Ellington

I never knew geography could be so entertaining! In our effort to lie low to recover from a week filled with too much work and some difficult tragedy, Todd and I have been reading, watching poker on TV, blogging a bit, puttering around the house (and on the Internet) and harassing our cats. Todd was just punching the TV remote (annoyingly, as boys do), as I set up my new blog here (yes, that's relaxing for me; I don't get it, either), and ran across Book TV on C-Span2. So, in the background right now I'm listening to Harm de Blij talk about "Why Geography Matters." This guy is hilarious; I guess he used to a geography show on Good Morning America, but I haven't watched one of those network morning shows in probably 20 years, so who knew? Anyway, he's talking about "cultural geography," which is fascinating. So I Googled him (how did we ever watch TV without our wireless laptop to use for further reference!?!). Interesting cat, and here's what he has to say about "Iraq: The Options Remaining, and how our ignorance of the area's fractured regional geography has cost us in this war:

This calculation may not have been part of the post-9/11 plan that produced America's intervention in Iraq, but now the question is what options remain to mitigate such consequences. Among the planners' great successes were the mounting of national elections and the promotion of a constitutional convention that produced a flawed but workable document. Among their dreadful failures was the chaotic demobilization of the Iraqi army, the uncompromising debaathification campaign and an apparent failure to see administrative opportunity in Iraq's historically fractured regional geography. The first two errors are beyond repair and have helped stimulate the insurgency, but the third still exists, as witnessed during the negotiations toward a constitution. A federal Iraq that constrains secession but permits strong regional autonomy may assuage the fears of less-democratically minded neighbors, since the central government would be comparatively weak. A collapsing Iraq would be likely to throw the region into chaos.

Oh, yeah, he keeps making bad/good geography jokes. He'd be fun to study under.

Previous Comments

ID

171733

Comment

Dr. de Blij just said, "I hope everyone has a globe at home." Maybe that doesn't sound funny, but I love people who are geek experts in one subject like this, so much so that he is practically dancing around the stage as he talks about "longitudinal power." ;-) Then, he made some joke about needing a globe to fondle or some such. Anyway, made me want to go buy a globe. I don't, gulp, have one. This guy is adorable.

Author

ladd

Date

2005-10-01T20:46:33-06:00

ID

171734

Comment

OK, I can't ignore him. Now he's talking about Chinaówhich is lined up to be next superpower, he said. He warns about "the potential for fatal misunderstanding" with/of China. Two major things worry him: China's intense nationalism and the fact that many Chinese students speak English and know a lot about the U.S., not not vice versa. He urges Americans to study more "geography" in the wider sense that he discusses. Todd just said to me: "This guy has broadened my idea of what geography is."

Author

ladd

Date

2005-10-01T20:53:19-06:00