Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Israeli state conflict seem almost like a romantic, sepia-toned chapter of the Cold War and
Post Cold War, in which calculations of morality and strategic advantage were relatively
clear-cut.
Hodgson's Nile-to-Oxus essentially means Egypt to Central Asia, with Egypt as shorthand
for all of North Africa. This terminology comprises both the southern, desert-and-plains
component of the Middle East, which is Arab, and the northern mountainous tableland,
which is non-Arab, and which begins by the Black Sea and ends by the Indian Subcon-
tinent. The sprawling northern plateau region might also be dubbed Bosporus-to-Indus.
Bosporus-to-Indus has been heavily influenced by migrations from Central Asia; Nile-to-
Oxus by that, too, as well as by heavy sea traffic in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the
Indian Ocean. The fact that the Middle East is the intersection point of continents, with an
internal geography more intricate than any save Europe, but vaster and spread across twice
as many time zones as Europe, makes it necessary for the sake of this discussion to dis-
aggregate the region into constituent parts. Obviously, electronic communications and air
travel have overcome geography in recent times, so that crises are defined by political inter-
actions across the entire region. For example, the Israelis intercept a flotilla carrying relief
supplies for Gaza and crowds in Turkey, Iran, and throughout the Arab world are inflamed.
A fruit and vegetable vendor in south-central Tunisia immolates himself and not only does
Tunisia erupt in demonstrations against dictatorial rule, but also much of the Arab world.
Still, much can be discerned by studying the map and its inherent divisions.
When looking at a map of the Middle East, three geographical features stand out above
others: the Arabian Peninsula, the Iranian plateau, and the Anatolian land bridge.
The Arabian Peninsula is dominated by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, yet it also includes
other important countries. In fact, Saudi Arabia, with a population of only 28.7 million,
contains much less than half of all the peninsula's inhabitants. But Saudi Arabia's annual
population growth rate is nearly 2 percent: if that high rate continues, its population will
double in a few decades, putting enormous strain on resources, given that the country is
located on steppe-land and water-starved desert. Close to 40 percent of Saudis are under fif-
teen years of age. Forty percent of Saudi Arabia's young men are unemployed. The politic-
al pressures arising from such a young population for jobs and education will be immense.
Saudi Arabia's power derives not from the size of its population, which in fact is a liabil-
ity, but from the fact that it leads the world in oil reserves, with 262 billion barrels, and is
fourth in the world in natural gas reserves, with 240 trillion cubic feet.
The geographical cradle of the Saudi state, and of the extreme Sunni religious movement
known as Wahhabism associated with it, is Najd: an arid region in the center of the Arabian
