Podcasts about Burmese

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Lya Badgley, author of the book The Thirty-Fifth Page. Lya Badgley was born in Yangon, Myanmar, to Montana parents—a political scientist and an artist—who sparked her lifelong love of creativity and critical thought. After moving to the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s, she became part of Seattle's arts and music scene. In the 1990s, she returned to Southeast Asia as a videographer documenting interviews with Burmese insurgents, then went on to lead Cornell University's Archival Project at Cambodia's Tuol Sleng Museum, preserving evidence used to prosecute war crimes. She later opened the 50th Street Bar & Grill in Yangon—one of the first foreign-owned businesses of its kind at the time.   Lya writes internationally set fiction that blends suspense with cultural nuance, exploring women's journeys through landscapes shaped by historical legacy, grief, and transformation.   Her debut novel, The Foreigner's Confession (2022), set in Cambodia, was a finalist for the Nancy Pearl Award for Best Fiction. Her second, The Worth of a Ruby (2023), set in Myanmar, was also honored as a finalist for multiple international awards. She now lives outside Seattle, Washington in the United States, and is excited to release her third novel, The Thirty-Fifth Page—a gothic-tinged literary suspense set in Bosnia.   In my book review, I stated The Thirty Fifth Page is a literary suspense laden with magical realism and a dash of historical fiction. Miri is a researcher whose specialty is medieval manuscripts. She flies to Bosnia to study the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illustrated Jewish text of the Passover Seder housed at the National Museum. Unfortunately, Sarajevo is on the brink of war, so Miri has to work quickly.   As she works, she believes the Haggadah has strange powers. Before she can figure it out, war breaks out, and the Haggadah is lost. But when it finally returns to its place of honor at the museum, it has a new page. And she is called back to find out why. This thirty-fifth page merges history and folklore, putting Miri and those she cares deeply about into the middle of an ancient curse.   I loved going on this adventure with Miri as she tries to figure out who she is and what she wants in the world. I also loved seeing how the past directly affects our present and future - and how we pass that on from generation to generation.   You are definitely going to love this new novel by Lya Badgley!   Subscribe to Online for Authors to learn about more great books! https://www.youtube.com/@onlineforauthors?sub_confirmation=1   Join the Novels N Latte Book Club community to discuss this and other books with like-minded readers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3576519880426290   You can follow Author Lya Badgley Website: https://lyabadgley.com/ FB: @lyabadgleyauthor IG: @lyabadgleyauthor   Purchase The Thirty-Fifth Page on Amazon: Paperback: https://amzn.to/3JBzcpP Ebook: https://amzn.to/4q5ai1W   Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor IG: @terimbrown_author X: @terimbrown1   Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors   #lyabadgley #thethirtyfifthpage #suspense #historicalfiction #terimbrownauthor #authorpodcast #onlineforauthors #characterdriven #researchjunkie #awardwinningauthor #podcasthost #podcast #readerpodcast #bookpodcast #writerpodcast #author #books #goodreads #bookclub #fiction #writer #bookreview *As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

U Thant was a Burmese diplomat and the third Secretary-General of the United Nations. He assumed the role following the death of Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash in the Congo in 1961, and soon became one of the most consequential players in international affairs for over a decade. Thant's contributions to some of the key global challenges of the era were widely celebrated at the time but have since been overlooked—until now. A brilliant new biography, Peacemaker: U Thant and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World, places the former Secretary-General at the heart of several crucial moments of the 1960s, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, post-colonial struggles in the Congo, and much more. The book is written by Thant Myint-U, a historian who has worked at the United Nations—and who also happens to be U Thant's grandson. In our conversation, Thant describes how his grandfather went from being a schoolteacher in rural Burma to, just 15 years later, playing a key role in mediating the Cuban Missile Crisis as UN Secretary-General. We also discuss Thant's efforts to end the Vietnam War before it escalated, and his work confronting a fascist regime in a breakaway region of the Congo. More broadly, we explore the lessons that the current UN system and its Secretary-General can draw from U Thant's remarkable tenure. Thant Myint-U is the author of Peacemaker: U Thant and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World.

Episode #432: Myanmar researcher Lin Jin Fu investigates the rise of scam compounds that blend human trafficking, digital fraud, and organized crime. His study, Scam haven: Responding to surging cyber crime and human trafficking in Myanmar, traces their expansion from Chinese “scam houses” into a transnational industry stretching across Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. Originally rooted in China's underground economies, these groups migrated outward as Beijing cracked down and the pandemic restricted domestic activity. They flourished in lawless borderlands such as the Golden Triangle and northern Shan State, where weak governance allowed them to create fortified compounds that combine physical captivity with online deception. Scam centers now anchor wider illicit economies— drugs, gambling, black-market banking, and prostitution— worth at least $37 billion a year. In 2023, the Three Brotherhood Alliance, with apparent Chinese backing, attacked major compounds in Laukkai during Operation 1027, rescuing trafficked Chinese nationals and handing over several ringleaders who were later sentenced to death. At the same time, Beijing launched a domestic campaign, flooding WeChat and Weibo daily with anti-fraud messages. Yet the system persists. Frightened operators briefly suspended work elsewhere, then reopened on the condition that they avoid targeting Chinese citizens. Every compound, Lin Jin Fu explains, survives by securing protection from an armed host—usually the junta or allied Border Guard Forces— while some ethnic armies tolerate or tax them. These networks adapt easily. Big bosses flee by helicopter; smaller scams need only laptops, generators, and internet. The old “pig-butchering” crypto fraud now employees sophisticated AItools, and online-gambling scams targeting countries across South America dominate Tachileik. Sadly, for many impoverished young Burmese, scam centers are the only escape from conscription and joblessness. Meanwhile, inside the compounds, workers endure coercion, sexual abuse, and debt bondage. Surrounding towns boom briefly, then collapse into ghost cities once crackdowns hit. Lin Jin Fu warns that for scam centers to fully cease operations across Myanmar, the military junta has to go. Beyond that, he emphasizes that absent legal migration routes and alternative employment, the industry will continue to endure. “For drugs, people had an alternative— grow coffee instead of poppy,” he says. “For scams, what is the alternative?”

Europol takes down servers behind three malware operations, the US sanctions another Burmese military group linked to scam compounds, Google backs down from mandatory Android developer registration, and Checkout-dot-com donates its ransom to cybercrime researchers instead of paying hackers. Show notes Risky Bulletin: Europol takes down Elysium, VenomRAT, and Rhadamanthys infrastructure

Episode #430: Ngu Wah is a Research Fellow at Knowledge Circle Foundation and a PhD candidate at Chiang Mai University focusing on migration and political economy. In this episode, she speaks about the struggles of Burmese migrant workers and the crucial role of remittances in Myanmar's economy, shaping the vision she has for her country's future. She explains that Myanmar remains largely resourcebased, dependent on extractive industries and agriculture. The State Administration Council (SAC) controls the formal sector, while a significant informal sphere involves both state and nonstate actors. Weak infrastructure—roads, transport, and telecommunications—continues to weigh heavily on national development. Migration, she stresses, is “in [her] heart,” a personal commitment rooted in family background and her belief that migrant workers are the “unsung heroes of Myanmar.” Before her PhD, Ngu Wah studied returnees to learn how families managed remittances and supported rural agriculture. Later, while conducting research in Thailand, she uncovered evidence of a gender wage gap: women earned less but remitted more. She attributes this to side income, skillssharing, digital networks, and community living that help women stretch their resources. Yet, women also face greater obstacles than men in finding jobs when contracts expire and in reintegrating once they return to Myanmar. Many hope to start small businesses, making remittances essential as savings and seed capital. Documentation remains another critical burden. Although official fees are low, bureaucratic hurdles and language barriers push workers to use costly agents. Some fall into debt, while others risk working without papers. Yet documentation is vital for protection, services, and bank access. “We need to be very practical to solve that issue,” she says. “We need to think for the migrant workers.” Remittances accounted for about 4% of Myanmar's GDP in 2018 and have only grown since the coup. But scams and tightening controls make safe transfers harder. She calls for flexible, secure mechanisms that also consider migrants' habits. While many describe the Burmese as resilient, she cautions against romanticizing hardship. Survival, she insists, comes at a cost. Still, after recounting these struggles, she closes with her most powerful reminder: “[the Burmese] always find a way to survive.”

Meet Saw and Brittany Naing, the husband-and-wife team powering Ojai's rock-and-roll barbecue joint Joplin's — and the culinary force many locals already know from The Dutchess. Saw grew up in Myanmar under military rule, fronting a heavy-metal band whose politically charged lyrics earned him unwelcome attention from the junta before he emigrated to Los Angeles in 2007.Los Angeles Times+1 In California kitchens he traded guitar amps for grill grates, cooking everywhere from Bouchon and Café Pinot to Tallula's in Santa Monica before finally landing in Ojai as chef-partner at The Dutchess, where he cooks a deeply personal Burmese-Indian-meets-California menu.Ojai Food and Wine+1Brittany came up through the music world too, running an online music publication, De La Vie TV, before moving into restaurants, eventually becoming beverage director at The Dutchess and creating Namari, a cult-favorite non-alcoholic amaro.Namari+3Joplin's+3Podbay+3 Together they dreamed up Joplin's — named for the dog who adopted them during the pandemic — a “food, drinks, rock & roll” roadhouse on East Ojai Avenue where Texas-style barbecue picks up Burmese and Indian accents, local meat and produce, and a seriously dialed-in playlist.Eater LA+4Joplin's+4Los Angeles Times+4In this episode we talk about Saw's journey from Rangoon stages to Ojai smokers, Brittany's path from showrunner to beverage innovator, the near-miss rock-and-roll pop-up that Covid canceled, and how they've poured every second act of their lives into Joplin's and The Dutchess. It's a conversation about risk, reinvention, and what happens when you take “low and slow” as a life philosophy, not just a way to cook ribs.We did not talk about whether Limp Bizkit is actually nu-metal, cloning polo ponies or the consequences of the Foreign Plot on the French Revolution. To learn more about Saw & Brittany, check ot https://www.joplinsojai.com

SBS မြန်မာ ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် နိုဝင်ဘာလ ၁၂ ရက် နေ့အတွက် News Flash သတင်းများ။

Greg and Ed discuss an article on Ajarn.com by Dr. Jesse Sessions called "What Does the Future Hold" which discusses some of the bigger problems currently facing Thailand and how they might impact the country's prosperity, competitiveness and social longevity. The guys walk through the issues one by one and give their take on its significance, The first issue is border security. Ed points out that Thailand actually has major security issues on the Burmese, Malaysian, and Cambodian borders, something that is easy to forget from the security of Bangkok. In fact several of the later issues tie in to this problem, including the major problems of government corruption and of scam centers in Cambodia and Burma, that implicate Thailand in international crime networks. Greg points out that these 'scam cities' are sometimes connected to the Thai power grid or Internet service and may also be trafficking victims through Bangkok. As a 'rule of law' guy, Ed emphasizes the importance of cleaning up these issues and ridding Southeast Asia of its Wild West image.  Another cluster of issues centers around the economy, such as the slower the expected recovery of the tourism sector after COVID and Thailand's perennial fixture in the 'middle income trap,' clearly surpassing Cambodia but somehow also managing to be miles away from South Korea and Japan. Check in for discussion of a bunch of other topics, including demographics, AI adoption, and environmental problems, and make sure to read the full article for a more thorough breakdown of each issue.  

SBS မြန်မာ ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် နိုဝင်ဘာလ ၁၀ ရက် နေ့အတွက် News Flash သတင်းများ။

Episode #427: Daniel M. Stuart describes his newest work, Insight in Perspective, as the product of decades of scholarship and meditative practice, aimed at practitioners and academics alike. The book, a follow-up to his earlier Emissary of Insight, examines the historical and cultural formation of the S. N. Goenka Vipassana lineage. He says it began as a short academic critique, but grew into a comprehensive study seeking to bridge lived religious experience and historical analysis. Stuart situates his work partly in dialogue with Eric Braun's The Birth of Insight, which links modern Vipassana to “Buddhist modernism,” a rationalized response to colonialism and ongoing Western influence. While acknowledging the general acceptance of Braun's influence, Stuart contends that this model is too narrow, overlooking the hybrid, lay-based traditions that complicate the monastic-centered story. Figures such as U Ba Khin and Goenka, he argues, cannot be reduced to the rational and secular; their teachings blend the scientific, the mystical, and the cosmological. Stuart identifies a central tension between scholarly critique and devotional participation, describing the scholar-practitioner's task as being willing “to complicate things” with remaining loyal to the tradition. But it's not easy uncovering all the threads of this complex story. For example, he notes that many witnesses to early Goenka history have remained silent, while other informants, such as Friedgard Lottermoser, only shared guardedly, out of a wish to protect what they saw as esoteric knowledge. Stuart challenges Western scholars like Braun for “thinning out” the richness of Burmese Buddhism by forcing it into modernist categories, which also results in erasure. He emphasizes that elements like spirit consultation, protective rituals, and supernormal powers are not anomalies but continuations of Burmese cosmology, and still exist today in many “modern” mindfulness traditions. While Goenka's public-facing dialog emphasizes the rational and secular nature of the practice, meditation hall arrangements, and the playing of protective chants such as the Patthāna, at Goenka centers, reveal a much more rich and complex reality. For Stuart, modernization in this context means reorganization, not disenchantment. The global Vipassana movement, he concludes, was not born of one or two events, but emerged through an evolving genealogy, one that joins textual scholarship, colonial encounters, lay experimentation, and enduring cosmological belief into a single, multifaceted birth of insight.

SBS မြန်မာ ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် နိုဝင်ဘာလ ၅ ရက် နေ့အတွက် News Flash သတင်းများ။

One of the most pivotal moments in the history of Thailand was the Battle of Nong Sarai in 1593. This confrontation between the Burmese Tuangoo Dynasty and the proto-Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya is remembered as the setting for an epic elephant duel. King Naresuan of Ayutthaya was said to have challenged the Burmese crown prince to single combat on elephant back. His victory that day become symbolic of Thailand's independent spirit. However, there are at least ten different accounts of what actually went down at Nong Sarai in 1593. Each of those sources paint a very different picture of how this confrontation played out. Which sources should we trust? Was this duel actually an elephant sized historical myth? Tune-in and find out how horny elephants, dishonorable gunplay, and damaged hats all play a role in the story. Join us in Greece in 2026! Check out the itinerary and book HERE!Check out the merch at out T-Public store HERE!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode #425: Dr. Lalita Hanwong, a Thai historian and analyst, has dedicated her career to understanding Myanmar and its ties to Thailand. “I'm morally attached to the peoples of Myanmar,” she says, summing up a lifetime of scholarship and advocacy that spans from the archives of colonial Burma to the war-torn Thai-Myanmar border. “I just want to talk to everybody.” Trained at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, Lalita's research explored how British rule relied on racial hierarchies to govern Burma. “The British were pretty paranoid and suspicious of the Burmese… the specific race that they found the most difficult to rule and police was actually the Bamar,” she explains. “Their solution was pretty simple: let's bring somebody to scare the Burmese—hence the presence of the Gurkhas, the Sikhs and so on.” These studies taught her how old systems of mistrust shaped modern Myanmar. Her work later shifted from archives to activism. Returning to Thailand, she began advising parliament and the army on border affairs, refugee policy, and Myanmar relations. “There are some really good-hearted [Thai] soldiers who mean well, who want to help Myanmar as well,” she says. Mae Sot, the border town she calls her second home, has become central to her life: “Mae Sot is a really fascinating place. There's no place like Mae Sot… Thailand has been the hub of resistance from Myanmar for generations.” Lalita argues that Thailand must take a more active role as mediator and humanitarian partner. “Thailand could do a lot more,” she says. “The border is a gray zone… we cannot use the urban mindset to get the border fixed however we like it.” She rejects isolation of the junta—“you need somebody who can still negotiate and get access to Naypyidaw”—and believes dialogue is the only way forward. “War is never good for anybody except war business people.”

နိုဝင်ဘာလ ၃ ရက် တနင်္လာနေ့ SBS Burmese News Flash သတင်းများ။

What does it mean to truly awaken—and how do we live with full awareness in every moment, even in the face of impermanence? Eugene Cash's warm, playful, and deeply sincere style invites us into a rich exploration of mindfulness, death, and the immediacy of life. Drawing from the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Eugene emphasizes the experiential nature of awareness, encouraging us to feel our bodies, notice our breath, and recognize the fleeting nature of each moment. He shares personal stories, including a near-death experience and the dissolution of San Francisco Insight to illustrate how impermanence can be a gateway to freedom.Eugene's teaching is grounded in both classical Buddhist texts and lived experience. He references the Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10), Zen master Dogen, Longchenpa of the Dzogchen tradition, and Shantideva, offering poetic and powerful quotes that illuminate the path to awakening, focusing on:Mindfulness of posture, breath, and bodily elements (earth, air, fire, water)Awareness in all activities—“no one at Safeway has to know you're meditating”The normality of death and the intoxications of youth, health, and lifeAwakening as “springing into being” and “the freshness of reality”The insight that freedom arises when we stop clinging to anythingHe offers us a gentle nudge to wake up to the miracle of being here, now.______________Eugene Cash is the founding teacher of the San Francisco Insight Meditation Community of San Francisco which ended in October 2025 after more than 30 years. He now teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and leads intensive meditation retreats internationally. His teaching is influenced by both Burmese and Thai streams of the Theravada tradition as well as Zen and Tibetan Buddhist practice. He is also a teacher of the Diamond Approach, a school of spiritual investigation and self-realization developed by A. H. Almaas. Learn more at https://www.insightdharmacenter.org/ ______________ To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences worldwide, please visit https://gaybuddhist.org/There you can: Donate Learn how to participate live Find our schedule of upcoming speakers Join our mailing list or discussion forum Enjoy many hundreds of these recorded talks dating back to 1996 CREDITSAudio Engineer: George HubbardProducer: Tom BrueinMusic/Logo/Artwork: Derek Lassiter

ALC: ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် အောက်တိုဘာလ ၂၉ ရက်, SBS Burmese News Flash သတင်းများ။

Episode #420: “This is this shit is real. This is not a dream. This is real.” Burmese actor and public figure Khar Ra recounts a path that runs from Mogok to Yangon, into entertainment, and then—after the 2021 coup—into public dissent, displacement, and ongoing advocacy. He grew up on Mogok's west side. Money was tight; his father died from alcohol; his mother remarried and left; with no siblings, he lived among relatives and kept one house rule: don't drink, don't smoke. Before leaving he told a friend he would not return unless he had become an artist. In Yangon Khar Ra studied English at Dagon University while translating, working restaurant shifts, and taking shortterm jobs. A friend urged him into a modeling contest; he arrived in borrowed clothes, learned fast, and in 2014 was named Mr. Asia Myanmar, then placed second runnerup at the regional Mr. Asia pageant. Work followed across modeling, music, and film. He notes the limits of precoup censorship—no profanity even in gangster scripts, intimacy restricted. On January 31, 2021, Khar Ra was planning his next series of films; by morning the coup began. Within days he joined rallies with '88 Generation figures, raised the threefinger salute, shared inthe 8 p.m. potandpan protests, and posted blunt messages against the regime. He also redirected his platforms to verified needs— medicine, rent, transport— adding, “We must carry on what we are doing. We can't waste their sacrifice… We're in this together, and we will fight until the end. We can make it happen.” After a fellow celebrity's detention, his own name appeared under Section 505(a). Khar Ra hid with relatives, then left Yangon in a longyi and glasses, passing seven checkpoints. He moved toward the Thai–Myanmar border and into ethniccontrolled areas, met displaced families, and says the shift was clear: “I am on a path of revolution… It is happening.” The next phase took him to the United States. He joined fundraisers (including a San Francisco night he says raised over US$90,000), acted in a UCLA student short—his first screen role in nearly five years—and assembled a small documentary from an elevenday Karen trip. Exile, he says, cost him identity and purpose, yet his pledge stands: “I will keep supporting the movement.I'll fight until the end.”

SBS မြန်မာ ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် အောက်တိုဘာလ ၂၇ ရက် နေ့အတွက် News Flash သတင်းများ။

Today's Adventure: Two OSS agents have to carry forged orders for a Japanese camp commander through a Burmese jungle.Original Radio Broadcast: September 1, 1950Originating from New YorkStarring: Chuck Webster; Ralph Bell; Raymond Edward Johnson; Eric Dressler; Karl Weber; Jerry Jarrett; Joan Alison; Maurice Tarplin; Guy ReppTo subscribe to this podcast and, go to https://greatadventures.info/Become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters at https://patreon.greatdetectives.netSupport the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net.Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.netGive us a call at 208-991-4783Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectivesFollow us on Twitter @radiodetectives

Episode #419: “I'm just doing what is right, what is wrong, what's the matter? What should I do as a human being?”After medical school, instead of choosing comfort, Dr. Myay Latt went to the Naga Self-Administered Zone — a place with no roads or electricity, where he was often the first doctor anyone had seen. He built bamboo clinics, trained villagers, and survived falls off cliffs while fighting malaria and tuberculosis. “They think I'm a strange person,” he says, laughing, “but they thank me.”His work took him across Myanmar's forgotten corners — from Chin to Rakhine, where he ignored warnings and treated patients in areas marked No Entry for Rohingya. “I just want to heal people,” he says. “Not take sides.” In Putao, near the Kachin mountains, he reached villages by boat and foot, sleeping in leech-infested huts and learning the depth of his country's suffering.When the coup came in 2021, he and friends spent the night awake in Yangon, drinking whiskey and waiting. “It's like slapping our face,” he says. Out of that shock came an idea, inspired so many decades ago by Gandhi's nonviolent crusade against the British: What if we stop their machine? He and other doctors decided then and there, to refuse to work under the junta. By morning, the Civil Disobedience Movement was born. Within days, hospitals, banks, and ministries stood still.The regime answered with bullets and airstrikes. “They're so inhumane,” he says. “Hospitals, schools — they don't care who's inside.” He calls the attacks a clear breach of international law and urges only one thing: stop bombing civilians.Today, Myay Latt leads Heartland Union, bringing medical aid to Myanmar's war zones. Many of his colleagues are gone. Still, he meditates and carries on. “Sometimes I cry at night, just hearing a Burmese traditional song,” he says softly. “But I will do whatever I can to win this revolution.”

