Austrian Strategic Policy Institute provocative story about Mr.Naw Kham

Last than three weeks before the MH370 hijacking, the Strategist, the Austrian Strategic Policy Institute embedded a provocative posting of the story of Mr. Naw Kham

While the South China Sea military community and the United States was recovering from the shock military China surface naval forces entering the Indian Ocean in force, the ASPI posed a de facto terror message about the ghost of the most feared Burmese drug cartel in modern history, setting the stage for MH370 hijacking.

The idea of the Naw Kham cartel as a player is increasing in its currency value in the Chinese underground and was planted by the ASPI before the hijacking of flight MH370. Naw Kham is a pop hero in Chinese Internet culture, someone who stood up to the system. He was made by Beijing leadership to public enemy number one and then taken down and trailed on TV and then led away on TV and executed last year. Beijing may sure over a billion of the 1.4 billion Chinese know him by names and face. Until the ASPI series of article, the Naw Kham cartel was last year history.

In 2012, four months following Mr.Naw Kham and other high leaders capture, Joshua Kurlantzick is a fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations expressed fear in article in the Diplomat Burma’s Drug Problem Gets Worse as Its Politics Get Better, As Burma’s politics open up, it is likely that the drug problem is only going to get worse. In a period of a power vacuum, organized crime will flourish — particularly in the northwest, i.e. Kachin, the major drug production area.

 According to the New York Times “China’s search for Mr. Naw Kham, overseen by its powerful Ministry of Public Security, was a hard-nosed display of the government’s political and economic clout across Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, the three countries of Southeast Asia that form the Golden Triangle. The capture shows how China’s law enforcement tentacles reach far beyond its borders into a region now drawn by investment and trade into China’s orbit, and where the United States’ influence is being challenged. ..Mr. Naw Kham proved to be a formidable target. He had operatives within the Burmese and Thai armies and the Laotian security forces, according to an Asian official who works in the Golden Triangle and who spoke of the delicate case on the condition of anonymity”... His first anniversary was monitored in China and the Golden Triangle region by CIA and Chinese intelligence operatives.

The Strategist, the Austrian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) embedded a detailed distorted analysis of the Chinese used drones in the capture of Mr. Naw Klam and a full background briefing of Kachin crisis, less than three weeks before the hijacking. The ASPI articles were followed by two postings in the 15 million readerships, Daily Beast on Mr. Naw Klam days after the MH370 hijacking.

The February issue: The Strategist, the Austrian Strategic Policy Institute

In the 17Feb 2014 ASPI, Posted in: General By Rosalyn Turner Drone strikes in a multipolar world the Chinese official version of the ruthless man hunt and capture of the leadership of the Naw Klam cartel was outline. A sister article: China and Myanmar’s reforms by Trevor Wilson, Guest Contributor was posted to the same issue detailing the Clinton order CIA counterinsurgency black operations inside Burma. To gather ASPI provides the most detailed analysis and insight of the political economy the Naw Klam cartel liquidation and the political configuration that followed. The most shocking aspect of the postings is the fact that ASPI named the CIA and groups it is working with insider Burma, putting them at serious risk of political attack.

According to the China and Myanmar’s reforms posting

“One has to assume I guess that the CIA backing of the KMT in eastern Burma in the early years of independence has faded away in the new generation of generals’ consciousness whereas the Chinese backing of the CPB remains a festering wound. At least Aung February 2012 issue of Council on Foreign Relations, Myanmar’s Drug Problem By Joshua Kurlantzick  and Australian National University professor Desmond Ball, a longtime expert on Myanmar stated “Ball notes —and I concur from my experience— that Myanmar military units are closely involved in the shipping of the drugs out of the country and into Thailand and Laos, where the army units help move the drugs past checkpoints and ensure security from raids by Thai forces and DEA units that work with them”.

 Min referred to it publicly and unashamedly in his ministerial excuse for running rough shod at Letpadaung.

ASSK was certainly not known for cosying up to China in contrast to the West, not so dissimilar to the generals’ seemingly recent change of heart, and again like the generals is acutely aware of the merits of being good neighbours. We can expect the generals to continue playing the China card with effect and likewise the US card on the Chinese.

The “useless careless west” has always been effective and careful in pursuing its geopolitical interests and anti-communist crusade which meant keeping its distance from the faux socialism of Ne Win and patiently biding its time. The 8888 Uprising, the rise and persecution of the Lady changed the game to a necessarily more active role culminating in the sanctions, but now all is practically forgiven and the prodigal sons who have always been closet fans of the West can come out into the open “warmly welcome” to the Western fold of the New World Order.

