Perhaps motivation for Madura not to attack? It's one thing to be on the outs with the US, but when BRICs snubs you...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-26/maduro-s-brics-invite-slips-away-as-bloc-plans-another-expansion?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
FTA:
Maduro has chased a BRICS invite as the group plans another expansion after adding four members to its core roster of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in January, in hopes of using it to bolster Venezuela’s legitimacy globally.
Russia, which will host the bloc’s annual summit next month, presented a preliminary list of names to its fellow members during the UN General Assembly in New York as it seeks consensus around which countries to invite, according to the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
A Russian official close to the Kremlin declined to comment specifically on Venezuela but said Vladimir Putin’s government cannot formally invite any nation to the group before there is agreement among all current members. Neither Russia’s foreign ministry nor a spokesperson for Putin responded to comment requests.
Affirming at less than .05. Always interesting to see the bullies ready for peace when they are losing.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj04955442ro
FTA: The junta extended an olive branch Thursday as it struggled to fight on multiple fronts and stem a widespread rebellion.
Some reports say the junta now has control of less than half of Myanmar's territories.
In June, an alliance of three ethnic armies renewed an offensive against the military, seizing territory along a key highway to China's Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar.
The fighting near the border in Shan state has blocked China's ambitious plan to connect its landlocked south-west to the Indian Ocean via Myanmar.
Beijing's top diplomat, Wang Yi, is thought to have delivered a warning to the country's ruler Min Aung Hlaing during a visit to Myanmar last month.
Armed groups should follow "the path of party politics and elections in order to bring about lasting peace and development", the junta said in its statement on Thursday.
"The country's human resources, basic infrastructure and many people's lives have been lost, and the country's stability and development have been blocked [because of the conflict]" it said.
But the rebel groups are sceptical of the offer.
The Karen National Union (KNU), which has been fighting for decades with the military for more autonomy along the border with Thailand, told AFP news agency that talks were only possible if the military agreed to "common political objectives".
"Number one: no military participation in future politics. Two [the military] has to agree to a federal democratic constitution," KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee told AFP.
"Number three: they have to be accountable for everything they have committed... including war crimes and crimes against humanity," he said. "No impunity."
If the junta does not accede to these demands, the KNU will "keep putting pressure on [the junta] politically and militarily," he added.
Maung Saungkha, the leader of the Bamar People's Liberation Army, told Reuters news agency that his group is "not interested in this offer".
"They are hanging goat’s heads but selling dog meat," Soe Thu Ya Zaw, commander of the Mandalay People’s Defense Forces, wrote on Facebook.
After the military ousted Myanmar's democratically-elected government in 2021, peaceful protests were met with killings and arrests.
This led ethnic armed groups to join forces with anti-coup militias across the country to fight back, plunging the country into a civil war.