Hello Reader,
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Trump surprised this week with signs of evolution, backing genuine liberty in one corner of the world and drawing a commendable red line in another—rare departures from his authoritarian playbook. Meanwhile, Western righteousness collided with brutal realities in Southeast Asia, and a false prophet mesmerized Africa while his revolution drowns in blood.

The Global Fight for Freedom

1. Ivory Tower Condemns Myanmar Resistance
2. America Banks on Argentinian Liberty
3. Trump's Welcome Palestinian Evolution
4. False Prophet Inspires Pan-African Movement
5. Xi's Industrial Machine Begins to Sputter
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Country names are followed by their 2025 freedom scores according to Freedom House. Not a ranking.

"The Arakan Army...has committed grave abuses against the ethnic Rohingya population"
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— Human Rights Watch, July 2025
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The suffering of the Rohingya people has become the latest crisis du jour for Western media outlets and human rights groups. But the narrative they're pushing at today's UN General Assembly High-Level Conference ignores brutal realities on the ground, portraying Myanmar's most successful revolutionary force—the Arakan Army—as just another brutal oppressor while ignoring the complexities and the Rohingya role in this disaster.
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HRW’s recent coverage buries critical context: in 2017, Rohingya militants launched coordinated attacks on 30 police posts and reportedly massacred 99 Hindu civilians. Myanmar's military, too powerful to be contained by then-democratic leadership, responded with what the UN labeled genocide—over 10,000 killed, entire villages razed, systematic rape campaigns.
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Today, Cox's Bazar—the sprawling refugee camp in neighboring Bangladesh—shelters nearly one million Rohingya, including Islamic militants who coordinate attacks with Bangladeshi security forces. In 2024, an assault on AA positions killed 15 fighters. Yet Western media erases these provocations entirely.
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Now the Arakan Army—the force crushing the genocidal junta in Myanmar’s Rakhine state—faces accusations of oppressing Rohingya through wartime restrictions and deliberate violence. Some incidents are credible, yet this revolutionary army fights for survival against a military dictatorship while Bangladesh arms Rohingya militants while appealing for Western funding.
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​Trump's suspension of $301 million in annual Rohingya aid may have recognized these complexities. Rohingya suffering is undeniable, but the intensified human rights campaign has coincided with international funding conferences and U.S. pullback, while Rohingya are incentivized to report atrocities to gain refugee status.
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Yet Western righteousness demands explicit victimhood in a war where the real enemy—Myanmar's junta—finally faces defeat. After all, moral complexities don’t sustain NGO budgets. The AA's sin isn't oppression; it's winning while dealing with realities human rights workers in their posh Empire State offices can never fathom.

With Argentina's peso in free fall, President Trump doubled down on defending global freedom’s most audacious champion. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a $20 billion swap line to save Javier Milei's fragile economic revolution—marking the first time in decades America has so nakedly bankrolled a foreign leader's political survival.
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The intervention came after Milei's party suffered a crushing 34% to 47% defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections, sending shockwaves through financial markets. Corruption allegations against Milei's sister had weakened his credibility, giving Peronists their opening. Argentina's currency, bonds and stocks plunged as investors questioned whether the chainsaw-wielding president could survive.
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Yet Milei's stunning success validates Trump's gamble. When Milei won in 2023, Argentina faced over 200% annual inflation and 42% poverty—economic fallout from generations of centralized Peronist control. Within eighteen months, monthly inflation crashed from 25% to 1.5%. Economic growth returned and poverty plunged to 31%—a genuine economic miracle.
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The defeat signified the resurgence of entrenched interests. Peronist governor Axel Kicillof celebrated, saying "the ballot boxes told Milei that public works cannot be halted" and "retirees cannot be beaten"—code words for protecting the state control and special interests that bankrupted Argentina.
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Trump's rescue represents a rare departure from his playbook, supporting genuine liberty rather than ideologically aligned autocrats like Bukele and Orbán.
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This is what American global leadership should look like—defending those who attack centralized power rather than accumulate it.

In the White House meeting room this week, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled his post-war Gaza plan to President Trump as son-in-law Jared Kushner, architect of the Abraham Accords, sat beside him. This wasn't just another diplomatic exercise—it marked Trump's unexpected evolution on the Palestinian issue.
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Trump has authorized Blair to rally regional and international stakeholders around establishing a postwar transitional body to govern Gaza until it can be handed over to the Palestinian Authority. The Blair plan envisions a Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA) which would govern the Strip for an indeterminate period.
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It was neither the support for statehood suffering Palestinians wanted nor a reversal of Trump’s overwhelmingly one-sided support for Israel, but it was notable for a president who once shared an AI-generated video depicting Gaza as a luxury resort bearing his name—towering golden statue of himself included.
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But Trump's most stunning move came Thursday when he drew his first meaningful red line against Israel: "I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope. I will not allow. It's not gonna happen." The declaration was prompted by UAE and other Arab leaders telling Trump the annexation would harm the Abraham Accords, the biggest foreign policy accomplishment of his first term.
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Right-wing Israeli cabinet figures raged, exposing the extremist overreach Trump now refuses to enable.
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Yet skepticism remains warranted. As this newsletter went to press, Netanyahu agreed to Trump’s Gaza peace proposal. Reports suggest Trump conceded on key details, and Hamas remains unlikely to support its own extinction. But any sign of moderation from Trump is welcome news for global freedom.

