# Myanmar's civil war, per Kiriakou

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Myanmar's civil war, per Kiriakou," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/myanmar-civil-war-kiriakou-view/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of Myanmar as the only country in the world continuously at war without a single day of peace since World War II, its Buddhist-majority persecution of Muslims, Christians, and Hindus, his view that Aung San Suu Kyi should have her Nobel Peace Prize stripped, and his argument that the world ignores the country's atrocities because it has gems rather than oil.*

- **Per Kiriakou's source (Bruce Fein):** Continuously at war without a single day of peace since World War II
- **Kiriakou on Aung San Suu Kyi:** A "fraud" who should be stripped of her Nobel Peace Prize
- **Kiriakou's explanation for world indifference:** No oil, only gems — rubies, sapphires, emeralds

[John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) says his friend [Bruce Fein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bruce-fein), who represents the Karen people of Myanmar, taught him that Myanmar is the only country in the world that has been continuously at war without a single day of peace since World War II.[1][2] He argues the U.S. does not intervene because Myanmar lacks oil and strategic value, despite the country's rich ruby, emerald, and diamond deposits.[2]

## Aung San Suu Kyi and religious persecution

Kiriakou calls Aung San Suu Kyi — Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize laureate — a "fraud" who should have the prize stripped from her, characterizing the country's Buddhist majority as fundamentalists who kill, bomb, imprison, and starve the country's Muslim, Christian, and Hindu minorities.[3]

## Gems, not oil

Kiriakou argues the world ignores Myanmar's atrocities because the country has no oil — despite possessing some of the highest-quality rubies, sapphires, and emeralds in the world, on display at the Smithsonian Institution. He contrasts this with a remark from a Kuwaiti who told him, shortly after the 1991 Gulf War, that the U.S. only liberated Kuwait because it had oil: *"If we had gravel, you would never be here."*[4]

## See also

- [Bruce Fein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bruce-fein)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. Deep Focus Podcast with John Kiriakou — The Global Power Struggles Reshaping the World (2026-06-28), at 44:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M0SqrsekWQ&t=2688s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-28-deep-focus-global-power-struggles/
2. John Kiriakou on Israeli Spycraft, False Flags, and the CIA (2026-07-05), at 1:19:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqyYHuJsQgM&t=4740s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-05-the-bad-news-program/
3. Deep Focus Podcast with John Kiriakou — The Global Power Struggles Reshaping the World (2026-06-28), at 45:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M0SqrsekWQ&t=2721s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-28-deep-focus-global-power-struggles/
4. Deep Focus Podcast with John Kiriakou — The Global Power Struggles Reshaping the World (2026-06-28), at 46:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M0SqrsekWQ&t=2781s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-28-deep-focus-global-power-struggles/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/myanmar-civil-war-kiriakou-view/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt