The geopolitical showdown is already growing beyond the Earth.
(Photo: Colourbox.com)
Dusseldorf If you set up a sovereign colony on the moon, are you a colonialist? Well, I guess it all depends. The decisive factor is how other countries evaluate your initiative. If you lack the approval of the rest of the world, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency, finds clear words. Then it is an “invasion”. And in order to leave no doubt as to what follows, he stresses that it could quickly become “an Afghanistan or a new Iraq”.
“Welcome to the 21st-century 1920s,” Marshall writes in his most recent book, The Power of Geography in the 21st Century. In the subtitle he reveals his methodical approach. Using ten maps in ten chapters, he wants to explain to his readers today’s politics and the crises of the future – not exactly a modest approach.
But Marshall isn’t just a celebrated author. As a foreign correspondent for the BBC or Sky News television channels, for example, he reported from more than 40 countries around the world and faced numerous critical situations in crisis areas around the world, even for a reporter.
In his new book, he lets his readers look at a world in which the Cold War era, with its neatly divided power structure, is a distant memory. Today, the balance of power is much more confusing – as can be observed in the Ukraine conflict.
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In the Middle East, Iran’s “mighty fortress” and “its nemesis Saudi Arabia face each other in the Persian Gulf.” In the Indo-Pacific, Australia sees itself caught between the great powers USA and China, in the Mediterranean Greece and Turkey are in a permanent conflict, and the living conditions in the Sahel also influence European domestic politics, at the latest when the streams of refugees start moving.
Tim Marshall: The Power of Geography in the 21st Century.
Translation: Lutz W. Wolff.
dtv publishing company
Munich 2021
416 pages
24 euros
But while politicians come and go, there are underlying conditions around the world that are unchanging. It is therefore worthwhile to delve into maps guided by Marshall in the course of the book, to carefully observe the course of mountains, rivers, seas, but also airports, pipelines or railways. For it is precisely in this geography, the author argues, that the great international conflicts of the 21st century are already present today.
Marshall isn’t a hardliner in his arguments about the focus on geography. At least as informative and sometimes entertaining are his excursions into the history and politics of individual nations.
Traditional maps emphasize the separation of the British Isles from the rest of Europe. Marshall takes a slightly different perspective. Then the strategic position of the United Kingdom appears in a different perspective.
(Photo: dtv)
His starting point, however, remains strikingly clear – to look at a country in relation to its neighbors, sea routes, mineral resources and other resources. In this way, the author provides a global overview and also offers food for thought for conflict resolution.
With all of this, it is unfortunate that the individual cards in the book come across as a little carelessly as small, gray sketches. Any school atlas would be a better basis for understanding. A somewhat more detailed, colored implementation of the map material would have been desirable.
Potential for conflict in space
Nevertheless, it is also worth taking a closer look at one of the most unusual maps in the final chapter of the book – briefly entitled “Outer Space”. The insight into the individual so-called “earth orbits”, the areas divided by kilometers from the earth to the moon, is interesting. These are the coveted orbits for satellites, among other things.
It doesn’t take much imagination to imagine how much potential for conflict is lurking up there in a space that is still largely unregulated by law – especially since private companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX are also involved in addition to states.
International space agencies with launch opportunities
(Photo: dtv)
An even more ominous feeling creeps in when Marshall brings up the vast resources in space. The endless expanses of space, for example, lure with asteroid 3554 Amun. It alone is made up of approximately $20 trillion worth of nickel, cobalt, iron and other metals.
The danger situation is thus quickly outlined. Marshall urges everyone to let everyone on earth benefit from the wealth of space and not to try to salvage the treasures in competition. That this is a good idea should have become clear after the final chapter at the latest.
More: Taiwan’s pretty best friends: US, Australia and Japan warn China against invasion