Worshiping with the Christian Insurgents in Myanmar

Antonio Graceffo reporting from inside the war zone in Burma/Myanmar.

On Easter Sunday, the Burmese army launched an airstrike against a monastery in Karen State, where an entire village had taken refuge. The bombs fell for hours, and when the smoke had cleared, numerous civilians, including women, children, and monks, were dead.

There were no soldiers in the village, so 100% of the casualties were civilians. About half of them were Christians.

Burma is predominantly Buddhist, with a significant Christian minority comprising approximately 6% of the population. Many of these Christians belong to the country’s 135 ethnic minority groups, notably including the Kachin, Chin, Karen (also known as Kayin, as featured in the movie “Rambo IV”), and the Karenni (distinct from the Karen, despite the similarity in name).

The repression against Christians and the wholesale murder of civilians have been features of the Burmese civil war, which has been ongoing for about 70 years. However, targeted attacks against churches, monasteries, Catholic, and Baptist schools have intensified since the 2021 coup, which dashed any hopes of a transition to democracy.

Previously, I had worked with the Shan ethnic group and resistance fighters. However, recently, I decided that I wanted to focus my energy on the Christian minority in Karenni State (also called Kayah State), the smallest ethnic state in Burma.

About 50% of Karenni are Christian, with the majority being Catholic and the rest Baptist. Over the past three years, roughly 80% of the Karenni people have been displaced, and 3,000 civilians have been killed, from a total Karenni population of less than 400,000 people.

Catholic priests and nuns assigned to dioceses in Burma have risked their lives to remain with their flocks, offering what help and protection they could. In November, 1,300 civilians, including Christians, Buddhists, and animists, took refuge in Christ the King Catholic Cathedral complex in Loikaw, the capital city of Karenni State.

These people were internally displaced individuals (IDPs), meaning that the Burmese army had already destroyed their villages, and they had found their way to the Cathedral, where the priests and nuns were offering them refuge.

The Burmese army threatened to bomb the complex, but the priests implored the soldiers not to attack and to allow the people, who included the aged and the infirm, to remain in safety.

However, eventually, the Burmese army attacked, using heavy weapons, fighter jets, armored vehicles, and 120 mm cannons. Many people were killed, while the rest were forced to flee into the jungle, including the Bishop of Loikaw, H.E. Celso Ba Shwe, and the priests and nuns, who were finally forced to abandon their post. After the people fled, the Burmese army took over the center and are now occupying it.

Loikaw is the site of the most intense fighting in Karenni State. According to Lt. Colonel Mei Reh, a battalion commander in the Karenni Army, the Burmese junta has laid hundreds of landmines around their positions and uses drone jammers to protect themselves from the resistance fighters.

He estimated that counting soldiers, dependents, and support personnel, Loikaw is now occupied by about 10,000 Burmese who receive resupply by air. They are also protected by helicopters and jets.

The rebels, by contrast, are on foot, carrying what small arms and rations they have, walking for weeks in some cases to reach the front lines and fight to retake their country.

When I am inside Burma, I meet with internally displaced people and soldiers, filing reports on the war. I also pray with anyone who is willing, and the reception among the Karenni is astounding. Nearly everyone I meet wants to pray together.

Over the years that I have been reporting on this conflict, I have been inspired by David Eubanks, leader of the Free Burma Rangers. The lesson that I learned from him and from his faith as a missionary/soldier is to pray not for victory, but to pray that the hearts of the Burmese army will be changed by God’s grace and that they will stop fighting.

He teaches that Christian soldiers should pray for peace and an end to the conflict, and when they kill, to kill for love. They must remember that they kill to protect their people, their land, and their country, but not out of hate.

Amazingly, when I met Catholic soldiers, including a company commander, this is what they prayed for: to kill with love and to stop killing as soon as they could find peace and establish a democracy in their country.

The Free Burma Rangers have been spreading that message in Burma for more than 20 years, among all of the ethnic resistance armies. And now that I am working with Karenni Christians, I can say the message is getting through.

The United States is one of the few countries to ever win independence and establish a democracy by way of a bloody war. Usually, after a revolution, warlords and generals replace the previous dictator, and nothing changes.

