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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

#Myanmar's pre-coup (2009-2020) public water spending varied significantly (2009-20), per #WorldBank figures. This pre-coup spending capacity, even with its limitations, contrasts starkly with current econ contraction, strained public finances, and aid freeze. fwsf.wbwaterdata.org/component2/s...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

For unclear reasons, the #Myanmar Information Management Unit (#MIMU) has discontinued several previously maintained datasets across HDX Data Grid sub-categories - possible casualty of mounting funding pressures in the humanitarian data ecosystem? data.humdata.org/dataset/2048...

data.humdata.org

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

According to MAH, half the people in #China and #India are barefoot — and #Myanmar could be their shoe supplier. Bold vision from a country under sanctions and rolling blackouts. China and India (top global footwear consumers) may be surprised to hear this. Source: eng.mizzima.com/2025/03/23/2...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

The World Prison Brief, a database run by Birkbeck’s Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, now links to the NUG’s Ministry of Justice = important validation. Yet, the vast majority of prisoners, inc. political detainees, remain detained by the SAC. www.prisonstudies.org/country/myan...

prisonstudies.org

Myanmar (formerly Burma) | World Prison Brief

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Myanmar's humanitarian crisis is critically underfunded. Only 4.6% of the $1.14 billion needed has been secured, leaving millions in urgent need without life-saving aid. Source: fts.unocha.org/plans/1275/c...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

An interesting chart from Shekhar Banerjee of the Neutrino Center suggests #Myanmar’s academic research output remains stagnant compared to regional peers like #Pakistan, #Nigeria & #Bangladesh. Source: x.com/ShekharCente...

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Reposted by Leigh Mitchell

Ma Thibu @mathibu.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Export from the US to Myanmar: 0.1 billion US$ Import from Myanmar to the US: 0.7 billion US$ Balance for #Myanmar: 0.6 billion US$ in 2024 #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Anyone have a link to the #Seychelles Development Assistance Database #DAD? This #AdDB Project Completion Report notes the system is live and has improved "transparency & effective management of development efforts". But it doesn't seem to be public. #AidTransparency www.afdb.org/en/documents...

afdb.org

Seychelles - Aid Management Information System (AIMS) Project – Project Completion Report

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International Aid Transparency Initiative - IATI @iatistandard.org · 01/03/2025

📊 Happy International #OpenDataDay! We’re celebrating the power of open data to drive #aidtransparency, accountability & better decision-making IATI’s #opendata standard helps governments, donors & civil society track development resources & results🧵👇

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

A regime that jails journalists, censors the press, & thrives on propaganda is now getting PR tips from a media consultant named Vincent Cyril Demitrius Pereira. Source 1: eng.mizzima.com/2025/03/01/1... Source 2: www.linkedin.com/in/cyril-per... #Myanmar #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #PressFreedom

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

South Korea approves $4.9m in grants for financial resilience in #EastAsia, including #Myanmar. Funds intended to support "governments and financial institutions". Given the junta essentially controls the banking system, who will actually benefit from this support? mailchi.mp/worldbank/sc...

mailchi.mp

SCFI Connect | A first look at the grants shaping 2025-2026

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

This chart shows how #India’s arms exports to #Myanmar surged throughout 2021-2023 while manufacturing exports struggled. Source: www.orfonline.org/research/fac...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

The #Myanmar junta has 3x court fees for civil litigation = blatant cash grab to offset inflation they caused. Makes access to "justice" even less affordable + hits the vulnerable hardest. High costs encourage informal resolution = ripe for corruption & exploitation. www.dfdl.com/insights/leg...

dfdl.com

Myanmar Court Fees Act, 2025 Amendment Civil Suits, Probate and Succession - DFDL

Introduction On 17 February 2025, the State Administration Council (“SAC“) enacted the Law Amending the Court Fees Act (“Amendment Act“) …

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Interestingly, Ugandan 'Prophet' Elvis Mbonye claimed to have foreseen #USAID's withdrawal five years, one month, and one week in advance. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgIf...

youtube.com

Prophecy: USAID Fund Cuts And More!!!

