The Washington Independent » geography

Mohammed Moved the Mountain But Fox News Redraws the Map of the Region

Spencer Ackerman — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:02:37 +0000

By 1916, the allies had opened up the Arabian Peninsula as a front in the First World War by convincing the Arabian tribes that Britain and France supported their independence from the Ottoman Empire. From deep behind Ottoman lines, the revolt kindled by legendary British officer T.E. Lawrence disrupted Ottoman supply lines and forced the German-allied empire to defend its rear. Little did the Arabs know that in secret, the British and the French had already conspired in secret to redraw the map of the Middle East between them. Known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, the accord laid the terms for apportioning the Ottoman-controlled Mideast into British and French spheres of influence, and until this week, it stood as one of the most seminal events in the history of the region.

But now Fox News has topped it:

Progressives have long suspected Fox News of desiring to redraw the map of the region, but few thought the network would ever succeed. At least it’s not like the United States ever actually spent six and a half years at war in Iraq, because if so, this kind of mistake would be embarrassing.

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Palin’s Geography Lesson

Aaron Wiener — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:35:11 +0000

In her interview with Katie Couric, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin again points to her state’s proximity to Russia as evidence of her national security cred. She offers, “As Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border.”

But a glance at a globe shows how misdirected this claim is. No flight from Moscow to Washington would go anywhere near Alaska — they fly over the Atlantic. Take a look at Delta’s flight routes to Moscow. Even flights from San Francisco go over the Atlantic:

To confirm, I plugged some numbers into MapCrow. Sure enough, the transatlantic route from Washington to Moscow is just 4,857 miles. A flight from Washington to Provideniya, Siberia (the closest Russian city to Alaska) is 4,007 miles — and then it’s an additional 3,973 miles to Moscow.

So the Palin route is nearly twice as long as the logical route.

And Palin’s claim that you can see Russia from Alaska is dubious. On a clear day, you can see one sparsely populated Russian island from one sparsely populated Alaskan island.

But it’s OK if her geography’s a little weak — Laura Bush says the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee is a quick study.