Things to Come

The story of a hundred year way that starts in 1940 and lasts so long no one remembers why it began. After a plague kills most of the society, small groups survive and finally reconnect to rebuild, until it grows so prosperous a new uprising begins again progress, claiming it is what starts wars in the first place.

It seems H.G Wells the author was a prophetic. He did predict a war would erupt in 1940, just a few months after world war two actually started in 1939.

Middle East speech of Obama and 1967 borders

Obama addressed his speech of the 'Arab Spring' to Egypt and the entire Arab world, but the many phrases about the commitment of the United tates to Israel's security made it clear that the Holy Land is in the center of his vision about the region.

The reference of the U.S. president to the return of Israel to its 1967 borders was not intended to Israeli ears, nor Palestinian, but rather to the Egyptians.

This key phrase is one of the last attempts of the U.S. government to halt the deterioration in relations between the Egyptian and Israelis, which are the result of regime change in Egypt.

It was intended to say that despite the dramatic changes in the region, the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, by which Israel returned to the 1967 lines, is still one of the cornerstones of U.S. policy in the Middle East.

At the end of government transformation process in Egypt, which will occur throughout the year, it is expected that the regime there will be much more radical Muslim, and use any pretext, particularly about mistreated Palestinians, to cancel the peace treaty with Israel.

The current Egyptian transition government, still holding to the politcal principles of the previous regime, listened closely to Obama's speech, and was quick to announce after the speech that the peace agreement with Israel is one of the pillars of Egypt's foreign relations and that there is no substitute.

The State of Israel must learn United States' will to help Israel, an issue that Obama spoke about widly in the speech, and prepare for the future.

Obama will use simultaneously the '1967 borders' concept with Israel, the Palestinians, and Egypt.

This will be the 'sophisticated key' for him for developing a sophisticated foreign policy with these three political parties, and all other political factors involved in the conflict.

But if the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians get stuck, it is likely that the Egyptians would cancel the peace agreement.

In such a case, the '1967 borders' concept will require Obama to defend the security of Israel, and send American forces to the Suez Canal.


Obama's mistake regarding Israel was that he chose to use the hot key concept of his plan, the '1967 borders', without attaching to it a simple, personal relaxing introduction. This is similar to opening fitness exercises without heating, or beginning the day without practicing some relaxation breathing.

The state of Israel was dropped due to this 'hot potato' to a process on which it has no control, the same as the political process between the years 1967 to 1973.

The absence of a clear map of Greater Israel worked always against the Zionist idea.

All Israeli politicians involved in resolving the conflict on the borders of the land held, as a result, to such abstract concepts and intangible values, that only few Israelis could understand.

Then as now, Israel remained almost entirely in the fog, not ready to face the future and prepare for it.

The map of the Human Figure of the Holy Land is designed to meet this inherent flaw.

Golden Triangle - Initial connection between the Golden Ratio and the Holy Land

The Human form of the Holy Land is personification which nature has created.

It invites to try and connect it with the precise scientific measurements of the Golden Ratio.

The form is without limbs, and the sizes and distances of its organs are different than in the human body, to one degree or another.

Therefore any attempt to apply the conventional divisions in the human body according to the Golden Ratio is impossible.


One possible way to try and bridge, however, between the natural human appearance and the scientific instrument is to use the Golden Triangle.

This classic expression of the Golden Ratio is known generally as a prism used for observing reality.

Golden Triangle appears in many known works of art.

The Golden Triangle is created via two lines that the ratio between them is the Golden Ratio.

It is an equilateral triangle with interesting features.

This triangle top angle is 36 degrees. The base angles are 72 degrees each.

Five combined Golden Triangles form the Golden Star, which symbolizes good fortune in many cultures.

The inverted triangle shape of Sinai peninsula - torso of human form of the Holy Land, invites the testing of correlation between this region and the Golden Triangle.

The top of the inverted triangle of Sinai Peninsula is facing exactly to the south.

The Continuation of the right side of this triangle is a straight line up to the Arava Valley and the Dead Sea.

The Angle formed between this line and the North-South line which touch the southern top of Sinai Peninsula is a 18-degree angle, the half top angle of the Golden Triangle.

Time Equal Amendment Second

The formula 'Time Equal Amendment Second' describes a temporary combination between the psychological and objective realities.
It is a magic rose, a point of imagination. Therefore it is easy to relate its qualities to different fields: Scientific, emotional, artistic and more.

