Myanmar’s Military Suffering, Could Actually Lose

Myanmar’s junta claims that it will hold national elections—albeit ones with the main opposition National League for Democracy party banned—to justify its rule sometime in the future. In reality, the possibility of an actual vote is slim, and the junta is losing control of much of the country.

While it already has lost swathes of territory to both longstanding ethnic armed organizations in borderlands and new groups of fighters—People’s Defense Militias—that sprung up after the coup, the junta now faces threats even in the biggest cities, where it had until recently maintained a degree of brutal control. For more on the junta’s losses, and how it could finally lose entirely, see my new column in World Politics Review.