A changing balance of power along the Thai-Burma border has forced Thailand to re-think its buffer zone policy. As long as anybody can remember, Burma�s armed ethnic groups operating along the Thai-Burmese border have always provided a buffer between the two nagging neighbors. First, it was the Karen rebels who had taken the fight to the outskirts of Rangoon a half century ago following independence. This has been followed by the Burmese students� exodus by the thousands to the Thai border following a bloody crackdown in 1988. Then, the Mon rebels were crushed to pieces half a decade ago to make way for a lucrative gas pipeline running from Burma�s Yadana gas field to Thailand. Now, only a handful of Shan and Karen groups, some of whom have surrendered in return for amnesty, function as the buffer zone between the Thai and Burmese armies..."