If a picture is worth a thousand words, a map is worth ten thousand. Maps illuminate the world and its intricacies, highlighting interesting trends across the world. I love maps because they can often give a quick snapshot of complicated numbers or situations, showing statistics clearly in a way that’s easy to understand. These are my 10 favorite world maps, each of which comments on the economical, political, or …
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is in a state of constant war, fighting just about everybody in the region. While under siege from an American led bombing coalition ISIS has suffered major battlefield defeats such as the fall of Tikrit in central Iraq, but yet continues to improvise and gain ground in other parts of the country. Islamic fighters in Yemen, Libya, and Nigeria have pledged …
Sparta was the world’s first proto-fascist state, demanding absolute, lifelong loyalty and obedience from its citizens. Militaristic and fanatical, Spartan society was unique and unlike any culture before or since. Praised by Adolf Hitler as the “the first racialist state” worthy of admiration, Spartan society was brutal, merciless, and ruthless. It was organized for one exclusive purpose – crafting and maintaining a powerful, dependable military. From birth, Spartan citizens …
Recently, the Republic of Yemen has collapsed in a violent three way civil war between the government, Houthi rebels, and radical jihadists. A sizable country with 24 million people, Yemen is a strongly tribal nation split relatively evenly between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Located just south of Saudi Arabia, Yemen is a highly armed society – the country has the second most firearms per capita in the world, only …
Over the last year Ukraine has descended into a brutal civil war. Pitting Ukraine’s new pro-western government against pro-Russian rebels seeking closer integration with Russia, the conflict has left thousands dead and displaced over a million people. The presence of regular Russian troops fighting alongside the rebels has turned the tide, allowing the rebels to take territory across southeastern Ukraine.
The twenty pictures below tell the story of the …
North Korea’s concentration camps are one of the worst places on the planet. According to a recent UN investigation into the camps, the prisoners suffer extreme starvation, torture, and “unspeakable atrocities” comparable to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. An estimated 150,000 – 200,000 North Koreans are subjected to horrific abuse and mistreatment, forced to work long hours of hard physical labor every day. Political prisoners and their …
To fully understand the recent pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine, it’s essential to look into the origins of the conflict. While Putin’s militaristic administration has played a key role in shaping the conflict, much of the ongoing war in Ukraine is a result of Ukraine’s demography. Ukraine is a divided country, split between an ethnically Ukrainian northwest and a Russian-oriented southeast. Historically part of the Russian Empire, many of …
The Syrian Civil War is an ongoing armed conflict between the government forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar all-Assad and the Syrian rebels, organized into the Free Syrian Army. With the presence of ISIS, the war has become increasingly violent and chaotic as the multiple groups clash against each other, extracting a heavy toll on Syrian civilians. The fighting has left over 200,000 dead and 3.7 million refugees homeless …
While officially a democracy, the Russian Federation has been slowly sliding back towards authoritarianism under the guise of patriotism and nationalism. Vladimir Putin has reformed the Russian state, crafting a post-Soviet domineering regime that controls the media and suppresses dissent.
Putin after China didn’t back Russia’s invasion of Crimea
Putin’s United Russia party dominates Russian politics, occupying a majority of seats in the Duma, Russia’s parliament. Effectively able to …
The courageous Gran Sasso rescue of Mussolini during the midst of the allied invasion of Italy in World War II remains one of the most impressive and important rescue missions of all time.
Mussolini (center) after being successfully rescued
By 1942, Italy, a strategic ally of Germany, had been losing on all fronts. As American and British troops pushed up the Italian peninsula in 1943, the war weary government …