Then again there is a readymade ARMY of young and listless men in monks’ robe in prestigious position in a Buddhist country being indoctrinated by the Sharp- Helvey-Ackerman crowd with CIA-Soros funding since 1996 on call for any disturbance they want to foment- individual and nationwide agitations ready to sacrifice their lives- to shepherd the said “military”.

“And deliciously stupid, self-important and well bribed (by the same crowd- Soros, NED(read CIA)) 88′s generation, various “dissident” media, etc. All eager to dance to the tune of the piper.

But dear, oh- dear, Than Shwe currently busy hosting is best bud Shinawatra (who seems oblivious to the deaths and fuss due to and by him) has some moves the “West” may have not thought of. Like fomenting a national anti-Kalar crisis at a loss of lives of thousands of people – Burmese citizens- and getting prime estates in the affected areas for the usual “cronies” to “develop”. And their very own Aung San Suu Kyi seems suspiciously too much in cahoot with the very military she was supposed to counter-balance for the “West” and to protect the very populace with blind faith in her.

And now the very Than Shwe is not letting that woman anywhere near the position the “conscientious” (more like nervous/ jumpy)investors of the multinationals of the “West” require for much touted “Direct Foreign Investment”- a code word for total destruction, devastation and most importantly unravelling of the social structure reducing the hither-to admirable, peaceful and contented suppressed people to rootless, landless, family-less, religion less, social structureless, helpless isolated junkies and automatons. (Go see in South America)

And no one knows what is exactly happening with the most vital instrument of command and control structure- telecommunication. Soros spent 36 millions and failed to get outright control thus far even though he will engineer to get in through the cat-flap. But who will really control it? There surely will be no law to protect any action spawn from that powerful control structure. Leave alone rule of the law in places like Thailand, even Sierra Leone would look like Geneva compared to the Burma.

It appears by double crossing the Kackins about the Dam and getting the “People’s Champion” exactly where he wants along with hijacking the Revolutionary Army of Monks to do his bidding rather that the Sharp/ Helvey/ Ackerman crowd (one could hardly think Sharp-Helvey-Ackerman- CIA-NED crowd would use their trained dogs to go after poor Kalars), old fox is running through all the hoops.

It may now seem so petty/ churlish to start calling this “reforms” thing (Dr Cohen does not seem to approve the reform as real) as not reform. And even though their man Aung San Suu Kyi at the Plinth would not really mean anything, that requirement will not now be fulfilled to assuage the fear of the jittery investors.

Open racism the natives must be pacified one way or another

True the natives must be pacified one way or another through its own investment strategies in partnership with the Burmese military or by a direct PR approach. Myitsone Dam Project was a temporary glitch for China that turned the frog of a pariah state into a prince, to the mutual benefit of the generals and the West making the most important (to them) reconciliation (détente) happen. Letpadaung carries on with the Lady’s blessing. Shwe Gas pipelines were duly completed behind the smokescreen of riots in Western Burma. Other dams are under way. There’s mutual business interests in Kachin state. They have the UWSA card to play. How can China really complain?”

In the 17Feb 2014 ASPI, Posted in: General By Rosalyn Turner Drone strikes in a multipolar world the Chinese official version of the ruthless man hunt and capture of the leadership of the Naw Klam cartel was outline.

“ The combination of persistent surveillance and strike capabilities of UAVs such as the US’ Predator and Reaper make them one of the most precise platforms for targeted killing purposes. They also remove the risk of troop casualties and the messiness that comes with boots on the ground. The Long War Journal reports that last year drone strikes killed a senior al Qaeda intelligence chief as well as a key paramilitary commander.

These incentives don’t apply exclusively to the US. In a speech in 2012, CIA Director John Brennan highlighted the drive by many militaries to acquire capabilities to conduct drone strikes. It has been reported that international investment into UAV technology is set to soar, with predictions of it almost doubling in the next decade. A variety of states are pursuing drone technology, which might erode the West’s current dominance.

One of those is China, which has been actively pursuing advanced UAV capabilities. China’s Yi Long drone (aka Pterodactyl), heavily modelled on the US Predator, appears to be one of the People’s Liberation Army’s basic attack UAVs, with the capacity to carry a payload of 200kg. The WJ-600  jet-powered UAV is a faster drone with an even greater 600kg payload and with strike capability. Finally, China has also been developing a stealth combat UAV (called Li Jian or Sharp Sword) that mimics the American X-47B and may eventually launch from aircraft carriers.

