Me too, Betsy. I am deeply ashamed.

I had an atlas phase when I was a kid. Some of it's stuck. (So really you can't blame me for the stans, because when I was a kid they were all part of the Big Red Blob.)

I did much better on Africa and the nearer countries. Out past Turkey I had no idea.

Also, we had map quizzes in my college Intro to the Middle East course.

Great course. Had the professor as my preceptor, lovely man, spent real time on our essays. Also featured my favorite "we live in different worlds, don't we?" moment ever. There were two women from Turkey in my precept, and during the week that we spent on Turkey we discussed, among other things, the rise in Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East and whether they thought that was likely to happen in Turkey. (This was, um, 1994 or 1995.) They said that they weren't worried about it, because if it did the Army would just stage a coup and everything would be fine.

(So really you can't blame me for the stans, because when I was a kid they were all part of the Big Red Blob.)

Yup. The breakup of the Soviet Union cost Montessori schools a *fortune* in maps. (They have kids trace around little wooden countries and put them together into paper maps. They used to have one big USSR block. Now, not so much.)

MiniMeara....but it's not quite 1.30am yet, so I've got a few minutes before bedtime.

How to feel really, really ignorant:

Oh, boy. You so aren't kidding. Oh, the shame. Although at least I knew I was crap at Geography. But still - the shame.

Scott Hope is gay and now on Queer as Folk !!

wrod to the CwDP shoutoutiness. Nice touch, writer dudes!

Stereotype much. Hillbillies get satellite too.

Re: the Romanian example I cited - I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear there, Zoe. As Jim suggested , I didn't mean to imply that rural Americans didn't get satellite, or weren't aware of US culture. I appreciate that the description of peasant life may have sounded stereotypical and perhaps reductive, so I should explain that I cited the Romanian peasants (with scythes et al) because that's the only first-hand example I've had of seeing the weird juxtaposition of US television shows piped via satellite into a setting which was in most other respects medieval. (I'd been helping, albeit with more enthusiasm than skill, with the scything of grass a few minutes before, and was presented with milk fresh from the cow. And in the background there was A.L.F. chattering away, dubbed into Romanian. Odd.) But I'm well aware that this isn't the way all (or indeed most) Romanians live, and I apologise if I've given the impression that it is.

FayJay, you know people are using the phrase “United States of Europe” with a straight face now yes?

I hadn't heard this, I must confess.

The pressing need to do NOTHING AGAINST SADDAM. Monarchs / ultimate rulers / dictators NOT a new concept here

I can sympathise with this stance.

Oh, FayJay Re: European Union. The Queen of England is in a strong position here what with Germany being all dominaty.

I didn't really understand this, but I think maybe you're being tongue-in-cheek? Because I don't think - although I'm not an expert on EU politics by any means - that Germany's familial ties with the House of Hanover Windsor give us any real leverage with them.

Things got a little heated here, and I think perhaps it's partly because of misunderstandings. Again, and I realise this sounds obnoxious, Zoe, but I do find many of your posts opaque, and sometimes brusque. I get the impression that some others do as well, and perhaps that leads to frayed tempers on both sides. However, although I agreed with the bulk of Jim ET's post, I can quite appreciate that you'd feel that "In a pig's arse" was a combative response to your own post, and I can understand why your tone was modulated accordingly.

On the other hand, the administration's plan, says Marshall, is "to use U.S. military force, or the threat of it, to reform or topple virtually every regime in the region, from foes like Syria to friends like Egypt, on the theory that it is the undemocratic nature of these regimes that ultimately breeds terrorism."

Good God Almighty. Okay, this is scary. Might it not be a jolly good idea to take a look at all the countries in the world which have terrorist problems, before deciding that A+B=C? Because imperialistic restructuring of how a host of other countries works doesn't strike me as liable to be The Way Forwards in terms of rendering terrorism unappealing.

Seriously - I found Colin Powell's threats to Syria and Iran (on the TV) chilling. Right up there with that insert expletive of your choice gentleman who announced the commencement of war with "It's Hammer Time." Because there's nothing quite like having the people in charge of making decisions quoting 80s pop stars to make you feel like they're taking things seriously.

For me the African ones weren't that bad, but the 'stans and a few others I had switched around.

Seriously - I found Colin Powell's threats to Syria and Iran (on the TV) chilling.

Oh god, yes. I think that was the point when I started to get really scared, rather than just (just!) heartsick.

And now Syria have announced that if they have to be with us or against us, they're with Iraq. Nice work, Mr. Powell, sir!

I should maybe point out that that may not be the administration's actual plan, but is what Joshua Micah Marshall was writing about in Washington Monthly.