Five years after beginning its long transition away from military rule, Myanmar is still coping with its inherent geopolitical challenges . In the country's upland border regions, government troops continue to fight sporadically with ethnic Kokang, Shan and Kachin rebels . Protests in the nation's core continue to break out over government resource, land and education policies. However, the most visible of Myanmar's internal conflicts have been the periodic riots carried out by Buddhists against Muslims, particularly the ethnic minority Rohingya. Since 2010, Myanmar's western state of Rakhine has been the foremost hotbed of Buddhist communal violence against ethnic minority Muslims. The state is divided between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and ethnic Kaman and Rohingya Muslims. Muslims make up around 4 percent of Myanmar's population, but Rakhine state's proximity to Bangladesh, along with population movements under the British Empire, gave it a higher concentration; estimates put the local Rohingya locally at...