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China Weakens Burma Resistance Amid Intensified Fighting

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8 months ago

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Group of individuals walking along a dirt path in a lush green landscape, some carrying firearms, under a partly cloudy sky.Inside former SAC base, Pasaung Photo by Antonio Graceffo

In July of this year, at the battlefront in Pasaung, Karenni State, I followed a coalition of pro-democracy ethnic resistance forces as they struggled to capture the remaining half of the city still occupied by the Burma Army.

At the casualty collection point, only a few hundred meters from the front line, I watched medics carry in the dead and wounded. The Free Burma Rangers (FBR) medical teams had set up a makeshift surgery in a drainage ditch beneath a roadway. Overhead, planes crisscrossed the sky, barely visible through the jungle canopy. The sounds of artillery and drone strikes were constant, as government forces targeted resistance fighters at the front while also dropping exploratory bombs in search of the casualty collection point. The junta knows that if you kill the medics, fewer wounded soldiers will survive. For this reason, they regularly bomb hospitals and clinics, even those in civilian areas.

Medical personnel treating a severely injured leg in a dimly lit environment, surrounded by supportive individuals during an emergency situation.Free Burma Rangers (FBR) medics, doctors and nurses work to save the lives of wounded soldiers. Photo by Antonio Graceffo

Just a few months earlier, I accompanied resistance forces as they evacuated a hospital while the junta bombed another hospital and a school. The next day, they dropped thirteen pieces of ordnance around a clinic. Miraculously, no one was hurt. All of that bombing took place in civilian areas.

In the liberated areas of Karenni State, where more than 80 percent of the population has been displaced at least once since the 2021 coup that ousted the democratically elected government and sparked a full civil war, people have learned to live with explosions. But the jets, with their 500-pound bombs, represent a destructive force unparalleled on the battlefield. Every makeshift bamboo school, every village, and displaced people’s camp has a trench that even children know to dive into when they hear the jets coming.

At the front, by contrast, it would be impossible to function if you ran and hid every time a jet flew overhead. Most soldiers simply listened for the change in pitch that inevitably came when a jet was about to dive for an attack. The junta pilots know this and often dive without actually attacking, just to disrupt operations, forcing soldiers to run for cover. Other times, they dive and drop bombs. Another difference between the civilian areas and the front lines is the strafing runs, jets diving low and firing their 30 mm autocannons.

Soldier taking cover behind barrels in a tactical environment, showcasing military readiness and camouflage in a jungle setting.Soldiers sheltering under the roadway during the battle of Pasaung. Photo by Antonio Graceffo

The resistance captured half of Pasaung in March, at great cost in lives, but both soldiers and civilians were encouraged. It seemed that liberation might finally be within reach. Pasaung is crucial because the city lies on the border between Karenni and Shan States and represents one of the few remaining areas of Karenni still held by the junta.

Until February and March 2025, the tide of war appeared to be turning. Across Burma, resistance forces were gaining momentum, seizing jungle areas, countryside, and small to medium-sized towns and cities, while junta troops clung only to the largest urban centers in each state. In all seven of Burma’s ethnic states, resistance armies are linked to civilian administrations, and by this year, many military leaders had begun handing authority to civilian governments, allowing the military to focus on driving out junta forces.

Two individuals riding a motorcycle through a dense, green landscape, one wearing a camouflage shirt and the other in a black cap and scarf.Inside former SAC base, Pasaung Photo by Antonio Graceffo

In Karenni State, officials were conducting a census, developing an ID system, and preparing to hold elections next year, a remarkable example of grassroots statecraft emerging from the ground up.

Kun Bedu, vice chair of the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC), the provisional government established by the Karenni resistance, told me about the early days after the coup. “The first time we went into battle, we had about twenty untrained volunteers and only three weapons, two of which were .22 caliber,” he said. From those humble beginnings, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) has grown to thousands of soldiers, established a functioning civilian government, reclaimed most of its state, and was now preparing to hold elections.

Unfortunately, two forces have converged to cause tremendous setbacks for the resistance. The first is Chinese intervention, and the second is the junta’s upcoming national elections.

China has long been the financial backer of the junta and, along with Russia, remains the primary supplier of weapons, aircraft, drones, and fuel. The resistance has no aircraft and no air defense systems, leaving the Burma Army with complete air superiority.

In the early phase of the revolution, the resistance was first to adapt drones, manufacturing their own or modifying civilian models in jungle camps. This innovation was one of the key reasons they achieved such success in capturing territory. However, over the past year, that advantage has evaporated. China is now supplying the junta with drones, including more advanced models and drone jammers. There have even been isolated reports of fiber-optic-controlled drones, which are more precise and nearly impossible for the resistance to hack or jam.