ALC: ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် အောက်တိုဘာလ ၂၂ ရက်, SBS Burmese News Flash သတင်းများ။

Episode #416: In the early 1990s, a chance encounter with Burmese student exiles in Bangkok sparked Nic Dunlop's enduring interest in the country. His initial ignorance of the country developed into curiosity, empathy, and visual storytelling. As a photojournalist, Dunlop has spent years documenting the “invisible dictatorship” of Myanmar's military regime, focusing on the mechanisms of social control, forced labor, and repression. His 2013 book, Brave New Burma, aimed to educate Western audiences about the complex realities behind simplistic narratives. Rather than reinforcing the myth of Aung San Suu Kyi as a saintly figure, he presents her as a tough leader shaped by privilege, critiquing her understanding of marginalized communities alongside a limited understanding of the country's peripheral conflicts. He also challenges the Western romanticization of both Suu Kyi and Myanmar, arguing that it led to performative policies and a blindness to the structural conditions that enabled the 2021 coup. Dunlop documents not just brutality, but structure—capturing how indoctrination, poverty, and coercion shape Myanmar's military conscripts. From refugee camps to prison quarries, his work illustrates repression both subtle and overt. His photographs, including one of Suu Kyi herself, offer visual testimony to the country's contradictions. In the end, he emphasizes humility as essential to understanding Myanmar: “The more I learn about Burma, the less I know.”

SBS မြန်မာ ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် အောက်တိုဘာလ ၂၀ ရက် နေ့အတွက် News Flash သတင်းများ။

Episode #415: U Jāgara's spiritual journey is a fascinating exploration of monastic life, creativity, and the transformative power of the Dhamma. Born in Quebec, his introduction to meditation set him on a path that would span traditions and continents. His spiritual journey was initially shaped by his time in the Goenka tradition, where he valued the rigor and structure of its method. He later practiced Mahasi Sayadaw's teachings in Yangon, which introduced him to the nuanced and adaptive approaches of Burmese monastic practice. Then in Sri Lanka, he immersed himself in rich Theravādatraditions of scholarship and meditation that expanded his understanding of the Dhamma, affording him both intellectual depth and the opportunity to live a solitary monastic life for a time. Appointed as a teacher within the Goenka tradition, U Jāgara eventually grappled with the organization's growing rigidity. For example, he felt that the pre-recorded discourses limited the opportunity for creative and responsive teaching. He also noted how the exclusion of alternative meditation techniques narrowed practitioners' understanding of the Dhamma's diversity. In addition, he strongly believed that the discouragement of interaction with monks and traditional Buddhist rituals created a sense of separation from the broader, Buddhist spiritual community. Though valuing its teachings, he transitioned away from the Goenka organization, seeking a more integrative approach to the Dhamma,. A transformative chapter unfolded for U Jāgara when he left monastic life temporarily to explore lay life in France. Balancing personal aspirations with the needs of others, he gained insights into the richness of human relationships, responsibilities, and shared growth. Yet, the call to monastic life drew him back to Myanmar, where Pa Auk Sayadaw's individualized and methodical guidance reshaped his meditation practice. Under this mentorship, U Jāgara refined his focus on jhāna meditation, achieving profound clarity and insights.“We have to remind ourselves that the monastic life is not for everybody, and it's a question of choice. It's much better if you if you are able to be monastic, and it's cool because you don't have responsibilities, and you just devote yourself to the Dhamma! But it does not, by itself, integrate the lay life, and lay life can be very rich.”

We're slicing off another savory section of Milwaukee's culinary scene on this episode, starting with Ann's recent Milwaukee Magazine story about Burmese cuisine that sees her dip into traditional dishes from places like Ni Burmese, Khan Aseya and Taste Amir's Roti.From there, we take a quick trip to another part of the magazine for Ann's take on Purslane, the new chef-owned restaurant specializing in Middle Eastern mezza (small plates) like the intriguing walleye falafel and a vibrant fatouch salad.Leaving the mag behind, it's time (well, almost time) for two major November happenings. Winning the chronological order is Milwaukee's first-ever Vegan Restaurant Week, which is slotted for Nov. 3-9 and will feature specials like vegan donuts at Gather Bake House and a vegan twist on the compact turkey dinner at Comet Cafe. Right in the middle of that veggie celebration is the long-awaited reopening of EsterEv on Nov. 5, which will see them making the big switch from a tasting menu to an a la carte format that'll include favorites like the caviar tater tot.Putting the cap on this episode is a chat about the new Flava House concept moving into the former Heaven's Table location, as well as a new cocktail from Boone & Crockett's for those of you who just can't let go of summer.#####This Bites is sponsored by Whiskey Brown Whiskey-Spiked Cookies.

In this reflective episode, Jim Tew takes listeners on a journey through his years as a traveling beekeeper, visiting apiaries and researchers around the world. From the early days of Africanized “killer” bees in Venezuela to disciplined Burmese military trainees in Myanmar, Jim recounts how these experiences shaped his understanding of honey bees and the people who care for them. Jim describes the sobering reality of working with hyper-defensive bees in Venezuela and the evolution of those colonies over time, before shifting to stories of beekeepers in China, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand. Through it all, he highlights the universal spirit of beekeeping—a shared language spoken through the hum of the hive, no matter the country or culture. Jim closes with a gentle reminder that every beekeeper, from backyard hobbyists to world travelers, shares the same curiosity and respect for the bees. His tales from the road remind us that while techniques and environments differ, the heart of beekeeping remains constant worldwide. ______________________ Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring today's episode. Betterbee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com ______________________ Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott Cartoons by: John Martin (Beezwax Comics) Copyright © 2025 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

SBS မြန်မာ ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် အောက်တိုဘာလ ၁၅ ရက် နေ့အတွက် News Flash သတင်းများ။

Episode #412: “We are in Myanmar, and nothing is clear cut.”Anthony Davis offers a stark assessment of Myanmar's war, drawing on decades of experience studying insurgencies. He begins with the United Wa State Army, a thirty-thousand-strong force running a state the size of Belgium. “It would be entirely wrong to see the Wa as simply Chinese puppets or Chinese proxies,” Davis insists. The Wa have scaled back arms transfers under Chinese pressure, but they remain determined to expand their autonomy. Their ambition is recognition as a state, linking their territories along the Chinese and Thai borders. If the regime collapses, Davis argues, the Wa will act swiftly to unite and consolidate. He calls them “a critical player in the overall struggle for Myanmar.”The Wa's influence now extends west of the Salween, through ties with the Ta'ang, leverage over the Shan State Progress Party, and neutralization of rivals like the Restoration Council of Shan State. This, Davis notes, is ascendancy rather than reckless conquest—a quiet dominance shaping the conflict's direction.Davis also identifies drones as a decisive factor. Initially dismissed, they became central to resistance victories in late 2023. The junta responded by creating a drone directorate, importing Chinese systems, and applying Russian expertise from Ukraine. By 2025, drones, artillery, air power, and conscripts are integrated into an operating machine. “It's an army in the way the resistance, by definition, is not,” Davis observes.Resistance morale remains high, but Davis stresses that spirit alone cannot sustain the fight. “They have got plenty of morale. They're not short of guns. But if you don't have enough ammunition, then you're in trouble.”Elections, he says, “will happen come hell or high water,” yet will not bring peace. China's backing of the junta complicates everything, while the Arakan Army's rise in Rakhine could change the board entirely. Davis closes with a warning: “The bottom line is, you can have a ceasefire today, but [the Burmese military is] going to come back, they're going to rebuild, they're going to re-equip, and they're going to come back at you.”

Episode #411: This is the second part of our interview with the meditation teacher, Tempel Smith, and it starts off with his decision “to commit to deep intensive Burmese-style meditation, break through some of these habits, and then find a more integrated lifestyle.” With this in mind, he boarded a flight to Myanmar with his friend Diana Winston, and ordained under Sayadaw U Pandita.Although U Pandita's reputation as a stern and very demanding teacher caused him some concern, he went to the Sayadaw's monastery and began to practice. Tempel describes U Pandita's style as a “ruthless investigation” which was uncommon among Western teachers, and which ultimately led to a deeper understanding of the second foundation of mindfulness.After some time, Tempel became concerned about the intensity of the practice, and when he heard about the newly established Pa Auk Monastery, he decided to try it out, as he was especially keen to practice mettā intensively through jhāna meditation.At Pa Auk, he would find a very different style of monastery. The monastics and lay meditators were more relaxed, and openly discussed scripture and practice between meditation sittings. Tempel also found the actual practice to be quite different, particularly the absorptive states that Pa Auk taught. As he progressed in samathā, he began to see lights, considered a positive sign that one's practice is going well,. He even began to develop psychic powers, such as predicting the future. This, in particular, shook him to his core, and caused him to question Western notions of “the real world.”This paradigm shift of reality began to affect his faith as well. “I was feeling that devotion to the Buddha, his teachings, the centuries of people practicing it, people rediscovering it at different times and re-encouraging that level of practice,” he says. “And then to see that it wasn't mythology, that it actually could be possibly more true than you might have imagined.”In the next segment, we explore how he took these teachings from Myanmar back home to the US with him.

Episode #410: “We've got to find a way from surviving to thriving again.” With this vision, Jue Jue, a social worker and founder of Jue Jue's Safe Space, seeks to transform Myanmar's mental health landscape. Raised in a politically engaged family—her father an 88 Generation activist and her mother a frontline social worker—Jue Jue's early exposure to trauma and resilience shaped her lifelong dedication to social justice.Her understanding of inequality deepened upon moving to the U.S., where her accent and ethnicity led to discrimination, mirroring the systemic exclusion ethnic minorities face in Myanmar. This caused her to reflecting on her own Bamar privilege, which exposed her past biases, especially toward groups like the Rohingyas and Indian-Burmese. She committed herself to building inclusive, respectful spaces.Jue Jue's Safe Space, launched in 2019, evolved from a Facebook page into a critical mental health platform for Burmese communities. Inspired by personal struggles and intergenerational trauma, the initiative counters stigma by offering culturally grounded, clinically sound services. Jue Jue emphasizes that mental health suffering often stems from systemic injustice, not individual weakness.She challenges her country's romanticized patriarchy and calls out its political misuse, while urging a return to Buddhist principles of compassion. Despite operating without steady funding, her initiative has supported many during Myanmar's cascading crises—pandemic, coup, earthquake—while promoting agency and emotional resilience.Though not yet ready to treat oppressors (those who are currently in the military perpetuating abuses), she hopes for a future where reconciliation is possible. “We're going to shine again,” she affirms, envisioning a Myanmar rebuilt through inner peace, inclusion, and empowered healing.

ALC: ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် အောက်တိုဘာလ ၈ ရက်, SBS Burmese News Flash သတင်းများ။

Episode #408: “There is no way to tell the story of Myanmar and where it's headed if you are leaving out the Wa,” says Patrick Winn, a veteran Southeast Asia reporter and author of Narcotopia. His book traces the wild story how Wa State, a mountainous enclave on the Chinese border, became defined by narcotics, and how it has become one of the key powers in the country today. A pivotal figure is Saw Lu, born in the mid-1940s, raised among Baptist missionaries, and convinced that literacy and Christianity could unify and “civilize” the Wa. Recruited by Burmese intelligence in his twenties, he was sent to Pang Wai, one of the largest Wa strongholds, as a teacher. Winning villagers' trust, he then stumbled on a small CIA weapons cache. Through charisma and tactical skill, he transformed himself into a militia leader. Meanwhile, Kuomintang exiles who had fled China's civil war turned to opium trafficking, industrializing heroin production along the Thai-Burma border. The CIA and Taiwanese intelligence viewed these warlords as useful anti-communist allies, even as their heroin flowed into South Vietnam and fueled American soldiers' addictions. Saw Lu tolerated the opium trade, which he despised, to keep Wa villages united against Maoist influence. At one point, the U.S. even used him as a DEA asset, code-named “Superstar.” In the late 1960s, the Communist Party of Burma controlled much of Wa territory for twenty years, during which time Saw Lu faded into obscurity. But a mutiny of Wa soldiers eventually kicked out the Maoists and birthed the United Wa State Army (UWSA). With Chinese backing and drug profits as their main source of income, the UWSA grew into Myanmar's most powerful non-state military. Saw Lu returned to the scene, and for a while his anti-drug zeal offered a different path to Wa leaders. He wanted to get significant U.S. investment in Wa State in exchange for helping it destroy the drug trade. In the end, however, the CIA undermined Saw Lu's plans, and he was disgraced. Today, Wa State is a “narcostate,” effectively an unrecognized country, a state within a state, stable within its own borders yet destabilizing to Myanmar's unity. “If you think it's just some dark, out of the way place that doesn't matter, please update your thinking on this,” Winn warns.

“သောတရှင်များကို ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် “အောက်တိုဘာလ ၆ ရက် ဗုဒ္ဓဟူးနေ့ အတွက် SBS မြန်မာ Newsflash သတင်းထူးများကို တင်ဆက်ပေးမှာဖြစ်ပါတယ်”

Episode #406: “I didn't come to study this subject deliberately with a focus on Buddhism,” says Justine Chambers, author of Pursuing Morality, a book that explores Buddhist moral life among the Plong community in southeast Myanmar—known to outsiders as Pwo Karen—particularly in and around the town of Hpaan. Her work, the product of many years of immersive fieldwork, traces not only Buddhist ethical practices in everyday life but also the entanglements of those practices with political transitions, spiritual power, armed conflict, and minority identity in Karen State. Chambers' journey began with refugee advocacy in Australia and continued through work in Mae Sot in 2011, just as Myanmar was opening up. Expecting a conflict zone, she found instead a vibrant town full of youth and ambition, but also widespread moral anxiety. This tension became central to her research. She came to find that morality is not innate, and must be pursued daily. She describes how for the Karen, it is shaped by social factors like gender, age, and class. Chambers corrects the common misconception that Karen identity is primarily Christian. Most Karen in lowland Myanmar are Buddhist, and many trace their spiritual heritage to the Mon and even Burmese kings. Their ethical practice is linked not just to self-cultivation, but to community well-being and even environmental harmony. Yet morality is not always peaceful. Her discussion of the charismatic yet controversial figure, U Thuzana, and the DKBA's role in the destruction of Manerplaw reveals how ethical revival can also justify violence and division. Ultimately, Chambers presents morality as both personal and collective, grounded in Buddhist cosmology but lived through daily negotiations with power, suffering, and hope. “It's also about community, and how you are [a] moral being within that community.”

To join our Mega Orderers Club, and get ad free listening, early episode releases, bonus content and exclusive access to live events, visit https://disorder.supportingcast.fm?sc_promo=DISORDER10 When Trump stormed into UNGA last week, complained about escalators and tele prompters, and swung back out… the UN was faced with some questions. How do we navigate a world through Trump's America? And what does it mean for the very future of the UN? To find out, and reflect on UNGA as a whole, Jane is joined by Richard Gowan, the International Crisis Group's UN expert. They discuss Trump's speech, Netanyahu's appearance, and who will be the next UN Secretary General when elections take place? Producer: George McDonagh Subscribe to our Substack - https://natoandtheged.substack.com/ Disorder on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DisorderShow Show Notes Links: Join the Mega Orderers Club via this link: https://disorder.supportingcast.fm?sc_promo=DISORDER10 Read Richard's piece ‘Ten Challenges for the UN in 2025-2026' https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/sb13-ten-challenges-un-2025-2026  Read Richard in Foreign Policy on America's Infuriating and Irreplaceable Role at the U.N. https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/19/trump-washington-united-nations-unga-reform/  Read Calls grow for first female UN chief in 80 years https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/calls-grow-first-female-un-chief-80-years-2025-09-26/  Burmese academic Thant Myint-U on the legacy of his grandfather, former SG U Thant, and the need for the UN to reclaim its role in peace and security - https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2025-09/u-thant-helped-save-world-nuclear-war-1962-who-could-do-now  Martin Griffiths, former UN humanitarian chief, on the UN at 80, including his thought on the Black Sea grain deal that Richard referenced - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/26/un-recover-courage-palestine-ukraine-sudan  Listen to To Save Us From Hell, Mark Goldberg's podcast about the UN, focusing here on Trump's speech - https://www.globaldispatches.org/p/your-countries-are-going-to-hell-9f5 Watch Jane's thoughts from New York https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iBppHmWp8Cc  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBS မြန်မာ ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် အောက်တိုဘာလ ၁ ရက် နေ့အတွက် News Flash သတင်းများ။

President Trump has declared that peace in the Middle East is "beyond very close" as he presented a new plan alongside the Israeli prime minister, with both men saying Hamas must agree to it or Israel will finish its offensive in Gaza. The Palestinian group is studying the 20 point proposal. Afghanistan is hit by an internet blackout, as the Taliban enforces what it sees as a "morality" crackdown. A federal budget stand-off is threatening to shut down the US government for the first time in almost 7 years. A trade deal that's been the cornerstone of US-Africa economic relations for 25 years expires later today. UN investigators say they've found clear evidence that the Burmese army has replaced the Rohingya villages and homes it destroyed inside Myanmar with military infrastructure. Ukraine and Russia increasingly turn to convicts, as they struggle to recruit more soliders for the war in Ukraine. A convoy including Ecuador's president Daniel Noboa is attacked by protestors angry over a cut in fuel subsidies. Plus, the so-called Bitcoin Queen, accused of stealing more than five billion dollars worth of the cryptocurrency from investors, pleads guilty to charges in London.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk

This week's froggy friend wants to know if you have any leads on a good mechanic?---Follow us on Tumblr! - https://weeklyfrogpod.tumblr.com/Follow us on Bluesky! - https://bsky.app/profile/weeklyfrogpod.bsky.socialCheck out our website! - https://frogpod.online/Check out The Worst Garbage! - https://theworstgarbage.online/---Thank you Boqeh for the music! Check him out! - https://boqeh.bandcamp.com/

“သောတရှင်များကို ၂၀၂၅ ခုနှစ် “စက်တင်ဘာ ၂၉ ရက် တနင်္လာနေ့ အတွက် SBS မြန်မာ Newsflash သတင်းထူးများကို တင်ဆက်ပေးမှာဖြစ်ပါတယ်”

Episode #402: “In stable times, sustainability may be seen as a long term aspiration,” says Tin Shine Aung, a Burmese scholar and sustainability expert whose work bridges research, policy, and on-the-ground crisis response. “But in our context, in the context of a polycrisis, it's become like a strategy for survival and reconstruction.”Arguing that Myanmar is living through a true polycrisis— multiple shocks that collide and amplify each other rather than simply add up— Tin Shine Aung points out that this demands treating sustainability not as a later luxury but as a present survival and reconstruction strategy. He rejects the idea of “waiting until after the war,” noting that disasters and social-economic collapses do not pause for politics, so governance must integrate sustainability now across environmental, social, and economic pillars.Tin Shine Aung threads a timeline to show how system fragility accumulated: the 2007 fuel-price crisis and Saffron Revolution exposed cracks; in 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated the delta and the junta nonetheless pushed a constitutional referendum, claiming “over 90%” approval while many communities were still reeling. The 2010s brought ethnoreligious nationalism and political accommodation to it: Muslim candidates were excluded from the NLD's 2015 lists, producing the first Muslim-free legislature since independence, and in January 2017 constitutional lawyer U Ko Ni— closely associated with State Counsellor design— was assassinated at Yangon's airport broad daylight.Here Tin Shine Aung contrasts Myanmar's breakdown with Ukraine to illustrate what makes a polycrisis: in Myanmar, systems across governance, economy, and social services have simultaneously failed and safe exit pathways are scarce. Economically, factories in major cities often get only “two to three hours a day” of grid power, forcing costly generators; more than a million workers have lost jobs; basics like cooking oil have tripled versus pre-coup; sanctions intended for elites cascade down the economy; new U.S. tariffs of about 40% on some categories and military conscription further squeeze the garment sector and labor supply.And yet, despite state failure and natural disasters, even now, grassroots actors are improvising underground schooling, digital classrooms and alternative universities, and turning to small-scale renewables— evidence that sustainability thinking is already alive on the ground! Tin Shine Aung urges international partners to scale such local initiatives and design sanctions, tariffs, and aid logistics to avoid worsening multiplier effects. “Even in the polycrisis,” he says, “our Burmese people are quietly laying the foundation for the sustainable future.”