The Human mind evolution is created by leaps and sudden changes.

The internal development leaps has many names: Inspirations, enlightenments, insights and more.

A particular significance exists in preparing the soul for enlightenments in our modern society, where the motivated thinking became refined. The modern man places goals for himself by creating a central image of them in his mind, for their fulfillment step by step. A dream palace in the mind's core may produce random, unplanned creative directions of thought.

Any inspiration is created with in a short flash of time. At the same time it refutes all that existed before. Thus, it creates the need to be experienced fully for all its potential.


A. Clock

We all live by the rhythm of time. The ticking clock arranges our life. Time's concept, continuity and experience, receives attention in Philosophy and Literature. It is known nowadays, according to Relativity Theory, that there is no universal form of time. It is dependant on the subject's movement. Its sense is different from one human being to another.

In the modern novel, the difference of Time's experience between characters is, in many cases, emphasized. The literary realism pretends to describe mental states and not an outward world. Writers from the 'Stream of Consciousness' deal in length with the differences between the internal subjective sense of time and external objective time. They create worlds where the instant turns into a long time and vice versa.

Louis Carroll was an author who went to the edge of Logic in describing the subjective nature of Time. In his book 'Alice in the Wonderland' there is a passage which describes 'Time' as a personality.
Alice mocks about a clock with only one pointer as a funny object.
The Mad Hatter, offended, replies: "If you knew Time like me, you would treat him as a celebrity. He and I were once close friends. We served together the Empire in a remote army base."

Time's personality can be developed, according to Sigmund Freud's system, into Super Ego, Ego and Id.
The simple clock can be described in this way:
The slow hours' pointer is the severe Super Ego.
The tempered minutes' pointer is the restrained Ego.
The rapid seconds' pointer as the light headed Id.


B. Amendment

Mind distortions of the external Time's moves create sometimes a new perception of reality. People happen to get into situations of stress or elation where what they know is not enough for solving problems. They stop thinking according to the objective time. They look after the subjective time inside them.
The phrase: "There are moments which seems like infinity", describes it.
So does the biblical verse in Genesis chapter 9, verse 20: "Jacob worked for Rachel Seven Years, which were to him as few days".

This lack of harmony between external time and the soul's necessities can create particular thoughts. These are unclear durations, where experiences become long or short according to their contribution to the mental peace.
Slowly, the external and internal time unite again to a recovery synthesis. But the exit from the crisis can be to new unfamiliar world definitions.

The move of the internal time which searches after its reconnection to reality can be called: Amendment. ['Tikun' in Hebrew].
During the amendment process, pieces of experience move in partial chaos and create mazes, where the soul moves apparently with no way out. The soul reconstructs in this way new possibilities.
When this process is completed, the mazes turn into a new model which suggests a solution.

Amendment is a life experience for almost any modern man. All religions offer ways for amendments through study of morality, abstention or asceticism.
In Judaism, amendment is the central concept of Kabala, mystical interpretation of the Scriptures developed into a structure of spiritual values.

The amendment concept is rooted in the secular way of life through concepts such as 'amending experience', which is an event, sometime traumatic, that suggest change in thoughts and behavior.

Regularly the choice for Amendment practice is because of the desperate need of finding answers to questions of personal identity, in a permissive world where many do not know which way to choose.
Seldom, the choice of the Amendment way is for answering more focused questions.


C. Enlightenment

Sometimes, while staying deep in the amendment mazes, the external time is sensed only in the consciousness' edges. When the solution comes, it is sudden and unexpected. It is named many times: Enlightenment.

One night, sitting on bed before sleep, a question came suddenly into my mind: "What is Time"?

At that moment I paid attention also for other internal happenings: The reveries of time and the amendment process intermingled. Thinking simultaneously about inner and outer reality, an insight flashed in my mind:

The formula exists as a whole perception of reality.

It turned, for a moment, to be my magic rose. I could observe the entire universe, but only for a short time. I felt as in a rocket launched into space. I didn't have the means to preserve it. It was an immediate flash of light in the darkness and was going to fade away very soon. It created the need to be experienced fully for all its potential.

D. Integration between subjective and objective

The formula 'Time Equal Amendment Second' describes an integration between the objective and subjective reality.

In the moment of enlightenment there are two entities in the mind: The initial entity which holds to the conservative past and the new born one which holds to the revolutionary future.

