Urban drug crisis: "Happy Water" cocktails and high-tech "Hi Rooms" lure Myanmar’s youth into a dangerous cycle of addiction and overdose in 2026.
Posts published in “Perspectives”
Sagaing’s "liberated zones" face a narcotics surge. The NUG struggles to police drug routes as rogue units allegedly profit from the trade, testing its legitimacy.
Cilia Flores was never just a shadow behind the throne; she was the political architect of the "Chavista" movement. A former Attorney General and National Assembly President, her legal seniority predates Nicolás Maduro’s presidency. Now, following a high-stakes U.S. military raid, the "First Combatant" faces a grim legal reckoning in a New York courtroom on narco-terrorism charges.
As the United Nations marks its 81st year in 2026, the organization faces an existential "liquidity crisis" and unprecedented political paralysis. With a scheduled 15% budget cut and the elimination of nearly 3,000 jobs, the UN's ability to intervene in global flashpoints—from Myanmar to the Middle East—is reaching a historic breaking point, leaving a vacuum in the international rules-based order.
As Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing prepares for a post-election transition, the search for a successor intensifies within the military's inner circles. This analysis explores the frontrunners of the "Fourth Generation"—led by Gen. Kyaw Swar Lin—and the internal power play that will determine the next Commander-in-Chief.
Seventy-eight years after gaining independence from British rule, Myanmar remains trapped in a cycle of military coups and the world's longest-running civil war, with 2026 marking a critical and uncertain crossroads for the nation's future.
Military intervention of the U.S. in Venezuela and a statement by President Donald Trump, who has proclaimed a temporary government, have completely changed the world geopolitics. The danger of this doctrine of sphere of influence, analysts say, is providing an unhealthy precedent, making China potential to learn the same technique of decapitation strikes or administrative seizures in Taiwan.
Myanmar’s military regime is pushing to restart the controversial Myitsone Dam project in 2026, proposing a redesigned earthquake-resistant structure and a revised profit-sharing agreement with China to bypass over a decade of public resistance.
A looming power struggle for Myanmar’s presidency centers on a 295-vote threshold within a depleted Union Parliament. As the military-backed election concludes, the contest pits Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s aspirations against civilian-uniformed political allies in a landscape where military appointees hold a decisive advantage.
Five years after the 2021 coup, the dust is settling on a political landscape that looks increasingly like it was designed in Beijing rather than…