At the end of the Second World War, Burma was considered one of the most promising countries in Southeast Asia, with enormous natural resources, an educated workforce, and a democratic constitution following a century of colonial rule. But the countr ...
At the end of the Second World War, Burma was considered one of the most promising countries in Southeast Asia, with enormous natural resources, an educated workforce, and a democratic constitution following a century of colonial
rule. But the country was torn apart by political, economic and ethnic strife. The superpowers also used Burma as a testing ground for the Cold War, which led to the Golden Triangle becoming the world’s foremost producer of heroin. The chaos
that reigned in the 1950s was also the main excuse the military used when it seized power in a coup in 1962. To this day it holds the country in an iron grip.
JESPER BENGTSSON was born in 1968. He works as a foreign affairs leader writer for the Aftonbladet newspaper. He has previously worked as a freelance journalist, publisher and as a reporter, among other things.