In true reality, there is no division of time to past, present or future. There is only one eternal situation of things and events. You cannot describe the universe just with ordinary Time.
Time is a cube and time periods are sides of that cube. People see usually only one side, which is in front of them. But in the state of enlightenment, it is possible to go around the cube and see it from behind too.

Discoveries through a flash of insight are possible in any area of human activity. Personal problems can also be solved that way. An insight in these fields can be stronger and clearer, since it deals with real characters and not abstract subjects.

From a scientific view point, according to the doctrine of the general relativity, any massive body in movement drags the space with it. Distortion like this is likely also near revolving bodies, which convolute the expanding space in their proximity. The more the body is massive, the more the phenomenon is significant.
Close to Planet Earth, the field of gravitation is strong enough to the point of convulting slightly the space.
This supposed phenomenon will stand to the tryout with a satellite experiment.


E. Interpretations of the word 'second'

The word 'second' has four meanings:

A. in Mathematics, it is the serial position after 1 and before 3.
B. in Mathematics it is also the multiplying of a number by itself.
C. in Time measurement, it is precisely 1/60 of a minute.
D. In common language it is used for describing a short and undefined time.

This multiple meaning can cause misunderstanding. It suggest the existance of a vast field of the unknown.

F. Experiencing Time Equal Amendment Second

The feeling of experiencing 'Time Equal Amendment Seond' is similar to the inner feeling that two people sense when they calibrate their clocks against each other.

Visually, this experience is like a slow motion examination of a phenomenon, for example a water drop.

Unification of the objective and subjective Time is common in works of art more than is commonly thought.

Meir Shalev, in his book 'As in few days', brings many wonderful paragraphs about the impressions of the relationship between the objective and subjective times:
Page 97: "My mother showed me the shade of the eucalyptus tree, That in its size, direction and coolness said 'nine in the morning', the red leaves of the pomegranate that said 'middle March', the tooth that tottered my mouth and said 'six years old', and the little creases in the angles her eyes, that flickered and said 'forty'.
''You see", she said, "like that you are amid the time. If they will provide you a clock you will be only near it".

A wonderful emotional depiction of the deep experience of alliance between the objective and subjective times is of a boy who observes the watchmaker in his work:
"The craftsman, a Hungarian watchmaker from the old generation, started my instructions when I was in the age of four. He promised me the right to sit beside him when he repaired wristwatches and clocks. My first happy lesson was to sit quietly, without disturbing him from his delicate repairs. To my surprise, I succeeded almost without a try, because when the craftsman worked something marvelous took place. Tremendous Love and tranquility filled the space of the workshop, and I sank in the absolute silence that surrounded him. When I concentrated in his work, the exterior silence that I sensed was reflected immediately in the inner hush. All the feelings of misfortune, the pressures and the wretchedness, dissolved."


But most of all, the formula 'Time Equal Amendment Second' is intended for adapting the idea of thinking outside the common order, for growing freedom of perception and thought that until now were not known.

These are possible through quantum uncertainty, where neurological processes and changes in perception may change the reality in the wake of every thought.

Mussolini: The Winged Despot

Mussolini displayed a keen interest in aviation as early as 1909, when, as a young socialist and journalist, he had heralded the attempts to fly across the English Channel (with Louis Blériot succeeding) as a portent of the future. He viewed flying machines as more than a novelty or the plaything of the wealthy, arguing that the airplane was destined to alter the course of history.

The stalemate of trench warfare in World War I only deepened his respect for flying. As a soldier, he marveled at the freedom and heroism of pilots, in particular Italy’s own Gabriele d’Annunzio, who made a dramatic bombing raid on Austria’s capital, Vienna. After the war, Mussolini took great delight in hobnobbing with military pilots, taking airplane rides, and promoting the advance of Italian aviation.

By 1920, Mussolini was ready to take flying lessons. R.J.B. Bosworth’s Mussolini recounts that he trained at the Arcore airfield, north of Milan, and greatly enjoyed flying, quickly learning rudimentary aerobatics. Soon after completing 18 solo flights, he survived a crash, walking away from the wrecked airplane with only minor scratches on his face and a twisted knee.

The mishap did not slow Mussolini’s rise in Italian politics. His stump speeches—delivered in a strutting, highly animated style—attracted a mass following. His muscular physique, truculent jutting jaw, and dark piercing eyes set him apart from other politicians. In 1922, Mussolini gained political control of Italy when his followers, the Blackshirts, made their highly theatrical March on Rome.

Mussolini quickly moved aviation to the forefront of his authoritarian regime. He advocated the building of a modern air force, the Regia Aeronautica, promoted airshows and record-breaking flights, and called for the design of advanced military aircraft. Winning the Schneider Trophy race in 1926 became an early benchmark for Mussolini’s air-minded regime. His Minister of Air, Italo Balbo, catapulted Italian aviation to worldwide prominence in 1933 when he led a flotilla of 25 Savoia-Marchetti SM-55 flying boats on a transatlantic flight to New York and Chicago.

Mussolini’s stylized reputation as an aviation pioneer meshed well with his larger persona as Il Duce, the dynamic leader of Italian Fascism. He appeared in various guises in official propaganda photographs—a sort of Superman at the helm of state, speaking to the masses, playing the violin, singing arias, winning at chess, and, as a man of the people, working shirtless with the peasants at harvest time. Dubbed the First Sportsman of Italy, Mussolini appeared as an avid swimmer, race car driver, equestrian, fencer, and skier. He inspired his countrymen to believe that Italy was on the cusp of greatness—a modern incarnation of the Roman Empire.

The momentum of Mussolini’s rise eventually led to military adventures: first the conquest of Ethiopia in 1935 and then intervention in the Spanish Civil War in 1937 to 1939 to support the Nationalists under General Francisco Franco. In the Spanish war, Mussolini’s son, Bruno, a pilot, flew 27 combat sorties, and the Italian press lionized him and his fellow airmen as exemplars of Italian aviation under Fascism.
Mussolini cast his lot with Nazi Germany in World War II, committing the Italian military, including the Regia Aeronautica, to a long, ruinous war. Italy now had to contend with the armed forces of Great Britain and the United States, both intent on neutralizing Italian military power in the Mediterranean and seeking unconditional surrender. The stakes could not have been higher: An Allied victory would mean the destruction of Mussolini’s regime.

Mussolini’s pre-war stress on aerial spectaculars had evoked an image of Italy as a modern air power. In reality, Italy pursued records at the expense of establishing an industrial base for aviation, and the Regia Aeronautica entered the war with few operational aircraft and minimal capacity for reinforcement. When fully mobilized, Italian aviation plants could manufacture only 200 aircraft of various types each month. Great Britain out-produced Italy by more than eight to one; the United States by at least 30 to one.

Source: Despots Aloft
By Von Hardesty
Air & Space Magazine, May 01, 2005

Fukushima Dice

One chance in a million

Personification of Israel through names and stories of places

Personification or Anthropomorphism is attributing human characteristics to animals and various objects.
This is one of the most characteristic features of the human species. Humanity attributed human qualities to many external objects from the dawn of civilizations.
Basic human actions are handling the body: clean, health care, eating, etc.. This inner reality is a means through which it is possible for anybody to examine the external reality.
Thus, even in these days a very common thinking is about external objects as having human like features.

The Zodiac is a clear example of the tremendous power of anthropomorphic features in human culture.
Sky stars map is the earliest anthropomorphic map. Man at the dawn of history connected the constellations with human experience: figures, animals, and objects.

Pagan religions had many deities which had human traits such as: jealousy, hatred and love.
For example, the gods in Greek mythology, even the important ones such as Zeus and Apollo, were described as wearing human figures.

Monotheistic religious belief see, in general, as incorrect to describe the God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam as human. God has completely abstract properties.
However, it is most difficult for the average person to describe God as having no character.
Bible's creation story describes that God himself created man in his image.

The term 'image of God' is very important in Judaism, but specifies only spiritual qualities.
It does not call to simulate a physical person.
It does not connect to the Zodiac, or any other transcendent anthropomorphic expression.

Classical scholars called each map created as 'image of world' [Imago Mundi]
This name reveal the complex nature of Cartography.
Maps are a way of conveying messages influenced through culture-specific symbols.
Many ancient maps visually represented the essence of knowledge and perception of their creators’ world.

Although the modern scientific mapping use sophisticated measurement methods, it is still under the command of design aesthetic.
Accurate maps represent, against their purpose, a biased interpretation.
Any map, even the most scientifically advanced, is embedded in different content, including political, under the control of those who invited the map.
at the same time, wise use of artistic tools lets spectacular design of the maps - They are seen as works of art.