Hello Youtube Members, Patreons and Pacific War week by week listeners. Yes this was intended to be an exclusive episode to join the 29 others over on my Youtube Membership and Patreon, but since we are drawing to the end of the Pacific War week by week series, I felt compelled to make some special episodes to answer some of the bigger questions.   Hey before I begin I just want to thank all of you who have joined the patreon, you guys are awesome. Please let me know what other figures, events or other things you want to hear about in the future and I will try to make it happen.   So as you can see the title of this episode is, Why did the Japanese perform so many Atrocities during the Pacific War. Phewww, its honestly a difficult one to tackle, for there are countless reasons. I had a university professor who taught; ancient and modern Japanese history, history of the Japanese empire and the Pacific War. He actually answered this very question in a single lecture and in many ways I found it to be one of the most illuminating things I ever learnt about the Pacific War. To truly understand the reasons why they did such horrible things, you actually need to learn the general history of Japan, particularly the changes from Tokugawa, to Meiji, to Showa. I am going to do my very best, but I know many of you might be asking “what were the worst things they did?”, not everyone takes a special interest into such a niche part of history. May I recommend for those with strong stomachs “the knights of Bushido” by Edward Russel that covers pretty much all the atrocities of the Asia-Pacific War. For those of you who like darker things, check out Unit 731: Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in World War II by David Wallace and Peter Williams, absolute nightmare fuel.   I can't go through the entire history of Japan, but I think it's important to start off with the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. This was the first time the Empire of Japan fought a true war with a foreign nation, that being the Qing dynasty. At this point in time, there really emerged a sort of, to be blunt, race war. The Chinese had historically referred to the Japanese as “woren”, a racist term meaning dwarf. Now historically the Japanese had always revered the Chinese, kind of like in the way a little brother looks up to his big brother. In tokugawa Japan they would learn from the Chinese, but as the Meiji restoration began this dramatically changed. Japan watched as the Chinese were humiliating and abused by the western powers and failed to modernize. Meanwhile Japan emulated the best of the west, to modernize and become a great power themselves. In many ways, Japan saw itself become big brother and now China was little brother. The Meiji restoration had an element of nationalism built into it that would explode come the Show era. Japan for its entire history had this belief they were the “Yamato Race” dating back to the 6th century. Now while the Meiji restoration sought to emulate the west, they also emulated racism and propaganda, which in the 19th century was kind of a big deal. The Japanese government gradually began a long term campaign promoting the idea the Japanese, or Yamato people were superior to that of the other asian races. Who was the next big asian boy on the block? China, so it was inevitable they would direct a lot of racist attitudes towards the Chinese. During the first sino-japanese war, the Chinese, particularly Manchu had a habit of performing atrocities upon the Japanese. They would often cut off body parts of Japanese soldiers in grotesque manners and leave them to be found by their comrades. This was honestly a pretty typical thing of war in the region, but it did also have a racist element to it, the Chinese certainly saw the Japanese as lesser people. Just before the battle of Port Arthur, the Japanese found mutilated remains of the comrades, here is a passage from Makio Okabe who was there:   As we entered the town of Port Arthur, we saw the head of a Japanese soldier displayed on a wooden stake. This filled us with rage and a desire to crush any Chinese soldier. Anyone we saw in the town, we killed. The streets were filled with corpses, so many they blocked our way. We killed people in their homes; by and large, there wasn't a single house without from three to six dead. Blood was flowing and the smell was awful. We sent out search parties. We shot some, hacked at others. The Chinese troops just dropped their arms and fled. Firing and slashing, it was unbounded joy. At this time, our artillery troops were at the rear, giving three cheers [banzai] for the emperor.   The Japanese performed a massacre at Port Arthur, butchering perhaps up to 3000 Chinese civilians, some claim 10's of thousands and in full few of western war correspondents. It became a huge controversy that destroyed the image of the IJA internationally and hurt the Japanese governments efforts at riding themselves of unequal treaties with the western powers. The Japanese learnt a hell of a lesson and an Imperial Proclamation was made in 1894 stating that Japanese soldiers should make every effort to win the war without violating international laws. According to Japanese historian Yuki Tanaka, Japanese forces during the First Sino-Japanese War released 1,790 Chinese prisoners without harm, once they signed an agreement not to take up arms against Japan if they were released.   During the next major war the Japanese performed a dramatic 180, well at least to their enemy. During the Russo-Japanese War, over 80,000 Russian POWs were held by the IJA who were treated in accordance with the Hague conventions of 1899. The Japanese paid them for labor, housed them in conventional POW camps, made sure they received good medical treatment, ironically better than the Russians were capable of. The Japanese did all of this, making sure the foreign war correspondents wrote about it. It was a massive PR stunt in many ways. The Japanese were emulating how a world power should act, because they sought to be one. Meanwhile the Japanese swallowed their pride at being called yellow monkeys, as the prevalent Yellow Peril ideology was being pushed by Kaiser Wilhehelm and Tsar Nicholas II heavily. The Japanese treated the entire war like gentlemen and suffered horrific higher casualties than necessary because of it. But something many people don't take much notice of, because the IJA made sure of it, was they horrible treatment of the Chinese during the war.   Now the Russians in Manchuria looted, killed and raped many Chinese, pushed quite a bit by the Yellow Peril. The Chinese, certainly the Honghuzi bandits were working for the Japanese to attack them, so its not like they had no reasons. The IJA was more professional and had orders not to molest the Chinese, as they were helping the war effort, but this did not prevent it. The Japanese also looted, killed and raped Chinese. The Japanese would often wave it off as reprisals against potential spies. I only bring this up as it was very apparent, the Japanese treated the Russians much different than the chinese.   Fast forward to WW1, the Japanese had a battle against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians known in the west as the Siege of Tsingtau. The Japanese took up an identical methodology to the Russo-Japanese war with their approach to the Germans, but even took it a step further. After winning the siege, the Japanese seized nearly 5000 German POW's who were treated with a surreal amount of respect. They were brought back to Japan and housed for the rest of the war in 12 cities around Tokyo and Kumamoto. The POW's enjoyed humane treatment and a rather famous event occurred at the Bando camp where a large orchestra was formed of German POW's who toured the nation performing 100 concerts, lectures and plays. Evidence the Germans were treated well can be seen in the fact 170 prisoners never left Japan and sought wives and lives there. Now is this all a feel good love story, no, just like during the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was playing up the PR, for during WW1 they wanted official recognition as a world power and that of being racially equal to the whites.    Japan was officially recognized as a world power during the treaty of Versailles, but when Japan gave its racial equality proposal, President Woodrow Wilson of the US and Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes refused to allow it to pass, even though they received majority votes. Now The Japanese had been for a lack of better words, fucked over, during the first sino-japanese war when the triple intervention of France, Germany and Russia stole away their war earning of the Liaodong peninsula. During the Russo-Japanese war, Theodore Roosevelt limited the Japanese war gains and now here after WW1 the Japanese received another humiliation. To the Japanese, it was the last straw and it was a major reason they went to war with the west, who they viewed, and honestly rightfully so, would never see them as equals.   Ompf, lot of history there, but now we come to the Showa era, which was molded by the feelings of the past decades.   In 1937 Japan and China enter an unofficial war that saw one of the worst wartime atrocities in human history, the rape of Nanjing. It began on December 13th of 1937, lasting 6 or so weeks seeing the murder of possibly 300,000 civilians and pows, the mass rape of 20,000 and untold hardship upon the Chinese people. The Japanese followed this up with numerous other massacres in China such as the Changjiao Massacre claiming possibly 30,000 Chinese civilian lives, the Alexandra Hospital Massacre killing 200 patients and medical staff in Hong Kong, the Laha Massacre on Ambon island where 300 members of the Gull force were executed, the Bangka island massacre where 60 Australian and British soldiers and 22 Australian nurses were murdered, the Parit Sulong massacre in Malay where 150 wounded Australian and Indian POW's were executed, the Bataan Death march where negligence and brutality took the lives of 650 Americans and perhaps a possible 18,000 Filipinos, the Manila massacres claiming the lives of perhaps 54,000 filipinos including women and children in the Philippines, the Balikpapan massacre in the dutch east indies taking the lives of 78 Dutch Civilians, I can keep going and going. Where the Japanese went, massacres and horrors occurred.    Again if you really want to delve into these stories check out “the knights of Bushido”.   The Japanese also had the infamous special units like 731, who conducted horrifying experiments on civilians and POWs like vivisectioning live people without anesthesia, testing biological and chemical weapons on live people, the freezing peoples to study frostbite treatment and giving people sexually transmitted diseases to study. Lt General Shiro Ishii's unit 731 deployed plague infested fleas, cholera, bubonic plague and other nasty weapons upon Chinese civilians killing perhaps up to 500,000. This was seen during the battle of Changde and famously during operation Sei-go also known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign.    The Japanese also enacted the infamous “Sanko Sakusen / three all's policy : kill all, urn all, loot all” in retaliation to the Chinese communists Hundred regiments offensive in December of 1940. Sanctioned by Hirohito personally, it is thought this act resulted in the death of 2.7 million Chinese civilians. According to author Werner Gruhl 8 million Chinese civilian deaths could be attributable to the Japanese.     So then we come back to the big question, why? So now that I've covered the loose history for coherency sake I want to list here the largest reasons for the atrocities and by no means is this official categories or even all of them, I am simply stating kind of my top ones I guess you can say:   Treaties signed or not signed War strategy and indoctrination  Ultra-Nationalism and Racism Surrender & the Bastardization of the Bushido code The Brutality of the Japanese military Treaties signed or not signed   Yes its time to talk about treaties, yawn. Now I said previously Japan did sign the Hague Conventions of 1899 and would ratify them in 1907. The Hague conventions did contain laws for prisoners of war, protection of civilians. Alongside this, in 1894 an imperial proclamation was made stating Japanese soldiers should make every effort to win a war without violating international laws. More significantly Japan “signed” but unlike the majority of other world powers did not ratify the Geneva convention of 1929. Why? To be blunt, the geneva conventions did not really benefit the Japanese military from their point of view.   First the Japanese had a very specific perspective on surrendering, they simply did not do it, so they did not expect many of their soldiers to ever become POW's, so how would it benefit them to ratify such a thing? If they are not going to have many POW's, why would they burden themselves with upholding all the conventional laws for POW's they would obtain during war?  Another glaring reason involved aerial bombing. Many Japanese leaders, like Kanji Ishiwara, believed the home islands would be subjected to massive aerial bombing if a global war broke out. If Japan was subjected to aerial bombing and ratified the geneva convention, this meant they would have to take the pilots who were caught prisoner. The Japanese believed this would encourage further bombing. Lastly the convention had rules for POW treatment that literally contradicted how Japanese soldiers were treated by their own superiors. More about that in the last part about the military's brutality, but summarized, the Japanese army were abusive as hell and to sign such a thing would literally contradict how they did things.   Emperor Hirohito personally ratified a decision to remove certain constraints of the Hague Conventions when it came to the treatment of Chinese POW's in the directive of 5 August 1937. This notification advised staff officers to simply stop using the term "prisoners of war". They would refer to their enemy as bandits, guerillas and such, anything but soldiers so they would not have to take any prisoners, though they typically did not leave anyone alive in China regardless. The Geneva Convention exempted POWs of sergeant rank or higher from manual labor, and stipulated that prisoners performing work should be provided with extra rations and other essentials. The Japanese in the later half of the war would be starved of provisions and resources, thus its to no surprise they could not meet these demands, even if they sought to uphold them. I will note in 1942, Japan indicated they would “follow” the Geneva rules and would observe the Hague Convention of 1907 outlining the laws and customs of war. Yet this is like a verbal confirmation, it had no legal basis, something the Japanese particularly loved to do during the war.   According to Dr. William Skelton III, who produced a document entitled American Ex Prisoners of War for the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs, more POWs died at the hands of the Japanese in the Pacific theater and specifically in the Philippines than in any other conflict to date. For example in Germany, POWs died at a rate 1.2%. In the Pacific theater the rate was 37%. In the Philippines, POWs died at a rate of 40%.    Now these pieces of paper that were signed or not signed, what does this really matter when it comes to war, its obvious they were not upholding certain rules, but how did this quote en quote make them more brutal and perform more atrocities? Well here is the sticky thing, if you are part of the Japanese military and you know your nation did not ratify certain rules of war, this meant your enemy had no supposed legal basis to follow said rules against you either.    So I want you to think of two aspects of this. If your nation did not sign or ratify certain treaties, then you could not expect the enemy to respect such rules when it comes to you. But more importantly, what if the leader of your nation…just told you to believe that?    In early 1942, Great Britain, the United States of America and other great powers did officially let the Japanese know that they would, on their  part, observe all the provisions of the Convention and requested reciprocity. Japanese foreign minister at the time, Hideki Tojo gave a formal assurance that although Japan was not bound by the Geneva convention, the Japanese would apply it “mutatis mutandis” towards the Americans, British, Canadians, Australians and New Zealander POW's, note he most definitely did not extend this to the asiatic groups, nor the Dutch whom I guess he just forgot about. But this did morally bind Japan to comply with the convention. However the top brass of the Japanese military, notably Hideki Tojo in these cases, went out of his way to instill beliefs within the military as to what they should expect from the enemy. As you will see in the next points, this was basically a type of indoctrination.   War strategy and indoctrination    The leaders of Japan knew full well how unmatched they were in terms of resources and productivity before they began the war with the west. How could they possibly win the war? The IJN was dead set on a decisive naval battle, but for the IJA to compensate for their lack of resources, they believed their “spirit” would overcome the enemy. In many ways this spirit meant going above and beyond normal human endurance, to literally outperform the allies and notably to conduct the war with absolutely zero mercy. Once Japan lost the initiative in the war, after Guadalcanal, the IJA were forced to fight a war of attrition. Now they would prolong and exact maximum casualties upon the allies hoping to force them to the peace table. The idea was quite simple, the IJA would do everything possible to make the allies believe they would never give up and it would far too costly to defeat them. How does one go about achieving these aims? Well the IJA officers would tell you “by steeling your hearts”. To achieve all of this required extreme indoctrination.    Japanese children grew up in regimentation, they were desensitized to violence through tales of martial glory, and were taught that their purpose in life was to serve the emperor. Upon entering  military service, they were trained out of any individualistic spirit, and taught that compassion was a weakness and had no place in the field of war. The soldier's motto was faith equaled strength.  Faith being devotion to duty and service to the Divine Emperor. Apart from ideology and spiritual toughening, training in the Japanese Imperial Army was also extremely harsh and violent. This was not even particularly a special aspect of Showa Japan, it went all the way back to the Meiji era. From a young age children's education directed them, like a pipeline for military duty.   Now at the offset of the war, Hideki Tojo released the “Senjinkun” “instructions for the battlefield”. This was basically a manual for soldiers on how to conduct war. The document was used to establish standards of behavior for Japanese troops and improve discipline and morale within the Army, it also included things like a prohibition against being taken prisoner. It stated if you were captured by the enemy, because Japan did not sign or ratify certain treaties, you would be killed or tortured by the allies, and if you survived you and your family would face shame back home, and punishment resulting typically in 6 months of prison.   Here is a small excerpt from the document Those who know shame are weak. Always think of [preserving] the honor of your community and be a credit to yourself and your family. Redouble your efforts and respond to their expectations. Never live to experience shame as a prisoner. By dying you will avoid leaving a stain on your honor.   The purpose was basically psychological warfare, against their own army. Those like Hideki Tojo believed Japan could only defeat the resource rich Americans with spirit. Thus the manuals like Senjinkun demanded the forces not ever surrender, because the allies would do horrible things, it was shameful to do so and there were disciplinary actions for any who did. In 1942 the Army amended its criminal code to specify that officers who surrendered soldiers under their command faced at least six months imprisonment, regardless of the circumstances in which the surrender took place. This change attracted little attention, however, as the Senjinkun imposed more severe consequences and had greater moral force.   In a report dated June 1945, the U.S. Office of War Information noted that 84 percent of one group of interrogated Japanese prisoners, many of whom had been injured or unconscious when captured stated that they had expected to be killed or tortured by the Allies if taken prisoner. The OWI analysts described this as being typical, and concluded that fear of the consequences of surrender, “rather than Bushido,” was the motivation for many Japanese battle deaths in hopeless circumstances–as much as, and probably more than, the other two major considerations: fear of disgrace at home, and “the positive desire to die for one's nation, ancestors, and god-emperor.”   Something barely talked about in the west, was during the Pacific War, the Americans had a habit of taking human trophies. Human trophies were Japanese skulls, gold teeth, finger bones and such. The famous novel “With the Old Breed” by Eugene Sledge spoke of his personal accounts of these actions, its a rather gruesome and dark part of the war. Now some of these actions were publicized, despite the US military's efforts to quell and hush it down. Time magazine famously had an iconic photo of a woman whose enlisted boyfriend sent her home a Japanese skull. FDR also famously was given a letter opener carved out of Japanese bones. These stories were seized up greedily by the Japanese government who used them as propaganda to prove to their soldiers what would happen if they were captured. It had a profound effect as you can imagine. And this was not limited to Japanese soldiers. The propaganda machine would contribute at the end of the war to mass civilian suicides on Okinawa and Saipan.   Back to the POW subject. When it came to the treatment of POW's, Hideki Tojo began submitting in May of 1942 a series of memorandum, basic orders as to how POW's should be treated. “Prisoners of war can be used for the enlargement of our production and as military labor, white prisoners of war will be confined successively in Korea, Formosa and Manchuria. Superior technicians and high ranking officers -- Colonels and above -- will be included among the prisoners of war confined in Formosa. Those who are not suitable for use in enlargement of our production will be confined in prisoner of war camps which will be built immediately on the spot.Although the working of prisoner of war officers and warrant officers is forbidden by the Regulations of 1903, the policy of the control authorities is that under the situation of our country where not one person now eats without working they want them to set to work. It is desired that you give proper orders on this.The present situation of affairs in this country does not permit anyone to lie idle doing nothing but eating freely. With that in view, in dealing with prisoners of war, I hope you will see that they may be usefully employed. In Japan, we have our own ideology concerning prisoners of war, which should naturally make their treatment more or less different from that in Europe and America. In dealing with them, you should, of course, observe the various Regulations concerned, aim at an adequate application of them . . . At the same time, you must not allow them to lie idle doing nothing but eating freely for even a single day. Their labor and technical skill should be fully utilized for the replenishment of production, and contribution rendered toward the prosecution of the Greater East Asiatic War for which no effort ought to be spared."   Thus in the end as a grunt in the IJA you were led to believe: if I am captured I will be tortured, killed maybe turned into a letter opener, or someone will place my skull on their mantle. If I surrender and survive and make it back home, I will be severely punished and worst of all me and my family will be shamed. I could not expect any humanity from the enemy, because my nation did not sign or ratify treaties like the Geneva convention. More so, because my armies conduct was so unbelievably barbaric, I could only expect the very same from my enemy. It was a vicious cycle. You perform atrocities, expecting the enemy to do the same, and thus it just keeps perpetuating itself. Ultra-Nationalism and Racism   Now we spoke a little bit about the concept of the Yamato race, the Japanese were indoctrinated to believe they were a superior race and that their emperor was something akin to a living god. Until this war, the Japanese empire was on a hell of a winning streak going all the way back to the Meiji Era. For the first half of the Pacific war, the Japanese won nearly every battle. This led to something historians called “victory disease” that made them become somewhat arrogant and cocky, but it also made them feel “superhuman”. The allies' news reporting at the beginning of the war began to frantically refer to the Japanese as “supermen”or  “super jungle fighters”. Particularly because of the Malay campaign, the Japanese soldier just seemed to be tougher, could survive harsher jungle climates, even doing so with less food or war materials. The Japanese read the allied news reports and came to the conclusion that had been driven down their throats by their government, indeed the Japanese spirit was winning the war. The Japanese public ate this up in their propaganda and it perpetuated their ultra-nationalistic beliefs. The Japanese truly came to believe they were destined to rule the asia-pacific. Look at the results in China for example. Within a short amount of time they conquered much of China, though the public really had no idea how bad the China was bottled down by 1940. Then came the greater east asia co-prosperity sphere propaganda, which is an excellent example of their megalomania.    Yet alongside their ultra-nationalism, seen more strongly perpetuated against other Asian groups, the Japanese also indoctrinated their public with racism against them. The Yellow Peril of the 19th century and anti-japanese or anti-asian racism fueled the Japanese soldiers. The Japanese as a people had faced brutal racist hardships historically at the hands of the west, particularly from their point of view from America. There was the slights against them during the first sino-japanese war, the infamous triple intervention of france, germany and Russia stealing away their prize that was the liaodong peninsula. Then during the Boxer rebellion they faced racism, not being allowed to lead mutli national army formations, despite them being the lionshare of said military force. The Russo-Japanese war saw from their point of view, America stealing their war prizes. Last but not least, after WW1 they were told to their faces that they were a world power, but not racially equal. The Japanese faced anti-Japanese and anti-asian immigration laws when it came to America in the form of the gentleman's agreement and Australia's “great white Australia policy”. During the war, the American propaganda machine began pumping out racist caricatures of Japanese as rats, goggle eyed  bucktooth people, literal yellow monkey's.   For the IJA the pacific war in many was a holy war directed at the arrogant whites who had abused them for so long. This will probably sound controversial, but indeed, the pacific war was very much a race war. If you are not convinced of that, I recommend reading “War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War” by John Dower. The human trophy taking, anti-japanese bucktooth, rat people cartoon propaganda, history of racial abuse like the japanese concentration camps, the gentleman's agreement, the stealing of victories during the first sino-japanese war, russo-japanese war and ww1 all plagued the mind of a Japanese soldier. To them in many ways, the “whites had it coming”. Which is rather ironic given how the Japanese would treat the other asian racial groups they came into contact with. But such is the contradictory nature of the Imperial Japanese military.    The Japanese also held racist beliefs about the westerners. The Japanese soldiers were taught the allies were akin to demons or beasts. They were described often as “the hairy ones” or “anglo-American demons”. Taught these men would rape women and girls, stample upon the civilians they captured with the treads of their tanks. The marines were especially dreaded.  According to a story circulated widely among the Japanese on Saipan, all Marine Corps recruits were compelled to murder their own parents before being inducted into service. It was said that Japanese soldiers taken prisoner would suffer hideous tortures—their ears, noses, and limbs would be cut off; they would be blinded and castrated; they could also be cooked and fed to dogs. As silly as this may sound, do remember the Americans were taking human trophies so the Japanese propaganda machine had its evidence. Tons of photos of skulls atop american tanks for example were displayed to the Japanese public. Another famous one was the cartoon appearing in an American servicemen's magazine, which was later reproduced and translated in the Japanese press. It suggested the existence of “Japanese hunting licenses, promising open season on the enemy, complete with free ammunition and equipment—with pay!    In terms of how the Japanese exacted their own racism towards their fellow asians. During the War the Japanese dragged into forced labor, Koreans, Chinese and southeast asians. 670,000 Koreans were brought to Japan to work mines and heavy industry, around 60,000 of them died to harsh conditions. Between April 1943 to May 1945, 41,862 Chinese were sent to Japan to work, 2800 died before even reaching the home islands. 6872 died in the work sites again from brutal conditions. When it comes to southeast asian numbers are hard to pinpoint but its safe to say at least 300,000 Javanese, Malay, Burmese, Tamil and other groups were mobilized to construct the Burma-Siam railroad between October 1942 to november 1943 and 60,000 perished. This all went for the men, for the women, all those racial groups would face the horrors of becoming comfort women, historians estimate there could have been 50-200,000 pressed into it. But for the Japanese, believing their were superior to these other asiatic groups, groups whom they would publicly say were like children, they as the father figure would guide, well they simply abused them.   So in a contradictive fashion, the Japanese believed they were superior and could do horrible things to their Asian neighbors while simultaneously decrying the racism cast towards them by western powers as justification for their brutal actions against them. These types of feelings and perspectives molded the mind of the average Japanese soldier, dehumanizing others has always been a standard military practice afterall.    Surrender & the Bastardization of the Bushido code   I think this is one the vast majority of WW2 history buffs know, the Japanese perspective on surrender and the bushido code. In the book “military trials of war criminals in the Netherlands east indies 1946-1949” Fred Borch had this to say about the variable of bushido for the brutality   As Japan continued its modernization in the early 20th century, her armed forces became convinced that success in battle would be assured if Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen had the "spirit" of Bushido. ... The result was that the Bushido code of behavior "was inculcated into the Japanese soldier as part of his basic training." Each soldier was indoctrinated to accept that it was the greatest honor to die for the Emperor and it was cowardly to surrender to the enemy. ... Bushido therefore explains why the Japanese soldiers who were stationed in the NEI so mistreated POWs in their custody. Those who had surrendered to the Japanese—regardless of how courageously or honorably they had fought—merited nothing but contempt; they had forfeited all honor and literally deserved nothing. Consequently, when the Japanese murdered POWs by shooting, beheading, and drowning, these acts were excused since they involved the killing of men who had forfeited all rights to be treated with dignity or respect. While civilian internees were certainly in a different category from POWs, it is reasonable to think that there was a "spill-over" effect from the tenets of Bushido.   It is very true, the Japanese soldiers and sailors were taught Japan was a sacred nation. Traditional samurai values of bushido were merged with modern training and weaponry. The government propagandized the figure of the Emperor as a living god who embodied the Japanese state, the Kokutai. Emperor Hirohito and his family were the spiritual essence of Japan. To even show your back to the enemy let alone surrender was deemed cowardly and brought dishonor upon your family. As written by Inouye Jukichi in 1910, something read by many Japanese “The Japanese warriors looked upon it as shame to themselves not to die when their Lord was hard pressed . . . their own shame was the shame upon their parents, their family, their house and their whole clan, and with this idea deeply impressed upon their minds, the Samurai, no matter of what rank, held their lives light as feathers when compared with the weight they attached to the maintenance of a spotless name”.    Young men of Japan were taught that "The greatest honor is to die for the Emperor" Additionally precept the Japanese were taught that it is an ignominy to surrender to the enemy. The combined effect of these two precepts was to inculcate in the Japanese soldier a spirit of contempt for Allied soldiers who surrendered, which, in defiance of the rules of war, was demonstrated in their ill-treatment of prisoners. They made no distinction between the soldier who fought honorably and courageously up to an inevitable surrender, and the soldier who surrendered without a fight. All enemy soldiers who surrendered under any circumstance were to be regarded as being disgraced and entitled to live only by the tolerance of their captors.   Surrender was unforgivable under their code, drilled into them through the Imperial Japanese education system and military. When the Japanese would come across vast swathes of the enemy surrendering, particularly if the enemy used up all their ammunition killing their comrades and then surrendered, well it added fuel to their brutality. One only needs to look at the deaths due to Banzai charges, take for example the incredibly massive one at the battle of Saipan seeing around 4000 dead Japanese. IJA officers brought ancestral katana's to the war, the Japanese cut off the heads of the enemies as it was seen to be honorable. When faced with death, many chose to commit seppuku, the bushido propaganda was intense.    A brutal practice emerged in the Pacific island hopping campaign, whereupon wounded Japanese would pretend to be dead or surrender only to explode grenades upon allied forces coming closer. This began to be noticed by US marines during the battle of Guadalcanal and Australians in New Guinea. This began a vicious cycle . There were of course Japanese who would surrender. Hell the Koreans forced into service often did try to surrender, but they would all be hampered by something. Because of the actions of those Japanese feinted death and taking down allied soldiers with them, the allied soldiers gradually began a practice of not bothering to accept surrender. It became a self fulfilling prophecy. Many Japanese made the allies believe all they could expect was a grenade death, thus the allies became more brutal to them. This simply led the Japanese to conclude their government was accurate about how the allies would treat them, so more and more did not surrender. An absolutely horrible cycle that went on to the very end of the war, though the allies did figure out means to get Japanese to surrender more in the last year.    The Brutality of the Japanese military   I think this is probably one of the most important factors, and its also one the “normies” would not know as much about. The Imperial Japanese military, more so the Army, had what I can only describe as a built in system of abuse. As described to me by the same university professor I keep bringing up in podcasts, picture a literal pecking order. Going from the highest ranked general to the very bottom grunt. Imagine each one who is higher than the other, routinely physically abuses them. For example, it was very typical for a colonel to slap a major across the face, the major would then strike one of his captains, and the abuse would continue through the ranks to the grunts who would have no one to abuse, thus they turned to POW's or civilian populations. This was not just an accepted part of the Japanese Imperial Army it was indoctrinated.    From day one of basic training, IJA officers taught their men, races like the Chinese were their blood enemies and racially inferior. These were people the Japanese would rule over one day. The trainers would toss the boys into rigorous training activities involving physical violence towards another alongside the notion any orders given by a higher ranking officer was infallible and to be treated as if the divine emperor himself, the living god was giving it.    The Japanese army even taught methods of torture that would be employed in all areas they occupied. Among these tortures were the water treatment, burning, electric shocks, the knee spread, suspension, kneeling on sharp instruments and flogging. The Kempetai, were the ones doing the lionshare of these tortures. Other Army and Navy units, however, used the same methods as the Kempetai. Camp guards performed similar methods, local police forces organized by the Kempetai in the occupied territories also applied the same methods of torture. The Kempetai were administered by the War Ministry, trained at specialized schools who were maintained and operated by the War Ministry in Japan. Thus the conduct of Kempetai and the camp guards directly reflected the policy of the War Ministry.    The Japanese army leadership made sure recruits were physically and mentally abused, they were given strenuously duty tasks and pushed to their absolute limit. During the war given where they were deployed, take guadalcanal for example, the Japanese soldiers would be facing starvation as well. Being half starved, beaten and suffering the effects of war would drive anyone to perform horrifying acts. The life of a Japanese solider was simply at the whims of an extremely toxic management culture. The lowest ranking echelons received the lionshare of abuse and they took out their frustration with whomever they could find deemed lower than them, ie: POW's, civilians, etc.   All of these variables combined contributed to the creation of a military willing to perform just about any atrocity they thought necessary to win the war. It was a war they could not hope to win, but many of them went to their deaths trying to defeat the hands of fate. There are countless other reasons of course for the atrocities committed in cold or hot blood. Countless books have been written on this subject, please do check out the few I mentioned. With that again, a big thanks to you patreons, you guys are awesome. Please let me know what you think in the comments, and what you want to hear more about in the future. This has been the pacific war channel over and out.

