For years, Russia's support of Burma's (Myanmar's) military government centered primarily on arms sales, aircraft, and military equipment. That has now changed.

Between July 6–17, 2026, Russia and the Burma (Myanmar) military conducted a joint special operations exercise known as Operation Tropical Storm in Naypyidaw. While military exercises between allies are not uncommon, this event stands apart because it reportedly focused on transferring advanced battlefield tactics and operational expertise, not simply demonstrating military cooperation.

This marks a potentially significant evolution in the relationship between Moscow and Burma's military leadership.

We believe every nation and every people should have the right to govern themselves, protect their culture, choose their leaders, and decide their own future. A free nation must be able to control its borders, write its laws, protect its citizens, and preserve its beliefs without being ruled by foreign governments or unelected global organizations.

That freedom is now under growing pressure. Around the world, a system of global control is slowly taking shape. This system is often called globalism. Globalism seeks to place more power in the hands of international groups, foreign regulators, large banks, global companies, and political leaders who are far removed from the people affected by their decisions. Instead of each country making its own choices, nations are being pushed to follow the same global rules.

Five Thai paramilitary rangers were reportedly killed when a coordinated group of armed assailants attacked a security checkpoint in Thailand’s violence-stricken Deep South.

The deadly assault occurred in Ra-ngae District, Narathiwat Province, an area that has long served as an important operating environment for Malay-Patani separatist militants.

Early reports circulated that as many as 15 people were injured. More detailed reporting subsequently stated that five paramilitary rangers were killed and two civilians were injured when six attackers opened fire and threw pipe bombs at the checkpoint. Because information remains fluid, the final casualty count should be treated as provisional until Thai authorities issue a consolidated official report.

PowerMentor extends its deepest prayers and condolences to the families of those killed, their fellow soldiers, the wounded civilians, first responders and the communities shaken by this attack.

A congressional investigation into wealthy Marxist financier Neville Roy Singham has moved into a far more serious phase.

The House Ways and Means Committee has issued subpoenas to three prominent left-wing organizations—The People’s Forum, BreakThrough News, and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research—as lawmakers investigate tens of millions of dollars allegedly connected to Singham and a much larger international political influence network.

The issue is no longer simply whether a wealthy activist donated money to organizations that share his ideology.

The real question is whether a sophisticated system of nonprofit organizations, donor-advised funds, shell companies, media platforms, fiscal sponsors, and international partners was used to conceal the source, control, or intended purpose of political influence operations inside the United States.

That is the central issue now confronting Congress, federal investigators, and the American public.

More Than $40 Million Connected to Three Organizations

As policymakers gather in Washington to discuss Burma's future, one question deserves far more attention than it is receiving:

Who is not at the table?

The congressional briefing appropriately highlights online scam compounds, humanitarian suffering, regional security, and the growing influence of China and Russia. These are serious issues. However, lasting peace in Burma will ultimately depend on whether a future political settlement is viewed as legitimate by the country's diverse ethnic nationalities—not merely by international observers or political elites.

For many ethnic communities, this remains an unresolved question.

America must confront an uncomfortable and increasingly dangerous reality: radical left-wing extremism and Islamist extremism can operate within the same political ecosystem, amplify the same grievances and direct their anger toward many of the same targets.

This tactical convergence is commonly described as the Red–Green Alliance.

Red represents revolutionary Marxist, anarchist, anti-capitalist and violent anti-fascist movements.

Green represents Islamist extremist movements and the ideological networks that support or excuse them.

These movements do not share the same ultimate vision for society. In fact, many of their beliefs fundamentally contradict one another. But alliances are not always built upon shared values. Sometimes they are built upon shared enemies.

The history of the Karen people did not begin with British rule, Christian missionaries or the modern nation of Burma. Karen ancestral traditions reach much further into the past—toward Mongolia, Central Asia, the lands beyond the “River of Running Sand,” and, according to some accounts, the ancient world surrounding Babylon and the Euphrates River.

For generations, the Karen preserved accounts of creation, humanity’s fall, an eternal Creator, a lost sacred book and a long migration from a distant land in the northwest.

These traditions deserve to be examined seriously.

They should not be dismissed merely because they were preserved orally or because they challenge conventional historical narratives.

A FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE IN ISRAEL

During a recent journey to Israel, I was surprised to discover that people there were already familiar with the Karen.

The Karen people were not unknown to them.

There appeared to be an existing awareness of Karen traditions and claims concerning a possible historical relationship with ancient Israel.

