Why'd You Choose Such a Backward Time, and Such a Strange Place?

Christopher Hitchens has asked why, if there is a God, he would have sent his son and incarnation to Jerusalem, such a "remote" place.

Remote from where? Notting Hill?

Here's how remote and randomly chosen the location was. Have you noticed how quickly the airlines based in the Arabian (Persian) Gulf have been growing recently--Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways? Emirates just bought 30 new Boeings at the Farnsworth Air Show, for nine billion US; in a few years Dubai's airport, now number three, will outstrip Heathrow to become the busiest in the world.

Is it because these airlines are state subsidized? Nope; according to the Economist, they are all financed the same way other airlines are financed, and they mostly turn a steady profit.

So how come they are growing so quickly, even in the middle of a world recession? Is it a bird? Is it Superman?

No; it's just geography. According to the Economist, their home base in the Gulf is strategically almost perfectly placed. From this general area, and only from here, the newest long-range aircraft can fly direct to any major centre in the world--from the Pacific rim of Asia to the Pacific rim of the Americas. This area is exactly across the globe from the middle of the great empty area that is the Pacific Ocean. This means anyone taking a Gulf airline can fly anywhere else with only one stopover. They can, uniquely, compete on equal terms with all national airlines everywhere.

Put another way, and put simply, the Arabian Gulf is the centre of the world's land mass and human population.

So, in other words, is Palestine. With the added advantage, of course, of being the narrow land bridge that connects Africa with Europe and Asia, and the portage point that connects the Mediteerranean and Atlantic with the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

A cross marks the spot.