NASA’s Dangerous new Blue Marble

Juan Cole 02/05/2012

NASA’s new composite “Blue Marble” high definition image of the planet earth from outer space:

Quick, a test:

Was your first reaction, “What a beautiful planet we have!” ?

Or was it, eeew, that is that dangerous Middle East… ?

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page