Reading Blog

1 Geography of the Middle East

Geography of the Middle East Geography of Middle East - 12648 - ENVI 423 - 003, classroom section, Science 0173, ISU, spring (January 06, 2014 - May 02, 2014)

Foundational Studies (Integrative Upper-Division Electives)

Course Instructor: Dr. Mohamed Elyassini, Department of Earth and Environmental Systems, Science 159J, Office Hours: TR 11-12 pm,

Phone: 2253; Email: [email protected]; Website: http://faculty.indstate.edu/melyassini/

Course Description: Environmental and cultural patterns of the Middle East, with emphasis on strategic location, significance in world

history, Islamic culture, water and energy resources, and evolving geopolitics and conflicts.

Course Goals and Organization: Geography is an interdisciplinary field of study straddling nature and [manmade] culture. It integrates &

synthesizes a whole range of academic disciplines and intellectual approaches to gain knowledge. Geography of the Middle East is focused

on training students to interpret selected environmental & cultural Middle East Geography patterns & issues of our time. First, the course

emphasizes the region’s (1) strategic location, (2) significance in world history, (3) Islamic culture, (4) water & energy so urces, and (5)

evolving geopolitics & conflicts. Second, the course involves interdisciplinary learning about the environment, history, religion, language,

economics, politics & international relations. Third, the course is grounded in a critical thinking approach designed to identify, describe,

explain, and try to solve specific Middle East problems. The thematic-regional focus, interdisciplinary perspective, and critical thinking

approach are designed to ensure that the students will be able to (1) analyze problems, (2) think critically and creatively, (3) integrate a

variety of approaches to gain knowledge, (4) recognize the ethical, social & cultural implications of issues, and (5) communicate

professionally, persuasively, and effectively. The course fulfills the Foundational Studies (Integrative Upper-Division Electives) course

requirements at Indiana State University. The course is organized around the following five topics:

Topic 1: Global Geopolitics of the Middle East. Topic 1 introduces students to the region and its global connections. It examines the

nomenclature and delimitation of the region, its distinctive tri-continental junction, its major strategic waterways, its cultural significance (as

the birthplace of monotheism and the cradle of civilization), its petroleum and natural gas resources, its relations with the United States (the

region straddles the USCENTCOM, USEUCOM, and USAFRICOM combatant commands), and its so-called “Arab spring.” See Blackboard

for assignments & deadlines, which are part of this syllabus.

Topic 2: Geography of water and energy resources. Topic 2 examines (1) Environmental patterns (mountain ranges, desert environments,

major river systems), (2) Cultural patterns (ethno-linguistic groups, languages, religions, historical geography, British conquest of Palestine

and promise to make it a homeland for world Jewry), (3) Water resources and water conflicts, (4) OPEC and oil reserves, production,

competitive production cost, politics, geopolitics and prices, (5) U.S. dependence on net petroleum imports, and (6) the critical question of

"Who gets what from Middle East oil?" See Blackboard for assignments & deadlines, which are part of this syllabus.

Topic 3: Geography of Islam’s Cultural Unity and Political Diversity. Topic 3 focuses on (1) The Quran, (2) Prophet Muhammad, and (3)

The Five Pillars of Islam. The main goal is to understand some aspects of Muslims' culture, behavior, and politics as far as they can be

grounded in Islamic rituals, Islamic scriptures, and Islamic prophet. See Blackboard for assignments & deadlines, which are part of this

syllabus.

Topic 4: Geography of the Palestine-Israel Conflict and the United States. Topic 4 aims at helping students (1) understand the gravity of

the Palestine-Israel conflict, (2) identify and articulate the central problem of the conflict, (3) describe the manifestations and consequences of

the conflict, (4) explain the roots and causes of the conflict, (5) analyze how Israel embroils the United States into the co nflict, and (6)

identify and discuss a fair and peaceful solution to the conflict. See Blackboard for assignments & deadlines, which are part of this syllabus.

