The Border is Closed; A Legacy of Colonial Treachery

Deir-Ez-Zor, Syria

I have just come back from the Syria/Iraq border near the town of Al-Bukamal and because this is yet one more border I cannot cross - it actually is ‘closed’ and there is no traffic at all on the highway leading to the border - it occurred to me that it was time to tally up the border problems that exist in 2006 versus Ibn Battuta’s trip in 1325/6. It is not encouraging; if lack of war and political co-operation are indicators of the progress of civilization then we are going backwards.

This is the Syrian border town of Al-Bukamal on one of its borders with Iraq.