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Marshall is not very good at writing about history and it is painful to trudge through those middle sections. He clearly attempts to be "impartial" but because he gives attention to certain areas and skips over others, he falls on his arse.
The history of the world is the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." - Sir Humphrey Appleby, Yes, Prime Minister Which is another way of saying that we don’t always accept the topographies we inherit. The world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, sprouts from Dubai, which was for centuries an unpromising fishing village surrounded by desert and salt flats. Little about its relief map destined it for greatness. Its climate is sweltering and oil sales, though once substantial, now account for less than 1% of the emirate’s economy. If there’s something distinctive about Dubai, it is its legal landscape, not its physical one. The emirate isn’t governed by a single lawbook but is chopped up into free zones – Dubai Internet City, Dubai Knowledge Park and International Humanitarian City among them – designed to attract various foreign interests. The Dubai desert is essentially “a huge circuit board”, the urban theorist Mike Davis once wrote, to which global capital can easily connect.
Book Detail :
The noted conservative economist delivers arguments both fiscal and political against social justice initiatives such as welfare and a federal minimum wage. Now, in this revelatory new book, Marshall takes us into ten regions that are set to shape global politics and power. Find out why the Earth’s atmosphere is the world’s next battleground; why the fight for the Pacific is just beginning; and why Europe’s next refugee crisis is closer than we think. Where Prisoners was almost solely the influence of physical geography, The Power of Geography is almost exclusively human geography (see also: history) and I am personally more of a fan of the former.
Iran is another country with interesting geopolitical concerns as it needs to access the seas to exports its lucrative oil reserves. Most of its oilfields are towards the country’s south, with some gas fields near the Persian Gulf. Iran exports these commodities to international markets through the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait is tight at its narrowest part. This enables Iran to muscle significant influence in the region as countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait need the Strait to export their commodities to access the Arabian Sea. Iran uses this chokepoint to gain influence and focuses its navy in the Strait. As a result, part of the geopolitical struggle in the Middle East is not just based on religious divides but just as much on geopolitical power and exporting oil.The book opens with a chapter on Australia. As an Australian I found it quite interesting reading a perspective on my country and people... “Now Australia looks around at its neighbourhood and wonders what role it should play, and whom it should play it with”... “Australia’s size and location are both it’s strength and its weakness...”
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