Global Dispatches -- Conversations On Foreign Policy And World Affairs

Nearly 400,000 ethnic Rohingya have fled Myanmar across the border to Bangladesh. By the time you listen to this, that number will almost surely be much higher.  Since late August, security forces from the government of Myanmar (also called Burma) have attacked villages and towns in a seemingly coordinated fashion to create a massive displacement crisis. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has described what is happening a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”   On the line with me to discuss this current crisis is John Sifton, the advocacy director Human Rights Watch-Asia. We spoke just after he got off the phone with his colleagues on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border who have witnessed profound scenes of destruction. John also describes satellite imagery he's reviewed that depicts towns, villages and neighborhoods being burned to the ground.   John gives a useful background on the plight of the Rohingya population in Burma and explains why Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi,the de-facto leader of the count