Google Maps
Way back in February, I remember hearing Mitt Romney claim that Syria is Iran's "route to the sea."
Even at the time, it was immediately laughable. Iran and Syria don't share a border, and Iran already has two long coastlines. I remember thinking to myself, "Well, that's embarrassing. I bet Romney doesn't screw that one up again."
And yet, eight months later, there he was in last night's debate, saying the exact same thing.
"Syria is Iran's only ally in the Arab world. It's their route to the sea."
Look, this isn't complicated. For one thing, there are large countries in between Iran and Syria; one is not a route for the other.
For another -- and this is key -- Iran has a massive coastline and its own navy. Iranians don't need to hopscotch over other countries in order to reach water; they merely have to go to their own north or south coasts. There are landlocked countries in the region, but Iran isn't one of them.
I don't think it's too much to ask that if you're running for president, and you're participating in a debate over foreign policy, you take a minute to look at a map of the Middle East. Indeed, I'd put this in the "bare minimum" category.
Leave a Comment:
This guy could play Romney in any movie about Obama's re-election...http://www.tvrage.com/person/id-120505/gallery/?view=97232
Just watched him in Haven where he played a guy who needed to "harvest" his relatives' organs to replace his own dying ones...his similarlity to Romney (physically and character-wise) was frightening, and noticed first by my 18 year old son.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for mentioning this!
Romney says he's more concerned about Iran than any other foreign country, yet he's never bothered to spend 10 seconds to see where Iran is on a map.
Why aren't all the other pundits talking about this??
It's at least as bad as when Ford said in a 1976 debate that Poland was no longer under Soviet domination.
Well that is as good as Palin saying that she can see Russia from her house! You have to wonder how these people get through life. But yes, if you are running for President you should at least know where these countries are located. Who is this guys advisors, or his he so smart he doesn't need any, or doesn't think he needs any!
Somewhere at the not-to-be-named right-wing media empire, they are chalking this up to the failed policies of a administration that pushes "government schools which are nothing more than indoctrination centers on the virtues of big government"
Apparently, "tumult" must mean "what happens when your country can't find its coastlines". Who knew?
Regardless, it is clear that there is only one candidate we can trust to fix the northern Mali problem, by building enough navy ships to ensure a successful assault on northern Mali's beaches and charging into the country on horseback, with fixed bayonets.
(and yes, I am aware of Mali's geography - I'm trying for snark :) )
Iran's northern coastline is the Caspian Sea. While you can get from the Caspian sea to the Volga river, and from there to the ocean via canals and the Don River, the northern part of the sea has essentially dried up and is only about 5-10 meters deep. So unless Iran is adding canoes to their Navy . . . :@).
Probably he got it from Apple map!
I'm a little confused by this post and the comments. When I heard this line, it made sense to me as, if Iran can transport oil through Syria to the sea, it can evade a significant amount of the blockades preventing Iranian oil exports. The sanctions are doing a lot of good weakening the Iranian economy which would be weakened if Iran had additional export routes.
I have a lot of criticisms about Romney's ignorance of world affairs, but this isn't one of them
Romney isn't ignorant of either geography or geopolitics. "Although Iran is indeed located on the seacoast of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, the international trade sanctions have restricted and impeded its ability to transport armaments and other goods through its own seaports. To defeat these trade sanctions, Iran has resorted to using its air transportation to transport goods through an air corridor in Iraqi airspace into Syria and its seaports, such as Latakia."
Ha!! What an incredible collection of idiots here!
I guess what you're all saying is that the "crippling sanctions" that Obama mentioned about 50 times in the debate do not include restricting Iran from using their own sea ports for importing and exporting. And I also surmise that when Obama bragged about severely reducing Irans imports and exports, it had nothing to do with said restriction of their sea ports.
So, you geniuses had better pick one: Does Iran need someone else who has open ports for access to the sea, or was Obama lying about the "crippling sanctions"?
Hey! It's just like your Libya crap. Mensa was unavailable for comment.
Hey phi beta kappas - the 70's called, they want their ignorance of the geopolitical landscape of the middle east back.