lies and Secrets
Korean Peninsula: A Railway Line in Limbo
North Korea's Missile Trade Helps Fund Its Nuclear Program (yaleglobal.yale.edu)
Book Review: Conflicts Revisited
North Korea: It's Hard to Help Kim Jong Il
North Korea: Paper Trail Exposes Missile Merchants
North Korea: Pyongyang's Banking Beachhead in Europe
North Korea - Coming in from the Cold

Russia, Russian Far East and Russian Organised Crime

Eye on America, China-Russia flex naval muscles
A resurgent Russia sets its sights on Asia
Is This Man a 'Lord of War'?
How not to Grant Autonomy
The Chinese are coming... to Russia
North Korea's creepy-crawly capitalism
Organized Crime: Spreading Tentacles
Triads tighten grip on Russia's far east
The Russian Mafia in Asia

South Asia

Behind China’s threat to support insurgency in India
Bangladesh wins and loses in China-India rivalry
US, India in a tentative anti-China embrace
Hegemony, not territory
Why China wants a Himalayan dispute with Bhutan
China, India standoff more than a war over rocks
China shoots itself in the foot in the Himalayas
India, China go toe-to-toe in New Cold War
Rohingya refugee camps a Covid-19 time bomb
Sri Lanka’s transition opens the way for China
China steals a Nepalese march on India
Eye on Kashmir, India's Nagas ring an alarm
No way home, no way out for Rohingya refugees
High hopes, hard realities for India’s Ladakh
In Maldives, India regains ground lost to China
Where India quietly watches China at sea
China reaching deeper and deeper into Nepal
China takes the high ground in Nepal
Not a border dispute
Hidden agenda behind China-India Himalayan showdown
China Turns on Charm Offensive for Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan
Book Review: Portraits of an identity crisis
India's Treacherous Northeast
Northeast India: Boiling Pot of International Rivalry - Part II
Northeast India: Boiling Pot of International Rivalry - Part I
India stands by Myanmar status quo
Book Review: Bangladesh: The New Afghanistan?
Economic Outlook: Bangladesh
Bangladesh: Celebrations and Bombs
Nepal: Heading for a Showdown
Perspective: China and South Asia's east
Nepal's Maoists prepare for final offensive
Bangladesh: Championing Islamist Extremism
Is religious extremism on the rise in Bangladesh?
Bangladesh - A Cocoon of Terror
The Phuket Connection
Nepal struggles to cope with diehard Maoist violence
Commercial Sex and the Daughters of Nepal

South Pacific

New Cold War fight is on for the South Pacific
China advances, West frets in South Pacific
Book Review: Asia in the Pacific Islands
The Sinicizing of the South Pacific
America's China Worries - Part III
Diplomacy: A New Battle for the Pacific
Postcard from Sulphur Bay, Vanuatu
Fall-out in the South Pacific

Book Reviews

Year of the Rat: AT 2020 Reading list
Lost Warriors: Seagrim and Pagani of Burma, The Last Great Untold Story of WWII
Myanmar's Enemy Within: Buddhist Violence and the Making of a Muslim 'Other'
Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia
Book Review: Kingdom's Edge
Book Review: A Great Place to Have a War
Book Review: Pathway to Peace
Book Review: War and Peace in the Borderlands of Myanmar
Book Review: Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein
Book Review: General Ne Win: A Political Biography
Laos Is Open for Business, but on Its Own Terms
Book Details Coming Struggle to Kick Burma's Drug Habit
Charting the Contours of India-Burma Ties
How the West Was Won
Myth and Meaning in Tibet
Book Review: Images of a dark era
Book Review: Reminiscence of a resistance
Book Review: Military Matters in Myanmar
Book Review: Portraits of an identity crisis
Book Review: A one-sided history
Book Review: Mindset of a mass murderer
Book Review: Revelations of a secret war
Book Review: War without end
Book Review: War and Taxes
Myanmar's ageless ethnic question
Drug myths debunked
Life and times of a dictator
Book Review: A History of the Shan State
Book Review: A History of Modern Burma
Book Review: Democracy and National Identity in Thailand
Book Review: Regrettable apology for Myanmar
Book Review: Asia in the Pacific Islands
Book Review: Smugglers' blues
Book Review: Stamping Out History
Book Review: Exodus to North Korea
Book Review: A sad moon rising
Book Review: Doing Wrong to Do Good
Book Review: 'A necessary evil'
Book Review: Rethinking Thailand's Southern Violence
Book Review: Tales from the Land in Between
Book Review: Exploring Ethnic Diversity in Burma
Book Review: Burma and Japan Since 1940: From "Co-Prosperity" to Quiet Dialogue
Burma's Warrior Kings and the Generation of '88
Book Review: China Turns On the Charm
Book Review: Perfect Hostage
Book Review: Arm Thy Neighbor
Book Review: The Odd Couple
Book Review: The River of Lost Footsteps
Book Review: A Shan Kaleidoscope
Book Review: Dutch Footprints Along the Irrawaddy
Book Review: North Korea under Kim Jong Il
Book Review: India-Asean Economic Relations
Book Review: On the Trail of a Killer
Book Review: A Rebel Reporter
Book Review: What it means to be Lao
Book Review: Superstition, Rumor and Gun Law
Book Review: Some Heroes, Many Villains
Book Review: The Divisions Within
Book Review: A Question of Identity
Book Review: Burma and the KGB
Book Review: Two Faces of Chiarman Mao
Book Review: Bangladesh: The New Afghanistan?
Book Review: The Wa Conundrum
Book Review: Beyond the Tales of Kings and Wars
Book Review: Kingdom of Conflict
Book Review: Dead and Buried?
Book Review: What Makes Thais Tick?
Book Review: The Frontierslady
Book Review: Cambodia's Bad Dream
Book Review: The Burma Campaign and Beyond
Book Review: Rediscovering Orwell
Book Review: From Decorated Hero to Public Enemy No. 1
Book Review: An American in Vientiane
Book Review: An Iron Grip
Book Review: A Black Force in Taiwan
Book Review: The Roots of Cambodia's Confusion
Book Review: Uncovering the Secrets of the Japanese Yakuza
Book Review: Surviving Bangkok's Slums
Book Review: Laos as it Really Was
Book Review: Burmese Battleground
Book Review: Terrorism - Think Local
Book Review: Take a Trek to the North
Book Review: Missing Millions
Book Review: More Than a Game in Burma
Book Review: Asia's Sex Trap
Book Review: His Story, not History
Book Review: Trapped in the Middle
Book Review: China's Boundless Main

