Tag: Politics
World Travel Watch: Dress Code in Vatican City, Taxi Kidnappings in Nicaragua and More
by Larry Habegger | 07.28.10 | 12:12 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
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Yahoo! Buzz‘The Agnostic Cartographer’: Google Maps and Geopolitics
by Eva Holland | 07.26.10 | 5:21 PM ET
Washington Monthly takes a look at the latest geopolitical kerfuffle touched off by the web giant. This time around, it’s a disputed area on the India-Tibet border that suddenly appeared on Google Maps “sprinkled with Mandarin characters, like a virtual annex of the People’s Republic.” The Indian blogosphere was not amused.
Here’s writer John Gravois on why the nature of Google Maps makes it particularly prone to these sorts of international incidents:
Rather than produce one definitive map of the world, Google offers multiple interpretations of the earth’s geography. Sometimes, this takes the form of customized maps that cater to the beliefs of one nation or another. More often, though, Google is simply an agnostic cartographer—a peddler of “place browsers” that contain a multitude of views instead of univocal, authoritative, traditional maps. “We work to provide as much discoverable information as possible so that users can make their own judgments about geopolitical disputes,” writes Robert Boorstin, the director of Google’s public policy team.
Ironically, it is that very approach to mapping, one that is indecisive rather than domineering, that has embroiled Google in some of the globe’s hottest geopolitical conflicts. Thanks to the logic of its software and business interests, Google has inadvertently waded into disputes from Israel to Cambodia to Iran. It is said that every map is a political statement. But Google, by trying to subvert that truth, may just be intensifying the politics even more.
World Travel Watch: Violence on Guatemala’s Buses, Tourist Police in the Philippines and More
by Larry Habegger | 07.21.10 | 12:35 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
World Travel Watch: New Trekking in Kashmir, Dengue in Venezuela and More
by Larry Habegger | 07.14.10 | 12:15 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Pittsburgh’s Conflict Kitchen: Axis of Edible?
by Eva Holland | 07.09.10 | 1:24 PM ET
Over at Gadling, blogger Jeremy Kressmann has a cool find: A new Pittsburgh take-out restaurant that serves up food from those countries that America most often finds itself at odds with on the international scene. First up at Conflict Kitchen? Iranian kubideh. The restaurant’s theme will rotate every few months.
Awhile back, we talked to Rick Steves about travel—to Iran and other less-visited countries—as “a political act that broadens your perspective.” I guess we could call this eating as a political act?
World Travel Watch: Violence in Guadalajara, Dengue Fever in Puerto Rico and More
by Larry Habegger | 07.07.10 | 11:48 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
World Travel Watch: Striptease at Uluru, Ongoing Strikes in Greece and More
by Larry Habegger | 06.30.10 | 12:11 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Cruise the Middle East with James A. Baker and Bill Moyers
by Jim Benning | 06.30.10 | 11:25 AM ET
You don’t see too many cruises with such an impressive roster of intellectual heavyweights aboard (with the notable exception, of course, of the historic 2007 “Gimme Three Days” Concert Cruise featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special).
It’s called the World Leaders Symposium Middle East. From the Abercrombie & Kent release that landed in my in-box this morning:
Abercrombie & Kent presents the World Leaders Symposium Middle East, an extraordinary journey through countries that remain a mystery to many Westerners, in the company of those who know it best, including former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III; former Egyptian first lady Jehan Sadat and veteran journalist Bill Moyers. Travel beyond the headlines on this once-in-a-lifetime trip (December 29, 2010-January 12, 2011) to engage in dynamic discussions with these and other experts who offer authoritative analysis and personal perspectives on the rich culture of the Middle East; the current political situation; and the ideas, people and possibilities shaping the future.
Designed for travellers who seek a deeper knowledge and appreciation of this complex region, this Marco Polo Club Invitational features a seven-night cruise aboard the luxurious ‘Silver Wind’ that originates in Dubai and includes stops in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Prices start at a cool $19,990.
World Travel Watch: Floods in China, Train to Machu Picchu Resumes and More
by Larry Habegger | 06.23.10 | 12:07 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Can Greece Count on Tourism to Rescue it From its Economic Hole?
by Michael Yessis | 06.22.10 | 4:59 PM ET
It’s sure trying. World Hum contributor Joanna Kakissis reports for NPR on Greece’s efforts to lure visitors and fight the perception that rioters plague the country. One key target market: Germans.
German politicians are not popular in Greece. Greeks see them as the instigators of austerity measures that will mean years of recession ahead. The German media has also played up the rift between the two countries.
And that seems to be reflected in the number of Germans avoiding holidays here.
Germans usually make up about 15 percent of visitors to Greece. But the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises estimates that 300,000 of them—or about 12 percent of the Germans who come to Greece annually—will stay away this year. About 16 million travelers visit Greece each year.
So Greece’s tourism ministry is trying to restore the country’s image in Germany and beyond.
Greece’s government has also “offered to compensate tourists stranded by labour unrest ahead of a new travel strike,” according to AFP.
World Travel Watch: Violence Returns to Medellin, G20 Restrictions in Toronto and More
by Larry Habegger | 06.16.10 | 11:32 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Beyond the Separation Wall
by Alicia Imbody | 06.07.10 | 12:36 PM ET
Eliana Aponte/Reuters Could a late night of Arak and hookah prompt Hasam to open up about life as a young Palestinian? Alicia Imbody wanted to find out.
World Travel Watch: Havoc in Central America, Volcano Fears in Iceland and More
by Larry Habegger | 06.02.10 | 12:55 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
World Travel Watch: Violence in Jamaica, World Cup Preparations in South Africa and More
by Larry Habegger | 05.26.10 | 11:50 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
More Tocqueville: James Wood Weighs In
by Michael Yessis | 05.19.10 | 5:05 PM ET
In the New Yorker, Wood immerses himself in two new books about Alexis de Tocqueville and the enduring significance of the Frenchman’s American travels.
Unlike some other European visitors (Charles Dickens and Fanny Trollope, and, more recently, Jean Baudrillard and Bernard-Henri Lévy come to mind), he reserves serious judgment for mortal American sins, not venial ones. His anguish and scorn are provoked not by tobacco-chewing or unreal dentistry but by slavery and the extermination of the Indians. He often teeters on the edge of disdain—as when he notes the poor calibre of American politicians, or the people’s “immense opinion of themselves”—only to find the hospitality of explanation more interesting than the solitude of dismissal. To most non-Americans, American patriotic self-regard can be hard to take (an entire country seemingly innocent of the idea that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel), but Tocqueville is interested in the rationality of American pride, which he sensibly locates in the success, against all odds, of the young democracy.
We noted earlier that Tocqueville might also have been a bad traveler.
World Travel Watch: Floods in Central Europe, Ongoing Violence in Bangkok and More
by Larry Habegger | 05.19.10 | 10:22 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Que Lástima, Arizona
by Adam Karlin | 05.19.10 | 8:50 AM ET
iStockPhoto The state's new immigration law puts more at risk than tourism dollars and tacos. Adam Karlin reports from the Sonoran Desert.
World Travel Watch: New Warnings for Mexico, Golf in Cuba and More
by Larry Habegger | 05.12.10 | 10:50 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Rory Stewart Wins in UK Election
by Michael Yessis | 05.07.10 | 11:07 AM ET
“The Places in Between” author and Tory politician Rory Stewart captured 53.4 percent of the vote and will represent Penrith and The Border as a Member of Parliament. As Slate’s June Thomas tweeted, “Let the walking begin.”
How to Travel Like Kim Jong Il
by Michael Yessis | 05.05.10 | 3:21 PM ET
First, no jets. Use a train. Or three. You need the decoys. It’s not paranoia. People really would like to see you dead. Maybe travel at night, too, to avoid surveillance. Oh, and you’ll need food and drink. Send for a few cases of Bordeaux from Paris. It’ll go well with the live lobster you’ve shipped in.
The Los Angeles Times has more on how the Dear Leader likes to get around.