As war rages in Europe and as Israel confronts adversaries from all sides in the Middle East, Americans would be forgiven not knowing about the yearslong conflict raging in Burma—the world’s longest-running civil war.
The violence has ravaged the Southeast Asian nation for decades, and battlefield developments indicate the conflict may be reaching a new stage—with consequences for both the region and the United States.
Burma’s long-running civil war cooled during the 2010s, under the democratic government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), but fighting erupted again following a military coup in 2021.
The military, which has always been the most powerful player in Burmese politics, feared a loss of power on the heels of the NLD’s landslide victory in the 2020 elections, and it violently seized control of the government.
Since the coup,
