Saw the Peters article when it came out. Too goofy to merit a link from me but Coming Anarchy, which favors geography-related pieces, did..

Some time ago, Ralph Peters, who still enjoys a formidible reputation in military circles, departed from serious commentary in favor of writing shock op-eds. Some value in shaking up complacency but not a prescription for policy.

He has done the same over-the-top shtick on U.S. military doctrine, Iraq and several other subjects.

yeah, I remember how safe he said Baghdad was (driving through the streets in an APC column - not stopping for anything). Also said journalists were cowards or something, never mind a record number have been killed there.

I'm not so sure about Kurdish nationalism being an invention, though. Don't know about the Baluch.

All nationalisms are inventions, packaged and sold, mate. All of them.

The ethnic nationalism of the Kurds and others is of very recent vintage. Whatever the pious Wilsonian mumblings of ignoramuses would have it in the West.

I think Peters is missing (or maybe not?) how nations are forged in blood most of the time. Simply because nationalism is born out of shared suffering and strife - it's definition by opposition. Canada evidently became a nation when they fought and defeated the Americans way back when. My guess is, ignorant though I am, that if Turks had been more accomodating toward Kurds, the south-east of Turkey wouldn't be so bad a place.

As in, pressure produces counter-pressure.

I think language is a huge factor in shaping identity. Hence Quebec, and Belgium, and Kurds as well. But identity is not the same as nationalism.

I think language is a huge factor in shaping identity.

Yes, or manufacturing one for the purposes of exclusion or confrontation with another group.

Canada has always had identity issues because it never had a solid nation-myth. Defeating the US isn't really a defining moment, more something to smirk about.

I do think Canada (ex. Quebec) and the US emphasize principles/civic duty more than shared language or ethnicity. Quebec, tellingly, has focused on language rather than ethnic Frenchness to define its identity because a platform based on ethnicity would not fly.

"Goofy" is a good word for it. I started listing all the problems with those borders, but then I realized what I was doing. It doesn't even make for a good thought experiment, given the frequent contradictions in Peter's reasoning and intentions.

It did make me think about what a modern, loose Islamic confederation might be like. And reminded me of this map.

"Canada has always had identity issues because it never had a solid nation-myth.

Along with being blessed with a considerable inferiority complex.

Pissing on the US is a longstanding political tradition in Canada, esp since Peace, Order and Good Government isn't a very sexy motto.

However, I would observe that the more recent urge to be distinct from the US has more to do with avoiding the fallout from bad American policy, not identity crises.

mm-hm. The most lefty lefties I've encountered have been Canadians. For that matter, American academics generally take left-leaning postmodernism beyond the ridiculous. I think it may be a reaction to the machos in the US. Reminds me of when a Brit friend theorized the youth music of Britain is a reaction to the blokeyness of the rest of society.

um, enough about Canada. What Dickey is saying is that the perceived national boundaries of MENA were an imperialist invention, yes? That the nation idea is a European idea, unhappily forced upon Africa and the Middle East. And that Peters is simply continuing that line of thought.

My little negative theory is simply that without conflict, people are lost for identity. But that applies to some more than others. (Hence, dedicated patriots and nationalists are those most hateful of whomever the enemy is. They need the conflict.) The pressure the Kurds have been subjected to was bound to create Kurdish separatism sooner or later. Like ETA is a product of Fascist Spain's oppression, and IRA of anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland.