What’s in a name? Obama to welcome leader of ‘Myanmar,’ not ‘Burma’

Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, at the U.N. building in Bangkok on April 29. (Chaiwat Subprasom /Reuters)Straight up: This will only be of interest to foreign policy nerds and people interested in the fate of U.S. relations with this particular Asian country (Shoutout: Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Republican senate minority leader and resident expert in Congress on this issue).

The White House announced Wednesday that President Barack Obama will welcome President Thein Sein of Myanmar next week. It's a historic visit, part of a gradual patching-up of relations after decades of tension and U.S. economic sanctions.

Obama himself became the first sitting president to visit Myanmar in November 2012. But there's one catch: According to the State Department and the CIA, there's doesn't seem to be any such country. According to those agencies, Thein Sein leads "Burma."

It's a notable diplomatic reward. Obama used the name "Myanmar" during his visit there in November. Authorities there have long quested for Washington to recognize the name, but it's still quite rare among U.S. policymakers—and nearly unheard of in Congress.

Here's the State Department's take: "The military government changed the country name to "Myanmar" in 1989. It remains U.S. policy to refer to the country as Burma."

What does the Central Intelligence Agency have to say? This: "Since 1989 the military authorities in Burma, and the current parliamentary government, have promoted the name Myanmar as a conventional name for their state; the US Government has not adopted the name, which is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw."

So why the change? National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden has the goods:

"The United States government over time has begun limited use of the name 'Myanmar' as a diplomatic courtesy," Hayden told Yahoo News by email. "Our policy remains that Burma is the name of the country."

She confirmed that the use of the other name is, in effect, a symbolic reward.

"Burma has undertaken a number of positive reforms, including releasing over 850 political prisoners; easing media restriction; permitting freedom of speech, assembly, and movement," she said. "We have responded by expanding our engagement with the government, easing a number of sanctions, and as a courtesy in appropriate setting, more frequently using the name 'Myanmar.'"

Obama believes "that showing respect for a government that is pursuing an ambitious reform agenda is an important signal of support for its efforts and our desire to help the transformation succeed," Hayden said.

Here is the full statement from White House press secretary Jay Carney:

Statement by the Press Secretary on the visit of President Thein Sein of Myanmar to the White House

President Obama will welcome His Excellency President Thein Sein to the White House on Monday, May 20, 2013. Since President Obama’s historic trip to Rangoon last November, the United States has continued to advocate for continued progress on reform by President Thein Sein’s government, in close cooperation with Aung San Suu Kyi, civil society leaders, and the international community. The President looks forward to discussing with President Thein Sein the many remaining challenges to efforts to develop democracy, address communal and ethnic tensions, and bring economic opportunity to the people of his country, and to exploring how the United States can help.

President Thein Sein’s visit underscores President Obama’s commitment to supporting and assisting those governments that make the important decision to embrace reform, and highlights the dedication of the United States to helping the Burmese people realize the full potential of their extraordinary country.

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AJC: What's the Newseum Thinking?

NEW YORK, May 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC called the Newseum's decision to honor two employees of Hamas a shocking assault on the memory of journalists who have died in conflict situations.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100816/AJCLOGO )

The non-profit museum in Washington, D.C., will commemorate Hussam Salama and Mahmoud al-Kumi, two cameramen who worked for Al-Aqsa TV in Hamas-ruled Gaza, at a Monday ceremony.

They, together with 82 genuine journalists, will be added to the museum's permanent memorial.

"The Newseum board of directors should be ashamed of themselves for saluting two individuals who were integral to the propaganda machine of the Hamas terrorist organization," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "We are astonished that the Newseum did not reconsider its stance after initial concerns were raised. What are they thinking, seeking to conflate authentic journalists and operatives for a murderous group banned by the U.S. and European Union?"

The U.S. government has designated both Hamas and its Al-Aqsa television station terrorist organizations. Al-Aqsa regularly disseminates vile hatred of Israel and unadulterated anti-Semitism, glorifies terrorism, and promotes "martyrdom."

"If Newseum is true to its mission of 'educating the public about the value of a free press in a free society,' then it should acknowledge there is an awful lot of work to be done in Hamas-ruled Gaza before Al-Aqsa can be considered a legitimate media operation," Harris added. "Meanwhile, if Newseum opts to go forward with honoring Salama and al-Kumi, it will bring shame on itself for a shocking inability -- or unwillingness -- to distinguish between heroic journalists and brazen terrorists."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

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Interactive: What's in Obama's 2014 Budget Proposal

By Chris Wilson

The budget proposal that President Barack Obama unveiled Wednesday includes a highly controversial measure that would curtail increases in many Social Security and Medicare payments over time. While the document is merely a "symbolic, nonbinding spending blueprint," as Yahoo News’ Olivier Knox wrote yesterday, it quickly exposed fracture lines among Democrats over the future of the entitlement programs.