ASPI distorted and discredited analysis of the Naw Kham cartel

According to the ASPI analysis “The question is, however, in what kinds of situations China might consider using its growing fleet. In late 2011, we were given a rare insight into one possible scenario. A violent drug-lord from Myanmar named Naw Kham had just killed 13 Chinese sailors. In response, Beijing promised to bring the man to justice, beginning a manhunt to locate and capture him inside Myanmar.

After weeks of attempting capture, the Chinese authorities faced a set of calculations that are now familiar to governments like the US. Naw Kham had gone into hiding in a remote and lawless north eastern region of Myanmar, supported by sympathetic locals and protected by over 100 heavily armed subordinates. Attempting capture would risk more lives. It could also potentially embroil authorities in a messy armed stand-off and raise concerns about sovereignty. According to an interview with the leader of the group assigned to capture Naw Kham, the use of an armed UAV to strike his residence was considered as a viable option.

In the end, the Chinese authorities chose not to pursue this tactic and instead managed to capture their man and transport him back to China for trial. A drone strike would have denied Chinese authorities the opportunity of parading him in front of the media and triumphantly handing down the death penalty. In fact, the lead up to Naw Kham’s execution was televised on live TV.

Despite the plan being quashed, the case highlights the possibility that China could turn to the use of armed drones.  This episode may be a signpost of the shape of things to come as more militaries acquire UAVs with strike capability; Pakistan, India and Russia all have drone programs that indicate they’re heading toward a fleet of armed drones. It increasingly appears that it’s a question of when – not if – China or someone else will use drone strikes.

On one level, the concern for both the US and Australia will relate to who the Chinese are targeting.  A notoriously violent drug-lord hiding within a lawless region is one thing, but China considers as enemies of the state a variety of actors within and outside its borders who may not represent acceptable targets to the West.

Separatist movements in Tibet and Xinjiang are potential examples. Beijing has persistently tried to align the domestic struggle against separatist groups with the US global war on terror to support heavy-handed counterterrorism approaches.”

The ASPI analysis of the Naw Kham capture used the official Chinese account rather than the New York Times account the reveal CIA, Thai black operations.

According to the New York Times:

“Other Thai officials say that nine members of an elite Thai military unit were also involved in the killings of the Chinese seamen. Mr. Liu said that he agreed with that assessment, and that the nine Thai soldiers should be prosecuted.

Security officials from Laos arrested the trafficker, Mr. Naw Kham, but the international manhunt that led to his capture was organized in Beijing, by top Chinese government officials intent on making him pay for the killings of 13 Chinese seamen on the river, which has become a major trade route into China.

The bodies of the Chinese, the crew of two cargo boats, were found badly mutilated on the Thai side of the river in early October 2011. The killings, the worst slaughter of Chinese citizens abroad in recent memory, angered the Chinese public. Chinese investigators insist that Mr. Naw Kham was the mastermind of the murders.

China’s search for Mr. Naw Kham, overseen by its powerful Ministry of Public Security, was a hard-nosed display of the government’s political and economic clout across Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, the three countries of Southeast Asia that form the Golden Triangle. The capture shows how China’s law enforcement tentacles reach far beyond its borders into a region now drawn by investment and trade into China’s orbit, and where the United States’ influence is being challenged.

Other Thai officials say that nine members of an elite Thai military unit were also involved in the killings of the Chinese seamen. Mr. Liu said that he agreed with that assessment, and that the nine Thai soldiers should be prosecuted”.

CIA secret plan, Clinton signed off on

Following signs of democratization and economic liberalization, Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, and others called for the mending of America's relations with Burma in 2011. Clinton was being pressured to address the Naw Kham cartel issue. Because of the cartel super banking connections, the Bush policy was having little effect on their international growth. There was little the Secretary could offer short of billions of dollars of aid which would be viewed by Burmese leadership as enabling the cartel. As a result of the refurbishment of ties, the American authorities in 2012 planned for the re-establishment of ambassador-level relations with Burma for the first time since 1990.The Naw Kham cartel remained on the CIA hit list. Once of the first jobs of the US ambassador was creating a Naw Kham hit team.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels to Burma to promote democratic reforms, she got a status briefing on the CIA Naw Kham hit operation. She signed off on freezing the cartel assets.

