burma
Aid spending by the world’s richest states hovered around an all-time high last year, but development assistance to the least-developed countries (LDCs) fell by 16% from the year before, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has said.
Food diplomacy initiatives are increasingly being recognized as a successful means to open up peace dialogue as a result of our increasingly cosmopolitan palettes. Food is one of the oldest forms of exchange, with yet untapped recognition to deliver social conflict transformation. With this in mind, International Alert's Conflict Kitchen London opens up a new avenue to pursue peace dialogue by taking people on a tantalizing journey exploring new culinary experiences.
Myanmar, so the popular narrative goes, is a land of pro-democracy peasants bitterly shaking their fists at military overlords. But perhaps the narrative is mistaken. There is no shortage of reasons to despise the military of Myanmar, the troubled Southeast Asian state formerly titled Burma.
In recent weeks, warfare in Burma’s Kachin State has increased and is now making its way closer to the Burma-China border. While the international community has paid little attention to the Kachin conflict over the past few years, understanding its complexity is now more important than ever. Failing to do so could have dire implications on the lives of Kachin women, and on diplomatic relations in the region.
On Monday, the Sino-Myanmar natural gas pipeline began pumping to China, part of the Middle Kingdom’s drive to diversify its energy supplies, but, in light of recent diplomatic troubles, China is quick to shine a rosy light on this latest development. The Chinese state media charm offensive went into full swing. Xinhua described the opening ceremony as follows: "When torches flamed in the sky of Namkham Measuring Station of the Myanmar-China Gas Pipeline, a storm of applause and cheers broke out."
The president of Myanmar has promised to release all political prisoners by the end of this year and said he thought a nationwide ceasefire was possible in the coming weeks for the first time in six decades...Activists had protested his two-day talk with British Prime Minister David Cameron, taking issue with the Asian nation's human rights record.
The pace of Burma’s political, economic, and social reforms is being matched by a boom in investment and construction... Burma’s geostrategic location between India and China and extensive natural resource wealth make it a natural crossroads for Asian trade and a focal point for broader regional integration.