Topic 5: Geographies of War, Occupation, Resistance, and Terrorism. Topic 5 presents (1) the basic geography of Iraq and the

background to the Iraq war (the Palestine-Israel Conflict, the American-Soviet Cold War, the American-Vietnam War, the Soviet-Afghan

War, the 1991 Gulf war, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks), (2) the “what” of the Iraq war (human/economic/moral cost of the war), (3) the “who”

and the “why” of the Iraq war (weapons of mass destruction/al-Qaida/democracy/oil/Israel/Gulf states), and (4) the consequences &

ramifications of the Iraq war of 2003, including NATO-GCC’s devastating war on Libya in 2011, NATO-GCC’s continued involvement in

the war on Syria since 2011, and the [November 24, 2013] Interim nuclear agreement between Iran and six powers (all aimed at undermining

and weakening the Palestinian-Lebanese-Syrian-Iranian axis of resistance to Israel’s occupation of Palestine). See Blackboard for

assignments & deadlines, which are part of this syllabus.

Course Assignments and Grading: You are given the opportunity to earn up to 20 extra credit points (20% of the final grade) in this course.

Course assignments include: five short multiple choice exams (worth 75 points, 15 points each), four short homework assignments (worth 20

points, 5 points each), one critical thinking paper (worth 15 points), and five short blog posts (worth 10 points, 2 points each). To take into

account the 20 extra credits points, your final Total score (obtained out of 120 points) will be counted over 100 points. Each short exam

consists of 15 multiple choice questions focused on the core issues covered under the assigned (1) online and textbook readings, (2)

PowerPoint slides, (3) videos/video synopses, and (4) current issues in the news announcements. Homework and blog assignments consist of

a one or two-paragraph discussion of a current and/or controversial issue in a way that encourages you to (1) think critically and deeply about

Middle East issues and problems, (2) understand the basics of action versus predicted reaction in game theory decision-making, and (3)

ground your own moral and political judgment into facts, not the other way around. The proper submission of blogs is to click on the link to

the blog as it appears under one of the subheadings of Course Documents, create a blog entry, and post it. Do not submit blogs from course

tools, as attachments, or as email messages. Homework assignments must be formatted as a Microsoft Word file and uploaded through the

available TurnItIn link. Sources for homework assignments must be cited briefly and only between parentheses in the text. The critical

thinking paper (four to five single-spaced pages, 2000 to 2500 words) must be based exclusively on course material and must discuss (1) the

top three issues that contributed significantly to your learning in this course, (2) the top two examples that strongly stimulated your

critical thinking about the region’s opportunities and problems; and (3) the single top finding that clearly influenced your worldview

and vision about how to promote mutual understanding between the American people and the peoples of the Middle East. The critical

2 Geography of the Middle East

thinking paper must be formatted as a Microsoft Word file (according to Guidelines for the critical thinking paper in this syllabus and any

related instructions on Blackboard) and uploaded through the TurnItIn link. Course materials draw upon a great variety of sources, including

required online short readings, PowerPoint slides, videos or video synopses, current issues in the news, ONE required textboo k, and three

recommended books. Assigned course materials MUST be used & properly referenced in the relevant course assignments and

according to the instructions and guidelines. All assignments MUST be completed & submitted (according to the instructions and

guidelines) by the deadlines to avoid 0 points. The critical thinking paper must be completed & submitted by the deadline to avoid 0

points, in addition to a grade penalty of 5 points. No late or make-up assignments or exams will be accepted under any circumstances

in this course because of the following GOOD reasons: (1) you have too many short assignments (15 assignments, worth no more than

2 to 15 points, each), (2) the assignments are submitted online with open books, (3) some students can claim to have encountered

computer or internet or other technical or non-technical problems or reasons which instructors cannot verify accurately and properly,

(4) make-up assignments or exams may not provide equal opportunity for students, and (5) you are given 20% extra credit points to

offset possible technical or non-technical problems or reasons you may encounter during the semester. If you miss the deadline of an

assignment or you fail to submit it properly according to the guidelines and instructions, FORGET about it and count on the 20 extra

credit points. Please don’t waste your time and mine asking for make-up assignments or exams for computer or internet or other

technical or non-technical problems or reasons. Final grades are assigned according to the following scale: A+ (100% and above), A

(96 to 99%), A- (90 to 95%), B+ (86 to 89%), B (83-85%), B- (80 to 82%), C+ (76 to 79%), C (73 to 75%), C- (70 to 72%), D+ (66 to

69%), D (63 to 65%), D- (60 to 62%), and F (below 60%).

