The junta’s latest pledge to China is just another act in their desperate theater for legitimacy. A crumbling regime shaking hands with an authoritarian propaganda machine—what could possibly go right? These “serious efforts” always dissolve once the spotlight fades, leaving the same networks to regroup under new acronyms.
Crackdowns on border scams are cyclical, predictable as monsoons. A hydra-headed problem they’ll never truly decapitate, not when the entire region’s economy thrives on gray zones. Every repatriated foreigner becomes a PR trophy, ignoring the systemic rot that churns out forced labor by the thousands.
Notice how these collaborations never address why these hubs exist. Convenient distractions from both governments’ failures to uplift their own people. But hey, at least the bureaucrats get shiny press releases while the rest of us scroll past another dystopian headline.
The junta’s latest pledge to China is just another act in their desperate theater for legitimacy. A crumbling regime shaking hands with an authoritarian propaganda machine—what could possibly go right? These “serious efforts” always dissolve once the spotlight fades, leaving the same networks to regroup under new acronyms.
Crackdowns on border scams are cyclical, predictable as monsoons. A hydra-headed problem they’ll never truly decapitate, not when the entire region’s economy thrives on gray zones. Every repatriated foreigner becomes a PR trophy, ignoring the systemic rot that churns out forced labor by the thousands.
Notice how these collaborations never address why these hubs exist. Convenient distractions from both governments’ failures to uplift their own people. But hey, at least the bureaucrats get shiny press releases while the rest of us scroll past another dystopian headline.