YouTube video by Prophet Elvis Mbonye

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Join @newhumanitarian.bsky.social for an important discussion on #Myanmar's worsening polycrisis and the political challenges of aid - of particular interest to those working in humanitarian response and policy. 28 Feb 2024 Register here: www.thenewhumanitarian.org/events/when-...

thenewhumanitarian.org

When aid gets political: How to navigate Myanmar’s worsening polycrisis

Recent reporting from The New Humanitarian highlights how donor neglect (including the recent US aid freeze) has only compounded these challenges, leaving communities increasingly fractured and the co...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

New trains might be an upgrade to the #Yangon - #NayPyiTaw - #Mandalay route, but mine attacks on rail & road infrastructure suggest the line is both a transit corridor & a contested space of strategic significance Source 1: www.gnlm.com.mm/modern-demu-... Source 2: myanmar-now.org/en/news/rout...

myanmar-now.org

Routes linking Yangon and Mandalay hit by mine attacks

One attack destroyed a bridge on the old Yangon-Mandalay highway, while another caused a train to derail in the same area in Bago Region

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

UK aid is being cut by 40%, but if in-country refugee spending (£4.3bn in 2023) is reduced, the actual cut to UK international assistance could be much smaller. If £3bn of cuts come from domestic refugee costs, overseas aid may drop by ~21% instead of 40%. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Vital services and protections for everyday Americans are being gutted thanks to DOGE. And this is happening in exchange for renewing one of the biggest tax cuts in American history that will predominantly benefit people like...you guessed it...Elon Musk. See the problem here?

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Reposted by Leigh Mitchell

Shawneee @shawneee.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

P2) / Sanctions as a form of War & economic dominance. / Billionaires and "oligarchs". #politics #news #education #history #educational

Sanctions as a form of War & economic dominance
When it comes to sanctions, the most punished countries are Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba nations that challenge Western dominance or refuse to align with its agenda or become victims of it. Sanctions are a weapon wielded by Western powers, not because of human rights violations (a laughable pretense) but because they CAN & because these nations dare to resist Western imperialism. The global economic system, built on centuries of Western colonial and imperial violence and maintained by Western-led institutions like the IMF and World Bank, ensures that the US and its assets have the financial clout to impose these crippling measures. Meanwhile, alleged “enemies” of the West lack the global reach or resources to even attempt comparable acts of economic warfare. Or do you all think you get to have food, water, medical supplies cause you are all such great people in the West – deserving of access to things unlike the global majority?

Billionaires and Oligarchs
The West never tires of decrying “Russian oligarchs” while conveniently ignoring the fact that the U.S. is home to more billionaires than any other country on Earth—by far. The U.S.’s billionaires are not only wealthier but are deeply entrenched in the political system, influencing legislation, elections, and public policy. China and Russia combined do not match the wealth or power of America’s billionaire class. Yet, the term “oligarch” is conspicuously absent when discussing figures like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or the Walton family, whose wealth is built on the exploitation of labor and resources globally.

A bar chart titled "The World’s Most-Sanctioned Countries" displays the number of active sanctions by target country, with data current as of December 15, 2023, sourced from Castellum.AI. The chart features two categories of sanctions: those implemented before February 2022 (in light pink) and those added after February 2022 (in dark red). Russia is the most sanctioned country, with 18,772 total sanctions, followed by Iran with 4,953, Syria with 2,811, North Korea with 2,171, Belarus with 1,454, Myanmar with 988, and Venezuela with 747. A large red "X" icon is displayed next to the chart. The chart is attributed to Statista.

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Reposted by Leigh Mitchell

John Gramlich @johngramlich.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Gallup finds a 24-point decline in Americans' confidence in their judiciary since 2020 – among the largest such decreases worldwide. Other countries where confidence in the courts has plummeted include Myanmar, Venezuela, Croatia, South Africa and Syria. news.gallup.com/poll/653897/...

Chart showing the 10 countries where public confidence in the judiciary has decreased the most in recent years, based on international surveys conducted by Gallup.

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Reposted by Leigh Mitchell

Xun-ling Au 歐迅灵 🏴 @xunlingau.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

An example of the dependencies of groups working on the Thai Myanmar border on USaid here is the breakdown of income for the www.theborderconsortium.org/ who work in the area. 53% of their overall budget is US via the IRC. not that we can fill that gap but: www.theborderconsortium.org/donate/

Pie chart of The border consortiums budget. showing that USA PRM - IRC is 53% of their budget.