Young soldier in military attire holding a firearm in a forested area, with other individuals visible in the background.Resistance soldier. Photo Courtesy of Antonio Graceffo

At the battle for Pasaung, only two of the many casualties I witnessed appeared to be from gunshot wounds. The rest were victims of drone and air strikes, for which China bears responsibility.

Beyond providing the junta with weapons, China has also managed to cut off weapons and ammunition flowing to the resistance. The junta has a decided advantage because it can purchase seemingly unlimited quantities of weapons from China and Russia and have them flown into the country or delivered overland and by sea in bulk.

The resistance cannot buy weapons on the open market because that would violate international law. It is ironic that the junta, which regularly slaughters civilians, is protected by international law, while men have gone to prison in foreign countries for trying to smuggle weapons or even drone jammers to the resistance.

Soldier in military attire stands in a dense forest, holding a weapon, with foliage and trees surrounding him.During the battle of Pasaung. Photo by Antonio Graceffo

Smuggling is costly, and the resistance has very little income, relying mostly on donations from Burmese nationals overseas or from people inside government-controlled areas who secretly make small contributions. Consequently, black-market weapons can only be bought in small quantities, and a percentage of smuggled munitions are often seized by authorities in neighboring countries. Weapons and bullets trickle into the resistance while the junta has an abundance.

Another source of weapons for the resistance, apart from capturing them from the junta, has been purchasing weapons from other ethnic armed organizations, such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which manufactures and sells weapons to revolutionary forces. However, the United Wa State Army, officially in a ceasefire with the government, is the closest business partner China has in Burma. Recently, China told the Wa and other ethnic armed organizations under its influence to stop selling weapons to the resistance. Instantly, the supply lines went dry.

In March, I witnessed firsthand, how weapons and ammunition shortages would change the course of the war. The resistance captured half of the city of Moebye, a crucial town located in a Karenni-majority area inside neighboring Shan State. However, two days later, when the Burma Army launched a counteroffensive, the resistance withdrew because they lacked the ammunition to hold it. Now, Moebye is back under government control.

Similarly, at Pasaung, one soldier showed me his weapon, a pocket-sized .22 automatic with only three bullets. Another carried a Turkish copy of a Russian pistol with thirty rounds of ammunition. Several soldiers had no weapons at all. Most had no body armor, and helmets were scarce. When the government launched its air and drone strikes, there was little the resistance could do. At least, one group managed to fight its way into government lines, but in the end, most gained no ground. After taking heavy casualties, the resistance disengaged.

Military personnel gather near a pickup truck in a forested area, examining a fallen comrade on a stretcher.During the battle of Pasaung. Photo by Antonio Graceffo

Government forces continue to control the state capital, Loikaw, while Demoso has become the de facto capital of the resistance. Like Pasaung, Demoso is divided, one side held by the junta, the other by the resistance. Between March and July, government artillery and drone strikes intensified, landing as close as one kilometer from internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and villages, with occasional strikes hitting civilian targets. While I was there, a school was hit by a mortar round, and the sound of explosions was relentless.

This escalation in fighting is directly tied to the upcoming elections. The junta seeks not only to demonstrate its strength but also to seize as much territory as possible before the vote so it can claim to the United Nations and international observers that most of the country participated in the election and voted for military-backed parties.

A military personnel works on a laptop at a makeshift camp while others relax nearby, surrounded by nature.The author, Antonio Graceffo, was in Burma on a mission in Karenni State. The author filed this story while he was in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The post China Weakens Burma Resistance Amid Intensified Fighting appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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PAYBACK TIME: US Department of War Planning Retribution for Failing Allies, Including Suspending Spain From the Alliance and ‘Reviewing’ UK’s Claims to the Falkland Islands

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4 weeks ago

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April 25, 2026

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A digital artwork featuring two men engaged in discussion, with a prominent image of Donald Trump in the background, creating a dramatic political atmosphere.A digital artwork featuring two men engaged in discussion, with a prominent image of Donald Trump in the background, creating a dramatic political atmosphere.Failing allies, leftist-Globalists Sanchez (Spain) and Starmer (UK) are about to taste retribution from Trump – Wiki Commons

Failing allies under pressure.

As we have been reporting here on TGP, US President Donald J. Trump is hardly the man to forgive and forget a slight or a betrayal.

And it’s been reported that Trump and his team have compiled a ‘naughty list’ of failing allies, and that some for of payback was expected against these countries.

And today, it arises that the Pentagon is exploring ways to punish NATO countries that failed to support the US during the Iran conflict – including drastic measures like suspending Spain from the alliance.

This was first reported by Reuters, but was picked up by a multitude of outlets, primarily in the UK, where there is widespread concern over the planned US ‘review’ of the British claim to the Falkland Islands.

