Where even flowers stoke fear

(Clockwise from top) A man weeping in front of what is left of his former home; and a family visiting their village, both destroyed by the military; a man riding past a burnt-down restaurant and gasoline tanker; and debris littering a pre-school damaged by an airstrike. — Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

THE red and gold sign at the main entrance to the Defence Services Academy of Myan­mar, a nation ruled by military fiat for most of its existence, displays its self-regard: “The Triumphant Elite of the Future”.

But there is no longer any elite, triumphant or otherwise, swaggering around town.