Long before the arrival of Christian missionaries, the Karen people preserved an extraordinary spiritual tradition concerning one supreme Creator, the loss of divine knowledge, and the promised return of a sacred book. This tradition presents the Karen not as a people without knowledge of God, but as a people who remembered that their ancestors had once possessed a clearer revelation and were awaiting its restoration.

At the center of this tradition was belief in a singular Creator known as Y’wa, sometimes rendered as Ywa or Ywah. Y’wa was understood as the source of creation and the giver of divine knowledge to humanity. The Karen tradition held that human beings had once known the Creator and possessed knowledge of His truth, but that this knowledge had later been lost.

The term "infiltrate" can imply covert or illegal penetration. While there are isolated espionage cases involving many countries, there is no public evidence that China or Russia have infiltrated the Thai government or military in the sense of controlling it.

A more accurate description is that both countries are expanding their influence, but they do so in very different ways.

China’s relationship with Burma’s military is more complicated—and potentially more powerful—than Russia’s.

Russia primarily acts as an arms supplier, trainer and military partner. China operates across nearly every level of the conflict:

• Weapons and replacement parts

• Aircraft, drones and naval systems

• Military training and exercises

• Diplomatic protection

• Economic and border pressure

• Control over trade routes

• Influence over several ethnic armed organizations

• Protection of strategic infrastructure

• Political rehabilitation of the military government

China does not appear emotionally or ideologically committed to Min Aung Hlaing. Beijing supports the Burmese military because it currently regards a functioning central government as necessary to protect Chinese borders, trade, pipelines, investments and access to the Indian Ocean.

Its real objective is not necessarily a decisive junta victory. It is a controllable Burma that cannot threaten China’s interests.

Russia is no longer merely selling weapons to the Burmese military. It is helping develop the personnel, doctrine, maintenance systems, operational skills, and institutional relationships needed to employ those weapons.

The relationship has evolved through three broad stages:

1. Long-term officer education in Russia

2. Weapons-linked technical and operational training

3. Direct combined exercises inside Burma and at sea

The most important recent development is the reported “Tropical Storm” exercise in Naypyidaw, running July 6–17, 2026, in which Russian personnel are training Burmese special-operations forces in counter-drone warfare, tropical assault tactics, counterterrorism and the operation of Russian military equipment. This appears to be the clearest public indication yet of Russian ground-force trainers working directly with Burmese combat personnel inside the country.

That said, there is still no publicly verified evidence that large Russian combat formations are deployed alongside Burmese troops in front-line combat operations. The available evidence points instead to instructors, advisers, naval personnel, technicians and military educators.

When Americans think about policing crises, their minds often turn to major metropolitan areas. Headlines frequently focus on large cities struggling with violent crime, officer shortages, or public demonstrations. Yet, quietly unfolding across rural America is a different kind of crisis—one that receives far less national attention but carries profound implications for public safety and local governance.

Over the past several years, a growing number of small-town police departments have experienced complete organizational collapse. In some communities, every officer has resigned. In others, entire departments have been dismissed by elected officials. Some have ceased operations because they could no longer recruit or retain officers, while others have become consumed by political conflict or allegations involving evidence management and departmental oversight.

Although each community has its own unique story, the similarities between these incidents are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. They suggest that many of America's smallest police agencies are operating within a system that has become increasingly fragile.

The recent events in Barrackville, West Virginia, provide one of the clearest examples of this emerging pattern.

There was a time in America when neighborhoods were more than collections of houses—they were communities.

Children rode bicycles until sunset. Neighbors borrowed tools, shared meals, watched each other's children, checked on elderly residents, and gathered for block parties. When someone experienced hardship, the community often stepped in before government agencies ever became involved.

Today, much of that social fabric has quietly unraveled.

A recent report by the American Survey Center at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Strangers Next Door: The Decline of Neighborhood Socializing and the Class Divide in Belonging, documents one of the most significant cultural shifts occurring in the United States: Americans are spending dramatically less time interacting with their neighbors, and younger generations are experiencing this decline at unprecedented levels.

This isn't simply a story about loneliness.

It is a story about trust, belonging, resilience, civic engagement, mental health, democracy, and the future of American communities.

The Burmese military regime’s attack on UN Special Envoy Julie Bishop is not an isolated outburst. It is part of a much older pattern: when the generals cannot defeat the truth, they attack the messenger. Bishop warned that conditions in Burma continue to deteriorate and that “records are being set for all the wrong reasons,” directly challenging the regime’s false claim that its military-controlled political process has restored stability.

But the deeper issue is legitimacy. The Burmese generals are no longer simply fighting armed resistance. They are fighting the collapse of the entire political illusion they built: fake elections, fake peace processes, fake federalism, and fake ethnic representation.