Daily Mail reported:

“The policy options are detailed in an email expressing frustration at some allies’ perceived reluctance or refusal to grant Washington access, basing and overflight (ABO) rights for the Iran war. The email stated that ABO is ‘just the absolute baseline for NATO,’ according to the official, who added that the options were circulating at high levels in the Pentagon.

The memo also includes an option to consider reassessing US diplomatic support for longstanding European ‘imperial possessions,’ such as the Falkland Islands near Argentina.”

Needless to say, the response by the Euro-Globalists was immediate.

On the one hand, NATO states there is no provision to oust Spain, while the UK reaffirms its sovereignty over the South American Islands.

Read more:

NATO and the Bar Fight: A Bar Tab Europe Expects America To Pay Forever

The post PAYBACK TIME: US Department of War Planning Retribution for Failing Allies, Including Suspending Spain From the Alliance and ‘Reviewing’ UK’s Claims to the Falkland Islands appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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AXIS OF ECONOMIC LOSERS: Japan and Germany’s Socialist “Stakeholder” Takeover Turned Economic Superpowers Into Stagnant Ghost Towns – And the Left Wants This Poison for America

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4 weeks ago

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April 25, 2026

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Image depicting tattered flags of Germany and Japan with the text "The Axis of Losers," symbolizing the Axis Powers of World War II.Image depicting tattered flags of Germany and Japan with the text "The Axis of Losers," symbolizing the Axis Powers of World War II.Japan and Germany are dying from the same disease: socialism.

Back in the late 1980s and early ’90s, the so-called “experts,” the mainstream media, and every smug Ivy League economist couldn’t stop drooling over Japan. “Japan as Number One!” they screamed. Books flew off the shelves. Newsweek and Time covers warned of an “economic Pearl Harbor.”

Paul Harvey wailed about Japan buying up America with our own money. Paul Kennedy’s bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers basically coronated the Land of the Rising Sun as the next global hegemon.

The keiretsu system, the MITI bureaucrats, the lifetime employment model — it was all supposed to be the future. America was finished. The Japanese were going to own us.

Fast-forward to 2025-2026. Japan is a cautionary tale on life support. GDP per capita (PPP) hovers around a pathetic $55,000–$56,000 — crushed by America’s nearly $94,000. After taxes and cost of living? It’s even worse. The “Lost Decades” aren’t a glitch — they’re the feature. Zombie companies, endless stagnation, and a demographic death spiral made infinitely worse by policies that treat businesses like government welfare offices rather than wealth-creation machines.

The mainstream press will blame everything except the real culprit: the deliberate socialization of the corporation.

Keiretsu

In Japan, it’s the infamous keiretsu system — giant corporate clans glued together by cross-shareholdings and a house bank that plays mommy to every failing division. Lifetime employment. Seniority-based pay and promotions instead of merit. Company unions that treat every layoff like a war crime. The goal isn’t profit — heaven forbid — it’s “harmony” and keeping everyone employed forever. Result? Total paralysis. You can’t fire the dead weight. You can’t reallocate capital to what actually works. You can’t innovate like a maniac because revolution is “disruptive.”

When the 1990s bubble popped, they didn’t clean house — they dragged toxic debt around like a ball and chain for decades.

And don’t look now, but Germany — once the envy of Europe — is right there with them in the loser’s club. Years of zero or outright negative growth. Factories shuttering. The proud German export machine is coughing up blood. The vaunted “Rhine model” has turned into a slow-motion industrial suicide.

Mitbestimmung

Because Germany took the socialization even further with the notorious Mitbestimmung — “co-determination.” In big companies, workers and union reps literally occupy half the seats on the supervisory board. They get veto power over layoffs, plant closings, relocations, and major restructurings. It’s not capitalism anymore — it’s corporate communism with better engineering. The boardroom isn’t deciding how to crush competitors and reward shareholders; it’s negotiating how to protect today’s insiders at the expense of tomorrow’s growth.

Add in the deranged Energiewende — the green energy fantasy that tripled electricity costs — and you have the perfect storm. German industry is literally powering down while the rest of the world races ahead.

BMW/Tesla

Want proof? Look at BMW versus Tesla. BMW sells about 2.5 million vehicles a year. Tesla sells around 1.5 million. BMW’s market cap? A measly ~$55 billion. Tesla’s? Over twenty times higher. One company is run by visionaries who embrace the future and reward risk-takers. The other is run like a German labor ministry with a side hustle in cars.

This is what happens when you let “stakeholders” — code for unions, bureaucrats, and professional grievance-mongers — hijack the boardroom. The enterprise stops being a profit machine that lifts everyone through growth and becomes a social-work project designed to protect yesterday’s workers at the expense of tomorrow’s entrepreneurs, young people, and innovators.

It’s the exact same philosophy the American left has been trying to smuggle into U.S. boardrooms for years: ESG scores, “stakeholder capitalism,” DEI mandates, union power grabs, and the constant war on shareholders. They call it compassionate. It’s actually economic castration. Joseph Schumpeter’s “creative destruction” — the engine of real progress — gets sacrificed on the altar of Karl Marx’s class warfare dressed up in a suit and tie.

