In the scramble for access to the nation’s rare earth deposits, a non-state armed group holds the cards.
Cadets of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) preparing for military drills at the group’s headquarters in Laiza, Kachin State, Myanmar, October 2016.
An American businessman based in Yangon recently pitched the Trump administration on a questionable minerals deal.
According to Reuters, the ex-Marine floated the idea of a U.S.-brokered truce between Myanmar’s military and an armed group that captured rare earth mines in a landlocked region near the border with China. The proposal, presented to the office of Vice President JD Vance, envisioned an alternate supply chain, routing the transportation a
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