Instilling ideals of love, compassion, and forgiveness in the soldiers and officers now will hopefully help to heal the country when the war ends, so they can avoid retribution killings and animosity that would result in a fractured state.

People back in the US ask, “How can you be a Christian and a soldier?” and the answer is, “to kill with love.” They ask me, “How can you support Burmese refugees but demand a secure southern border?”

And my answer is, the Karenni and other ethnics are not requesting to be resettled in the US or some Western country. They just want safety from the war now, and they want the war to be over so they can go home and resume their lives in their own land.

The Catholic Church in the camp where I was located had been hit by an airstrike a few months ago, so the people were afraid to go to worship there. However, the Catholic Karenni women told me that during Lent, they held prayer services in their huts every day.

On Good Friday, they decided to risk using the church building, and for the first time, they held service there. The priest could not make it to the camp because of the fighting, but two Karenni catechists trained at the seminary in Karenni State led the worship.

They did the same on Easter Sunday. These people could easily have lost their faith, being displaced by war and losing their families and their homes, but they trusted that God had a plan, and they would eventually return to their homeland in peace. Their faith should be an inspiration for all the people in wealthy countries at peace.

After the Catholic service, I attended the Baptist service on the other side of the camp. Although I am Catholic and love attending Mass, I have to admit, the Baptist service is more fun and has more singing and guitar playing.

The pastor asked me to address the congregation, and I reminded them of David and Goliath. Although the people of Burma are small and weak in comparison to the Burmese army, which is armed by Russia and China, the people have faith, and since the coup, they also have unity. As David Eubanks told me, “The army is stronger than the people. But it is not stronger than ALL the people if they work together.”

On the day before Easter, I was staying in a hut with the soldiers when a batch of new recruits arrived, and they just looked so young to me. I was 17 when I joined the military, but as we get older, young people look like children to us.

On Easter Sunday, looking out at the congregation, I saw so many bright young kids who were just about military age, many of whom would soon be joining the fight. It made me sad that they would never have a prom, never get a driver’s license, never have a part-time job at Wendy’s, and some of them would be killed, and soon.

After the Baptist service, I was walking back to the house with the soldiers, feeling I had been given an amazing blessing to have spent this most crucial religious holiday with these wonderful and resilient people. I had found a moment of happiness in war and hoped to write an inspiring article about faith and happy endings.

When I reached the house and got a cell signal, I began receiving live feeds from the Free Burma Rangers, documenting the Easter massacre of the civilians at the monastery in Karen State. David Eubanks sent a message saying that in addition to the other casualties, the head monk’s body had been torn in half.

And just like that, I had no idea how I was going to end my story. What was I meant to take away from this experience?

The words of Htay Ree, the 25-year-old assistant pastor at the Baptist church, came to mind. He said, “God is love. God is for our spiritual health, not our physical being. We can get sick or even be killed.

God only guarantees our spiritual life; if we believe in Jesus, we can get eternal life.” He went on to say that God never said it would be easy. “But people who blame God for their physical suffering just do not understand. And this is an opportunity to teach. So, for me, it is not a problem,” he concluded.

The people of Burma have lost everything — their homes, their freedom, their money, their food, their loved ones — and some even lose their faith. But the assistant preacher didn’t see any of that as a problem, just an opportunity to teach. And now I can pass that lesson along to the readers.

The post Worshiping with the Christian Insurgents in Myanmar appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Karenni Catholic Church inside the war zone in Burma/Myanmar, photo by Antonio Graceffo

Karenni Army recruits, photo by Antonio Graceffo

Karenni Catholic cross damaged by bomb blast, photo by Antonio Graceffo

Masked Gunmen Shoot Catholic Priest During Church Service in Myanmar

Two masked gunmen entered St. Patrick Catholic Church in the town of Mohnyin, Myanmar, on Friday morning during services and fired a volley of bullets at the parish priest, Father Paul Hkwi Shane Aung. Aung was hit three times but survived the attack.

The post Masked Gunmen Shoot Catholic Priest During Church Service in Myanmar appeared first on Breitbart.

Myanmar: Only Bad Guys Can Have Guns

Reporting from the war zone in Burma/Myanmar

The UN and the global community have failed to enforce an arms embargo against the Myanmar junta, which receives weapons from Russia and China, while private donors are prohibited from supplying weapons to the rebels.

