Dictator Watch now has an article up on speculations about the Junta's involvement in the proliferation of nuclear technology (NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION AND BURMA: THE HIDDEN CONNECTION). It's no secret that Burma has cultivated close ties with other 'rogue' states, like North Korea and Iran. They are also known to have purchased missiles from China, North Korea, Ukraine, and Russia. Despite the lack of enemies or potential conflicts beyond their own borders.

The new rumors are that, "Uranium ore is being mined in Moehnyin Township in Kachin State and Mogok in Mandalay Division. The ore is then transported to a refinery on the Irrawaddy River at Thabeikkyin (just over one hundred kilometers north of Mandalay), which is conveniently located between the two mine sites. There the ore is processed into a material known as “yellow cake,” which is likely what is being bartered."

S.H.A.N. reported some time last year about a possible nuclear facility in Maymyo. The junta claims that is was acquiring nuclear technology for medical research purposes. Considering they spend something like 30$ or less per year, per capita, on healthcare, it seems like they could have come up with a better lie than that.

Dictator Watch also reports that:

The SPDC has many secret facilities spread throughout Burma, but the most important are east of Mandalay in Maymyo (a.k.a Pyin-U-Lwin) and to the southwest of this in the Setkhya Mountains. The military complex at Maymyo includes Defense Industry buildings, the Defense Institute of Technology, and the Defense Services Academy. Approximately forty kilometers south of this the Chinese built a hydroelectric dam on the Myit Nge River. Local villagers who have fled to Thailand report that there is a tunnel from this dam leading to the defense complex, presumably to deliver electricity for weapons production. Just west of this, in the Setkhya Mountains, Burma’s “Nuclear Battalion” has in its own network of tunnels and reportedly is engaged in bomb-making research. Democratic Voice of Burma has reported that the center of this operation is near the villages of Lun Kyaw and Taung Taw, and that the latter is well guarded. Local villagers reported hearing huge explosions at night in April, June and September this year.

Coincidentally, I heard from a Kachin friend that there are currently rumors from Putao residents that the military is building a tunnel there. I was at a loss as to what they would be building a tunnel for, but perhaps the idea is not so farfetched. Putao is in the far north of Kachin State, near the remote and isolated Hukawng Valley in the Kachin Himalayas. Then again, they could also just be digging a tunnel to China.