Turkish Payback to Ralph Peters and Signs of Things to Come?

Remember when Ralph Peters made his map of a redrawn Middle East and then Catholicgauze got on board too? When I did that post a Turk commented with what his opinion of the idea. It appears the Turk and his friends have created their response. They are featuring a collection of maps which show a redrawn America. Most of the maps and text are in Turkish but some are in English and reveal much about the cartographers.

One map is especially troubling. I will let it speak for it self:

Now I know there are bad apples in any country and the internet gives them all a voice. The map in and of itself is just the work of one man. It may be; however, a poisonous fruit from Turkey, long an ally of the United States and the West, which is finding itself on a new team in the post-9/11 world.

Turkey has been on a slow but steady slide towards reactionary thought. Riots over the Mohamed Cartoons and the Pope's speech occurred in Turkey. A Catholic priest was murdered during mass by an assassin yelling "Allah Akbar!" Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink was murdered by a youth who stated "I shot the non-Muslim" after Friday prayers.

The map shows anti-American, anti-Israeli, and anti-Jewish feelings which are becoming more common in Turkey. America and Israel have done nothing negative to Turkey but in fact have worked together on many issues. The people of Turkey; however, want to take Turkey in a new, dangerous direction.

For more thought on Turkey's future direction see TDAXP's post Turkey-in-Europe, or Turks out of Europe?

Jet Li's Fearless

Jet Li's Fearless is an excellent martial arts film with enough drama elements to appeal to both sexes. From a geographer's point-of-view it reveals a Chinese perspective on Westernization, honor, and the urban/rural relationship.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The film is loosely based on the life of Chinese martial arts expert Huo Yuanjia. In the initial third of the movie Yuanjia lives the high-life fighting to become the city's champion. He enriches himself, has a family, and spends lavishly on his friends. He is the nineteenth-century's playboy. He fights for the sheer pleasure of it and fails to recognize honor. When a gaffe of a biblical-proportion occurs because of his lack of honor he goes in self-imposed exile.

Redemption is learned in the rural country side. Here is a clean environment where family is valued. Things like rice are valued above riches. In short the country side becomes a healing place and the antithesis of the city.

When Yuanjia returns to the city to right his past it is a very different place. Soldiers from British India, camels, and missionaries are in the streets. Westernization is occurring.

The movie handles this issue patriotically but not xenophobicly. Yuanjia's friend shows how Westernization and capitalism can help China using China's historic fall from empire to Sick Man of Asia. The heads of the foreign powers are shown as shadowy snakes. The Japanese leader comes off the most negative being the brains of the anti-Chinese group.

The way the foreign fighters are depicted is the most interesting part. The American is a huge, war brute with no quick moves but with mighty power. However, after realizing the skills and honor of Yuanjia the American cheers Yuanjia's victory. The European fighters are only shown on screen fighting and have no redeeming qualities. The Japanese fighter completely counters the negativity of his leader. The fighter meets Yuanjia before the fight and realizes he is an honorable worthy of victory.

Fearless is an excellent movie with a great soundtrack. Rent it today!

The Surge Begins

To all my friends and friends of freedom

The surge has begun. In Najaf American and Iraqi forces killed over 250 terrorist fighters. The fighting began when Iraqi police stopped an assassination plot against Grand Ayatollah Sistani.

Meanwhile Haifa Street continues to be the scene of close fighting (video).

Mapping Economic Productivity

Economically France is just a colony of Paris while Germany is much more diverse

Geographically based Economic data (G-Econ) is a collection of maps which show economic activity in countries. A higher spike means more productivity. The maps are pretty easy to understand and each country has its own map. (Hat tip: TDAXP via Alberto López Núñez)

119 Years of National Geographic

119 years ago today in 1888 the National Geographic Society was formed.

It came at a time when other countries had established their own geographical societies. American counterparts included the Association of American Geographers and the American Geographical Society.

However, the National Geographic Society has by far impacted the public more than all other of the societies combined. For the inside story of National Geographic I recommend Explorer’s House.

Geographers have a love/hate relationship with the society’s “branching out” efforts but we all wish it Happy Birthday!

Prince Turki Al-Faisal: We are not your friends

I recently attended a speech by Prince Turki bin Faisal al-Saud. I expected to be told about the special relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, and some positive spin on the future of Saudi-American cooperation. What I was left with was elitist whining and an even greater distrust of the Saudi-family which rules over most of Arabia.

The speech started off well. The Prince encouraged the 100-plus Saudi students to continue their studies (3 of them were women). He then praised his Kingdom's exchange program with the United States which has subsided over 12,000 Saudi students in American university mostly for engineering programs.

The main point of the speech was public diplomacy. al-Faisal said the era of the diplomat was over. He went on to state that we all conducted diplomacy and that the exchange program was a perfect opportunity for Saudis to learn about America.

Things turned towards the worse when it came to terrorism and suspicion. The prince repeatedly said American suspicion of Arabs and Muslims was based on such a small minority that it was practically unreasonable. He related the weekly calls for Jihad in Saudi-funded mosques to "bigoted" calls by evangelicals. He derided the negative depictions of Muslims in Western media saying it was pushing back relations. No word on Western depictions in Arab media.

The issue of Wahhabism came up also. The prince denied Wahhabism existed claiming it was merely restoring traditional Islam (this is a long running debate). He mentioned how Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab needed Saudi military help "to meet the challenges of the opposition." (Why can we not have reformers like Erasmus? One may not agree with the proposed reforms without the fear of dying with Erasmus-like people.) The prince claimed suicide bombings and "declaration of Jihad" was counter to al-Wahhab's teachings and al-Wahhab "would declare Jihad" against people like bin Laden (follow that logic).

Catholicgauze even had the chance to ask a question. I asked if there was a program which would enable Americans to visit Saudi Arabia. I was hoping that the "exchange" would be somewhere near equal. The prince replied that the Kingdom is "working on it" and took pride in the fact there are "slightly less than forty Americans" studying in the kingdom. But then he encouraged the audience to visit Saudi Arabia. He did not mention; however, that if we were ever seen in Mecca or Medina we would be killed.

A final bit was a diplomatic faceoff between a Shia Iraqi and the prince. The Iraqi wanted to know what the Kingdom was doing to weapons, money, and Jihadi movement from Saudi Arabia into Iraq. The prince replied that anything which leaves the Kingdom has to be documented. This means one of two things 1) That the Saudis are incapable of controlling their own borders and are a security risk with their incompetence or 2) Those in charge of border security allow the flow of tools of death into Iraq and are a security risk that way.

Catholicgauze walked out of the theater with a feminist professor. Both of us agreed that the speech left a sour taste in our mouth. Half-truths and things left unsaid made us worry about the role Saudi Arabia will play in the future.

Canadian Arctic E-Atlas

A class project has turned into an appealing resource about the Canadian arctic. The Canadian Arctic E-Atlas has sections on exploration, people, flora, wildlife, and landscape. Check it out today!