Land of Israel mapping activity was done for the longest duration in history compared to other places.
Overview of maps of the Holy Land shows that Cartography focused in one direction: an effort to be as accurate as possible in describing the landscape.
Partially successful map was created at the time of the Roman empire by Ptolemy [87-150 AD].

Despite the intensive mapping there is no trace of the possibility the land’s human figure, in any map or writing, since the Bible and up to our days.

Geography educated scholars who contemplated about the Land of Israel did so out of strict religious and scientific approach, ignoring the anthropomorphic approach.
Jewish sages drew only a few drawings of the map of Israel, especially as a simple square.
Rashi drew, in the 11th century, the country as a square with mostly the boundaries of the twelve tribes. He began a tradition which lasted until the Gaon of Vilna at late 18th century.

The ancient inhabitants of Israel did not have satellite images or even proper measurement tools to accurately map the area.
On the other hand, they were much more attentive to sounds of nature, intuitions covered the gap, and they absorbed the country's anthropomorphic image.

Land of Israel studies prove that it was an ancient tradition handed down from generation to generation.
Residents of the land throughout the ages gave names for many places according to the concept of the human form of the Holy Land. Stories of the Land of Israel, among them many Bible stories, express this.
It was a popular way to express love of country, not recognized by the educated.

To Hebrew speaker who lives in Israel today its seems that names of many places, both ancient and modern, are according to the human figure of the Holy Land. Arabic speakers will surely find many more.
Local news and events are perceived often as occurred as a result of their location according to the map.

Here are some examples of ancient names and stories of places in Israel in the spirit of Israel's human figure:

Jerusalem - rear mouth area
Phrase which the city is identified more than any is: ‘Word of God from Jerusalem’.

Jaffa - lips area
‘Yaffo’, the name pronunciation in Hebrew, is very similar to ‘Pah’ [mouth]. Whale swallowed Jonah who sailed from Jaffa.

Jericho - ear area
City of Jericho was conquered by the Israelites through the blowing of trumpets which toppled the walls.

Gaza - chin area
Meaning of ‘Gaza’, 'Aza' in Hebrew, is ‘courage’. It is appropriate to the firm chin. Samson died there a hero's death.

Haifa - nose area
‘Haifa’ is very similar to the Hebrew word ‘Af’ which is ‘nose’.

Jebel Livni - heart area
‘Livni’ is very close to ‘Lev’ - the Hebrew word for ‘heart’.

Litani River - head's top area
‘Litanis’ is prayer in Latin.


Anthropomorphism is Ergonomics both simple and sophisticated.
The Human Factor finds in it full expression.
It sends branches to all areas of life.

Human Form of the Holy Land is genuine and natural personification map.
Golden Ratio is a main way to create dialouge between man and world.
You can find the Golden Ratio in the map.

Pool of used fuel is stored on an upper floor of the reactor building in Fukushima

A design flaw by the Japanese builders appear to be at the heart of the crisis at Fukushima:

The extraordinary practice of putting the pool where the highly radioactive used fuel is stored on an upper floor of the reactor building, instead of, as is normal, having it at ground level.

This has made it particularly hard for workers to try to fill it with the water needed to isolate the fuel, keep it cool and stop it from melting – and is one reason why helicopters have had to be used.

General Electric "Mark I" Boiling Water Reactors comprise five of the six installed at the stricken complex in Japan, and all those so far hit by the world's first multi-reactor nuclear disaster.

General Electric offers in its instruction manual that the pool "is not above the reactor vessel and not designed to drain to the reactor vessel".

In addition to the danger caused by the building design, there are safety problems in the Mark 1 reactor type:

In 1976, three General Electric engineers resigned because: "the effects of a loss of coolant to the reactor core had not been fully taken into account. The result could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled release.

General Electric says that The Mark I meets all regulatory requirements and has performed well for over 40 years.

New reactors have been designed to be much safer, with the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), planned to be built here over the next few years, especially so.

But official documents show that the EPR will produce several times more of the radioactive iodine and caesium that would be rapidly released in an accident than do present-day reactors.

Source: The Telegraph

Unique Distortions in the Holy Land Map

The relation between any two following numbers in the Golden Ratio mathematical series is always a permanent number: 1.618…

This relation is not an integer. It is irrational. It continues into infinity with numbers after the point.

