South or Southeast

My posts will be short this week because it is the last week of my summer class, and my final paper/presentation are due. This post in particular seems ridiculous to me, but I have to do it. Al Kamen's Washington Post column set me off.

"Southeast Asia Fashion: Cold Shoulders

The bitter dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir may be affecting logistics on the Sunday morning talk shows. Last week, all manner of contortions were undertaken so Fox News anchor Brit Hume could interview the local ambassadors from the two countries.

First the two ambassadors apparently eschewed using the same green room. Then, after Pakistan's ambassador, Maleeha Lodhi, was interviewed, she was taken out one way and the Indian ambassador, Lalit Mansing, was brought in through another door."

What is happening to fact checkers--it used to be that geographic regions were described properly and names were spelled correctly. In his column today he described India and Pakistan as being part of Southeast Asia. According to the United States government India and Pakistan are both part of SOUTH Asia. Mr. Kamen is not alone in his mischaracterization, so in order to set the record straight, i hope this post is valuable. In addition, the Indian Ambassador to the United States' last name is spelled Mansingh. This wasn't a typo because it is misspelled all of four times in the article. All one really has to do to find this is go to the Embassy website.

posted by sajit @ 4:46 PM