Course Standards and Policies: Students are responsible for all announcements made on Blackboard, by email, or in the classroom. By 9:35

am, each student should have printed his/her full name on the attendance sheet & should be in his/her seat. A student can have no more than

two absences without a grade penalty during the entire semester. Each additional absence with or without a valid excuse will incur a grade

penalty of 2 points which will be deducted immediately from the student’s most recent graded assignment(s). Tardiness (coming late or

leaving early) with or without a valid excuse will be treated as an absence. All electronic devices (cell phones, pagers, etc.) must be turned off

BEFORE entering the classroom and kept OUT OF SIGHT. While the University has chosen to require laptops of its students, the University

also recognizes and respects the right of faculty to conduct their classes as they deem appropriate. In this course, laptop usage is forbidden in

the classroom. Be courteous and avoid anything (including eating, drinking, sleeping, reading, recording class, using phones or computers,

coming late, or conversing during lectures) that can disturb the class learning process or distract you or distract others from it. Failure to

comply with course standards and policies is a violation of the Code of Student Conduct. Academic dishonesty is the cardinal sin in academia

and includes plagiarism, cheating, fraud, using another person’s material as one’s own, knowingly allowing another person to use one’s work

as his/her own (see Code of Student Conduct at: http://www.indstate.edu/sci/docs/CodeConduct.pdf). Homework assignments and the critical

thinking essay must be uploaded through the TurnItIn link which can help detect plagiarism. Academic dishonesty will subject its author(s) to

0 points on the given assignment or failure in the course, and could also lead to further disciplinary action. University policies regarding

academic freedom, documented disabilities, expected personal responsibilities & other matters apply to this course & may be reviewed at

these links: http://www.indstate.edu/fs/docs/sycamoreStandard.pdf and http://www.indstate.edu/fs/docs/fsPolicies.pdf.

Course Online Readings—required short readings will be selected mostly from: The 9/11 Commission Report; Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication; U.S. Energy Information Agency; Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries;

American Jewish Committee Energy Security Symposium; The Palestine-Israel Conflict and the United States; The Quran (610-632 AD); The

Hadith (610-632 AD); The Bible (1300s? BC-100? AD); Map of UNRWA [UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East]’s

Area of Operations; Hasbara Handbook: Promoting Israel on Campus; If Americans Knew; Jerusalem Poems/Songs; The Iraq Study Group Report;

Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the

Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in Iraq; Maps of USUCP, USCENTCOM, USAFRICOM, and USEUCOM;

Remarks by the President on a New Beginning; Libyan Leader & African Union Chairman Qadhafi’s speech to the UN General Assembly; UN

Security Council resolution on Syria's chemical weapons; Interim nuclear agreement between Iran and six powers.

Required textbook: John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and U. S. Foreign Policy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007), available at

ISU Bookstore.

Recommended Readings: C.olbert Held & John Cummings, Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and Politics, 5th Edition (Westview Press, 2011).

Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: a prophet for our time (Atlas Books/HarperCollins, 2006). James Petras, The Arab Revolt and the Imperialist

Counterattack (Clarity Press, Second Edition, 2012). We encourage you to obtain & read these 3 recommended books, available at ISU Bookstore.

Blackboard Course Documents (required online readings, PowerPoint slides, videos or video synopses, current issues in the news announcements,

study guides, assignment instructions, and assignment due dates) are available at: http://blackboard.indstate.edu

You MUST check your Blackboard course site & email on a daily basis for announcements & details not in the syllabus.

Course Calendar (details about assignments and deadlines are posted on Blackboard, ONE topic at a time):

January 7-23: Topic 1: Global Geopolitics of the Middle East

1/28-2/6: Topic 2: Geography of water and energy resources

2/11-2/27: Topic 3: Geography of Islam’s Cultural Unity and Political Diversity

3/4-3/27: Topic 4: Geography of the Palestine-Israel Conflict and the United States

4/1-4/17: Topic 5: Geographies of War, Occupation, Resistance, and Terrorism

4/22-4/25: Study Week

There will be no final examinations

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Guidelines for the critical thinking paper

Based exclusively on the textbook, the recommended books, the online short readings, the PowerPoint slides, the videos or video synopses, and

the current issues in the news announcements, write a critical thinking paper in which you discuss (1) the top three issues that contributed

significantly to your learning in this course, (2) the top two examples that strongly stimulated your critical thinking about the region’s

opportunities and problems; and (3) the single top finding that clearly influenced your worldview and vision about how to promote mutual

understanding between the American people and the peoples of the Middle East.

