Day 28: Burma

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bm.html

Discuss.

[opebo]

Another country that is, as far as I know, free of the scourge of McDonalds and Americanization in general.  I also hear it is a growing destination for the hobby.  I hope to visit one day soon.

[2952-0-0]

It's a fascist dictatorship. Period.

It is said that when George Orwell was stationed there he predicted a totalitarian state through his book 1984. It had great promise to develop when it gained independence but all those years of fascism have sent it down the toilet. Heck, when they were voted out in 1989 (Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide then), they kicked the table!!

Also has a huge AIDS crisis (opebo take note), and is shunned by the rest of the world except Beijing.

[opebo]

It is said that when George Orwell was stationed there he predicted a totalitarian state through his book 1984.

Well, yes, but Burma had little to do with his vision in 1984 - that was based on observation of the 'first world'.  When he was in Burma it was just a slave territory of the British. 

It is actually a fascinating story how Thailand avoided a similar fate (menaced by British in Burma and French in Vietnam), and remained quite independent.  Only Japan had better luck holding back the marauders - even China lost more sovereignty to them.

[minionofmidas]

Um. Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948, when he was elderly, sick, and in Scotland. He left Burma 25 years earlier.

[Cubby]

Not to be a prude but its called Myanmar now, shouldn't this country come up later?

And I hear they are moving the capital from Rangoon north to a new place in the countryside due to Buddhist astrology or something.

[minionofmidas]

Not to be a prude but its called Myanmar now, shouldn't this country come up later?

And I hear they are moving the capital from Rangoon north to a new place in the countryside due to Buddhist astrology or something.

Yes, and yes.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Um. Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948, when he was elderly, sick, and in Scotland. He left Burma 25 years earlier.

He wrote a lot of it on Jura, yes (I think he finished it there; or started it. I always get dates and stuff muddled up...) Quite a bit was also written in eastern Islington IIRC.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Not to be a prude but its called Myanmar now, shouldn't this country come up later?

We're going by the CIA World Factbook listings, which still has it down as Burma.

[minionofmidas]

Not to be a prude but its called Myanmar now, shouldn't this country come up later?

We're going by the CIA World Factbook listings, which still has it down as Burma.

Which tells you more than you want to know about how accurate the CIA's informations are.

[DanielX]

Not to be a prude but its called Myanmar now, shouldn't this country come up later?

We're going by the CIA World Factbook listings, which still has it down as Burma.

Which tells you more than you want to know about how accurate the CIA's informations are.

Or perhaps US government policy. I'm not even certain if we recognize Burma's/Myanmar's government as legitimate.

BTW, the current government of whateveritscalled is one of the nastiest regimes on the planet.

[opebo]

Um. Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948, when he was elderly, sick, and in Scotland. He left Burma 25 years earlier.

And he only lived to be 47!

[Hatman 🍁]

Burma? you're living in the past, dude. It's called Myanmar now.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Burma? you're living in the past, dude. It's called Myanmar now.

We're going by the CIA World Factbook listings, which still has it down as Burma.

I think Daniel is corect too, that the US still recognizes it as Burma. There is also no ambassador there and US policy is basically not to cooperate with the regime at all, there are heavy sanctions imposed too. Too bad the surrounding countries refuse to do the same. Of course this didn't stop the Bush campaign from making campaign gear there. More reason to hate Bush.

[minionofmidas]

Not recognizing the name change? That is mighty damn silly. (Not cooperating with this dreadful regime is a good thing, though.)