In 2016 and 2017, two waves of jihadist attacks against military and civilian targets in Rakhine State, western Myanmar (formerly Burma), provoked a massive response from security forces and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Bengali Muslims, the "Rohingyas".
This book begins by analyzing the immediate and underlying causes of these events: who are the "Rohingyas"? Who are the terrorists and what are their goals? What are the real geopolitical, economic and ideological stakes in this conflict?
The author then sets out to demonstrate how the emotion aroused by the humanitarian catastrophe is being hijacked by propaganda to give the world two inverted images: that of a persecuted Islam that the jihadists are merely defending, and that of a "radical Buddhism" that is betraying its ideals.
The situation in Myanmar also raises questions whose answers concern all peoples and all nations: why point the finger at a people attached to its identity, a nation concerned with its security, its integrity and its sovereignty? Does the "international community" have an absolute right to interfere, even when its philosophy, strategy and methods contradict a country's fundamental interests?
 

With a degree in philosophy from the Université Paris-Sorbonne, Didier Treutenaere is a practicing Buddhist in the Theravāda tradition. 

He is also the author of :

- 100 questions sur le bouddhisme Theravāda (link to the book)

- Bouddhisme et re-naissances (link to the book)

- La légende de Gotama (link to the book)

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