There has been a lot of referrences regarding "revised atlas of the world" by National Geographic Society in which "Arabian Gulf" appears in paranthesis after "Persian Gulf". Persian weblogs showed first reaction by objecting strongly to this new non authenticated/non historical naming by a prestigueous organization like National Geographic Society. For me, it made a crack in my confidence towards National Geographic Society which I presumed a scientific reference even for spelling of the historical and geographic words. I have been eagerly reading this magazine for about 30 years and I have always enjoyed its scientific-humanistic-non prejudice approach to the subjects which matter for our blue planet.

There were petitions, there were objections and there were even formal embargo by Iranian Government for the Magazine and its reporters for entering Iran.

I beleive that the proper name for this body of water is "Persian Gulf" and it has been so for centuries and milleniums according to written history. I signed the objective petition in the Internet, I asked my wife to sign it and I even signed on behalf of my younger son being sure that my elder son will do it himself. I even wrote an email to the National Geographic and objected them about this "mistake" which I never expected. I have a strong beleif that it will stay as "Persian Gulf" only if there is enough will behind it.

But to be perfectly honest, I should admit that there is another side for this sad story: if there is a trend in changing a historical name, shouldn't we look for the reasons behind it? If the "Roman Empire" is wiped out of the face of the earth, if the sun now sets regularly in British Empire while once it would never set, if the brilliant civilization of Faroahs is now called "Arab Republic of Egypt", if there is no mention of great Babylon in todays world maps, if "Aztecs" and "Mayas" are only antique culturs for archeologists, whom should we blame?