England versus Great Britain versus United Kingdom

From Things of Interest

In everyday American English Great Britain and United Kingdom are used interchangeably. England too can be used to signify the whole country. There are however key differences between the three.

England, Scotland, and Wales are three constituent countries united under one state, the United Kingdom, on the island of Great Britain. The United Kingdom is the three countries of Great Britain plus the country of Northern Ireland.

The British Isles are Great Britain, the island of Ireland, and a bunch of other small ones like the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man's Lord is the monarch of the United Kingdom but the island is not part of the United Kingdom nor is it a part of the European Union. The same holds true for the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey (but these islands are not part of the British Isles).

Finally there is the Commonwealth of Nations which is a voluntary association of former British (ugh, I do not know the correct word to use) colonies plus Mozambique (which wanted to be politically closer to its neighbors). Each member has the UK Monarch (sans Mozambique) as their own king or queen but remains politically independent.

And you thought the Dutch were confusing.

European Cities Game

The self-styled Catholicgauzette recommends a challenging European cities game. The goal of Virtual Pilot is to land the transatlantic jet in the correct European city. After the first round it gets difficult! Best of luck! Try to beat my first score of 28,059!

Serbian Kosovars Role in a New Kosovo

Moderately pro-Europe Boris Tadić defeated a much more pro-Russian candidate for reelection to the presidency of Serbia. Kosovo will declare independence while Tadic’s Serbia gives nominal protests but swallows its pride in order to eventually gain entry into the European Union.

While Serbia will take Kosovo’s independence lying down do not expect the Serbs in Kosovo to be passive. Serbs have made public declarations that they will form their own local government which will report to Belgrade and not Pristina. They may even push for reentry to Serbia using the same ethnic homeland logic which will grant Kosovo’s independence.

North Kosovo, the area north of the Ibar River, makes the easy place for Serbs to reunite with Serbia. Ethnic enclaves are islands of Serbs in a sea of Albanians. Most these are in the eastern section of Kosovo but will likely either remain holdouts or abandoned. Eventually Kosovo Albans will take these over. A majority Serb district in the south will provide temporary refuge for isolationist Serbs. The region will be an arguing point between Serbia and Kosovo over who has control of it. Look for Strpce to become a less violent but still intense Nagorno-Karabakh.

Identity will play the biggest role in if there is ethnic upheaval in an independent Kosovo. Kosovo’s leaders will have to forge a Kosovar identity which includes Serbs if they wish to keep the country whole. Limiting overt Albanian pride (like having a flag which is not 100% the same as Albania’s) and keeping Serbs protected from foreign Islamist radicals will be key.

Geographical Error Leads to Georgia's Water Shortage

A big debate in the American South right now is Georgia water's shortage. Lack of rain combined with very bad practices (Atlanta's golf courses use untold amounts of water just to keep the fairways green everyday) have led to water shortages throughout the state. Debates on Capitol Hill have routinely boiled down to Georgia complaining that Tennessee, South Carolina, or Alabama will not share extra water.

Better geographical skills back in 1818 may have solved this current problem. The surveyor for the government, James Camak, used obsolete tools to map the Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee border. Errors done by Camak placed the border for Georgia over a mile south of where it should have been. The border change denied Georgia access to the Tennessee River. The river's water could today alleviate much of Georgia's shortage. (For more read: Geography Matters, The American Surveyor Magazine, and Professional Surveyor Magazine)

Water and human's access to it are big issues today in geography. Domestically the Colorado River is a concern. Mountain states are battling California and Nevada over how much is taken. Dams and plans have been designed to try to balance different demands. California needs the water for growth as does Las Vegas, a city never meant to exist geographically. Such engineering has been done that the once muddy, warm waters never the Grand Canyon are now clear and cold. Internationally debates over the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River have Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority at each other's necks constantly.

Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania

The Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania is a neat educational map which highlights the literary history of the state. Each county has a blurb which can be viewed if one moves the mouse cursor over it. Clicking on a county will bring up a closer view with more features which can also be viewed via the cursor. Interesting liteary triva abounds. For instance, Scraton is known for much more than just being the location for the American television version of The Office.

Cartographic History of Empires

Coming Anarchy has a neat set of posts showing the rise (and in some cases) fall of empires. Currently they have created sets of maps for the Persia, Poland, Ethopia, Russia, and Aremnia. The maps are accompnaied by caption which briefly describe the geographical scene.

Coming Anarchy also has a map post showing the rise and fall of the Roman Empire from 510 BC to AD 1453.

Internet Outages Between Egypt and India

Two major undersea cables have been cut off the coast of Egypt. The cuts have severly limited bandwidth between Egypt and India. So everyone from US Central Command, Iranian bloggers, Hezbollah terrorists, to Gulf State merchants are feeling the pain. Dubai et al are major player s these days in the world economy so the loss of easy communication, the life blood of globalization, will surely be felt around the world. Foriegn Policy Blog has more.