Greater Middle East Autocomplete: Commonwealth Edition

After the fun of doing Google autocomplete for Middle Eastern nationalities I decided to compare the United States's version of Google with that of Google UK, Google Canada, Google Australia, and Google New Zealand.  Orange will represent all the countries' Googles have the same top result for autocomplete.

• Turkish Airlines (Same as US)
• Syrian Civil War (Same as US)
• Lebanese Food, Forces, Recipes, Cafe (Canada is into the military while food takes the rest of the Anglo sphere) 
• Libyan Embassy, Civil War, Civil War, Civil War (The UK's expat and business community beats out war watchers)
• Egyptian Gods (The Muslim Brotherhood has to be upset about this)
• Israeli Currency, Couscous, Couscous, Couscous (Brits think money while everyone else has couscous on the brains)
• Jordanian Airlines, Airlines, Embassy, Airlines (Airlines are always a good back up)
• Iraqi Airways, Dinar, Dinar, Embassy  (Money is also a good standby)
• Iranian UK (A British-based Persian website)
• Kuwaiti Dinar (Same as US)
• Saudi Arabian Airlines (Same as US)
• Yemeni Port, Jews, Restaurant, Seaport (Trade, History, Food, Trade beat a dog)
• Omani Rial 
• Bahraini Dinar (business beat out a crushed Arab Spring)
• Qatari Diar, Royal Family, Diar, Royal Family (Neither Qatari money nor the royal family has done me wrong)
• Emirati Dirham, Dirham, Dirham, Arabi (Why are there Italian searches in New Zealand?)

Greater Middle East Autocomplete

So I decided to do a simple Google autocomplete search of Middle East nationalities (Turkish vice Turkey) to see what the popular American connotation is for each place/culture.  Some answers were surprising.  Results in bold and personal thoughts in parentheses.

Ordered roughly in geographic terms from north to south, west to east

• Turkish Airlines (Flag ship of Turkey)
• Syrian Civil War (Syria is this generations Lebanon)
• Lebanese Taverna (The new yuppie generation likes the friendly Middle East they think of when they imagine Lebanon, not the 1980s civil war.
• Libyan Embassy DC (Expats needing to network beat out the revolution)
• Egyptian Gods (Pyramids et al is what most people will think of for a very long time)
• Israeli Embassy (Couscous and Palestinian Conflict are the runners up)
• Jordanian Embassy (Jordan is a black hole for many Americans)
• Iraqi Dinar (Want to invest in a scam?)
• Iranian Hostage Crisis (Argo et al won't let Americans forget 1979 much as Iranians did not forget 1953)
• Kuwaiti Dinar (Better than the runner up Kuwaiti Oil Fires)
• Saudi Arabian Airlines (Actually a pretty nice airline)
• Yemeni Street Dog (Poor Yemen.  The rump of the Middle East is equated to adoptable dogs)
• Omani Riyal to USD (business and travel)
• Bahraini Dinar (business and travel beat out a crushed Arab Spring)
• Qatari Diar (Real estate you will never be able to afford)
• Emirati Cuisine (Mid East food is always good)

The Military-Industrial Complex and Geography

Geography is a racket.  Well, professional and academic Geography can be, anyways.  The crooked relationship between professional geography, academic geography, and the military is not universal but it does exist.  While many academic geographers are on the political Left and would go well out of their way not to be associated with the military while they feed off public money via salaries and grants, some in the more conservative geospatial realm of Geography are forming a military-industrial-academic iron triangle.

The main main alliance is between ESRI and the government and the military.  ESRI controls GIS in the government via ArcGIS.  One will never find another GIS program on closed government systems.  ESRI does not need to make a popular GIS program which people can afford as it can rely on high cost (up to $1,500 per user) licences.

Another example is the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation.  The USGIF is an organization which lobbies for federal funding for geospatial technology and tools.  Its board is comprised of member of the geospatial business community and former government officials.  The USGIF has a close working relationship Department of Defense bodies like the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.  It hosts the GEOINT conferences which brings the directors of these agencies to speak to the crowd of government officials, military officers, and professionals.

Finally, the Geography Military-Industrial-Academic Complex self sustains itself by giving federal funds to academic to produce overpriced textbooks which could not be profitable without forcing students to by them for classes.

Now the latter two examples are true for many subjects not just Geography.  The first example is common in many computer science fields as well.  It is just depressing that Geography is playing part in this game too.

The Irony of Comparing Syria and Qatar: Countries and Cultures Can Fluctuate

The pro-Assad/pro-Syrian Arab Republic Facebook account Amazing Syria has created the below meme showing how advanced Syria was 77 years ago with a functioning parliament while the (alleged photo of) Qatar shows desert bedouin living in a tribal culture.

