Monday, February 22, 2010

Iran and the "Arabian Gulf"

The BBC reports that Iran is annoyed about the creeping usage of the term "Arabian Gulf" . It makes me think about how flight map screens didn't display cities in Israel when I was flying to countries in the Gulf. I wonder was a quiet deal done for that in the past, but never reported?

It also makes me think of the "Irish Sea" between Britain and Ireland. Does the name "Irish Sea" imply some kind of Irish ownership of that sea? I don't think so. If anything, it implies that from the British standpoint it's seen as the "sea which faces Ireland". That's how I always thought of it anyway. However, I can only imagine the consternation in Ireland if people started calling it the "British Sea", so I can empathize with the Iranians on this.