Clinton removed office from authorizing Chinese drone use against Burmese population

In Washington, the Naw Kham affair was viewed with deep concern and contributed to Hillary Clinton being dropped from the White House inner policy circle. Hillary Clinton was credit with the Naw Kham capture and the purported destruction the cartel. In 2012, four months following Naw Kham and other high leaders capture, Joshua Kurlantzick is a fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations expressed fear in article in the Diplomat Burma’s Drug Problem Gets Worse as Its Politics Get Better, As Burma’s politics open up, it is likely that the drug problem is only going to get worse. In a period of a power vacuum, organized crime will flourish — particularly in the northwest, i.e. Kachin, the major drug production area. Clinton has no plan to deal with the political vacuum created by the CIA liquidation of the Naw Kham cartel in the political economy of Kackin. Washington insiders questioned disappearance of the billion dollars of cartel money and the mark increase in drug flow. CIA Naw Kham operation protected the CIA position insider Burma military leadership, but opens the door to massive Beijing arming pro Chinese insurgency armies. Part of the refurbishment of ties with Myanmar was the removal by the strategic change in the use of drones. Clinton approval of the use of Chinese Special Forces, US satellites and first time deployment of Chinese attack drones inside Burma against the Burmese populations change the political economy of the whole region. Clinton and the CIA poor micro management and Beijing exposure of the CIA Thai Special Forces murder was a major political cost to the United State.

The MH370 hijacking is the political blow back of Clinton failure to develop as strategic connection with the Naw Kham cartel when the cartel was seeking a western counter balance to China.

The world intelligence community knew with Mr. Naw Kham execution on March 1, 2013 there would be a major ruthless counter insurgency campaign in Kachin. China would political repositioned its Kachin interest and leverage the void created by the destruction of the cartel leadership. A blind man could see something special was up in Kachin. Few saw the MH370 hijacking coming.

Few also saw Naw Kham cartel elimination would created the current nightmare situation in which China would be forced to increase its arming of  UWSA to project military force in northern Kachin. In 2000, taking advantage of the ongoing conflicts in Shan state in Myanmar, China persuaded the ethnic Wa to relocate with their drug production units from the Myanmar-China border to the Myanmar-Thailand border. The UWSA, aided by the Tatmadaw, had wrested the new acquired territory from the control of the SSA of Khun Sa, the opium warlord and ‘King’ of the Golden Triangle. This move reduced drug trafficking into China and at the same time dumped the problem on Thailand. China armed the Wa with weapons and supplied money. In return the Wa would control the entrance and exit regions of Shan state and ‘help’ the Chinese in constructing roads through the territory giving China the much desired access to the Myanmar coast. The Tatmadaw also formed an alliance with the UWSA to first defeat the Shans and second to serve as proxies in fighting the Thai army at the border.

The UWSA ordered repositioning on the Thailand border, aided by the Tatmadaw

Myanmar’s Wa ethnic group is the largest producer of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS). The United Wa State Army (UWSA) is sustained by narcotics money in addition to arms contraband. Increases in the use of methamphetamine in Thailand have contributed to regional instability and Thailand’s National Security Council now recognizes narcotics smuggling as a critical threat to its national security. Thailand accuses Myanmar of unleashing “narcotic aggression” on Thailand and with the stupendous increase of methamphetamine production within Myanmar, drug trafficking into Thailand from Myanmar is on the rise.  Ethnic militias like the UWSA and Shan State Army (SSA) control most of the 1800 km Myanmar border with Thailand and corruption within the Thai security forces has abetted a thriving narcotics trade. Within Myanmar, the UWSA has emerged as the largest producer of methamphetamine. Mong Yawn, the drug base of the UWSA in the Shan state in Myanmar, enjoys direct access to the Thai province of Chiang Mai, emerging as one of the biggest drug boom towns near the Myanmar-Thailand border. Methamphetamine smuggling from Myanmar into Thailand by UWSA amounts to 200 million pills per year. Besides tackling border corruption within its ranks, the Thai military has a dangerous task, challenged as it is by the Shan and Wa armies complicit with narcotics crossing the border.

The former military junta in Myanmar had been at war with the ethnic rebel groups of the Wa and the Shans interspersed with periodic ceasefires. The UWSA had earlier supported the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) but later retreated to the northern part of Shan state. The Tatmadaw also propped up several ethnic militias as a check against the ceasefire rebels. These various ethnic armed groups struck deals amongst themselves to facilitate the profitable narcotic trade.

China’s Yunnan province has a 1997-km border with Myanmar and narcotics have adversely affected many Chinese border villages. Previously heroin use made Yunnan suffer the highest HIV rate of any Chinese province or autonomous region. Ruili, the border town in Yunnan, suffers from two-thirds of drug users infected with HIV due to sharing contaminated injections. This situation is further aggravated by the presence of guns and a heightened risk of border related violence.
However China still suffers narcotics trafficking, with 3.2 tons of ATS seized in the Yunnan province in 2009. China has taken measures in the pharmaceutical industry to deter illegal drug production. The latest seizure of 3.3 tons of crystal methamphetamine in South China, Guangdong province, was made in early 2014. However, China is far from ensuring that the flow of drugs remains limited, and its own provinces escape its lethal effects.