Late in the afternoon on Easter Sunday, the Burmese army launched airstrikes against a Buddhist temple in Karen State, where civilians from the nearby village had taken refuge. Five-hundred-pound bombs rained down for more than 10 hours. There were no soldiers in the village, so the strike had no military objective. In the end, women and children were among the dead, as was the head monk, whose body was torn in half. The villagers will likely join the ranks of the roughly 2 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Burma.

The IDPs have no UN protection and remain prime targets for the Burmese military. They also have little or no support from outside. Humanitarian aid given by the US, EU, and UN goes directly to the junta. These donations end up funding the war, displacing and killing the very civilians the outside world mistakenly believed they were helping.

Airstrikes and artillery barrages are now killing more civilians in Burma/Myanmar than anywhere else on Earth, including Ukraine.

Since the 2021 coup, the United Nations, US, EU, and most developed countries have agreed not to sell arms to the Myanmar junta. However, a binding arms embargo has been stymied by China and Russia, both members of the Security Council. In 2022, when the UK drafted a statement of concern about the crisis, China and Russia vetoed it.

The Burmese army receives economic support from China and purchases attack helicopters and fighter jets from both Russia and China. The fuel for the jets is provided by China and Russia, and possibly India, though India denies it. The Burmese army also receives small arms, artillery, armor, and training from both Russia and China.

An example of how ineffective the UN is: the Burmese junta is one of the most sanctioned pariah states on the planet, yet they have no shortage of weapons, and the UN is powerless to stop them.

The ethnic resistance armies, by contrast, have no heavy weapons, no aircraft, and no means of detecting or defending against airstrikes. They engage in combat with a mix of homemade weapons, Vietnam-era US weapons, shotguns, hunting rifles, muskets, crossbows, cheap Burmese and Chinese copies of quality weapons, and even bicycle pump guns (Yes, you read that correctly).

What’s more, the rebels have no aircraft for resupply or troop transport. Consequently, the soldiers must travel on foot, carrying all of their equipment. Currently, one of the largest battles in Karenni State is taking place at the city of Loikaw. It takes approximately three weeks to walk there from the military base. The average Karenni soldier weighs about 121 lbs (55 kg). Carrying a Burmese MA-1 assault rifle, which weighs 4 KG, along with a backpack, uncooked rice, crew-served weapons like mortar rounds and ammunition, the gear quickly adds up, nearing their body weight. By the time they reach the front lines, they are hungry, weak, and ill-equipped.

The rebels now control most of the jungle and rural areas, but across the country, the Burmese army still holds the cities and towns. They are entrenched and have surrounded their positions with landmines. The rebels cannot launch direct attacks due to the presence of landmines and the fear of airstrikes. Drones have proven successful, but the rebels lack an adequate supply of drones, and the junta now possesses drone jammers provided by Russia.

Private donors attempt to transfer weapons to the rebels, but transiting weapons through Thailand violates Thai law. Meanwhile, the junta is fine to receive airplane and shiploads of weapons at its air and sea ports, in violation of international sanctions.

Outrage expressed in a UN letter has not halted the flow of weapons to the junta.

Last week, two Myanmar nationals were arrested in Thailand attempting to deliver an anti-drone jammer to an address in Burma. They were arrested under Thailand’s Arms Control Act, which prohibits the transit of weapons through Thailand without a permit.

Thai authorities are capable of intercepting weapons passing through Thailand, but most of those are destined for the rebels. The UN and the international community are unable to prevent weapons and fuel from reaching the junta, despite the junta being sanctioned and recognized as “the bad guys” by everyone except China and Russia.

The law can prevent the good guys from having guns, but not the bad guys. This echoes the old saying: “In a world where guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.”

The post Myanmar: Only Bad Guys Can Have Guns appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Karenni bicycle pump gun, Myanmar/Burma photo by Antonio Graceffo

Burmese assault rifles Myanmar/Burma photo by Antonio Graceffo

UN Aid Funds Terrorists and Tyrants

At the urging of the United Nations, aid is being sent to Gaza, where it will be received and distributed by Hamas, the authority in Gaza. Designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the U.S. government in 1997, Hamas imposes taxes on all imports and exports, including aid, which has contributed to Gaza’s initial poverty. Now, with the humanitarian crisis caused by Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel, the United Nations and the global community are providing funding to Hamas.

