As If North Korea Didn’t Have you Worried Enough

I have a new article in the New Republic examining the links between North Korea and a potential nuclear and missile program in Burma. Rumors and reports that Burma wanted to develop missile and nuclear programs have been percolating for years, but recently the problem has been highlighted with more credible reports on the topic by the United Nations, the Democratic Voice of Burma and the Institute for Science and International Security.

What is interesting about the possibility of a Burmese nuclear program – admittedly, still relatively remote at this point – is how, as with the junta’s recent political maneuvers, it shows that the regime has been able to both keep foreign powers in the dark and effectively manipulate the outside world. In this way, the junta has put the lie to the idea that its leaders are dumb, unsophisticated, or irrational – they are brutal, but also far savvier and rational than they often appear.