Asia's deadliest conflict — and the world that looks away

In the decade after Myanmar opened its political system in 2011, the economy grew by roughly 6% a year and poverty fell steeply. The coup erased more than a decade of gains almost overnight.

Hunger, once in retreat, has exploded. Nearly a third of the population now faces acute food insecurity, one western state stands on the edge of famine, and the health system has all but collapsed.

The military's signature weapon is the airstrike against civilians — markets, monasteries, displacement camps, hospitals and schools. Human rights investigators say the pattern amounts to crimes against humanity.

Lawlessness has bred a criminal economy of extraordinary scale. Myanmar is now the world's largest opium producer, the region's methamphetamine engine, and — by one global index — the most crime-ridden country on earth.

In 2023–24, an alliance of ethnic armies and volunteer militias drove the military out of much of the country. What turned the tide was not the generals' skill but a network of authoritarian collaboration.

Aid is dwindling, sanctions are being unwound, and states across three continents are sending Myanmar citizens back into the warzone. The region's own bloc watched its peace plan collapse within two days.