A reader, Stuart, sent me a great present a couple of months ago: a book called Why Geography Matters by Harm de Blij. The book had a lot of influence on me - it’s a very interesting book, in fact, I consider it to be must read material for all interested in politics / foreign affairs. De Blij deals with topics as diverse as terrorism, Africa, Russia, the rise of China as superpower (and India), Europe, Iraq, etc. etc.

To say that mr. De Blij’s resumé is impressive, would be an understatement: besides Why Geography Matters mr. de Blij has authored some 30 other books, he was the Geography Editor on ABC’s “Good Morning America” for seven years and joined NBC News in 1996 as Geography Analyst, appearing mostly on MSNBC, he is currently John A. Hannah Professor at Michigan State University, he was also a professor at Georgetown University, Marshall University, University of Miami, he’s got several honorary degrees. In short, the list goes on and on.

Besides all of that, he’s also a Dutch-American which can only be a good thing.

That’s why I was more than pleased that mr. de Blij agreed to an interview (via e-mail). It’s a great honor to interview someone who wrote a book that influenced me so much. In the interview we talk about Europe, Africa, terrorism, Iran, Iraq, Russia and about mr. de Blij’s life and career.

Read the interview at The Moderate Voice.

Note: we’ll be doing more original reporting in the future. If blogs want to be able to compete they have to do original reporting besides commentary. At TMV, we’re understand that.