Episode #400: James Rodehaver, head of the UN Human Rights Office on Myanmar, offers a sobering account of the country's accelerating crisis and the limits of the international community's response. Drawing on decades of experience in conflict zones, he describes Myanmar as uniquely complex and heartbreakingly violent—particularly since the 2021 coup. His office, which operates from outside the country due to lack of access, monitors rights violations, advises UN agencies, and supports civil society efforts.Rodehaver acknowledges that some UN agencies do engage with the junta to secure humanitarian access, and says the anger this provokes among the Burmese public is entirely justified. But he stresses that discreet coordination also occurs with resistance actors, including the National Unity Government and ethnic armed organizations, though these relationships are often kept quiet to protect humanitarian operations.According to Rodehaver, 2024 was the deadliest year yet, with nearly 2,000 verified civilian deaths—most caused by indiscriminate airstrikes and heavy weaponry used by the military. Since the coup, over 6,300 civilians have been confirmed killed, amid spiraling displacement, economic collapse, and growing food insecurity.He warns that recent cuts in international aid are crippling essential services and shrinking civic space. Part of the problem, he admits, is a failure to tell the full story of Myanmar's suffering and resilience—a failure he takes partial responsibility for. Despite limited staff and access, his team continues to support civil society, provide training in international humanitarian law, and promote protection strategies for at-risk communities.Ultimately, Rodehaver returns to the principle that guides his work: empathy. “We pick the side of the victims,” he says, and draws strength from the courage and endurance of the Myanmar people.