The critical thinking paper must be formatted as a Microsoft Word file (according to these guidelines) and uploaded through the TurnItIn link.

The paper should reflect your own independent and original thought and your own critical thinking and synthesis. The paper should be

persuasive and well written. It should be carefully formatted in accordance with the following detailed instructions, which will ultimately help

you learn basic and useful word processing skills from Microsoft Word (if you don’t know them). The paper should consist of four to five single-

spaced pages, or 2000 to 2500 words. It should have four paragraphs per page. There should be one space between paragraphs and no

indentation. Each page should have top/bottom and right/left margins of 0.9" as well as full justification. It should have Times New Roman as the

base font. Each page should have your name and Indiana State University on two lines aligned as left headers, and the course title and academic

term on two lines aligned as right headers. The point size of the headers should be 11, the title of the paper should be centered and should have

bold appearance and a font point size of 14, the rest of the text should have a font point size of 12 (except the footnotes whose font size should

be 10). The standardized format is designed to improve your writing presentation skills and to help the grader and/or peer reviewer focus more on

the content of your paper and not be distracted or influenced by the format (since it should be the same format in all papers). For your references,

you must use ONLY footnotes (without bibliography) entered at the bottom of each page according to the Notes [without bibliography] system

of The Chicago Manuel of Style Online at: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

Keep in mind that I am NOT the author of the assigned materials (books, articles, slides, videos, currents issues in the news…). For example,

when you cite a PowerPoint slide, you should provide the source (if any) cited on the slide as well as the slide number and the topic number.

The grade of your paper will be based on the originality and quality of your discussion of (1) the top three issues that contributed significantly

to your learning in this course, (2) the top two examples that strongly stimulated your critical thinking about the region’s opportunities and

problems; and (3) the single top finding that clearly influenced your worldview and vision about how to promote mutual understanding

between the American people and the peoples of the Middle East. It will be also based on following all instruction guidelines and

demonstrating an ability to think critically, reason clearly, and communicate effectively through English writing. You find below some basic

universal intellectual standards that should help you think critically and check the quality of your thinking and reasoning about a problem,

issue, or situation:

UNIVERSAL INTELLECTUAL STANDARDS:

Universal intellectual standards are standards which must be applied to thinking whenever one is interested in checking the q uality of reasoning

about a problem, issue, or situation. To think critically entails having command of these standards. To help students learn them, teachers should pose

questions which probe student thinking, questions which hold students accountable for their thinking, questions which, throug h consistent use by the

teacher in the classroom, become internalized by students as questions they need to ask themselves. The ultimate goal, then, is for these questions to

become infused in the thinking of students, forming part of their inner voice, which then guides them to better and better reasoning. While there are a

number of universal standards, the following are the most significant:

CLARITY: Could you elaborate further on that point? Could you express that point in another way? Could you give me an illustration? Could you

give me an example? Clarity is the gateway standard. If a statement is unclear, we cannot determine whether it is accurate or relevant. In fact, we

cannot tell anything about it because we don't yet know what it is saying. For example, the question, "What can be done about the education system

in America?" is unclear. In order to address the question adequately, we would need to have a clearer understanding of what t he person asking the

question is considering the "problem" to be. A clearer question might be "What can educators do to ensure that students learn the skills and abilities

which help them function successfully on the job and in their daily decision-making?"

ACCURACY: Is that really true? How could we check that? How could we find out if that is true? A statement can be clear but not accurate, as in

"Most dogs are over 300 pounds in weight."

PRECISION: Could you give more details? Could you be more specific? A statement can be both clear and accurate, but not precise, as in "Jack is

overweight." (We don't know how overweight Jack is, one pound or 500 pounds.)

RELEVANCE: How is that connected to the question? How does that bear on the issue? A statement can be clear, accurate, and precise, but not

relevant to the question at issue. For example, students often think that the amount of effort they put into a course should be used in raising their

grade in a course. Often, however, the "effort" does not measure the quality of student learning, and when this is so, effort is irrelevant to their

appropriate grade.

DEPTH: How does your answer address the complexities in the question? How are you taking into account the problems in the question? Is that

dealing with the most significant factors? A statement can be clear, accurate, precise, and relevant, but superficial (that is, lack depth). For example,

the statement "Just say No" which is often used to discourage children and teens from using drugs, is clear, accurate, precise, and relevant.

Nevertheless, it lacks depth because it treats an extremely complex issue, the pervasive problem of drug use among young people, superficially. It

fails to deal with the complexities of the issue.

BREADTH: Do we need to consider another point of view? Is there another way to look at this question? What would this look like from a

conservative standpoint? What would this look like from the point of view of...? A line of reasoning may be clear accurate, precise, relevant, and

deep, but lack breadth (as in an argument from either the conservative or liberal standpoint which gets deeply into an issue, but only recognizes the

insights of one side of the question.)

LOGIC: Does this really make sense? Does that follow from what you said? How does that follow? But before you implied this and now you are

saying that; how can both be true? When we think, we bring a variety of thoughts together into some order. When the combination of thoughts are

mutually supporting and make sense in combination, the thinking is "logical." When the combination is not mutually supporting , is contradictory in

some sense, or does not "make sense," the combination is not logical. Source: R. Paul and L. Elder, Foundation For Critical Thinking, June 1996,

http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/universal-intellectual-standards.cfm

4 Geography of the Middle East

Mission of the Foundational Studies Program at Indiana State University

“Indiana State University is committed to providing students with a high quality education that will develop their intellectual abilities while providing them

with the skills and knowledge base they will need to successfully navigate the complexities of the twenty-first century. A robust General Education is the

cornerstone of this goal. While your major prepares you to meet specific professional goals, the General Education curriculum prepares you to be an

effective communicator, critical thinker, and an informed decision maker; abilities that are important in your role as a professional, consumer, and

citizen. The Foundational Studies curriculum also exposes you to a diverse range of subjects that will help you to develop an appreciation of the fine and

performing arts, enrich your life, and cultivate an awareness of historical and contemporary social, economic, and political realities.”

Foundational Studies courses – A gymnasium of the mind – Knowledge beyond one’s specially – Writing and thinking across disciplines – Working in collaboration with others – Thinking critically & reasoning logically – Developing some computer skills – Sensitivity to other cultures & problems

Geography of the Middle East – Naming and defining the Middle East region – Observing environmental and cultural patterns – Identifying a number of critical problems/issues – Describing manifestations/expressions of those problems/issues – Explaining roots/causes of those problems/issues – Searching for solutions/resolutions of those problems/issues

Critical thinking tips  Thinking about thinking

 Thinking sometimes outside the box

 Learning to unlearn

 Resisting appeal to prejudice

 Synthesis versus analysis

 Academia versus the media

 Facts versus audiences

 Reality versus image

 The ‘what?’ versus the ‘who?’

Think sometimes outside the box!

. . .

. . .

. . .

Don’t believe everything you think!

In a book entitled Don’t believe everything

you think : the 6 basic mistakes we make in

thinking (2006), Professor Thomas Kida

identifies "the six-pack of problems" that

leads many of us unconsciously to accept

false ideas: (1) We prefer stories to statistics;

(2) We seek to confirm, not to question, our

ideas; (3) We rarely appreciate the role of

chance and coincidence in shaping events;

(4) We sometimes misperceive the world

around us; (5) We tend to oversimplify our

thinking; and (6) Our memories are often

inaccurate. Amazon.com

Be always wary of illusions!

Is Google Making Us Stupid? “The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient, automated

collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its

legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best way”—the

perfect algorithm—to carry out the mental movements of what we’ve

come to describe as knowledge work... It would be rash to jump to the

conclusion that the Internet is undermining our moral sense. It would

not be rash to suggest that as the Net reroutes our vital paths and

diminishes our capacity for contemplation, it is altering the depth of

our emotions as well as our thoughts… We are becoming ever more

adapt at scanning and skimming, but what we are losing is our capacity

for concentration, contemplation, and reflection---Nicholas Carr