"After 1 year of monthly History Threads on Myanmar Rakhine St., Kachin St. issues, this History Thread is something different: 1980s Burma/Thailand border as described in my 1993 first book “Burmese Looking Glass” with photos I took back then. This is me at Salween River 1987. I first crossed Thai/Burma border to the Shan United Revolutionary Army, led by Mo Heing in 1982. That was a good introduction to the political complexities of Shan State: legitimate grievances, multiple factions and looming narcotics corruption.Then I went to Karen National Union's furthest outpost, Mergui-Tavoy District in still thickly-forested Tenasserim. I met survivors of Tatmadaw (Burma army) human rights abuse (woman on rt. had been a “human shield.”) Observed KNU’s revolutionary society, utopian inclinations..."