[Marxism] Re: Taiwan and Kuwait ... and Goa (3)

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I left this first sentence out of the Encarta article on Iraq. Here it
is with the rest of my original selection.

My emphasis is that Britain devised this geographical structure,
allowing only a castrated port for the Turkey dominated Mesopotamia,
while holding Shatt al Arab, the mouth of the Tigris-Euphrates for
itself, i.e., its dependency--Kuwait.

Brian Shannon
_________________

(3)
Iraq is situated at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf. Its coastline
along the gulf is only 30 km (19 mi) long. ITS ONLY PORT ON THE GULF,
UMM QASR, is small and located on shallow water, and ONLY SMALL CRAFT
CAN DOCK THERE. Thus, the country is nearly landlocked.

Present-day Iraq occupies the greater part of the ancient land of
Mesopotamia, the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The two
rivers flow through Iraq from northwest to southeast. THEY MEET 160 km
(100 mi) north of the Persian Gulf to form the Shatt al Arab, WHICH
DRAINS INTO THE GULF.  The chief tributaries of the Tigris are the
Great Zab, the Little Zab, and the Diy~{(!~}l~{("~} rivers. Level terrain
separates the Tigris and the Euphrates in their lower courses. In
ancient times the two rivers were joined by a network of canals and
irrigation ditches, which directed the water of the higher-lying and
more westerly Euphrates across the valley into the Tigris. In modern
times irrigation canals remain important, and the Iraqi government has
built a series of dams on the Tigris and Euphrates for irrigation and
for flood control.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567303/Iraq.html



_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism