MYAWADDY COMMENT

April 2024

What has happened in Myawaddy really stinks. The KNLA conquered all the enemy units, including 275, and controlled the town. Some Sit-tat fled to the bridge, but Thailand wouldn't let them across. The only wild card was Chit Thu and the BGF, but then the deal seemed to be to let him run Myawaddy, as a way to prevent the terrorists from bombing it. But then, and apparently according to a long-standing plan with enemy general Soe Win, Chit Thu changed right back to leader of the Rogue post-Manerplaw Karen, and seized 275 and invited the Sit-tat back. Now the KNU spokesperson is saying the KNLA left because it didn't want to fall into a trap, whatever that means.

For the idea to protect the town, that seems to make sense, given what the junta has done to other towns seized by the revolutionaries. But for border towns, those taken by the MNDAA and the KIA, this hasn't happened. There has been some bombing (like in Myawaddy), but not wholesale destruction. Why? The answer is obvious: China. They want to resume trade at some point (which is already happening), so the trade zones had to survive. China told the junta in private, lay off, and they did. So what about Myawaddy? I guess we are supposed to believe that Thailand could not exert the same type of influence (which I sincerely doubt).

So what really happened? I suspect top Karen leaders corrupted by the Chinese money forced through the reversal. We know GOC Johnny is in bed with Chit Thu. This, as the photo of his son out shopping at a mall with the BGF leader illustrates, is common knowledge. And then there is former Defense Minister Roger Khin. But what about the Chairman, Kwe Htoo. Supposedly he witnessed the documents for the second criminal city, KK Park, and there have been suspicions about him for a long time concerning the Princess companies that were going to develop the Dawei Deep Sea Port. In other words, the corruption begun by Mutu and Kwe Htoo in 2012 when they traveled to Rangoon and signed the preliminary ceasefire (and were paid by Myanmar Peace Center's Aung Min) still exists. Something is clearly rotten in the KNU, but fortunately the KNLA brigades and other units, with few exceptions, are ignoring the center and fighting bravely to free Kawthoolei from the Bamar junta domination once and for all.