FOREIGN NEWS MEDIA AND SPOOKS SWIM IN THE SAME POND
For many years, a reporter friend of mine in Bangkok who worked for an Asian news agency always wanted to interview me following one of my trips around the Far East. She would come over to our hotel for a meal. I enjoyed her questions and insight into my favorite part of the world outside of Texas. I also assumed she was a good spook in addition to being a solid reporter. Nonetheless, I conned her into doing an elephant video for her network which she did. Following all of that, another friend of mine that spent time in Hong Kong and Australia, where we were on a board together, saw the video and mentioned it to me. I told her I always assumed our reporter friend was a spook which she could not refute.
I continue to be baffled at how well known the spooks are within the intelligence community. As a participant in a Brookings Institute program, I once sat at a table in the CIA dining room at Langley with a group of Southeast Asia spooks. My luncheon companions included the head of Asian covert intelligence, a China specialist, and a young lady who had been the U.S. Consul of Mukdahan, an obscure place on the Thai/Laos border during the war in Laos. She quickly made it known that she was aware that I had been nailed on the border with no papers as I slipped into Laos to get some information on aviation product losses. She was showing off a bit, but I was impressed.
We need to remember David John Moore Cornwall, aka John le Carré shown below, was a spook in MI5 and MI6 before becoming a famous spy novelist. Not only was le Carré allegedly a good spook and recognized as a great author, but he also had a wonderful sense of governments. He became so distraught that the UK chose the foolish path to Brexit he abandoned his UK citizenship and became an Irish citizen as he could prove Irish descent. I am giving serious consideration to digging out our family tree.
Earlier this year, I wrote a piece about the passing of Nate Thayer who was well known in Southeast Asia, particularly following his interview of Pol Pot of Khmer Rouge fame. I referenced a rather liquid luncheon Joey and I had with Nate, a Hmong guy, and a gentleman with Janes, The Trusted Global Agency for Open Source-Defense Intelligence whom I believe was Anthony Davis. Now I should point out that Joey only drank Coca Cola so my memory may be a bit vague. Nonetheless, she indicated afterwards that this assemblage of people was a first for her. In the modern world of today, LinkedIn provided the information shown below that I have connections one step removed and the background of Anthony Davis and time frame fits that of our luncheon with Nate. The world of intelligence has become greatly simplified.
Anthony Davis
2nd degree connection
Security analyst and consultant specializing in insurgency, terrorism, and military affairs in the Asia-Pacific region
The principal message here is the connection between someone like Anthony Davis and Richard Paddock of The New York Times is perfect. Paddock has published critical articles on Myanmar from the relatively safe haven of Bangkok. In an article written by Richard Paddock entitled In Myanmar, Atrocities Rise as Army Comes Under Pressure, he documents an incident at a Buddhist monastery in Nanneint, Myanmar, shown below, where residents took refuge with the belief that the Tatmadaw Army of Myanmar would not fire on Buddhist monks and villagers seeking sanctuary which was a bad assumption. Reports indicated that 22 villagers including three monks were lined up outside and executed.
Myanmar’s army has a long history of atrocities against civilians though they are coming under increased pressure from their masters and Russian benefactors as the rebels have improved their military capacity and provide a serious threat to the Tatmadaw control of Myanmar. “Now we are talking beheadings, disemboweling and massacres, and this clearly reflects frustration and fury at field level in the military,” said Anthony Davis. “It also reflects a broader strategy on terrorizing the resistance’s civilian support base—which is to say, most of the population.” Mr. Davis said the resistance was now too big and well-armed for the Tatmadaw to bring it to heel with increased brutality. “The military is a large and robust organization, but it is also undermanned and overstretched, and that obviously creates vulnerabilities,” he adds. “It is hard to see politically or militarily what more they can bring to the fight.”
In the past two years, the opposition to the Tatmadaw has become well-trained and well-armed as shown below which evens up the score. Moreover, the opposition forces are fighting for their families and personal beliefs under the halo of the “Saint” Aung San Suu Kyi as opposed to a desperate military general.
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