Mapping and global politics became vital to nations since
humans start to organize themselves as a sovereignty. Before human civilization came to existence
men do not quarrel for land ownership and national borders. But after civilization men start to group
themselves by tribes and each tribes select their own leader to lead the group,
feudal conflict starts and political negotiations between groups start as
well. As what I’ve discussed in my
previous blog article “The Origins and Decay of Political Order; The Fukuyama
Way” that feudal stage of civilization is the start of political negotiation in
terms of national borders and sovereignty.
Even in my International Business class national sovereignty is an
important role of every government official or even a normal citizen to defend
the rights of his or her homeland. In
that case, during and after the exploration era of the people from Europe to
Asia and Africa and the Chinese explored the US soil before the British came to
America, free flow of travel is not that strict at that time were one explorer
like Columbus or Magellan can just land in Leyte and proclaim the Island
Philippines. At present you cannot do
that to any country in the world.
National Sovereignty is highly followed in accordance to the UNCLOS of
the UN. But let me try to bring your
thoughts during the time when American is still in its renaissance time when
the British Empire came to America but the power of France and Kingdom Spain is
also exploring the vast lands of the new world.
The book of Tim Marshall “Prisoners of Geography” depicts
the major countries of the world that occupy almost half the continent of the
world. Russia is one of the country that
owns almost all seasons consider the many climate seasons from the different
area of responsibility across the Russian Archipelago. And America is also one of the countries
aside from China and India that occupies huge part of the earth’s land
area. Ownership of land area signifies
in terms of diplomacy as power and dominance against other countries. Likewise, Singapore, Japan, and Hongkong
disprove that notion by showing their dominance in diplomacy in terms of their
wealth power in terms of world trading.
Just like Singapore, the land area of Singapore is so small compared to
its performance in the world business trading.
Tim Marshall (Author)
TIM MARSHALL’s VIEW OF AMERICA
Before America became a composition of states, the struggle
of the early settlers in America did not achieve America today for free. The explorers from England came and fight
with the natives of America the American Indians. American Indians actually owned American not
the British explorers who came seeking for the new world. The injustice that the explorer gave to the
native Indians made the native Indians extinct. Swords versus gun powder will
surely secure the new world and the land of the free. From the east coast plain leading to the
Appalachian Mountains and the Great Plains of the west stretching all the way to
the Rocky Mountains and within the sections of the Mississippi basin and in the
north above the great lakes of Canada lies the shield of the world’s largest Precambrian rock.
In the gulf of Mexico near the peninsula of
Florida and some islands and less to forget the Sierra Nevada Mountains rolling
to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The
vast land area power of America showed no remorse to the power of the great “bear”
Russia. World leaders before and after civilization are in a fever of owning vast
land area. Many studies from many human
behavior researcher showed that human beings always want to have bigger
space. Naturally humans’ crave for more
land area, which is why more land area of a country connotes power and
dominance in International superiority in terms of the many areas of
civilization. Looking backwards during
the time of Alexander the great, Alexander is addicted with his power to invade
kingdoms in Persia and many lands in Euro Asia.
Until his death he is still at work with his military invading more
lands. On the contrary the French,
Spanish, and the British are in a military dilemma of invading the land of California
at that time. The Mexican settlers at
that time was vastly colonized by the Spanish culture that the British
colonizer cannot penetrate the hearts of the mexicanos. The legend of Zorro is famous showing the
struggle of the democracy of the people against the land developers from
England and France. During the Mexican
war 1846-48 the lands of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and part of Colorado became a
part of the colorful tale and love story of the legendary Zorro.
GOLD RUSH
During 1848-49 the gold rush in California creates more
reason for settlers to defend their land granting that California will give
them more economic future for their civilization. Thus the Zorro story is a
treasured story from the past that even the present Americans of today created
movies in Hollywood depicting the freedom and democracy of the people of New
Mexico.
At present America is still in a steroid of invading lands
in the Pacific and the Africas using the cloak of democracy. This cloak of democracy gave America more
reason to invade a nation not by means of aggression but by means of being
ally. During the time of the Pacific War
(World War 2) Japan who is very aggressive in invading lands in indo china get
a lesser political appreciation from the neighboring islands in the pacific.
Islands like Hawaii, Guam, and Palau are the islands that until today America
owned its sovereignty. The Soviet,
China, Japan, and The British did not owned Hawaii but US does. The power of democracy creeping the political
system of the countries in the pacific is like a political lingua franca that
citizens in the pacific can’t live without it.
It is like an addiction of facebook and google search engine that my
students always use whenever I gave some random questions in class.
Suave Zorro in Tango and Paso Doble
Indeed, the theories of Tim Marshall in his
book prisoners of geography proves that geopolitical invasion is still existing
at this very moment with many different façade.
China also show its power through their economic dominance and vast
money printing. Their economic pump-up
allow the European countries and the US to borrow monetary funds for the
national consumption considering the economic bubble that happened in
2008. But still America dominates in
their soft invasion using the democratic cloak of geopolitical diplomacy. With this kind of diplomacy it is easier for
America to rally allies in the UN negotiation table outweighing many other
countries in terms of voting capacity.
Thus the book of Simon Sebag Jerusalem shows the geopolitical tag of war
in Israel since World War 1 until today with the controversial statement issue
of Donald Trump. In my previous blog
Jerusalem the Cross Roads of Religion shows how geopolitical conflicts can
create great divide among humans. Thus,
the book of Peter Frankopan show us a glimpse of hope in terms of geopolitical
integration. From the visions of Mask of
Zorro to the comment of Donald Trump against the Jerusalem geopolitical conflict,
America is still searching for greener pastures. Why does America cannot get
over with its diplomatic negotiation with Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and other
African countries? Likewise Russia is still at the back of the political scene
when Syria needs its assistance to protect their sovereignty and America
supported the rebels of Syria. Still the
tag of geopolitical war is still fresh to the minds of the world leaders of
today. What do you think would be the future of our International geopolitical
setup? Do you think it will get worst?
"In Riding a Horse we borrow Freedom " (Helen Thompson)
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