# New Countries **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795 "2005-04-29T21:58:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/1 "2005-04-29T21:58:55Z")
Where in the world, over the next 20 years, can we expect new, independant nations to spring up? (e.g. Aceh, Irian Jaya). Are any big countries likely to fall apart and a whole buncha little new nations spring from their remains? mm ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/2 "2005-04-29T22:08:14Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if northern Iraq ended up being an independent Kurdistan. If ever they had a real opportunity it’ll be the near future while things are in flux. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/3 "2005-04-29T22:39:46Z")
There’s plenty of possibilities in central Asia, especially countries bordering Afghanistan. Ukraine recently showed that it’s possible for a supposedly-established country to very quickly become very divided - what happens there in the next two decades is hard to predict. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/4 "2005-04-29T23:08:43Z")
Transdniestria in northern Moldova might become internationally recognised. It already considers itself independent. A topic for IMHO, IMHO 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/5 "2005-04-29T23:15:23Z")
In Africa, what about Nigeria? Sudan? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/6 "2005-04-29T23:16:26Z")
And of course Congo… The possibilities are endless given the right (or probably the wrong) circumstances. Indeed, it’s more of an IMO question… ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/7 "2005-04-29T23:18:09Z")
And what about an independant Kashmeer? 🙂 Err…well, let’s forget about it… ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/8 "2005-04-29T23:20:46Z")
One more possibility : Sri-Lanka spliting up… ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/9 "2005-04-30T00:08:11Z")
Georgia and the Southern Caucuses are very politically unstable. Sri Lanka I think is highly likely. An independent Kurdistan would be fiercely opposed by Turkey. A viable Palestine, once Likud and the West Bank settlers are gone. Bougainville from PNG. Noumea and various other French Pacific colonies. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/10 "2005-04-30T04:20:45Z")
Québec? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/11 "2005-04-30T06:13:00Z")
After East Timor gained independence perhaps the Indonesian share of PNG could so. ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/12 "2005-04-30T08:12:35Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Transdniestria in northern Moldova might become internationally recognised. It already considers itself independent. Possible, but less likely now that Ukraine has west-leaning government. In any case an independent Trandnistria would be a safe haven for certain types of criminals and heavily dependent of Russian aid much like today, which means that internatiol recognition would be hard to get. It would be seen as a Russian (and maybe also Ukrainian) puppet state. In America, Bolivia looks rather fragile right now because its weak economy and internal discrepancies. It’s possible that the country might split in two someday soon. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/13 "2005-04-30T09:38:19Z")
There’s been an ongoing movement in Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom. ---
**Author:** ![guinnog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@guinnog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guinnog)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/14 "2005-04-30T23:23:29Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > There’s been an ongoing movement in Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom. Indeed. We have our own parliament in Edinburgh. The SNP are atanding next week on an ‘independence within Europe’ ticket. I am tempted to vote for them. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/15 "2005-04-30T23:36:31Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > There’s been an ongoing movement in Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom. Would this negatively affect Scotland in any way? ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/16 "2005-05-01T04:06:46Z")
I heard someone talking about the chance that the EU might break up, but I doubt it that would result in any new countries. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/17 "2005-05-01T09:53:15Z")
There’s no way that full Scottish independence would happen in 20 years. Devolution has made it much less of a priority for many Scots, and the SNP is run as badly as Labour in the 1980s. Could it negatively affect Scotland? Quite possible, it could cause real economic harm. It’s one of the poorest parts of the UK, with more government spending there than south of the border. The SNP are convinced that Scottish territorial claims to North Sea oil & gas would balance this out, but there’s two snags: it’s in the hands of private companies, so they’d have a nightmare of a legal battle with no certain outcome - and it’s going to run out before very long anyway. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/18 "2005-05-01T10:44:04Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > There’s been an ongoing movement in Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom. If you’re going this way there’s also an ongoing movement for Belgium splitting up… ---
**Author:** ![guinnog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@guinnog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guinnog)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/19 "2005-05-01T11:18:37Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > There’s no way that full Scottish independence would happen in 20 years. Devolution has made it much less of a priority for many Scots, and the SNP is run as badly as Labour in the 1980s. > > Could it negatively affect Scotland? Quite possible, it could cause real economic harm. It’s one of the poorest parts of the UK, with more government spending there than south of the border. The SNP are convinced that Scottish territorial claims to North Sea oil & gas would balance this out, but there’s two snags: it’s in the hands of private companies, so they’d have a nightmare of a legal battle with no certain outcome - and it’s going to run out before very long anyway. What a remarkably ill-informed post. Almost every statement is false. Remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795/20 "2005-05-01T11:21:10Z")
Transylvania has an independence movement. They want to cecede from Romania. And, presumably, give the Werewolves the vote. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-countries/301795.md?page=2)