Simon Billenness

‘Broken My Hope’: Trump’s Move to Slash Refugee Arrivals Ricochets Widely

The Trump Administration's policy of restricting immigration to the US is having a serious impact on refugees from #Burma (#Myanmar).

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/w...

‘Just War’ in Myanmar International humanitarian law and the rights and wrongs of conflict in Burma

Ashley South makes a powerful case for why the war in #Myanmar is a case of good versus evil - or at least of war criminals versus freedom fighters.

‘Just War’ in Myanmar
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Yesterday, we had a very productive day on the Hill lobbying for bills and appropriations for #Burma (#Myanmar).

We met up on the street with Senator Ed Markey (D, MA) and had the opportunity to thank him for his long-time support for the Burmese people.

Economic Data Helps Explain a Pattern of Violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya Minority‌ New research from Yale SOM’s Mushfiq Mobarak shows that the violence and looting in rice-growing areas is tied to rice prices, suggesting an economic motivation for the attacks, and finds that the gov...

Patterns of violence against the Rohingya in #Myanmar suggest that there are systematic economic and expropriation motives for the forced displacement of the #Rohingya, according to Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, Professor of Economics at Yale School of Management.

insights.som.yale.edu/insights/eco...

Thank you, U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D, VA-07), for stepping up for the people of #Myanmar by co-sponsoring the BRAVE #Burma Act (H.R.3190).

@repvindman.bsky.social

Did you not notice the pivotal elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia and for mayor in New York City that take place in just two months?

Opinion | Myanmar’s election is a sham orchestrated by China Flattery and the desire for a minerals deal already led Trump to relax sanctions on the junta.

The Washington Post editorial board gets it right on the #Myanmar military's plan for sham elections in #Burma.

"The junta controls less than half the country... Some 3.5 million people [are] internally displaced, and more than 1 million others have fled to neighboring countries."

wapo.st/45CQ4ET

Episode #378: Of Bills and Sanctions — Insight Myanmar Money for Nothing, Sanctions for Free: Schoolhouse Rock Meets Foggy Bottom

Insight Myanmar Podcast kindly interviewed me about the recent passage of the #Burma bills through House committees and more broadly about how we’re lobbying Congress and the Administration in support of democracy and human rights in #Myanmar.

insightmyanmar.org/complete-sho...

DC and Hong Kong: 2 cities where the Ruling Party seeks to quash autonomy Conditions differ, but GOP & CCP share the authoritarian impulse to deny locals’ self-governance

Todd Stein makes a compelling case about how the Trump Administration and the Chinese government use similar tactics and lies to crush local opposition to their rule.

open.substack.com/pub/unexempt...

Republican lobby firm DCI Group just took $3 million of dirty money to lobby the Trump Administration on behalf of the genocidal Myanmar military junta.

Lifting Sanctions, Dismissing Accountability - Progressive Voice In a dangerous rollback of US policy towards Myanmar, the United States Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has undone years of Myanmar people’s tireless efforts by lifting targeted san...

This week's must read is this penetrating analysis by Progressive Voice of the US Administration's recent lifting of targeted sanctions on some Myanmar military junta-linked individuals and companies.

progressivevoicemyanmar.org/2025/08/05/6...

I never thought that I'd see the day when the capital of the free world was Berlin.

US state department told to end nearly all its overseas pro-democracy programs Exclusive: All but two of the programs awarded under the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor would be cut, affecting nearly $1.3bn in grants

The Trump Administration plans to terminate State Department pro-democracy programs including a rapid response team meant to support pro-democracy activists abroad who may require urgent relocation or other protection if their lives are deemed to be in danger.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Tell Congress: Pass the BRAVE Burma Act Take action against the Myanmar military.

If you live in the US, tell your U.S. representative to co-sponsor the BRAVE Burma Act (H.R.3190) and help cut off the #Myanmar military's access to hard currency and jet fuel for air strikes.

actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

Bangladesh: Foreign Aid Cuts Affect Rohingya Children’s Education United States and other foreign donor cutbacks in humanitarian aid have worsened the already existing education crisis for 437,000 school-age children in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.

US and other foreign donor cuts in aid have led to the closing of community-based schools serving hundreds of thousands of children in #Rohingya refugee camps in #Bangladesh according to Human Rights Watch.

www.hrw.org/news/2025/06...

Happy 80th birthday Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from Debbie Stothard - DVB Guest contributor Debbie Stothard “Don’t forget, my Suu is very human,” Michael Aris told me as he drove me around Oxford to point out various buildings connected to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It was 1998,...

Her denial of the #Rohingya genocide, and tolerance for China’s economic projects that hurt so many rural ethnic communities turned our world upside down. This was a different Daw Suu from the one we knew, writes Debbie Stothard.

