Spice Wars Study Guide
“He who controls the spice controls the universe.” — Frank Herbert, Dune (1965) It came to me in a flash last summer . Why the United States of America had spent the past two decades trying to control Afghanistan. Why Big Pharma was pushing the vaccines. It was the spice. The opium of the poppy fields. The opioids of Big Pharma. Everything was about controlling the spice. And always had been. Once upon a time, there was a Silk Road. You’ve heard of it I’m sure. The caravan road across the middle of the great Eurasian continent, linking the treasures of the Orient with the markets of the West. Except throughout the Middle Ages, the markets in the West weren’t much to speak of. A few Italian city-states. A few burghers in the north. Back in high school, I did a presentation about the fairs where they sold their spices. I even wore a costume—a hat that I got at the Renaissance Faire north of Houston, the autumn before I started college there...
Something to think about, who are the sea and earth beasts referred in Revelation?
ReplyDeleteWhat are your conclusions?
ReplyDeleteI am still mulling, but it looks to me like there are deep structures at play, don't you think?
DeleteYes. My husb pointed out to me that it is interesting on the old maps both routes were not going through the Byzantine Empire as it then existed. There are similar dynamics going on now both with oil pipeline fights and the Belt and Road initiative
DeleteI have tried repeatedly to reply and Blogger keeps throwing me out
DeleteMy husb pointed out that these maps indicate that at these times the Silk Route was not going through the Byzantine Empire
It seems that today a similar conflict is going on over pipeline routes and the route of the Belt and Road initiative, with the descendants of the Ottomans at front and center in terms of very aggressive activity in this respect
My spouse is a prof of network economics/industries -- he found this very interesting, thank you
ReplyDelete