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Reposted by Leigh Mitchell

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 14/02/2025

In these nine Asian countries, child mortality has more than halved since the year 2000

A data visualization titled "Nine Asian countries where child mortality has halved since 2000." The chart shows the estimated percentage of newborns dying before age five in nine countries: Afghanistan (13% in 2000 to 6% in 2022), Cambodia (11% to 2%), Laos (11% to 4%), Bangladesh (9% to 3%), Myanmar (9% to 4%), India (9% to 3%), Nepal (8% to 3%), Indonesia (5% to 2%), and China (4% to 1%). Each country is represented by a line graph showing a significant decline in child mortality over time. Data source: UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (2024), CC BY.

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

A curious representation of #USAID's dismantling from #Nigeria. "Mills also addressed concerns about possible cuts to US aid, clarifying that the current administration is conducting a 90-day review to enhance #aideffectiveness, not withdraw support." www.pulse.ng/articles/new...

pulse.ng

‘No evidence of USAid to Boko Haram’ – US envoy assures Nigeria | Pulse Nigeria

The United States government has strongly denied allegations that funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are being channelled to Boko Haram or any terrorist group.

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Does anyone know why the #CongressionalResearchService classified @savethechildren.org as a for-profit US enterprise in its August 2024 report, Foreign Assistance: Where Does the Money Go? Wouldn’t it clearly fall under US non-profits? 🔗 crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/...

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18/02/2025

"In less than a month’s time, Rubio has presided over America’s willing abdication as leader of the free world. It’s a shameful legacy that cuts against everything he once proclaimed to stand for."

publicnotice.co

How Marco Rubio helped bury American soft power

This is why his boss once called him "Liddle Marco."

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

The International Growth Centre estimated #Myanmar's formal and informal remittances at 13% of GDP ($8B) in 2015. However, the OECD’s 2025 States of Fragility report puts the figure at just 1.7% for 2023. Source: www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

"...approximately 55% of #Myanmar’s population was exposed to an event of organised violence in 2024." Source: www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Musk: DEI must die. Tesla 🔗: "Tesla incorporates DEI with a human-centered, data-driven approach to enable a respectful workplace and provide equal opportunities." If DEI were bad for business, he’d remove it from Tesla's website. He hasn’t—because it’s not. Source: www.tesla.com/legal/additi...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Trump admin's 90-day foreign aid freeze has meant that USAID obligated just 0.2% ($1.49M) of its $892.11M FY25 budget - three months into the fiscal year - a massive disruption to global aid efforts. USAID’s budget has historically been in the tens of billions. www.usaspending.gov/agency/agenc...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

1/5 Amidst the chaos and confusion within #USAID, it's worth recalling that Musk’s #SpaceX has had financial and contractual engagements with USAID. A quick thread.

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Through the #UNHRC, the US has condemned the junta, supported the UN Special Rapporteur, and backed accountability mechanisms like the #IIMM. The US withdrawal from the UNHRC is a setback for human rights in #Myanmar and globally. www.nbcnews.com/video/trump-...

nbcnews.com

Trump signs executive order to withdraw U.S. from U.N. Human Rights Council

President Trump signed an executive order aimed at withdrawing the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council and UNRWA and for broader review of U.S. funding for the international org...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Interesting extract from a new MA thesis by Timo Estola that "demonstrates the unfortunate lack of leverage humanitarians have when the counterpart, usually SAC, has disregard for the well-being of the people on its territories and even sees them as an adversary." helda.helsinki.fi/server/api/c...

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

A few more thoughts about the recent 2024 ASEAN Peoples’ Perceptions Survey and what it says about how regional powers perceive the role of external actors in Myanmar’s crisis. open.substack.com/pub/myanmaro... #Myanmar #ASEAN

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Leigh Mitchell @leighmitchell.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

EU and western nations + Japan perceived as having a stronger positive influence on #Myanmar’s crisis - inverse correlation with geographic proximity. Source: www.aseanperceptionssurvey.com

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