You heard it here …. I’ll say it clearer … Not Myanmar … It’s really Burma ….
May 5th, 2008 at 10:27pm Chuck Sweeny
The country in southeast Asia that was devastated by the cyclone is called BURMA. Latest reports say 50,000 are feared dead.
The country is NOT “Myanmar,” which many newspapers insist on calling it. That name was foisted on the country in 1989 by a brutal military junta that, among other things, holds Nobel laureate and democratic reformer Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest and refuses to allow democracy to return.
The rulers also failed to notify coastal residents that the cyclone was coming, which caused many deaths. Mrs. Bush appealed Monday for the country to allow U.S. aid workers into Burma to provide disaster relief.
By using the word “Myanmar,” we are legitimizing the junta. So, it’s Burma to me.
Congratulations to The Washington Post and to The Guardian for using the correct name for the country.
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3 Comments Add your own
1. ROTStar | May 6th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Good call Chuck!
David
2. Tom Thumb | May 7th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Chuckles, I don’t want to alarm you, but Rush Limbaugh was making exactly the same (principled) statement yesterday. Are you drifting to the right?
3. Chuck Sweeny | May 11th, 2008 at 1:52 am
I’m neither right nor left. I think both of those terms are obsolete;
I agree with about 40 percent of what Rush says.
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