Myanmar, Election Fraud, and a Coup

Ms. Smallback

In my pursuit to understand the dynamics of national events in Myanmar (Burma), I found some of these cross-stories fascinating….

Myanmar has been ruled by their military since 1962. Their armed forces are called Tatmadan. It would seem the nation made a shift in 2011 when the military agreed to share power with the people in an effort to move to democracy. A third and current Constitution was adopted in 2008, and in it the military is given 25% of the seats in Parliament. There are 440 seats in their Parliament, of which 330 are elected by the general population and 110 are appointed by the Tatmadan.

In Myanmar’s 2015 elections, Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi was elected for State Counselor, which operates much like a Prime Minister, and is considered the de facto head of government. She was elected by the general population. The President of Myanmar, (Win Myint), is considered the de jure head and is elected by members of Parliament, not the general public.

On November 8, 2020, Myanmar held their general elections. Since then the Tatmadan has contended there was significant election fraud and called for an investigation into it. The State Union Election Commission rejected their claims, bringing us to current events.

On Monday, February 1, 2021, the newly elected Parliament was set to convene its first session. Instead, the military detained the State Counselor Suu Kyi and other Parliament and prominent figures, while declaring election fraud necessitated such actions. The Tatmadan announced it would take control of the country for one year, and hold new elections at the end of that year.

In the meantime, internet and mobile services were reported down, passenger flights had been grounded, MRTV – the state run TV – had no transforming signal, and banks shut down early for inaccessibility because of internet outages. It was reported lines of people at ATMs and markets, and numerous businesses closing early.

At first glance it would appear that democracy has been set back in Myanmar under allegations of a coup attempt by the military. In fact, the U.N. led the call for condemnation on Myanmar’s military action, have called it a coup, and have begun making demands of what should now happen. The U.S. (including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), Tom Andrews, the Secretary of State Blinken, the White House, etc.) has followed suit in condemning the actions in Myanmar.

Ironically, the illegitimate White House released a statement with the following, “The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed.”

The European Commission President, the U.K. Prime Minister Johnson, and spokespersons from Japan and Australia have followed suit in condemning these actions. India and Singapore have expressed “concern,” and the Deputy Prime Minister of Thai, along with statements by Malaysia and the Philippines have abstained from making a stand and called it “internal affairs” that were none of their business.

Hilariously, Russia’s statement (as of Feb. 1 mid-day) was the most reasonable stating that they, “…carefully monitor and analyze all the information, of course; it is premature to make any assessments.” [According to this Sputnik article.]

Over time on these world events, I’ve learned to be hesitant in making hasty or quick assessments because we really don’t know what’s true, versus what’s a state-driven, agenda-driven narrative. In fact, if the mainstream media is shaping the narrative a specific way, I resist and look for all the angles I can find. In the light of that, here are some interesting data points I’m taking into consideration regarding Myanmar.

Drug and other trafficking is a hot commerce in Myanmar

Myanmar is home to a portion of the “Golden Triangle” – one of the largest drug trafficking routes in the world. The U.S. established a heroin drug trade route there around the Korean War. In 1993, half of the heroin in the world came from there. In 2015 the heroin from that region was estimated as a $16.3B trade, with 762 tons of opium which produce about 76 tons of heroin. Since then, Afghanistan (another CIA drug trafficking operation) is now the epicenter for heroin.

However, last year Myanmar and the Golden Triangle were pegged for the largest distributor of Fentanyl. From this May 2020 AP article, “According to the agency, in addition to 3,748.5 liters (990 gallons) of methyl fentanyl, police seized 193.5 million methamphetamine tablets weighting 17.4 tons; more than 500 kilograms. (1,100 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine; 292 kg. (644 lb.) of heroin; 588 kg. (1,296 lb.) of opium; 49 kg. (108 lb.) of morphine; and 6.8 kg. (15 lb.) of ketamine.”

This tells me there is most likely a power struggle between actors for control of illicit funding. I wonder which side falls where….

Speaking of trafficking, Myanmar is also considered one of the worst places for human trafficking. And if there is a prominent market for drug and human trafficking, who else can we find in such locations?

Deep state actors connected to Myanmar

In 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Suu Kyi in Myanmar. Knowing the CIA’s modus operandi for setting up puppet governments, I have both eyes open here.

In 2012, Obama was the first U.S. President to visit Myanmar. Ever. He praised their democratic reform and their “shaking off military rule”. He met President Thein Sein (elected in 2011), a former junta member, and he praised Sein’s efforts as well as commended “democratic and economic reform”.

Following Obama’s appearance in Myanmar, the USAID sent $170M to Myanmar for years 2012-13. (Myanmar is a Tier-3 country partially because of its unwillingness to combat trafficking in their nation. Their officials allegedly promote trafficking and prostitution. As a Tier-3 under those terms, US Aid is usually denied.)

Then in 2014, the Clinton Foundation through their Clinton Global Initiative established their “Myanmar Action Network”. This new initiative focused on investments in their social and economic development and called Myanmar an “important frontier market”. They then created the “Women’s Empowerment in Myanmar: Change for the Future” program, which partnered with the Coca Cola Foundation, with the goal of “empowering 5M women entrepreneurs by 2020.”

