Word: burma
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Karen, they were deities. To the Thais, they were demons. But when they staggered down from the mountains of Burma (now known as Myanmar) at dusk last Tuesday, Johnny and Luther Htoo bore neither miracles nor M-16s, just Bibles in their knapsacks. The tiny teenage twins and leaders of the mysterious rebel force known as God's Army approached a company of Thai soldiers and asked for sanctuary. Whisked to a police compound in the nearby town of Suan Phung, they soon found themselves exchanging bewildered stares with Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and a dozen of Thailand...
...year-old leaders had never ventured more than a few miles from their base on Kersay Doh, or God's Mountain, their photos flashed around the world. The two became instant objects of fascination and fear. Johnny and Luther had long been legends, however, in the hills of Burma and the refugee camps in Thailand...
...allowed to live with their mother, who has been residing in a Thai refugee camp, Thai authorities said. Meanwhile, not all of God's Army have been cast down from the mountain. About 30 rebels still roam the jungle. Refugees still walk over the border and hide in Burma's forests, fleeing Rangoon's soldiers. Some Karen refuse to believe the twins are finished. They say the boys will grow strong again and return to vanquish their foes. The Karen are a people still in need of a savior. And so in the mist-covered mountains of the Thai-Burma...
...soap-dodging Westernized reprobate into a clean-cut Burman patriot. The Burmese military liked to characterize its war on drugs as part of a wider campaign against colonialism and all its nefarious agents. This was spelled out by Khin Nyunt in a speech at Mongla in 1999. He blamed Burma's drug scourge on the "pernicious legacy" of British colonialists, a legacy exacerbated by what he called "the unscrupulous actions of the politically motivated neocolonialist clandestine organizations...
...This hardly explained or excused the regime's abysmal record in drug control. Since 1988?when Khin Nyunt and his clique rose to power?opium production in Burma had more than doubled. This startling increase was largely due to the generous concessions the regime had granted Mongla's ruler Lin and other ethnic druglords...