America’s model is raw, unapologetic, and brutally effective: The company exists to make money for its owners. Management executes or gets fired. You restructure, you pivot, you kill failing divisions without crying about “humanity.” It looks ugly to the European and Japanese salon socialists. It also creates the iPhones, the SpaceX rockets, the shale revolution, and the stock market that funds retirements for millions.

The Axis of Losers

Japan and Germany didn’t fail because of demographics or one bad energy policy. They failed because they turned their greatest companies into paralyzed extensions of the welfare state. The “Axis of Losers” chose preservation over progress — and they’re paying for it in lost decades and lost futures.

America still has a choice. We can reject this European-Japanese corporate socialism, tell the unions and the stakeholder grifters to pound sand, and keep rewarding the risk-takers and wealth-creators who actually build the future.

Or we can follow the Axis of Losers straight into the economic graveyard. The choice should be obvious — but the radical left never learns. They just rebrand failure as “equity” and keep selling the same poison. Don’t let them.

The post AXIS OF ECONOMIC LOSERS: Japan and Germany’s Socialist “Stakeholder” Takeover Turned Economic Superpowers Into Stagnant Ghost Towns – And the Left Wants This Poison for America appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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WATCH: Mother of Feral NYC Teen Who Body-Slammed and Stomped 15-Year-Old Girl’s Head DEFENDS Violent Son, Claims Victim ‘Bullied’ Him After She Refused to Give Him Her Phone Number

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4 weeks ago

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April 25, 2026

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Woman speaking to the media in a hallway while a man is seen attacking another person on the street in a separate scene.

Woman speaking to the media in a hallway while a man is seen attacking another person on the street in a separate scene.

A horrifying video from New York has sparked nationwide outrage after a 14-year-old boy was caught on camera brutally body-slamming a 15-year-old girl to the concrete and then stomping on her head, all because she refused to give him her phone number.

Now, the boy’s mother is publicly defending her son, claiming the victim was “bullying” him and that his savage and animalistic attack was somehow justified because he is a “humble” Christian.

The shocking attack occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Monday at the corner of East 107th Street and Third Avenue in East Harlem, just after school let out.

The 15-year-old girl, a ninth-grade student-athlete at East Harlem Scholars Academy Charter School heading to squash practice, was confronted by the 14-year-old masked suspect, who had reportedly been harassing her for weeks.

In the disturbing footage, the girl is seen trying to walk away and yelling, “Get the f–k away from me.”

The boy follows her, grabs her from behind, lifts her off the ground, slams her to the pavement, and then stomps directly on her head.

His friends can be heard laughing and egging him on as the girl lies motionless on the ground.

WATCH (VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED):

The girl suffered a concussion and was rushed to Harlem Hospital.

The 14-year-old suspect was arrested on Wednesday and appeared in Manhattan Family Court, where he was ordered held in custody by the Division of Youth and Family Justice.

Because both parties are minors, his name has not been publicly released.

In an interview captured outside the courthouse, the boy’s mother, Selma Allen, issued a wild defense of her violent son.

WATCH:

Allen claimed the 15-year-old girl had been bullying him in school, sending messages, and even pushing him down, and that this somehow justified the vicious attack.

“She was being a bully to him, that’s it,” Allen told reporters.

“He’s been complaining about her. I bring it to the principal’s attention but he don’t address it. The way my son is being bullied, he doesn’t want to go to school.”

She claimed her son is a “quiet” boy who “doesn’t provoke nobody,” and described him as a “humble Christian.”

“He don’t provoke nobody. But if you provoke him, he will lash out.”

Allen insisted her son had proof on WhatsApp and Instagram and repeatedly shifted blame onto the victim while downplaying the savage stomp on the girl’s head.

None of the reporters asked the obvious question: if the girl was truly bullying him, why was he aggressively demanding her phone number and following her?

The victim’s mother, Lucinda Arroyo, spoke out Thursday in an interview with the New York Post. She said her daughter had been dealing with weeks of harassment from the boy and said it was a “miracle” her daughter survived.

“She’s very upset that her whole life has been completely flipped upside down right now,” Arroyo said. “She’s known him as someone who’s bad news for a while.”

“This is not even bullying, this is outright assault — and he could have killed her,” she asserted.

Her daughter was left with a concussion, bleeding, a potential brain injury, crushing headaches and a twisted neck, and will require ongoing physical therapy.

The post WATCH: Mother of Feral NYC Teen Who Body-Slammed and Stomped 15-Year-Old Girl’s Head DEFENDS Violent Son, Claims Victim ‘Bullied’ Him After She Refused to Give Him Her Phone Number appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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