Geography models civilization. Sarah Paine introduced me to continental geography, Elephants and Whales (thanks @flyerboys). George Friedman covers regional geography. The Duke of Wellington took advantage of local terrain to defeat Napoleon. The Russian Winter also defeated Napoleon and Hitler. It’s all about the lay of the land and the sea.
A very long time ago the Near East or Levant as its also called was described as the Crossroad of Civilizations.
TEACHER GUIDE
Crossroads of Civilization: Ancient Worlds of the Near East and Mediterranean
The land now called Palestine or Israel has been crisscrossed by all the civilizations of the vicinity including Egypt, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Romans, Persians, Macedonians, the Sea People, Phoenicians, Arameans, Canaanites, Arabs, Ottomans, Crusaders, and much earlier by humans leaving Africa to populate the rest of the world. I forgot to mention my forebears, the Israelites, at various times.
To expect peace in the region is a pipe dream, peaceful coexistence is probably the best one can hope for. Since survival is the primary objective of life don’t be surprised by the reaction to violence, clash to the death…
Notice that absence of geography in the otherwise excellent GoodFellows presentation. Had they been influenced by Sarah Paine and George Friedman, would they have come up with different ideas? Or is short-termism politics (elections) the most important driver?
Notice that absence of geography in the otherwise excellent GoodFellows presentation. Had they been influenced by Sarah Paine and George Friedman, would they have come up with different ideas? Or is short-termism politics (elections) the most important driver?
It’s not a matter of finding a single immutable “truth.” i.e. What is right? None of these people are or can be “knowing” in any sense. They simply look at what’s there, come to some conclusion, usually driven and created by what they wish to believe or simply to be contrarian for lecture income purposes, spin their tale, make their case and people buy it or not.
Geography, politics, short & long, relationships, long and short, weather, customs, religion, random chances. It’s all of these things and different things at different times.
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Researchers have long known the Middle East was a busy crossroads for modern humans and Neanderthals. Although fossils of modern humans in Israel date back 130,000 years, recognizable Neanderthals don’t show up in the fossil record of the region until about 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. Both fossils and ancient DNA have suggested Neanderthals arose more than 400,000 years ago in Europe and spread later into the Middle East, where they likely met and mated with modern humans who had migrated out of Africa. [end quote]
That’s a fair assessment! I confess that I side with their slant on things. As long as we can debate our differences that’s just fine. It’s when we have to kill to protect our ideologies that there is a problem.
Spot on! It seems that after humans left Africa some returned.
