Author Event: A Story From Burma's Never-Ending War
I had the pleasure of sitting in on a presentation by Mac McClelland about her new book, "A Story From Burma's Never-Ending War". The presentation was generally good. However, I wish she had used a more structured power point presentation. As much as I love good ad libbing. It's much easier to understand 100 years of complex history with the assistance of some nice visual aids. While much of the information was old hat for any serious Burma-phile. A few points warrant further discussion. CIA involvement on both sides of the Burmese civil war: After the Guo Min Dang lost control of China in 1949. A number of GMD insurgents took up arms in a part of the Shan state and attempted to re-invade China through Yunnan province. The CIA armed both sides in an effort to stabilize the regime in Rangoon and create momentum for pushing the Chinese Communist Party out of power. Not surprisingly, the attacks were repulsed and the CCP backed the Communist Party of Burma through much