First came the mirror.
asserted
mirror → come → ?
Before Min Aung Hlaing enters the room for his first Western media interview since seizing power in a 2021 coup d’état, aides maneuver an ornate Rococo revival looking glass into place for preening.
asserted
aides → enter → preening
Then come requests for his portrait: light him from the left, the better to disguise a thinning hairline no longer hidden beneath an olive cap.
asserted
requests → come → cap
Myanmar’s former commander in chief now calls himself President, following January elections widely condemned as fraudulent.
asserted
commander → call → elections
His fitful transformation from generalissimo to civilian statesman extends even to awkward attempts at bonhomie.
asserted
transformation → extend → bonhomie
He confesses to loving golf—he plays off an 18 handicap—though a bad back has lately kept him from the fairway.
asserted
back → confess → fairway
Yet the makeover has limits.
asserted
makeover → have → limits
The geniality fades when questions turn to human rights, narcotics trafficking, or sanctioned relatives.
asserted
questions → fade → rights
Even his birthplace remains classified.
asserted
birthplace → remain → ?
“I used to revisit my township very often, so if you can carefully watch the news, you can figure out where I’m native,” he says cryptically.
asserted
he → use → news
Min Aung Hlaing may have swapped his uniform for a silken longyi sarong, but the barracks instinct to conceal, deflect, and command remains firmly in place.
uncertain
instinct → swap → place
“Some of my responses didn’t directly touch upon your questions, but I hope they were still useful,” he offers after our hour together.
asserted
he → touch → hour
Obfuscation is a curious tactic for someone fixated on ingratiating himself with the international community.
asserted
Obfuscation → fixate → community
While his coup was widely condemned, Min Aung Hlaing has now ruled Myanmar for five years, and there is a growing realization that he is going nowhere.
asserted
he → condemn → years
He has now been welcomed on official visits to nine nations, and while autocracies like Russia and China might warrant an eye roll, trips to broadly democratic Thailand and India indicate a wider thaw.
uncertain
trips → welcome → thaw
For neighbors, engagement is born of necessity: Myanmar is not only the world’s top producer of methamphetamine and opium, but also the nerve center of a global “scamdemic” that loots unsuspecting bank accounts to the tune of $15 billion annually.
asserted
that → bear → billion
“The situation in Myanmar is having a global impact,” says Jeremy Douglas, deputy director of operations at the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
asserted
Douglas → have → Drugs
“It’s off the charts, and the region needs to intervene before it gets worse.”
asserted
it → ’ → charts
The quandary facing Western powers is whether to follow suit.
asserted
quandary → face → suit
Myanmar is also among the world’s most resource rich nations, boasting vast deposits of jade, copper, coal, teak, gemstones, tin, and gold.
asserted
Myanmar → boast → jade
And it is the world’s third largest producer of heavy rare earths—arcane materials over which Washington and Beijing continue to spar.
asserted
Washington → continue → which
Yet the reputational stakes of cozying up to Min Aung Hlaing may eclipse these riches.
uncertain
stakes → cozye → riches
The Southeast Asian nation of 55 million, formerly known as Burma, remains racked by civil war between forces loyal to his government, ethnic rebel groups, and a National Unity Government (NUG) spawned from the ousted administration of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains in detention.
asserted
who → know → detention
Today, Min Aung Hlaing controls less than half of Myanmar’s total landmass.
asserted
Hlaing → control → landmass
“Our strategy has been expanding our territory and providing necessary social welfare and essential services,” says Duwa Lashi La, acting President of the NUG.
asserted
La → expand → NUG
“We also protect the public from the junta’s attacks.”
asserted
We → protect → attacks
The conflict has so far claimed more than 100,000 lives, displaced 3.6 million people, and sent countless others fleeing across Myanmar’s borders.
asserted
conflict → claim → borders
Troops under Min Aung Hlaing’s command stand accused of torching villages, massacring civilians, and committing sexual violence, while fighter aircraft and drones have targeted schools and temples.
asserted
aircraft → accuse → schools
U.N. investigators have accused him of genocide, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing.
asserted
investigators → accuse → genocide
He denies wrongdoing.
asserted
He → deny → wrongdoing
While the Biden Administration rhetorically backed the NUG, U.S. President Donald Trump has anchored foreign policy in transactional interests.
asserted
Trump → back → interests
On June 25, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Michael DeSombre noted that Washington is “very open to working with all stakeholders” to combat “mass displacement and trans-national crime.”
asserted
Washington → note → displacement
Last year, the Trump Administration withdrew sanctions on several junta allies amid a Myanmar policy review that looks likely to advocate revived ties.
asserted
that → withdraw → ties
It has already ended temporary protected status for nearly 4,000 refugees.
asserted
It → end → refugees
“It is safe for Burmese citizens to return home,” then Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in November.
asserted
Noem → return → November
Fulsome engagement will “infuriate a large portion of the Myanmar population,” says Scot Marciel, U.S. ambassador to Myanmar from 2016 to 2020.
asserted
Marciel → infuriate → 2020
“But I don’t think Trump and company care.”
asserted
Trump → think → ?
As ever, a key driver is countering the growing clout of China, which covets Myanmar’s resources as well as strategic access to the Bay of Bengal.
asserted
which → counter → Bengal
But Beijing’s approach has been scattergun: it considers Suu Kyi an “old friend,” yet has supplied rebel forces as well as backing Min Aung Hlaing—a diplomatic fudge critics say underscores the perils of replacing a values-based U.S. approach with a transactional, Chinese-led regional order.
asserted
critics → consider → order
“It’s hard to ascribe a clear strategy for China in Myanmar,” says Drew Thompson, a former U.S. defense official now at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
asserted
Thompson → ’ → Singapore
…and 123 more, not listed.
The Aporia
