Asia’s Palestine? Myanmar’s Rohingya: stateless, persecuted and a new cause for religious extremism

The recent clashes in northwestern Myanmar between Muslim Rohingya insurgents and the country’s military and police, which erupted on August 25, have already sown the seeds of a regional sectarian and humanitarian crisis. The violence, part of much wider, longer-running unrest in Rakhine state, caused 400 civilian deaths according to official counts, and displaced at least 270,000 people, many of whom are now desperately short of food and water. In response, sentiment against Buddhist-…