Imperialism
Splitting the Difference
“Split the difference” is My Own True Love’s favorite way to solve a difference of opinion. It’s a pretty effective tactic when you’re negotiating a contract, eyeing the last piece of pie, or deciding what time you need to leave the house to catch a 6:00 AM flight. Win-win. When it comes to settling geopolitical…
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Who made the map of the modern Middle East?
The simple answer is: Great Britain. You want the long version? In The Makers of the Modern Middle East historians T.G. Fraser, Andrew Mango, and Robert McNamara tell the story of how today’s Middle East was created from the remains of the Ottoman Empire during the peace negotiations at the end of the First World…
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Déjà Vu All Over Again?: Attack on the British Garrison in Kabul, 1879
As I believe I’ve mentioned before, the British government in India was always paranoid about the possibility of Russian influence on the northern border of Afghanistan. (Some of the most paranoid even thought the Russians were behind the Indian Mutiny of 1857. *) In 1878, the amir of Afghanistan pushed British buttons when he accepted…
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