A firm grasp of geopolitics

[webofevil]

When I was a kid I always thought the two countries were the other way round on the map. After Desert Storm I still managed to believe this. Even now, having spent the last couple of years reading arguably far too much about the region, I still sometimes have to remind myself that Iraq's the one on the left. Wouldn't it just be simpler if we just doctored our atlases accordingly?


Image created last year as part of a fruitless rearguard action against cornfedpig being right during a frank exchange of views earlier in the pub.

Comments

[amuchmoreexotic.livejournal.com]

If you ever become the Iraqi defence minister, I'll make sure to get my army of insurgents to come in from the west and catch you by surprise.

[amuchmoreexotic.livejournal.com]

Not that I have an army of insurgents. Oh what a giveaway.

[webofevil.livejournal.com]

Worst. Surprise attack. Ever.

[gazz.livejournal.com]

No, because it's geographically correct and you're wrong.

Changing the atlas, are you American by any chance? ;-D

[webofevil.livejournal.com]

> it's geographically correct and you're wrong.

Ah, but surely all reality is subjective, etc.


> Changing the atlas, are you American by any chance?

Being British, I can only lobby long and pointlessly for the atlas to be changed.

[gazz.livejournal.com]

Both very true. I am defeated.

[judge-death.livejournal.com]

There's no real reason the globe should be the way it is, with the north at the top and the south at the bottom. You could just join the campaign to turn the maps upside down.

Then Iraq would be on the right, and you wouldn't even have to take a pair of scissors to your atlas to do it. Just turn it upside down.

[lowlowprices.livejournal.com]

But why do they have such similar names anyway? My understanding is that Iran was Persia and that Iraq is a post-Ottoman convenience patched together by the Foreign Office. They don't speak the same language, nor even languages with a common root. What's going on?

I would ask my dad, but right now (post-Spanish bar) it's easier to ask you.

[webofevil.livejournal.com]

Alec Guinness voice: The answer lies here (http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/12/2/124004.shtml), young Dirtbox.

[lowlowprices.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the facts relating to my question are correct, but it's extremely disconcerting to be enlightened by these right-wing crackpots. However, it's reassuring to note that the enthusiasm of American warrior intellectuals for redrawing the map of the middle east now seems like an anachronism. Or perhaps my taste for sampling their outpourings has waned--I'm not entirely sure.

But thank you anyway. And that's "Dirtbox".

[webofevil.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see, you're not an actual Dirtbox, just an alleged one.

It's not a name that slips easily into most situations, is it? "And I'll miss you most all, Dirtbox!"

[lowlowprices.livejournal.com]

I'll be having words with "Anonymous".

[ex-cornfedpi814.livejournal.com]

Me? Right? Never.

I also found your apology for getting that joke wrong in Young Frankenstein. "You take the blonde" etc. How I revelled in my temporary superiority.