"When the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army declared a unilateral ceasefire earlier this month, the bloody war in Kokang faded from the headlines. We can assume that all the attention focused on one corner of Shan State was getting inconvenient for the Kokang leadership, their Myanmar sparring partners and even the Chinese. This ceasefire is another reminder that Myanmar?s long-running borderlands conflicts are about so much more than public demands for ethnic autonomy. Wars fuelled by illicit trade ? in drugs, guns, timber, gems and people ? make it impossible to disentangle political demands from profit-making self-interest. And almost everywhere you look in Myanmar, for the past quarter-century, there has been a ceasefire, peace agreement or truce to further complicate local affairs. For an entire generation, the Tatmadaw leadership premised its efforts to guarantee the non-disintegration of the Union on these shadowy deals. Some have proved resilient, particularly where new wealth has lubricated the crunching frustration of ceasefire stalemates. Any long-term nationwide peace agreement will need to get to grips with exactly what has been going on..."