Europe's 'Democratic Values' Conveniently Blind to Myanmar's Geopolitical Chessboard
📰 THE STORY: Deutsche Welle asserts that an upcoming election in Myanmar, orchestrated by the ruling junta, will not sway Europe's condemnation due to ongoing human rights abuses and the junta's lack of legitimacy in the wake of the 2021 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD government. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: Myanmar (Burma) has a long history of foreign intervention,
from British colonialism which fractured ethnic groups, to the Cold War-era proxy battles. In 1948, Burma gained independence from Britain, but its internal politics have since been a battleground for external powers. US sanctions imposed since the late 1980s, intensified after the 2021 coup, have crippled the economy, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis now blamed solely on the junta. The NLD
itself, under Aung San Suu Kyi, oversaw the 2017 genocide of the Rohingya Muslims, an ethnic cleansing largely ignored or downplayed by the same Western media now championing her democratic credentials. Double Standard: Western powers readily condemn Myanmar's military for seizing power and holding 'sham' elections while simultaneously propping up authoritarian regimes globally, such as the Sisi
dictatorship in Egypt with its $1.3 billion annual US aid, or arming Saudi Arabia, a kingdom with zero democratic pretensions, despite its atrocious human rights record and ongoing war in Yemen. The media's selective outrage implies that only certain coups are 'bad,' typically those that don't align with Western strategic interests or those by nations attempting to chart an independent course away