Impeccable Appraisal of the Myanmar Imbroglio

The Golden Land Ablaze: Coups, Insurgents and the State in Myanmarby Bertil LintnerHurst, 2024

Sometime towards the end of 1985, the young Bertil Lintner embarked on an undercover assignment in Myanmar that appears more like fiction than a real journey. He was accompanied by his wife and three-month old daughter, who was born in Kohima when they were hiding to avoid the Indian security forces and waiting for the opportune time to cross the border into Myanmar. And within a couple of weeks in Myanmar came a devastating attack by the junta on a Nagaland rebel base at Challam Basti (Kesan Chanlam) where they were putting up.

Lintner and his family escaped unscathed, but the episode hastened their onward journey from Sagaing Region to Kachin through an unforgiving terrain and rugged hills. Only after 22 months and traveling 1,800 km did they cross over to China and finally to Thailand, where they live.