5530 - Geography and topostrategy

N. Lygeros
Translation: Paola Vagioni

The boundaries of political geography are the state borders. In other words, political geography has a geometric substrate. It examines distances and unfortunately linear distances on paper. This degeneration appears as non-symmetrical on a first level. The problem occurs more painfully on a strategic level. The interaction of strategy with geography, which results in the creation of geostrategy, can even affect our interpretation of objective facts. Let us consider an example to be more understood to most people. We define the framework with the Mediterranean Sea and the field with English strategy. Then an idea is developed that there is a mental line that connects Gibraltar with Malta, the bases of Crete, the bases of Cyprus and Suez. In summary, this is usually expressed with the use of the parallels or the so-called zone 36°-37°. In reality, we are dealing with an oversimplification that degenerates strategic thought. If we examine the identical framework via topostrategic analysis, we understand that this imaginary line is of absolutely no importance. It is simply a degenerated epiphenomenon of fractal analysis. The confined sea of the Mediterranean is no longer confined. It has three openings: Gibraltar, Suez and Constantinople. The islands of Cyprus, Crete and Sicily play an intermediate role, which Corsica and Sardinia do not have due to their location and homotopy? In consequence, the strategic parts, if we add Malta as the intermediate of Tunisia and Italy, it is determined and is not related to a geographic zone but to a topostrategic value. Now, if we convert the field into a battlefield, at least mentally, other factors are also involved which discard the “horizontal action” of the UK. Because the bond existence between Algeria and France for 113 summers, has not ceased to influence their energy relations, especially with the natural gas. Let us also not talk about the relations of Lebanon with Egypt. In this way, this mental line does not record anything else except a degenerated simplification. The work of fractal analysis and the contribution of topostrategic synthesis offer more possibilities, not only for understanding the present situations but also for inventing future ones. The alignment of information does not constitute advanced knowledge that we can utilize. On the contrary, the details of space are indications for time, which incorporates mental schemata of strategy.