The political cost to Beijing of removing the Naw Kham cartel was stability in northern Kachin. By allowing itself to be played by the CIA and brutally suppressed the Naw Kham cartel, Beijing lost the third choice and important political leverage within the Burmese military leadership. Within a year the two most important insurgency groups were either liquidated or restructure. Mr. Mr. Hsang Maha Ngeun Wiang died and the leadership of the Naw Kham was liquidated.

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bao You-Xiang ordered a forced relocation, away from the poppy fields, of six northern WA districts south to mainly Shan and Lahu areas. The Godfather Mr. Hsang Maha Ngeun Wiang died at the age of 78 in Mandalay on 29 October 2011 just months before Mr. Naw Klam capture. Chinese cabal within the UWSA was able was able to consolidated a stronger position when they switched the production line from heroin to amphetamine -type stimulants (ATS) such as yaa baa. UWSA was more dependent on Chinese international banking. The United States government labeled the UWSA as a narcotic trafficking organization on May 29, 2003. On November 3, 2005, The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control listed 11 individuals and 16 companies that were "part of the financial and commercial network of designated significant foreign narcotics trafficker Mr. Wei Hsueh-kang and the United Wa State Army (UWSA)." The UWSA is said to be the largest drug-producing organization in Southeast Asia. The US financial campaign pushed the UWSA cartel further into Beijing Chinese banking. The UWSP on its part blamed both the Ne Win military government and the CPB for using the Wa as "pawns in the violent destructive games" and encouraging them to grow the opium poppy.

After the CIA black operation provoked the Beijing to capture of Naw Kham and other top leadership of the cartel, critical elements of the cartel’s distribution network were taken over by the United Wa State Army and KIA Army. The UWSA replaced the Naw Kham cartel as the central clearing house of Golden Triangle drug exports but was unable to gain control of the emerging Kachin drug trade. The once integrated Naw Kham cartel controlled distribution express network was compartmentalized and sold as parts. Beijing was able to consolidated UWSA banking and cutting cash floods to the remnants of the Naw Kham cartel but in the process the order within the drug trade was lusted, the drug trade with India expanded via Kachin.

The strategic issue is Beijing has yet to replace the Naw Kham cartel physical or political presence in northern Kachin, giving KIA a new life. The KIA military lacks the tactical means to either defend the pipe line or resist the Burmese military. According to Janes IHS reported that several Mil Mi-17 helicopters armed with TY-90 air-to-air missiles were supplied to UWSA by China is to address the logistical problem of UWSA projecting force toward critical Chinese development projects in northern Kachin.

The Council on Foreign Relations expressed fear over the CIA’s Naw Kham liquidation

Three month before Mr. Naw Klam capture, the February 2012 issue of Council on Foreign Relations, Myanmar’s Drug Problem By Joshua Kurlantzick  and Australian National University professor Desmond Ball, a longtime expert on Myanmar stated “Ball notes —and I concur from my experience— that Myanmar military units are closely involved in the shipping of the drugs out of the country and into Thailand and Laos, where the army units help move the drugs past checkpoints and ensure security from raids by Thai forces and DEA units that work with them”.

In 2012, four months following Naw Kham and other high leaders capture, Joshua Kurlantzick is a fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations expressed fear in article in the Diplomat Burma’s Drug Problem Gets Worse as Its Politics Get Better, As Burma’s politics open up, it is likely that the drug problem is only going to get worse. In a period of a power vacuum, organized crime will flourish — particularly in the northwest, i.e. Kachin, the major drug production area. Clinton has no plan to deal with the political vacuum created by the CIA liquidation of the Naw Kham cartel in the political economy of Kackin. The Council on Foreign Relations expressed fears became the political reality.

The Strategist, the Austrian Strategic Policy Institute knowingly embedded a detailed but distorted analysis of the Chinese used drones in the capture of Mr. Naw Kham timed for the celebrations of the first anniversary of Naw Kham execution.

While the South China Sea military community and the United States was recovering from the shock military China surface naval forces entering the Indian Ocean in force, the ASPI posted  a de facto terror message about the ghost of the most feared Burmese drug cartel in modern history, setting the stage for MH370 hijacking.

The idea of the Naw Kham cartel as a player is increasing in its currency value in the Chinese underground and was planted by the ASPI. The fact that the provocative posting by ASPI was 18 days before the hijacking of flight 370 is remarkable strategic timing.