How the Civil War in Myanmar Became the Deadliest Conflict in Asia

The civil war in Myanmar recently passed a grim milestone. According to the conflict-monitoring NGO ACLED, an estimated 100,000 people have been killed since the war broke out in 2021. Seventy percent of them were civilians. This civil war rarely makes headlines in the West. It erupted after Myanmar's democratic transition collapsed and the military seized power in February 2021. The junta then violently suppressed peaceful protests, prompting many demonstrators to take up arms. The front lines have shifted in recent months as neighboring China has intervened more decisively on behalf of the junta. I'm joined today by Kelley Currie, the new UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. We begin with a brief history of Myanmar's long-running conflicts before turning to an in-depth conversation about the current dynamics of the civil war, the geopolitical implications of China's intervention, and the particularly brutal military strategy that has resulted in so many civilian deaths.