Now I’m all for democratic processes and economic reform, but when it comes in an initiative by someone called Obama or Clinton, I get red flags. When the nation in question has significant CIA ties to human and drug trafficking AND an Obama or Clinton gets involved, well, that usually means they have a hand in the corrupt money and are engaged in forms of quid pro quo of usually the most unethical forms.

Then consider that there’s a Soros connection, and well…..

Wait, one more. After all those flags, to know that Smartmatic took over the Myanmar elections in 2017, well…..

Let’s just say, I don’t think things are as they appear.

Interestingly, in all of the articles I perused (additional links at the end), there were zero main stream articles that gave credence to the alleged election fraud. In fact, the AP article said outright, “The military has charged that there was massive fraud in the election — particularly with regard to voter lists — though it has not offered any convincing evidence. The state Union Election Commission last week rejected its allegations.”

The National File is the only American media source I found that actually bothered to list some of the election fraud claims, including, “On January 15, the USDP released 94,242 cases of election fraud in six townships, and subsequently called for a new, fair election supervised by the military and the country’s election commission.” [I’ve sourced additional claims at the end.]

94,242 claims of election fraud seems significant to me.

And then there’s some new money….

The IMF sent $350M to Myanmar just days before the start of the new Parliament was set to begin, and the military takeover. Of course, you have to go to international news to find these reports. The funds were allegedly sent for COVID relief.

Covid….the catch all for government otherwise purposes it seems. Need a cover? Covid. Need a reason? Covid. Need an excuse? Covid…

If these funds (IMF, ESF, OSS, etc.) are used for money laundering under the guise of “charity” or “outreach” or whatever palatable title applied, then who was sending the funds to whom and for what? Was it intended for the arrangements and agreements Soros, Obama and Clinton had set up for their patsy, Kyi, and the military intercepted to prevent their plans? Or was it intended for the military and they had to take over the government to get control of it?

Another possible monkey wrench…

Erik Prince’s company, Frontier Services Group, is a Hong Kong based business and is chaired by the Chinese state-owned conglomerate: Citic Group Corp. Citic Group Corp is FSG’s largest shareholder, in fact.

In 2019, FSG set up some operations in Myanmar to provide service to customers in China, Japan and Thailand. They had advertised for 30 security personnel in February of that year in implied preparation for this venture.

I’m still trying to put the pieces together on this one, but I present some data points for consideration.

In 2016, Frontier Services Group (FSG) partnered with the Belt and Road Initiative. They opened an operating base in Yunnan, China to serve Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Xinjiang. Oddly, this region is the northern tip of the Golden Triangle mentioned above.

According to this article in the Myanmar Times, FSG provides training, communication, risk mitigation and assessment, information gathering, medevac, and joint operation centers on security, logistics and aviation, to “capitalize on China’s One Belt One Road development initiative.”

Knowing that through his former business, Blackwater, Erik Prince contracted with the CIA and was considered a CIA asset, doing much dirty work in the Middle East and elsewhere, to quote an anonymous source, he “knows where the bodies are buried.” He had teams in the Middle East when John McCain conducted his “secret” trip to Syria to commit treason. Interestingly, McCain was very outspoken in his criticism of Blackwater, and what he couldn’t say his wife did.

Prince made no secret that the CIA threw him and his company under the bus. Prince is an interesting character, kind of a shadow behind so many things. The implication is he worked in the shadowlands during the Trump Administration – never fully proven, but enough evidence to cause the conjecture. He’s been around long enough from Navy Seal to government contractor, to who knows exactly what?

He’s has been doing some contract work in Myanmar and other places, but for whom? It’s interesting he’s a shadow in Myanmar during this time, set up just a year or two before this event.

It’s interesting he has bases near the Golden Triangle. It’s interesting he’s providing security and training for clients in that region, that he is sourced from state-owned entities of China, and that he is a man who has been burned by the CIA.

It’s interesting the military has seized Myanmar’s government for election fraud and their voting equipment is linked to Dominion and SmartMatic.

It’s interesting Soros, Obama and Hillary chummed up to Suu Kyi a couple years before her election and began infusing money into their projects and economy.

Knowing the deep state runs drug and human trafficking rings through the CIA programs and alleged charities [Red Cross, Clinton Foundation, McCain Institute, etc.] Are current events in Myanmar black hat or white hat originated? There’s a challenge to someone’s power going on, but the players seem a bit murky with current data.

The Biden Administration has come out with a warning to Myanmar, but it’s strangely missing the then part of if-then. The question raised is if China is behind the alleged “coup”? And if it is, can Beijing Biden afford to cross his Master?

Is Pompeo egging the Biden Administration on to expose their allegiance to China? Or is Pompeo convinced democracy is under attack in Myanmar? How much of what we see is optics and theatre, and how much is actual?

I have more questions than answers, but I’m not willing to receive the mainstream media rhetoric to satisfy them. I’ve been lied to too much already.

Additional sources for the background of this article:

Sputnik (Russian news) on Myanmar with a timeline and national leaders’ statements

Reuters article

Myanmar USDP list of alleged election fraud. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/usdp-releases-alleged-lists-poll-fraud.html

Election commission rejected the military finding of fraud in this article from The Hindu.

E-Mail Ms. Smallback: M.Smallback@cox.net