Or the Canadian helicopters airlifting supplies along the Iraq-Syrian border.

I've always sucked at geography. Even more so now that they've renamed those damned Eurpean and Middle Eastern countries.

Thanks for letting me know that Canada is now part of Europe. Maybe I should re-subcribe to National Geographic so I don't miss stuff like this.

Canada is more European than Great Britain these days. Besides, if Turkey is a legitimate candidate for the EU, then Canada isn't that much more of a stretch.

The following countries are geographically part of Europe. Who can tell me what they have in common?

- Poland
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Ukraine
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Bulgaria
- Albania
- Romania
- Estonia
- Great Britain
- The Netherlands
- Norway
- Denmark
- Portugal
- Italy

Plus Macedonia, Hungary, Moldova, for whom I can't find links for their past or present missions, and Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, who may or may not be part of Europe geographically depending on where in the Caucasus you draw the line.

Solana has a fair amount of nerve to think he speaks for "Europe."

Uhhh . . . poor hygiene habits?

That, and since France isn't on that list, they all hate France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France! Fuck France!!!!

The Ukrainian link above is broken. Here is the correct one: Ukrainian Peacekeeping Contingent in Iraq.

The page was originally that of the 5th Separate Mechanized Brigade, the first Ukrainian brigade to deploy to Iraq in 2003. After its tour, it was replaced by the 6th Separate Mechanized Brigade in early 2004, but they kept using the same website. The 6th finished its tour and was replaced by the 7th Brigade, again using that same page.

As the Ukrainians begin to draw down their contingent in Iraq, they are being replaced by elements of the 8th Division, Iraqi Army.

I thought Europe was east of the Ural Mountains.

And hey, I was right.

Europe is west of the Ural Mountains. Europe's eastern border is the Ural Mountains, but its southern border is the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the Caucasus. Since Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are primarily on the south side of the main belt of the Caucasus range, arguably they are not entirely part of Europe. Of course, much of Russia is also outside of Europe.

None of Armenia, in fact, is in Europe, but for historical and cultural reasons, it, like Cyprus, is considered part of Europe. On the west side, the same may be said for Iceland.

Oh, add Iceland to the list of European countries with troops in Iraq. Technically, Iceland, although a member of NATO, has no military forces. However, Icelandic explosive ordnance disposal specialists deployed with the Danish battalion in southern Iraq.

I also deliberately left out countries that were not part of the original US-led coalition, but who are now participating in the training of Iraqi security forces and other aspects of the reconstruction. These countries, I suppose, fit Dave at Garfield Ridge's "success has many fathers" criteria. They include several neutral countries - Ireland, Sweden, and Finland for example - but also some of the more vocal opponents of Operation Iraqi Freedom - notably Germany and Canada.

Europe is west of the Ural Mountains.

Y'know, my wife keeps bitching about how bad I am with directions. I meant WEST. When you look at the map, it's ON THE LEFT.

Sorry.

I constantly get mixed up too, and on left side vs. right side as well.

Another thing that I occasionally wondered about is why, after winning two wars against them, we use the German terms for the Western and Eastern Fronts. It may have been all quiet on the Western Front, but to the British, French and Americans, the front was to the east. And were I a Russian patriot, I would be annoyed that the westward drive of the Red Army was known as the campaign on the Eastern Front. For the USSR, the eastern front was Khalkin Gol.

Continuing on a theme, according to the latest State Department report on contributions to Iraqi reconstruction, the following countries who were not part of the OIF coalition have contributed police trainers to the Coalition Police Assistance Training Team: Jordan, Canada, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, Austria, Finland, Germany, Slovenia and Belgium.

Most training is taking place outside Iraq, mainly in Jordan.

NATO Training Mission-Iraq participates in the training of the Iraqi Army. Training missions take place in Iraq, in neighboring countries (Jordan and the UAE) and in the NATO members' home countries at their own military schools. All NATO members have contributed or offered to contribute trainers to this mission except three: France, Luxembourg and Greece. France has offered a staff officer to the mission HQ, while Luxembourg and Greece have only offered cash contributions. France offered to train up to 1500 Iraqi Police, but outside the auspices of the NATO Mission.

Non-Coalition NATO members like Germany, Belgium and Canada, are doing their training outside Iraq. Coalition members who are also NATO (which by the way include a majority of NATO members) have sent trainers to Iraq. In many cases, their national contingents already in the sandbox have also trained large numbers of Iraqi troops and police.

Most training is taking place outside Iraq, mainly in Jordan.

While we're there, let's train some Jordanians. Like, teach them how to overthrow their frigging monarchy and establish a democracy.