Episode #399: Insight Myanmar was very fortunate to conduct a series of interviews with Friedgard Lottermoser between 2023 and 2024, amounting to more than forty hours before she sadly passed away last year. Friedgard was one of the few non-Burmese who could speak about the experience of meditating extensively with Sayagyi U Ba Khin, life at the International Meditation Center (IMC), and what it was like to live in Burma at a crucial period of its modern history.In this episode, she explains how she survived the July 7, 1962 student massacre by chance, spending the weekend meditating at IMC instead of joining the demonstrations at Rangoon University. “After meditating for several hours, I heard a huge boom, like thunder,” she says. “I thought it was just the continuation of a long thunderstorm, but it was the military blowing up the Student Union building!”She also speaks about her stepfather's work with the German firm Fritz Werner, the state-owned company that helped establish Burma's arms industry in the late 1950s and licensed local production of G3 rifles. These weapons, which became standard issue for the Burmese army, were later turned against students in 1962 and again during the 1988 uprising. For Friedgard, this connection adds a painful irony to her memories, as the same rifles linked to her family's presence in Burma were used to silence the very voices of democracy she might have joined that day.Her reflections often circle back to meditation, which she saw as both refuge and compass. “Of course, I listened to what U Ba Khin said, but it was reinforced by my personal perception through the development of Vipassana meditation. That is why, actually, I followed it up in these early days.” For Friedgard, meditation was not just practice but the thread that allowed her to endure, make sense of, and carry forward the experiences of those turbulent years.

Episode #397: In this episode of the Insight Myanmar Podcast, two compelling voices—Thinzar Shunlei Yi and Wongpun Amarinthewa—illuminate the stakes of Myanmar's political crisis from the frontlines of resistance and reporting. Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a prominent Burmese activist and deputy director of the Anti-Sham Election Campaign Committee, lays out a forceful case against the junta's proposed elections. Far from representing democratic progress, she sees them as a calculated maneuver to legitimize the military's grip on power. These elections, rooted in the discredited 2008 Constitution, are framed as part of a broader strategy to escape accountability and sustain authoritarian rule under the veneer of civilian governance. “The 2008 Constitution was also another coup,” she asserts, “[that was executed] in the name of democracy.” Her coalition, which includes civil society actors and ethnic political parties, has already moved beyond the junta's framework, pursuing a revolutionary roadmap to draft an inclusive federal democratic constitution from the ground up. Speaking to the international community, she warns that continued reference to the 2008 Constitution risks legitimizing a system that has failed time and again to protect Myanmar's people or bring about real change. Wongpun Amarinthewa, a Thai journalist, brings a parallel perspective from across the border. He reflects on his reporting trips to refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, where the trauma of displacement—especially among children—left a lasting emotional mark. His work underscores the human toll of the conflict and the widespread lack of awareness among the Thai public, which is exacerbated by government restrictions, media indifference, and nationalist sentiment. Despite the obstacles, Wongpun remains committed to telling these stories, emphasizing the urgent need for deeper regional awareness and cross-border solidarity. “As a media [worker], it's my responsibility to let the public know what's really happening along the border of Thailand,” he says.