Aid given by sovereign nations comes from taxes; therefore, U.S. taxpayers are now funding Hamas. Under U.S. law, providing material support to designated terrorist organizations is a federal offense. President Trump has urged that all support for Palestine and Gaza be halted because the money is supporting terrorism, but the UN, the Biden administration, and globalists and liberals have criticized him. Additionally, the UN has refused to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.

In Myanmar/Burma, roughly two million people have fled their villages and are taking shelter in the jungle because of attacks by the military junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup. While these people are running out of food and water and lack proper shelter and clothing, the UN is providing humanitarian aid to the junta. Ostensibly, the junta has promised to ensure that the aid reaches the people the army is trying to kill; however, having been in the jungle in Burma with displaced people, I can assure you that the only things the government is dropping into the camps are bombs and artillery shells.

Private aid organizations would like to assist the internally displaced people in Burma. However, it is prohibited by the regulations of the UN to violate a country’s sovereignty by providing aid without permission. Consequently, small, privately funded groups, mostly Christian organizations from the U.S., such as the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), take significant risks to cross the mountains, often under cover of darkness, through minefields, and under fire, to deliver small amounts of rice and medicine to those in need. Meanwhile, the generals receive millions of dollars in aid from the UN.

According to the Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, North Korea ranks approximately fourth in terms of national security threats to the US and second to the national security of Japan, our closest ally in Asia. It is also one of the poorest and most repressed countries in the world due to government mismanagement. The UN continues to provide aid to North Korea, freeing up resources for Kim Jong Un to allocate toward his rocket program.

Since the US pullout of Afghanistan, the UN has provided the country with $2.9 billion worth of aid. The Taliban remain designated as a foreign terrorist organization. With the UN aid, plus the money they are making from selling the US weapons Biden left them, they must be sitting comfortably.

The UN allegedly strives to deliver aid to those in dire need, regardless of the political situation. This is a noble goal, as civilians often suffer the most during conflicts. However, achieving this goal is difficult. Corruption, conflict, and political agendas can divert aid or make it hard to reach those who need it most.

As the list of countries where aid was diverted or stolen is quite long, the UN has implemented stricter guidelines and monitoring programs to reduce diversion. Independent Audits: The UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) investigates allegations of misuse of funds. Currently, the People’s Republic of China, the US’ number one national security threat and the world’s most prolific trade cheat and intellectual property thief, sits on the United Nations Board of Auditors.

UN investigators or inspectors have no authority. They must obtain permission from the country they are investigating, and access may not be granted. Beijing denied access to UN investigators who were attempting to confirm the genocide against the Uygur ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang. To this day, China remains in the lead in four UN agencies and has the ability to deny the existence of genocide at home because it has never been proven.

Even if the UN could prove violations, it has no law enforcement capabilities. It can do nothing but issue a strongly worded letter. It could cease aid, as it has in some countries with egregious violations, like they did in Eritrea, but even then, they just wind up reducing rather than completely cutting aid. Often, the aid is restored later. And any number of despots and terrorists continue to receive aid unabated.

China and Russia sit on the United Nations Security Council and have vetoed UN interventions in genocide. Cross-border relief is another major issue where despotic countries can veto. In countries like Burma and Syria, internally displaced people need help, but the government refuses to let the aid get in. The Security Council could vote to bypass the need for permission, but China and Russia hold veto power.

Iran, one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world, has held seats on the governing boards of aid organizations such as UNICEF and the UN Development Program. The list of dictators and despots that have sat on the Human Rights Council reads like a parody, including Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Cuba, Venezuela, China, among others. Since 2022, dictators have comprised 68% of the UN Human Rights Council. Additionally, Syria was elected to the WHO and Iran was elected to the top of a women’s rights body.

In summary, the UN provides funds to dictators and terrorists. The US’s top enemies, China and Russia, hold seats on the Security Council and have the power to veto the provision of aid to those who truly need it. Furthermore, a rogue’s gallery of pariah states sits on various committees, facilitating aid and preventing sanctions against some of the world’s worst actors.

Trump was right. The US needs to rethink its involvement in the United Nations.

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