On October 12, 2017, Asia Society Senior Fellow and Diplomat in Resident Daniel Russel appeared on PBS “Newshour,” alongside Refugee International’s Eric Schwartz, to discuss steps towards stemming the violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims. “The starting point may be outrage, but we can’t stop there,” Russel stated. “We have to find a way to protect the displaced people and engineer their safe return and to design a pathway for the two communities to live and work together,” said Russel.

Russel noted that, while the international community has an important role to play in the crisis, it will need to grapple with Myanmar’s legacy of suspicion towards foreign involvement in its affairs. “This is a country which, less than 10 years ago, refused international assistance in response to Cyclone Nargis, which was devastating to the country, because of the degree of paranoia and isolationism, xenophobia.”