On a Short Leash

On March 24, 2011 Ron Zakreski was detained by the Burmese army fifty meters from the border of Thailand. He was held at Kheenyalee command center by Light Infantry Battalion 356 when it came under fire from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army. Transported through conflict areas to Myawaddi he was charged and put on trial. He faced five years in notorious Insein prison. Both prisoner and guest, Zakreski walked an emotional tight rope through the war zones of Burma. His story is one of survival under the debilitating effects of sleep deprivation and fear. It is a psychological self assessment of extreme duress told with clarity and wit. Vivid unforgettable characters touch his life as they themselves remain trapped between orders from the state and their desire to provide traditional hospitality. They haunt him and help him throughout his ordeal. Graphic descriptions of the brutal reality in modern day Burma provide the backdrop. It is a controversial look behind the scenes at one of the world’s most enigmatic dictatorships. This is the true story of his experience.