In April, scores of dreadlocked devotees gathered under the blazing sun for an outpouring of support for Ibraham Traoré, Burkina Faso’s military strongman. Protesters beat drums and waved banners, hailing the 37-year-old as their "Black liberator."
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But this wasn’t Africa — it was Montego Bay, Jamaica — 5,000 miles from Burkina Faso’s capital.
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Captain Ibrahim Traoré has inspired a global following by igniting West Africa's rebellion against Western exploitation. Similar rallies have erupted from Ghana to Liberia as Traoré ignites a continental uprising against neocolonialism.
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The West laid fertile ground for his rise. For decades, it carved up Africa's wealth while preaching democracy. France skimmed billions, forcing African nations to park reserves in Paris, then bought Niger's uranium for pennies and sold it for hundreds. Britain's Endeavour Mining owned 90% of Burkina's richest gold mine, shipping profits to London while leaving Burkinabè villages in dust.
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Since seizing power in 2022, Traoré has become a viral sensation—with help from an unsavory alliance. The Economist detailed this week how Russia orchestrates his online fame through AI deepfakes and coordinated campaigns, with Wagner spending $35,000 monthly on influencers.
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But military strongmen repeatedly fail. Neighboring Mali's junta promised security but delivered violence. Traoré now postpones elections as violence triples. Over 17,000 have perished in brutal crackdowns striking jihadists and civilians alike.
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When an American general accused Traoré of hoarding gold, anti-American protests erupted—corporate neocolonialism having immunized him against legitimate criticism.
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Western partnership must deliver tangible benefits to Africa's frustrated masses if it ever hopes to counter Russia and China’s authoritarian allure.

In 1960, Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on a UN podium, screaming "We will bury you!" at American delegates. The melodramatic outburst epitomized the Soviets’ confidence in communist superiority—before they got buried themselves.
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Xi Jinping possesses far more self-restraint than Krushchev, but his hubris is a dead-ringer.
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"The next decade will be a critical one. A new round of technological revolution is gathering strength that will bring earth-shaking changes while offering an important opportunity to promote leapfrog development."
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Translation: “We will bury you”—through state-directed industrial dominance.
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But the IMF's latest bombshell reveals China spends a staggering $700 billion annually on industrial subsidies—the largest government commitment in human history—costing China 2% of GDP yearly in lost productivity.
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As the Financial Times put it this week: Subsidies distort. Massive subsidies distort massively.
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China’s industrial policy is backfiring. As its economy shrinks in inflation-adjusted terms for the ninth straight quarter, manufacturers slash prices to 15-year-lows, a desperate signal of oversupply. 85% of high-speed rail lines operate at massive losses, burying China Railway under $640 billion in debt. Housing inventory could take six years to clear. Several heavy manufacturing sectors operate at 50% capacity utilization.
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And now China’s dumping practices are triggering global resistance. Last year, the EU slapped double digit tariffs on Chinese EV’s. Now, countries from Brazil to Vietnam are erecting trade barriers against China's subsidized exports as cheap Chinese goods destroy local industries.
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Trump should take note. Imitating Xi's model of state control is the highest form of lunacy, not flattery.
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Freedom Fighter of the Week:

In 2023, Major General Tun Myat Naing made a pronouncement that would forever change Myanmar’s destiny: "Operation 1027 begins now." Within hours, his Arakan Army would launch the most devastating offensive against Myanmar's military junta in decades.
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From his hilltop command center, the bespectacled 46-year-old intellectual watched as his forces overran dozens of military outposts across Rakhine State as sixteen years of meticulous planning transformed into battlefield brilliance. The former tour guide who once explained ancient pagodas to tourists was now orchestrating a revolution against a genocidal regime.
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Born in Sittwe in 1978, Naing witnessed firsthand the military’s brutal oppression of his Rakhine people. He first sought change through politics, planning to join the National Unity Party of Arakan in 1998 until its leader was assassinated. The scholar turned to jade mining in Kachin State, recruiting disaffected Arakanese Buddhists while studying philosophy, history, and military strategy.
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In 2009, alongside surgeon Nyo Twan Awng, he founded the Arakan Army with just 26 men and support from the Kachin Independence Army. His intellectual approach to warfare—combining ancient Sun Tzu principles with modern guerrilla tactics—slowly transformed a ragtag group into Myanmar's most formidable ethnic army.
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Today, Naing controls 15 of 17 townships in Rakhine State, commanding an estimated 45,000 troops. In December, his forces captured the Myanmar military's Western Command headquarters, and his army now threatens the capital of Sittwe.
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Yet accusations shadow his victories. Human rights organizations now portray him as oppressing Rohingya Muslims—the same community brutalized in the 2017 genocide under Myanmar's military that killed over 10,000 people. Ironically, Aung San Suu Kyi's government designated his organization as "terrorist" in 2020, even as her administration remained silent as her military committed the atrocities. Naing denies the allegations.
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The scholar-revolutionary envisions a federal Myanmar where ethnic minorities enjoy genuine autonomy—a federalist vision promised by Suu Kyi’s father in 1947, but never delivered. As he recently told The Irrawaddy, his goal remains "creating Arakan as a sovereign, strong, peaceful, prosperous, and dignified region where residents from all communities enjoy equal rights."
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Whether branded terrorist or freedom fighter, Tun Myat Naing has achieved what seemed impossible: bringing Myanmar's genocidal military to its knees while building functional governance from revolution's chaos.

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