ED 262 KCKCC Sp '24

The two Koreas are polar opposites literally, North and South. The Korean war that took place some 68 years ago never formally ended because they could not come to peace agreements. So the border between North and South Korea known as the DMZ is the most heavily fortified border in the world because tensions still run high. The DMZ is the cease fire line. Both sides fear invasion, however in the current state of things it seems as if the North is more aggressive towards invasion that the South, as the South has found some secret tunnels and fear there's more by the North Koreans. Economically the North is severely behind in the world because of there dictators. While the South has become an economic Tiger thanks to the UN and USA trying to promote democracy in the area.

The two Koreas are a great example of how Capitalism, Democracy, and liberty are far better than Communism. Just the difference in light visible from satellites at night in the two countries speaks volumes. The war being technically not over and only under cease-fire always leaves that chance for the conflict to reopen. Though today they are taking major steps toward peace and making moves that have never been done before. The amount of famine and overall  sub quality of life in North Korea is mind blowing, and with much of it kept secret its hard to imagine how bad it really is.

For the two Korean nations, there are stark contrasts in the standard of living and wealth of the people. While the Korean war began in the 1950's it never formally ended a ceasefire was called and has just not flared up in a massive battle again. The two nations are uneasy with each other having different ideas for what Korea should be, but both nations do want a joint Korea. Looking at a map of the energy consumption by the two nations there is a line between those who have it and those who do not. These two have shown solidarity as well in the Olympics joining as one nation, but tensions will continue to flare for a long time.

This article connects to geography because it shows the importance of the physical geography of a country when it comes to natural defense from invaders. Russia, from at least the south and southeast, are very hard to invade. This is thanks to Ivan the Terrible, who expanded the territory of Russia and gained better natural barriers such as to the east to the Ural Mountains, south to the Caspian Sea, and north toward the Arctic Circle. Now, Russia needs to figure out how to control the flatlands to the west, which is why Putin wishes there were mountains east to the Ukraine.

Russia's geographic situation appears to greatly influence, perhaps even determine, the Russian state's political behavior. The world's largest territorial country has a number of geographic disadvantages that have caused Russia to act aggressively in securing its territory. Firstly, it lacks warm-water sea ports as the ones it has access to in the Arctic Ocean freeze for long periods of time. The area of their Pacific Ocean seaport has been commercially dominated by Japan. Secondly, Russia extends across an open European plain which is largely unguarded to the south and southeast of Eurasia. Similar to its southeast region, Russia's western front has few if any natural defenses leaving it wide open to European encroachment. The only natural barriers Russia has going for it are the Ural Mountains cutting down the middle of Russia, the Arctic to the north, and its territorial vastness along with a harsh, cold climate that makes foreign invasion challenging - but not impossible. Geographically then, Russia is highly insecure. Seeing itself as a major world power, Russia struggles to access the sea for trade and is unnerved by its massive open border. This explains why Moscow was very pleased with a pro-Russian government in Kiev but became extremely nervous when Ukraine toppled its government selecting a pro-Western, NATO-loving administration. Even if NATO and the EU did not intent to directly confront Russia, the two organizations certainly planned to transform Ukraine and influence the region - leaving Russia feeling exposed. Despite its aggressive nature, Russia went on the "defensive" and annexed Crimea in order to secure its coveted seaport while also locking down a buffer zone between itself and the West who could march through Ukraine. It was surely brazen and unethical, but the geography explains the logic behind Putin's move.  

This infograph is fun to play with and it shows who like who and who hates who in the middle east. it is interesting when you only look at the "love" reationships and realize how many nations don't have any. Though there are nations that  have no "love" relationships every one, but Oman, has at least two hate relationships, this is a great learning tool. 

In geography it is important to understand what countries are enemies, what countries are alibis, and what countries have strained relationships. Without this knowledge, you really are left clueless to important relationships or causes to wars, or how each place affects another economy, politics, etc.

This chart is interesting, in that it shows the complex webbing of how each region is back by a certain country. It such a mess that trying to view this chart is such an eye sore, which is exactly how this region is, just a huge mess of a spider's web.