Timely Warning

The Arabs, by Edward Atiyah.

Until World War Two few Americans knew much, or thought that they needed to know much, about any part of the rest of the world except Western Europe. During these past fifteen years history has been a demanding pedagogue. No sooner do we locate the Ukraine in the family atlas than we are off to New Guinea; from the jungles of Burma our minds must stagger on to Okinawa, Sinkiang, Seoul and back to Tunisia (or is it Libya?). Are Kenya and the Mau Maus on Africa’s east or west coast? Which side got Saigon? Are all Arabs Moslems or all Moslems Arabs? If Outer Mongolia wants to get in the United Nations, what happened to Inner Mongolia? Or is there an Inner Mongolia?

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The Arabs, by Edward Atiyah.

Until World War Two few Americans knew much, or thought that they needed to know much, about any part of the rest of the world except Western Europe. During these past fifteen years history has been a demanding pedagogue. No sooner do we locate the Ukraine in the family atlas than we are off to New Guinea; from the jungles of Burma our minds must stagger on to Okinawa, Sinkiang, Seoul and back to Tunisia (or is it Libya?). Are Kenya and the Mau Maus on Africa’s east or west coast? Which side got Saigon? Are all Arabs Moslems or all Moslems Arabs? If Outer Mongolia wants to get in the United Nations, what happened to Inner Mongolia? Or is there an Inner Mongolia?