Risk

One of the great pleasures of the holidays, for me, is board games. In regular life, they seem ridiculous and a childish waste of time. But is it okay to waste time on Christmas vacation and to spend time with family inside the house. Add this to my mother asking me to clean out the board game closet and I find Risk sitting in the living room table beckoning. A game got me hooked. So much so, I've turned to free Risk games online.

Risk, when you get good at it, reminds me how geography matters. In our virtual world, we can easily forget this. What are some of the most sought after territories on the Risk board? The Middle East and the Ukraine. Surprised? Look at where they are. Ukraine is the gateway between Europe and Asia, crucially important and strategic. If you hold Ukraine, you don't need to waste resources protecting your entire Asian border. The Middle East is between African, Asian, and Europe. My brother and I invaded each other between The Middle East and Afghanistan back and forth, numerous times. I feel like our foreign policy establishment and military ought to play Risk weekly.