If the West is bluffing?

Today, the West is facing multiple crisis. First, the threat of invasion in Ukraine by Russia, an attack on Taiwan by Communist China and the clock is ticking in the Iran nuclear enrichment program. A lot is on the plate for Mr Biden and NATO to deal with. However, Burma is increasing up on the News and the brutality shown by the junta is matching what Assad did to his own people. The junta is blockading and starving entire villages and towns, burning villages, looting civilian houses and raping women. The evidence is there since they committed crimes against humanity in Rakhine state and now they are doing in mass scale because the west failed to take action against the junta.

Last week, the junta used helicopter gunships and also planes to bomb villages in Sagain state (North West of Burma) and killing innocent civilians. People are hiding in the jungle under freezing weather condition. Then they started bombing in Karen state close to Thailand. We are helpless in protecting ourselves because we don’t have any weapons to shoot down the planes. We want UN to declare no fly zone over the border area so that we can defend ourselves on the ground. However, I do understand that this might be a big ask for the US and UK. No fly zone is like a wish list from Santa. Therefore, we are very realistic in our expectations. I would like to urge the West to recognise our National Unity Government(NUG) as a government and allow it to open a bank account and get funding for the people of Myanmar. Please provide some weapons to local PDF(People Defence Force) formed by NUG. By doing so, we can defend ourselves. Some artillery and portable surface to air missiles will be very helpful to deter against the junta. In North East, another rebel group called UWSA have got some surface to air missiles and the west can see that the area is peaceful because the junta won’t dare to bomb UWSA. I know that the West is worried about these SAM will end up in some Radical Islamist terrorist Organisation accidentally. I can assure you that PDF under Myanmar National Unity Government is well disciplined and have established a chain of command. Therefore, they can use these Surface to air missiles responsibly and can also prevent it from falling to terrorists’ hand.

The West has some choices. You have already condemned what the junta is doing. But we need more than words to stop the junta from committing more crimes. History taught us that Hitler was never stopped by Chamberlain’s appeasement policy and with Saddam Hussein as well. We are not asking you to send your ground troops and to send your airforce. All we want for Christmas is peace and peace can only be achieved by giving us weapons especially to NUG. Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and other dictators are watching whether the West is bluffing or not. There will be more bloodshed this Christmas in Burma and beyond if the West is bluffing. It is strategically important for the West to stop this bloodshed in Burma because the West can send signal to those countries and future dictators indirectly.