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Drawing a Line in the Sand

(Toronto Globe and Mail) - Rami Khouri, editor of the Beirut Daily Star There are few areas in life where I have more knowledge than Colin Powell, but rearranging the political configuration of the Middle East is one of those areas. So, it is from experience that I offer the Secretary some advice: Avoid straight-line borders: The map of the Arab world is peculiar for having so many national borders that are straight lines, a phenomenon totally missing from, say, Europe, where countries emerged through a more natural process of historical evolution. Straight-line borders are typically the work of foreign mapmakers who don't know the area they are reconfiguring. Such borders tend to ignore local ethnic, religious and national realities, and usually lead to conflict years later. Seek balance among demography, geography, geology, and hydrology: The modern Middle East was largely configured by the British and French who sought to ensure their own colonial interests. Don't make promises you do not intend to keep: A major deficiency of the Anglo-French mapmaking exercise was that it was defined by instances of deceit, and did not treat all peoples in the region fairly.
2003-02-14 00:00:00
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