RAND Corporation's Ungoverned Territories

The RAND corporation has been featured on this blog before. They have a wonderful series of reports which explain aspects of military geography. Even geographers who do not dabble in military geography can pick up useful research tips and knowledge.

Lately I have come a book available for order or free PDF download entitled Ungoverned Territories: Understanding and Reducing Terrorism Risks. Using case studies the book identifies "three types of ungoverned territories and their effects on U.S. security interests and develop strategies to improve the U.S. ability to mitigate these effects."

Right now the trend in warfare is smaller scale engagements against non-state actors. These groups cannot hold their own in battle and therefore must use unconventional tactics to attempt to level the playing field. Even more important, to military geographers at least, is that these non-state actors need zones free from government control (and responsibility on a world stage) to build up an organization. The Taliban and al Qaeda have pushed out any nominal Pakistani control in Waziristan, HAMAS forced internationally-recognized Fatah out of Gaza, and FARC had its demilitarized zone. Understanding these lawless lands is the first step in knowing how to end them and severely limit an insurgency’s chance at success.

The book is an easier read and can be picked up almost at any chapter. Educate yourself today on ungoverned territories and their impact on the world.

Shibboleth

We all do it. We all listen to someone else speak and try to pin down the person's background by the way they talk. The vocabulary and tone of one's speech can reveal their home region, their economic class, and even sometimes race.

The use of language as a tool to identify one's background is as old as the story of Shibboleth. In the Bible, two tribes of Israelites fought a war. Gileadites defeated the tribe of Ephraim. The Ephraimites tried to retreat back to their homeland and were stopped at the border. However, the Ephraimites tried to blend into the refugees. The Gileadites decided they would use language to catch the Ephraimites. A test composed of saying the word "Shibboleth" was made. Since the Ephraimites native dialect did not have the "sh" sound, they were easily discovered and killed (the people in the Old Testament did not have the Geneva Conventions).

• Gilead then cut Ephraim off from the fords of the Jordan, and whenever Ephraimite fugitives said, 'Let me cross,' the men of Gilead would ask, 'Are you an Ephraimite?' If he said, 'No,' they then said, 'Very well, say Shibboleth.' If anyone said, 'Sibboleth', because he could not pronounce it, then they would seize him and kill him by the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell on this occasion. Judges 12:5-6 (New Jerusalem Bible)

Shibboleths today range from jokes, local phrases, to popular culture terms. Plenty of tests and mapping has been done on how the use of language in today's word can pin someone's home region.

Shibboleths are more than just innocent words that allow one to try to guess where someone lives. Some business travellers learn Shibboleths so they can "drop" them into a conversation at the right time and appear as one "in the know" and trustworthy. Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan listen have interpreters who listen for language use from Arabs, Pashtuns, Uzbeks and other groups looking for outsiders. While it is illegal to discriminate based on national origin, surprisingly it is legal to discriminate in the work force based on how someone talks whether it be vulgar or the person merely uses his native dialect.

Point of Conflict: Sheeba Farms

Map of the Sheeba Farms. Borders by Google recognized by the United Nations, Israel, and sometimes Syria. Borders disputed by Hezbollah and Lebanon.

Eighteen farms on the Golan Heights form the Sheeba farms. There is nothing particularly valuable about the farms or the land on which they sit on. However, the Sheeba farms continue to be the stated reason for conflict that has killed over a thousand and threatens the war in the Middle East.

The farms sit right along the Israeli Golan Heights border (or Israeli occupied Syria, depending on who one asks) and Lebanon. Israel claims since it is part of the Golan Heights conquered from Syria that it is unrelated to its withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah claims that the farms are part of occupied Lebanon and therefore justifies the terrorists group right to keep arms as a resistance organization. The whole "resistance" claim creates enough popular support so that Hezbollah and ignore United Nations resolutions calling it to disarm like the other militias after the Lebanese Civil War (though Hezbollah keeping arms and using it against other Lebanese groups has led to Sunnis in the Future Movement to rearm).

The United Nations considers the farms to be part of Syria occupied by Israel. Israel counts the UN's belief as a victory because the UN does not think the farms are part of Lebanon. Lebanon claims it has records from the 1940s which show the farms to be Lebanese even though government maps from the 1960s show the farms as Syrian. Meanwhile, Syria itself will claim the territory is either Syrian or Lebanese on any random moment. So with Syria fluctuating and Lebanon/Hezbollah's assistance, the issue will like remain contentious.

The Sheeba Farms are a classic case example that political geographic issues are not solved easily just because one side has greater legal geographic evidence.

Map of Governments' Reactions to Food Worries

Coming Anarchy features the above map, based on information from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, showing prohibiting exports and implementation of tariffs by countries in response to the global food crisis.

Right now there is plenty of food to go around. However, as with the food crisis in Africa of the 1980s and 1990s the problem is mostly in logistical distribution. Government interference on trade will artificially modify prices and make losers out of those who rely on trade to have adequate food stuffs.

Earth Broadcasts like a Beacon

Since the 1970s scientists have known the Earth broadcasts radio waves that bounce off the ionosphere. However, recent research has discovered the radio waves bounce off the ionosphere in a beam-like fashion making the Earth a location easier to listen to and better able to locate.

The discovery shows it is possible that other planets broadcast the same way making the discovery of Earth-sized objects, currently neigh-on-impossible with the "see if the star wobbles" method, much easier.

What does the Earth sound like? In one word: awful. Classical musicians like Gustav Holst made wonderful compositions inspired by the planets. Others have made songs of the planets with each planet representing moods: Earth being safe and calming, Mars sounding abandoned and scarred, ex-planet Pluto sounding soft and desolate. Count me as one who does not want to hear the radio soundtrack for the planets.

Space may be a vacuum where no "normal" sounds as we know them are heard but that does not mean it is silent. Radio waves from stars, pulsars, and bouncing off objects makes space a very noisy place. Maybe one day man will be able to navigate the heavens not only with star maps but also echolocation like sonar.

NATO Game

NATO has an online game that tests players ability to locate countries by flag, capital, and flag & capitals. Players have a choice of locating NATO members, NATO partners, or NATO Mediterrian Diaglouge members.

Sadly the game continues the pet peeve of bad cartography. At first I was willing to overlook the semi-submerged Azeribajian but then two glarring problems reared their ugly heads. Cambodia is completely underwater and the People's Republic of China has annexed the northeastern corner of Pakistan! Kosovo, East Timor, and the Koreas are also gone! What the heck sort of data are they using!

This is NATO for crying out loud!

Learn Geography with Geography@About.com

Matt over at Geography at About has renovated and revitalized his free thirteen-week e-mail geography course. For anyone who wants to know the basics of geography this is a very good starting point. Home schoolers and parents should take special note.

Meanwhile Catholicgauze's online course would consist of Introduction to World Regions, Basic Overview of Physical Geography, Why Cultural Geography Matters, Learn Geography Before You Make Your Stupid Maps!, Catholicgauze's Grand Geopolitical Theories, How to Send Stuff to Catholicgauze while he is in Iraq, and last but not least Why Catholicgauze deserves an honorary Ph.D (because bad geo professors have the real thing).

That is why Catholicgauze will never have an online class (I was kept in check when I taught in person).