Ballooning entitlement payments are the most visible aspect of a pressing budgetary concern: Every year, the government has less immediate control over how much money it spends. Of the $3.77 trillion in Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget, $2.31 trillion of it is “mandatory” spending required by law. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid make up the bulk of that spending, but there are all sorts of other things in there, as well: disaster relief funds, highway aid, nutritional programs and so forth. Only $1.2 trillion goes to “discretionary” spending, which consists of most agency funding. Half of that is related to defense.

The following infographic arranges Obama’s budget in three rings. The innermost ring shows the entire budget divided by how much is mandatory versus discretionary, plus a third category for interest payments on the national debt. As you move outward, you see those categories subdivided by agency and then by program. Mouse over a slice to see the exact value.

Because this is highly granular data that the White House provides as supplementary material to its budget, the totals in the graphic will be a bit higher than in the summary figures in most news reports. This is often because some agencies produce small amounts of revenue to offset costs, such as leasing federal land. Those negative values are difficult to represent in physical space on the screen.

Source: Public Budget Database (FY 2014 Budget Authority)

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Streak snapped: What's next for the Miami Heat?

They won't set a new winning-streak record, but they're still playoff bound

The Miami Heat are not infallible.

On Wednesday, the Heat lost their first game in two months. They strung together 27 straight wins in that span, the second-longest winning streak in the history of major American sports, and only six victories shy of the all-time mark.

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With the streak dead and the regular season entering its final month, where do the Heat go from here?

For one thing, the loss was virtually inevitable. The Heat won several close games, squeaking by on enormous talent, but also a bit of luck that was eventually bound to turn against them.

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From Yahoo Sports' Kelly Dwyer:

There have been plenty of dominant NBA teams over the last 40 years, and yet only two of them have strung nearly two months’ worth of consecutive wins together. At some point, the on-paper advantage doesn’t matter, which is why you see teams winning 13 of 16 at their best, instead of 27 of 27. [Yahoo! Sports]

That the Heat came so close yet failed would seem to be a huge letdown. But after the game, players said they were pleased to be moving on.

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"Nope, 27-1 in our last 28 ain't bad," guard Dwyane Wade said. "Now that it's over, I'm glad that it's over. See you all in the playoffs."

Though he and other players would obviously have preferred a win, the loss allows them to focus squarely on the postseason and on defending their title. With every win in that streak, the Heat — and specifically their highly scrutinized stars — were held up for closer inspection. The Heat were inevitably compared to all-time greats, like Michael Jordan's Bulls and the 1971-72 Lakers team that won 33 straight. Losing, and ending those comparisons, "brought closure to another senseless debate," says ESPN's Michael Wallace.

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The Heat already have the Eastern Conference's top playoff seed all but locked up — they need one more win or a New York loss to make it official — so their remaining games are largely meaningless. Starters who played more minutes to keep the streak alive can finally take a much-needed rest to recharge for the playoffs.

Here's Sports Illustrated's Rob Mahoney:

"So much is asked of [Lebron James and Wade], and the Heat will only be more demanding during the playoffs. For that reason, it should shock no one to see [head coach Erik] Spoelstra rest his stars more now in preparation for 45-minute postseason outings. The playoffs’ commencement will tag a regular-season marathon with a dead-sprint coda, and these last few weeks of marginally meaningful games offer the best chance at scoring James and a dinged-up Wade some precious time off." [Sports Illustrated]

That the streak ended long before the playoffs might be a blessing in disguise, too. Last year, the San Antonio Spurs entered the playoffs with a 10-game winning streak that soon stretched to 20 games. Then they lost four straight to end the streak and their season, leading coach Gregg Popovich to remark that he never again wanted to endure such a long winning streak because it was "too much of a grind." He even said he briefly considered throwing a game just to end his team's run.

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The Heat have no such concerns now. They can finally go back to being a normal playoff-bound team, and rest up to pursue what's always been their main goal: Another championship.

"[T]he focus for this team is on June, and the streak was merely a sideshow," says Sporting News' Sean Deveney. "No matter how many games in a row they cobbled together, none of it would matter much if they failed to win the championship."

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• Is same-sex marriage inevitable?

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