Miscellaneous

Why China prefers to maintain inflamed borders
China spies and gamblers want your Covid app data
US doubles down on Taiwan ties to poke China
Japan, Taiwan quietly build a wall against China
The time China fought America to a standstill
Japan could carry the day in a US-China conflict
Time may be ripe for China to invade Taiwan
Busting the myth of China’s New Silk Roads
China’s influence looms darkly over Taiwan’s polls
China, Vietnam will never agree on South China Sea
The drug war behind the trade war
Where the Uighurs are free to be
China parades its own coalition of the willing
China’s anniversary not cause for all to celebrate
US, China tilting towards conflict on Taiwan
China winning new Cold War on the Mekong
Why a China invasion of Taiwan would fail
Djibouti: the Casablanca of a new Cold War
Risks bubbling beneath Djibouti's foreign bases
In a high-stakes dance, China charms Bhutan
Why China and Taiwan agree on the South China Sea
What it means to be Taiwanese
Little Laos risks losing it all to China
ASEAN Paralysis Gives China Free Hand in South China Sea
Obituary: Passage of a trailblazer
Wise man on the hill
Chinese pieces to Iran's nuclear puzzle
How you're unwittingly financing terror
Why the US really wants Bout
Australia's strategic little dots
The Roots of Thailand's Turmoil
The Roots of Thailand's Turmoil
Thai Workers Fly to Sweden Where the Wild Berries Are
The Battle for Thailand
The Real Thai Crisis
Is This Man a 'Lord of War'?
Regional Fallout from Thai Turmoil
Thailand in Tatters, Democracy Delayed
Thailand's Red October
A Thailand Riven By Politics
Chill sets in over US arms sting
Old map refutes Argentine sovereignty claim
China Ascendant - Part I
Myanmar drugs fuel Thai gangs
Thailand's New Constitution
Tentative Peace Talks for Thai South
Who's Who in Thailand's Muslim Insurgency
Thailand and Post-Thaksin Politics
Thailand: The Political Situation Mid-2007
Stanley Ho's Luck Turns Sour
Kate Webb: 1943-2007
A how-to guide for fleeing China
The Sinicizing of the South Pacific
A new breed of migrants fans out
Thais in the land of frozen smiles
Terror in Southeast Asia
Politics: Thailand's Other Conflict
Peace stays far away in southern Thailand
A New Battle in Thailand (yaleglobal.yale.edu)
Postcard from Thailand: At Siam's Gate
Amulet Power
Illegal Migration in the 21st Century(yaleglobal.yale.edu)
Restaurant Review: Chiang Mai's River of Restaurants
People Smuggling: The Crime of Flight
Crime: Cinematic Plot
Cyberfraud: The fictitious "Dominion of Melchizedek"
Safe Haven
Restaurant Review: A Hunger for Yunnan
Hooking Your Mother: Trout-Fishing in Bhutan
Letter From Your President
Fishing