The photo shows what a leg up the French-mandate gave Syria by ensuring Syria had minority protections, parliamentary government, and a mixture between religion, nationalism, and secularism cultures functioning together.  This was Arabia still in the post-Napoleon shock, the Arabia which looked towards Europe for ideas to adapt into their own civilization.  Meanwhile Qatar survived the threat of Saudi invasion by being protected by British naval guns.  Despite this Doha remained a poor Arab backwater pearl diving village.

Now let us compare Syria and Qatar today.

Note:  This image was chosen to show damage in Syria.  This is not meant to endorse the Free Syrian Army

Syria is torn between the dead European model of National Socialism (Arab variety) and half implemented local Islamism.  The Damascus government has tried to push secular Arab nationalism under a Spanish fascism framework while also trying to push a peaceful Islamist framework.  The Assads have turned the Alawite religion from a Gnostic mix to a Muslim sect.  This bipolar movement has violently failed as regional and global Islamism seeks pan-Islamism free from secular, local control.

Meanwhile Doha, capital of Qatar, is building up.  Photo by Catholicgauze

Meanwhile Qatar has embraced the Islamist form (not alternative but form) of globalization (as compared to Western or neo-Socialist Latin American globalization) with confidence.  Qatar seeks to be a global culture capital by funding the source for Arab news, building museums to show case different cultures, and host international forms.  While the government is openly Wahhabi it allows limited minority protection.  Qatar's geography has also helped with a large oil reserve to buy off the low amount of citizens.

It is undeniable that civilization and high culture has thrived in Syria much longer than in Qatar.  However, the past is dead unless it is applied to the present and future.  It is not what one culture or country had in the past but how a country or culture leverages its history which counts.  Tradition is indeed the democracy of the dead, but the living can veto those votes by destroying the country/culture.

Having Difficulty Celebrating Victory in Europe Days

This Victory in Europe Day (May 8th) and Victory Day (May 9th) passed without a mention on this blog.  The reason was I could not forget the point of World War II.

World War II did not start to overthrow Hitler, save the world from Fascism  or even stop the Holocaust.  All these were noble goals and the defeat of Hitler's many evils was worth the horrible cost.  However, the war did not accomplish its original goal.  The Allies failed to free Poland.

Key portions of the announcement of war to the British people stated

"I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at 10, Downing Street.

This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by 11.00 a.m. that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us.

I have to tell you that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany."

...

"We and France are today, in fulfillment of our obligations, going to the aid of Poland, who is so bravely resisting this wicked and unprovoked attack on her people."

Instead the Allies stood by as Hitler and the Soviet Union conquered Poland.  It was only the end of the Moscow-Berlin coalition which allowed the West to unite with the Soviet Union and pretend the war was to defeat Germany vice restoring the old order.

I cannot blame the Allies for not trying to liberate Poland when the balance of power was so much against them.

Me in a historical geography briefing:  I do not think you understand.  There are more  Soviet-controlled Romanian and Polish puppet armies than British and Canadian armies.  Image from Wikipedia

The cost of this peace was high.  Poland and Eastern Europe were surrendered to Communism, a system which killed magnitudes more than National Socialism did.  Twelve million (12,000,000) ethnic Germans were expelled from their homelands in Eastern Europe (in comparison 725,000 Palestinians fled their homes in the 1948 Palestinian exodus and 300,000 more fled in the 1967 Palestinian exodus).  The Prague and Budapest freedom uprisings were brutally crushed during the Cold War and the West was helpless as those who sought their own liberation were slaughtered.

It took a reformist government in Moscow, an anti-Communist alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States, and a Polish pope to finally free Eastern Europe in the late 1980s.  Fortunately this delayed liberation saw very little bloodshed.

Victory against Nazi Germany was a great stepping stone in the long war to free Europe from tyranny   But it was not the end.  While I can feel good about the defeat of side of evil, I cannot forget a second evil merely took over from the first.

The Half (Ignored/Overlooked) Circle of the World

From i09:

About half the world's population live in this circle. Most of the world's Buddhist population and over 40 percent of all Muslims live within the circle as well.  Yet most world history books, while rightly giving detailed attention on the rises, advances, and falls of the Western and Mediterranean civilizations, usually only pay passing reference to Indian and Chinese history.

Zooniverse: Crowd Sourcing Exploration and Science

After Hurricane Sandy there was an effort to crowd source aerial imagery of the damage in order to help FEMA focus on places which needed the aid the quickest.  The effort allowed the public to be disaster response geographers.

Now, the public can be ocean floor explorers, astronomers studying galaxies, archaeologists studying ancient languages, historic climate moldelers, and so much more via Zooniverse.  Zooniverse is a partnership program hosting these studies.  Help out when you can, get a class involved if you are a teacher, and experience the joy of discovery as you help out real science projects.