If the Army is Disbanded Will Myanmar Become Like Libya or Iraq?
A protester holds an anti-regime placard in Yangon as soldiers deploy in February. / The Irrawaddy
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By The Irrawaddy 12 March 2021
Disbanding Myanmar’s hated military risks destabilizing the country, in the same way that the Western invasions of Iraq and Libya and the subsequent disbandment of local military forces left security vacuums that were filled by Islamic State, said former Singapore foreign minister George Yeo.
Yeo acknowledged that the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military) are “hated” by many Myanmar people. The reaction to “removing the army from the equation” would be euphoria, he said.
Myanmar’s military might be “hated” but it needs to be part of the solution to the country’s post-coup crisis, or the nation could become another Libya or Iraq. That is the view of Singapore’s former foreign minister George Yeo, who warned on Wednesday (March 10) that dissolving the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s military is known, would destabilise the Southeast Asian country.
No solution to Myanmar crisis without military, George Yeo tells Yale-NUS forum straitstimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from straitstimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Its disastrous handling of the Covid-19 pandemic sent the US tumbling from top spot as a soft power to sixth place, while its rival China fell three places to land at No 8, according to a British ranking. While Germany took the crown, the US was the fastest falling country in this year's Global Soft Power Index, published by Brand Finance. It lost more than double China's score in the overall index. In the Covid-19 metric, the US came in at the.