For decades, the military has claimed to represent national unity while violently suppressing the very nations that make up Burma: Karen, Kachin, Chin, Karenni, Arakan, Mon, Shan, and others. These ethnic peoples are not fringe communities. They occupy large historic homelands and have fought for recognition of their language, land, faith, culture, and political rights for generations.

On July 3, 2026, history took a dramatic turn. Two of Burma's most influential ethnic organizations—the Government of Kawthoolei (representing the Karen people) and the Kachin National Organization (KNO)—signed the Declaration of the Alliance of Independent Nations (AIN Burma). More than another political statement, this declaration represents a formal and permanent rejection of the Union of Burma and the beginning of a new vision for the future of the country's ethnic nations.

For decades, ethnic nationalities sought peace through dialogue, federal reform, and negotiated power-sharing. Yet repeated agreements were broken, democratic movements were violently suppressed, and the 2008 military-drafted constitution centralized power under the Burma military rather than providing meaningful autonomy. The AIN Declaration reflects the conclusion reached by its founding members: the existing political framework is no longer capable of delivering justice, freedom, or lasting peace.

After nearly 15 years of suspension, Burma (Myanmar)'s government has announced plans to revive the Myitsone Hydropower Project in Kachin State—a massive China-backed development that could become one of Southeast Asia's largest hydroelectric dams. Supporters view the project as a solution to Burma's ongoing electricity shortages and a catalyst for economic growth. Yet for many ethnic communities, particularly the Kachin people, the announcement revives decades of unresolved concerns over land rights, environmental stewardship, cultural preservation, and self-determination.

At PowerMentor, we believe that understanding the perspectives of all stakeholders is essential to achieving lasting peace and sustainable development. While governments may view Myitsone through the lens of national infrastructure, many ethnic peoples view it through the lens of history, lived experience, and the future of their ancestral homeland.

A Project Built on Ancestral Land

The proposed Myitsone Dam would be constructed at the confluence of the Mali and N'Mai Rivers, the headwaters of the Irrawaddy River. Beyond its strategic importance, this location holds profound cultural, historical, and spiritual significance for many Kachin communities.

The creation of the Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF) has been presented by many observers as an important milestone in Burma's resistance movement. At first glance, the initiative appears promising. It seeks to strengthen coordination among resistance forces, improve political unity, and develop a common strategy against the military regime.

Its founding members include the National Unity Government (NUG), Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Karen National Union (KNU), Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Chin National Front (CNF), and Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), along with associated leadership structures. Collectively, these organizations represent an important segment of the resistance.

For more than four decades, the Royal Thai Government has carried one of Southeast Asia's most significant humanitarian responsibilities by providing refuge to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by conflict in Burma. Throughout changing political environments, Thailand has consistently balanced national security, border stability, humanitarian responsibility, and economic priorities while extending protection to Karen, Karenni, Mon, and other ethnic communities living along the Thai-Burma border.

Today, Thailand is demonstrating a new level of leadership by moving beyond long-term humanitarian assistance toward policies that encourage self-reliance, lawful employment, and economic participation. These initiatives represent an important evolution in public policy—one that recognizes both the dignity of displaced people and Thailand's long-term national interests. PowerMentor commends the Royal Thai Government for taking thoughtful and courageous steps toward solutions that benefit both Thailand and the ethnic communities it has generously hosted for so many years.

The detention of pastors and ministry leaders from China's underground Zion Church is more than an isolated criminal case. It reflects a longstanding policy by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to bring every aspect of religious life under state supervision. According to reports, authorities accused church leaders of illegally distributing religious content online after new regulations tightened restrictions on internet-based religious activities. Human rights organizations argue that the underlying issue is not merely online content but the government's insistence that religious organizations remain subject to Communist Party oversight.

The military-controlled election in Burma was presented as a political transition, but a new United Nations report reveals a far darker reality. During the six months surrounding the election process, the Burma military killed at least 702 civilians, with aircraft responsible for the overwhelming majority of verified deaths. Rather than creating the conditions necessary for citizens to choose their government freely, the military expanded its territorial campaign, attacked communities from the air and conducted voting beneath a climate of violence, displacement and fear.

The report covers the period from August 2025, when the military announced the election process, through the end of voting in January 2026. According to the UN Human Rights Office, the military was responsible for the verified deaths of 224 women and 153 children. These numbers expose the fundamental contradiction behind the election: a government cannot claim democratic legitimacy while its armed forces are bombing the population it supposedly seeks permission to govern.