Read more english.dvb.no/happy-80th-b...

#AungSanSuuKyi #Myanmar

Non-voting delegates can co-sponsor bills and resolutions as well as join caucuses. They just can't vote.

Two refugee families. Two very different experiences under Trump. A South African family was given a fast track to entering the U.S. as refugees. A family from Myanmar is struggling amid cuts to resettlement agencies under Trump.

Two refugee families, one #Rohingya from #Myanmar and one white Afrikaner from South Africa. Two very different experiences under Trump. wapo.st/3Z6I77e

Tell Congress: Pass the BRAVE Burma Act Take action against the Myanmar military.

If you live in the US, tell your Members of Congress to stand up for the Burmese people and co-sponsor the BRAVE Burma Act (H.R.3190).

actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

Myanmar nationals deported by US being held in notorious junta detention centre The detainees are among 20 people handed over to the regime by the Trump administration since last month

Thirteen Myanmar nationals deported from the United States since last month are being held in a notorious interrogation centre in Yangon, Myanmar Now has learned.

myanmar-now.org/en/?p=33945

Myanmar refugees in Thailand face health crisis after USAid withdrawal – in pictures Thousands of people who fled Myanmar’s civil war to refugee camps in Thailand are struggling to find healthcare after Donald Trump ordered a freeze on US foreign aid spending. In the Thai border regio...

Thousands of people who fled Myanmar’s civil war to refugee camps in Thailand are struggling to find healthcare after Donald Trump ordered a freeze on US foreign aid spending.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Hat tip to Reps. Bill Huizenga, Betty McCollum, Ann Wagner, and Seth Moulton for re-introducing the BRAVE Burma Act, now (H.R.3190).

www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

April marks two years since the start of the brutal war in Sudan – a war the UAE is fueling by arming the RSF.

Trevor Noah, we know you have a show coming up in the UAE this month.

Use your platform to #SpeakOutOnSudan.

Trump Draft Order Would Drastically Overhaul U.S. State Department (Gift Article) The draft executive order to be signed by President Trump would eliminate Africa operations and shut down bureaus working on democracy, human rights and refugee issues.

i am angry at the prospect of the Trump Administration eliminating the State Department's bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL).

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/u...

Human Rights First and Transparency International U.S. Condemn U.S. Corruption Sanctions Relief for Hungarian Official - Human Rights First Press contacts: Human Rights First: press@humanrightsfirst.org Transparency International U.S.: sgreytak@us.transparency.org Washington, D.C. — Today, Human Rights First and Transparency International...

.@humanrightsfirst.org & @transparencyusa.bsky.social condemn the Trump admin for lifting Global Magnitsky sanctions on sr Hungarian official Antal Rogán. This delisting raises grave concerns that the US is undermining an important corruption accountability tool. humanrightsfirst.org/library/huma...

Hat tip to the Burmese community of Buffalo (NY) who, through their continual grassroots lobbying about their homeland of #Burma, have persuaded Rep. Timothy Kennedy to join the Congressional Burma Caucus and to sponsor H.Res.106 calling for an arms embargo on the #Myanmar military junta.

‘I stopped counting after three’: the ‘girl sniper’ fighting on the frontline of Myanmar’s civil war The country’s drawn out conflict has seen children recruited as soldiers on all sides. At the age of 18, Anina is a seasoned fighter with a feared reputation in her all-male resistance unit

Anina is, in many ways, a typical teenager. She loves her boyfriend, cartoons and football – she supports Manchester City. ... A soldier of the Chin militia, ... the teenager has been trained as a sniper... She has killed more men than she cares to tally.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Will the Earthquake in Myanmar Spell the End of the Military Junta? Background Briefing goes far beyond the headlines and deep under the radar to bring forward truths unheard elsewhere in American media. Background Briefing features international and national news, ex

We are joined by @simonbillenness.bsky.social to assess how long it will be before the brave people of Burma get rid of the brutal military thugs who have stolen their country now ravaged by an earthquake. soundcloud.com/user-8304426...

Warren, Coons Lead Senate Democrats in Pressing Trump Administration’s Inadequate Earthquake Response in Burma | United States Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs The Official website of The United States Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

Hat tip to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Senator Chris Coons for leading this letter pressing the Trump Administration for its inadequate earthquake response in #Burma (#Myanmar).

www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/min...

Tell Secretary Rubio to support the Burmese people Restore US support for democracy and human rights in Burma

Given the lackluster response by the US Administration to the #MyanmarEarthquake, tell U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to restore US humanitarian programs in #Burma.

actionnetwork.org/petitions/se...