This is one of the reasons why a systematic thinking of the Golden Ratio brings the philosopher to thoughts of constant change, chaos, randomaliy, and the origins of the universe.

At the same time that it creates harmonies, the Golden Ratio creates change, restlessness, obsession, and search.

One of the attributes of people who lead life of constant change is their ability to dream and imagine.
In order to live a satisfying life it is necessary to imagine and dream, and arrange the will and thoughts according to this.

The Holy Land Map is not an exact duplicate of the human body.

The comparison between Geography and Anatomy reveal many distortions against the model of an adult human figure.

These distortions are unique and can inspire.

They can teach us a lot about ourselves.


Here are some of the distortions in the Holy Land Map:

Fetus
When following the exact lines of the landscape, the human figure which comes as a result resembles that of a fetus.
This is of course very interesting, but can be repulsive for representation.
So the final drawing is much more stately.

Jordan Valley
Jordan Valley's Sea of Galilee and Dead Sea are the eye and the ear in the map.
Together with Jordan River, these three water bodies can form an independent shape which reminds of an entire human figure, or at least a living creature with head, neck and body.
This personification drew the attention of poets and a special article is dedicated to it.
The eyes' nerves are about quarter of the brain, and the ears' bones are completed in the fetus.

Their being in the map as small organs and as an independent body is very interesting.
It gives the map its balance between right and left.

Face and Torso
The face in the map, the land between the river to the sea, is in an elongated, skinny form.
The Torso, Sinai Peninsula, is much more wide and fatty.
The face of the Holy Land Map appears in its external appearance: You can see the eye, ear, cheek, nose, mouth, etc.
The torso appears in its interior appearance: You can see the internal organ systems of the heart-lungs, liver-stomach, and intestines.
This double dissonance is according to the biblical descriptions of the fertile land–face as a narrow passing-through place, where the observation of the rules is dominant.
Sinai-desert is a vast and empty space where the direct inspiration of the Lord is much more feasible.

Hair
East Jordan Mountains, or the Red Mountains, are the hair because of their relative place and shape, and their appearance from the Jordan Valley.

These mountains create a wall between Land of Israel and Jordan deserts. They mark the path for countless scouting birds in their yearly migrations.
The biblical related story is that of Esau, twin of Jacob, the hairy guy who inherited part of this land.
The hair of the map-character is bountiful. It suggest that God is not a male nor a female but both.

Angel Rays
Hermon and Lebanon mountains have a V shape. Their snowy peaks are more then two kilometers above sea level and form between them the misty Baaka valley.

These ranges continue north to Asia Minor.
The stories about them are related to the tribe of Dan, whose land was in their southern intersection.
The meaning of the name 'Dan' in Hebrew is 'Judge'. The intersection a focal point, a logical optimum.
Abraham had his covenant with God at this point.

Energy Lines
Seven powerful energy lines cross the Land of Israel, in accord with the human body's energy lines.
The primary and strongest line is vertical, along the Jordan Valley.
The other six lines are horizontal, meridians, crossing from east to west along major mountain passes.
These seven lines reminds of the six days of the week and Shabbat, or the Divine lamp with the seven stems.
The distance along the Jordan Valley between each mountain pass is almost exactly 100 kilometers.

This precision can integrate between Healing and Geography.

Skin

The need to add colors and textures on order to enrich the character with details made it necessary to rely on the landscape as the human skin.

The primary lines-skeleton of the human shape of the Holy Land where covered with earth-skin in the Biblical sense of man's creation in the sixth day.

The Holy Land Map is a source of inspiration for the imagination. It encourages living according to dreaming.
It is a physical reality engraved in the soul to raise it from earth to heaven.

Illustration of the Great European War from a Japanese Humorous Atlas

Illustration of the Great European War, from a Humorous Atlas of the World

This map was created and published in Japan at the time of the First World War - 1914-1918.

The map focuses more on Asia then on Europe.

Russia-bear and China-pig are the most dominant nations-figures on the map.

It is amazing how the artist could give unique anthropomorphic attributes to almost any state in the old world.

List of some correlations:
China - pig
Russia - bear
India - elephant
Tibet - yak
Turkey - tiger
Egypt - woman
England - fish
Portugal - puppy
Germany - wild boar
Persia - cat

Land of Israel appears as a paw of Turkey-tiger.

Source: BibliOdyssey