Issue 25

World

Silk Road

Good article from BBC travel on Sheki, Azerbaijan. A city on a branch of the Silk Road. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230816-sheki-the-caucasus-unsung-culture-capital
Valerie Hansen’s Silk Road: A New History. https://www.amazon.com/Silk-Road-New-History-ebook/dp/B008YGWQT0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MVGW9IQ046DT&keywords=valerie+hansen+silk+road&qid=1692451260&sprefix=valerie+hanso%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-1
Fruit from the Sands. A really excellent book by Robert N. Spengler. “The exchange of goods, ideas, cultural practices, and genes along these ancient routes extends back five thousand years, and organized trade along the Silk Road dates to at least Han Dynasty China in the second century BC.” https://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Sands-Silk-Origins-Foods-ebook/dp/B07R6WBKVC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1692452506&sr=1-2
UNESCO interactive map of the Silk Road: https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/silkroad-interactive-map
Great site by one couple exploring the Silk Roads with an interactive map and excellent content: https://www.intofarlands.com/silk-roads-map

Out of Eden Walk Thinking about the Silk Road reminded me of this epic adventure. Paul Salopek started walking in 2013 to retrace and tell the story of human’s path out of Africa. If you haven’t been exposed to his stories before, they are great. Well worth perusing. Good maps too.

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-walk/
On foot in the path of the Silk Road: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/foot-path-silk-road/

Null Island Story about one of our liminal places at lat/long 0, 0.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-05-04/maplab-inside-null-island-the-most-real-of-fictional-places?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTY5MjQ1NDgxNSwiZXhwIjoxNjkzMDU5NjE1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJSQkROMjZEV1gyUFUwMSIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDMjQyMDJGNjE2NzM0NUY1QTg0NEQxQTExRjE3MjNCMiJ9.zfH2haNpiCGsPAB0QlnHGbX0IoXVKcZ9csFyna7sIWA

Asia

US, Japan, and South Korea’s Camp David Summit. This is a very big deal geopolitically. President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea has taken an unpopular stance of rapprochement with Japan. Which for decades has been stuck on the genocidal behavior of Japan when it occupied Korea and during World War II. Will it help stabilize the area or provoke China further? Time will tell but I’m betting the former. In any event Biden deserves some high diplomatic kudos for this.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/18/us/biden-news-camp-david?unlocked_article_code=Xz1JEb_ZvHZtU3xQFBGT_GT6_1TALqawrQ7OZXdq21SymMYfcoH5Gzo0c7a-dAblxkcPTQAaWiYFs7jcbQUZ1nRLZw_JZ0_RNT1Q2qbYhnrRoSlHkEh5wMUMqpZDFTTNYP3WC4L9zK4wLqFSlKELpZzDl8emSesmqBiz0c79aIE8kMPPFrLWu5PRXQEpl4vjdZEnXAEJdB2nAmrS1Kp5MnQ0CJCPSEeOmKwFAU_aj74orCXMhrHH2igbwILZ9N2E3fGw3Yg7b2401mSWspOHbJj_gBperOD74Joj0TontudxfBqtuDoJHjkrGwoag-EIg8wAuFv73w0-Obcehx4gQC8esw&smid=url-share