Tower Center Fellow Jieun Pyun wrote about how freedom in Burma has declined. According to the most recent Freedom in the World report, Burma is one of seven nations in the Asia Pacific region (including China, North Korea and Vietnam) ranked “not free.” It’s the first time the country (also known as Myanmar) has been downgraded from “partly free” since the civilian government took power in 2016. Reasons for Burma’s decline include worsening conflicts between the military and ethnic minority rebel groups that have reduced freedom of movement in the country, according to Freedom House, a human rights defense organization. Read more here.