Buried on the border of Thailand and Myanmar, Shwe Kokko is a shimmering city of skyscrapers, casinos and fresh-laid highways. But peek a little closer and you'll see why it has become one of the world's criminal capitals — from razor-wire fences to keep in thousands of enslaved scammers, to armed rebel guards and a theme park where Chinese high-rollers can shoot military-grade weapons.Shwe Kokko is a gangster's paradise. But not any gangster: the brainchild of a Burmese warlord and his Triad kinpin partner, it is an emblem of Golden Triangle lawlessness — where drugs, scams and slaves are bartered like chickens, and where billions of dollars disappear into a gigantic dark market. And this year, it has even helped start an international conflict. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Toads continue to amaze us - this time they are using their sense of the Earth's magnetic field to find their way home. But how important this sense is for cane toads as they travel home from long journeys, and how much are they relying on their sense of smell, was a mystery, until a clever new study tested the toads. Then we briefly touch on how pythons digest bones so successfully. Main Paper References: Fernandez RC, Sotelo MI. 2025. A toad's journey home: towards elucidating the neural and sensory basis of amphibian navigation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.0525. Shaykevich DA, Pareja-Mejía D, Golde C, Pašukonis A, O'Connell LA. 2025. Neural and sensory basis of homing behaviour in the invasive cane toad, Rhinella marina. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292:20250045. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.0045. Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Lignot J-H, Pope RK, Secor SM. 2025. Diet-dependent production of calcium- and phosphorus-rich ‘spheroids' along the intestine of Burmese pythons: identification of a new cell type? Journal of Experimental Biology 228:jeb249620. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.249620. Other Links/Mentions: Starr M. 2025.New Cell Discovered in Pythons Allows Them to Completely Digest Bones. Available at https://www.sciencealert.com/new-cell-discovered-in-pythons-allows-them-to-completely-digest-bones (accessed August 25, 2025). Editing and Music: Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

Saturn's lakes may be creating primitive cells and how Florida is using robotic bunnies to catch one invasive species. NASA finds Titan's alien lakes may be creating primitive cells | ScienceDaily Robotic bunnies deployed to combat invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades | AP News Researchers deploy 120 robots in Everglades National Park. Their mission is to help catch 20ft snakes | Discover Wildlife Contact the show - coolstuffcommute@gmail.com Secure your online data by visiting ExpressVPN.com/COOL to find out how you can get up to four extra months FREE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AriZona Iced Tea is adding a new flavor to its lineup — and it comes with an internet twist. The company confirmed it is partnering with social media personality The Rizzler to release RizzBerry, a new iced tea flavor. The Bill Belichick-Jordon Hudson business empire is looking to expand. The legendary football coach's company, TCE Rights Management LLC, which is managed by his girlfriend Hudson, filed to trademark the term “Gold Digger,” according to sports business reporter Darren Rovell. Massive bear raids Lake Tahoe ice cream parlor — and went wild for this particular flavor Robot rabbits the latest tool in Florida battle to control invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

01:02:09 – Shooter's Demonic Diary The Minneapolis church shooter's writings reveal regret over being trans, self-brainwashing, and violent fantasies. Media figures like Jake Tapper tie themselves in knots over pronouns while ignoring the manifesto's satanic themes. 01:10:15 – Stephen King Defends Trans Shooter King dismisses transgender ideology as a factor, blaming guns instead. Hosts argue the real problem is cultural rot, demonic influence, and a clear pattern of trans-linked shootings disproportionately targeting Christians. 01:16:07 – Psaki Mocks Prayer After Massacre Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki derides “thoughts and prayers” after Christian children are gunned down, sparking backlash. The commentary argues school shootings increased precisely because prayer was removed from schools. 01:27:29 – SSRIs and Mass Killings RFK Jr. calls for a probe into antidepressants. Studies and 7,000+ case reports show SSRIs linked to homicidal ideation, murder-suicides, and violent psychosis, especially among trans-identified youth already under institutional grooming pressures. 01:58:23 – Church Security and Great Replacement Closing segment pivots from the massacre to broader concerns: failures of Catholic school security, migrant violence, and reckless foreign truck drivers in Tennessee. Framed as part of the “great replacement” and systemic government negligence. 02:01:50 – Red Flags vs. Black Labels Commentary slams gun control hypocrisy, arguing the real threat isn't lawful gun owners but SSRI drugs causing homicidal ideation. Instead of “red flag” laws, America needs warning “black labels” on dangerous pharmaceuticals. 02:13:00 – Foreign Trucking Crisis An Indian driver, drunk and barreling the wrong way across Memphis in an 18-wheeler, highlights a growing crisis: poorly vetted foreign truckers with California licenses endangering Americans nationwide. The DOT is accused of negligence. 02:21:17 – Illegal Alien Maserati Crash In Nashville, an illegal Honduran with a revoked status and prior convictions drove a Maserati drunk, killing and injuring Americans. Framed as part of the “Great Replacement,” where foreign criminals are protected while citizens suffer. 02:25:12 – Walmart's H-1B Visa Scam Scandal erupts as Walmart fires 1,200 tech contractors amid allegations of a $30,000-per-day kickback scheme tied to H-1B visas. Critics say corporate elites use foreign labor to gut the American middle class. 02:48:20 – Python Wars & Brain Chips Florida deploys $4,000 “robot rabbits” to lure invasive Burmese pythons destroying wildlife, while China advances brain-computer interface programs for totalitarian control. Both framed as government-backed “solutions” that could spiral into bigger dangers. 03:05:33 – India's War on Christianity India passes radical anti-conversion laws allowing life in prison for sharing the Gospel, framed as “freedom of religion” amendments. Critics say Tulsi Gabbard's ties to Modi's party expose the hypocrisy and danger for Christians worldwide. 03:08:00 – Same-Sex Marriage Reconsidered Discussion of Obergefell resurfaces, with Clarence Thomas signaling it rests on the same shaky legal ground as Roe v. Wade. Marriage redefinition is framed as a state power grab that undermines children's rights to their biological parents. 03:16:38 – GOP Support for Gay Marriage Collapses Republican support for same-sex marriage drops sharply since 2021. Panelists call for conservatives to finally “conserve something,” noting Trump and Melania openly celebrated LGBT policies despite presenting themselves as cultural defenders. 03:21:43 – Law Without Moral Foundation Debate over “substantive due process” shows how courts manufactured rights like abortion and gay marriage. The commentary insists law requires a moral foundation, warning against turning children into state-owned commodities. 03:53:18 – Peter Thiel's Tech Bilderberg Peter Thiel launches “Dialogue,” a secretive DC-based club for tech elites, Treasury officials, and politicians (including Tulsi Gabbard & Ted Cruz). Framed as a “Bilderberg 2.0,” critics say it's a transhumanist push to eliminate AI regulation. Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silverFor 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHTFind out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-david-knight-show--2653468/support.

01:02:09 – Shooter's Demonic Diary The Minneapolis church shooter's writings reveal regret over being trans, self-brainwashing, and violent fantasies. Media figures like Jake Tapper tie themselves in knots over pronouns while ignoring the manifesto's satanic themes. 01:10:15 – Stephen King Defends Trans Shooter King dismisses transgender ideology as a factor, blaming guns instead. Hosts argue the real problem is cultural rot, demonic influence, and a clear pattern of trans-linked shootings disproportionately targeting Christians. 01:16:07 – Psaki Mocks Prayer After Massacre Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki derides “thoughts and prayers” after Christian children are gunned down, sparking backlash. The commentary argues school shootings increased precisely because prayer was removed from schools. 01:27:29 – SSRIs and Mass Killings RFK Jr. calls for a probe into antidepressants. Studies and 7,000+ case reports show SSRIs linked to homicidal ideation, murder-suicides, and violent psychosis, especially among trans-identified youth already under institutional grooming pressures. 01:58:23 – Church Security and Great Replacement Closing segment pivots from the massacre to broader concerns: failures of Catholic school security, migrant violence, and reckless foreign truck drivers in Tennessee. Framed as part of the “great replacement” and systemic government negligence. 02:01:50 – Red Flags vs. Black Labels Commentary slams gun control hypocrisy, arguing the real threat isn't lawful gun owners but SSRI drugs causing homicidal ideation. Instead of “red flag” laws, America needs warning “black labels” on dangerous pharmaceuticals. 02:13:00 – Foreign Trucking Crisis An Indian driver, drunk and barreling the wrong way across Memphis in an 18-wheeler, highlights a growing crisis: poorly vetted foreign truckers with California licenses endangering Americans nationwide. The DOT is accused of negligence. 02:21:17 – Illegal Alien Maserati Crash In Nashville, an illegal Honduran with a revoked status and prior convictions drove a Maserati drunk, killing and injuring Americans. Framed as part of the “Great Replacement,” where foreign criminals are protected while citizens suffer. 02:25:12 – Walmart's H-1B Visa Scam Scandal erupts as Walmart fires 1,200 tech contractors amid allegations of a $30,000-per-day kickback scheme tied to H-1B visas. Critics say corporate elites use foreign labor to gut the American middle class. 02:48:20 – Python Wars & Brain Chips Florida deploys $4,000 “robot rabbits” to lure invasive Burmese pythons destroying wildlife, while China advances brain-computer interface programs for totalitarian control. Both framed as government-backed “solutions” that could spiral into bigger dangers. 03:05:33 – India's War on Christianity India passes radical anti-conversion laws allowing life in prison for sharing the Gospel, framed as “freedom of religion” amendments. Critics say Tulsi Gabbard's ties to Modi's party expose the hypocrisy and danger for Christians worldwide. 03:08:00 – Same-Sex Marriage Reconsidered Discussion of Obergefell resurfaces, with Clarence Thomas signaling it rests on the same shaky legal ground as Roe v. Wade. Marriage redefinition is framed as a state power grab that undermines children's rights to their biological parents. 03:16:38 – GOP Support for Gay Marriage Collapses Republican support for same-sex marriage drops sharply since 2021. Panelists call for conservatives to finally “conserve something,” noting Trump and Melania openly celebrated LGBT policies despite presenting themselves as cultural defenders. 03:21:43 – Law Without Moral Foundation Debate over “substantive due process” shows how courts manufactured rights like abortion and gay marriage. The commentary insists law requires a moral foundation, warning against turning children into state-owned commodities. 03:53:18 – Peter Thiel's Tech Bilderberg Peter Thiel launches “Dialogue,” a secretive DC-based club for tech elites, Treasury officials, and politicians (including Tulsi Gabbard & Ted Cruz). Framed as a “Bilderberg 2.0,” critics say it's a transhumanist push to eliminate AI regulation. Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silverFor 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHTFind out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-david-knight-show--5282736/support.