Taking Down the Tatmadaw – The Diplomat

Podcasts | Politics | Southeast Asia

Scott Johnson is an Australia-based lawyer, journalist, and human rights advocate with greater than 20 years of expertise specializing in indigenous teams and geopolitical points in Southeast Asia, specifically Myanmar, which he nonetheless calls Burma.

His work started within the Nineties with human rights campaigns for The Montagnard Basis, which included lobbying within the United Nations, Geneva, Washington, D.C. and Brussels. He additionally established the Tribal Motion Group, which advocates on behalf of indigenous teams in Southeast Asia.

During the last decade, Johnson has been concerned with Burma and its many ethnic teams, who’ve vowed to combat the navy junta that seized energy from an elected authorities early final yr.

This has concerned some 30 excursions into Myanmar, which included greater than 70 jungle border crossings.

He has written for The Washington Instances, The Epoch Instances, Soldier of Fortune Journal, Asia Instances On-line and the West Australian, whereas producing documentaries for tv.

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Johnson spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about his experiences in Myanmar and the issues with its overseas relations, courting again to Barack Obama’s time in workplace as United States president, that made final yr’s coup d’état all too predictable.

Given the spate of current counterattacks by ethnic teams, which has pushed the combating from the jungles to the sides of provincial cities, he says a navy victory over the Tatmadaw is feasible if the numerous ethnic teams can unite and combat as a cohesive unit.