Relief Efforts for the Disasters in China and Myanmar/Talk

This page is for discussing the contents of Relief Efforts for the Disasters in China and Myanmar.

Comments:

Note: You must be logged in to add comments

While I will completely admit my knowledge isn't comprehensive regarding the situation¹, it is my understanding that Myanmar is the name given to the country by the military elite that took over the country and is blocking aid for political reasons. Burma is the name used by the people and opposition groups. Since we are presumably talking about aiding the people of the land, it might make sense to use their name and say we are aiding Burma rather than aiding the military junta that is blocking assistance and is known as Myanmar. Just a thought... —jw

I think you're right about the names, but Myanmar is the name the major press outlets seem to be using. It might be better to just use that name for now so that more visitors will quickly associate it with what they see on TV. I did update the entry with an "a.k.a. Burma" note, however. —cm

It seems that you can use either name. For example, the UN calls it Myanmar, but many governments (such as the US and UK) call it Burma. Most news organizations (MSNBC, CNN, The Economist) call it Myanmar, while some (BBC) call it Burma. — AndreyGoder