What do you think the next country to achieve independence will be?
I will say East Timor.
[ul][li]Quebec[/li][li]Macedonia[/li]Texas[/ul]
AWB:
Macedonia is already independent, though it’s called “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (I hear that the top-selling musical act there is The Artist Formerly Known As Prince).
Probably you mean Montenegro.
Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@schicktech.com
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
Pluto, once it declares itself to be a full-fledged planet.
cmkeller: Probably you mean Montenegro.
Yeah, that’s what I meant. sigh
Puerto Rico?
East Timor is a good shot, though any of a number of ethnicities in Russia would probably rank up there. There have been no less than a DOZEN different groups of people in Russia, Chechnia being the most prevalent, that have made armed attempts at independence. What seperates them from a place like East Timor is lack of news coverage… We have an unfortunate policy of unquivocally backing the Yeltsin governemnt in all issues, resulting in lack of serious attention to these “independence movements.” We have no such policy towards Yugoslavia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, etc. etc. which means that our state department is readily able to accept “break-away” republics as independant states from these countries; but we are diplomatically unable to do so with any part of the Russian territory. Sad, but true.
Jason R Remy
“No amount of legislation can solve America’s problems.”
– Jimmy Carter (1980)
I forgot about Montenegro.
Kansas, by request of the other 49.
Regarding Quebec: Any thoughts on if Canada would break up if Quebec seceeded? I understand that alot of people in the Atlantic provinces wouldn’t want to be in a Canada sans The Big Q. OTOH, it has been said that the people in the western provinces are lining up to take the “Canadian” out of “French Canadian”. Is this the case, or have I been misinformed?
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
AWB made what I assume was a serious commnet that Texas has a valid succession movement. I personally think the chances of Texas declaring its independance is unlikely, but what if it did? After all, several states (including Texas) tried to leave once before and the Federal position was this wasn’t allowed. If Texas (or any other state) were to declare itself independant, would we call up the Army of the Potomac?
I say that Canada should give Quebec the boot. Quebec has always gotten way more than their share of “perks” from the federal government. Quebec just recently took over a job training program from the feds, and they screwed it up beyond belief. Let them try to start their own currency and postal system…they’d be begging to come back in to Canada within 5 years.
I say we get rid of all the moronic, whining
french.
If les pequistes succeed in passing a referendum on sovereignty, they’ll start negotiating a different relationship with the federal government.
In other words, nothing will change. Quebec already has a different relationship with the federal government than the other provinces, and they’ll try the same negotiating tactics they’ve used all along to get special, Quebec payoffs. In the last referendum, the official position of the separatist government was that Quebeckers would still use Canadian money, and retain Canadian passports (read citizenship), and maintain a common defense (so the military, such as it is, would still be Canadian) after separation.
In the 1980 referendum, the question was on full sovereignty, and got 40% support. In 1995, the question was on negotiating a new relationship with Canada, and got 49.5%. If they asked whether they should just continue the same posturing, they’d probably win.
As for the rest of Canada, I doubt anyone else would leave. During the last referendum, the rest of Canada was full of warm fuzzies for the maple leaf. Besides, the Atlantic provinces have been made dependent on the federal government since the feds legislated their livelihoods (fishing) into oblivion. And the west just goes on doing it’s thing; it’s always been basically ignored by Ottawa, and seems pretty happy that way.
Now that King Hassan has died, I would be tempted to bet on Western Sahara. The United Nations has been trying to organize a referendum and encourage talks between Morocco and the Polisario for a while now.
However, King Mohamed VI has declared that he will never give up Western Sahara (or words to that effect.)
Jacques Kilchoer
Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.
In Woody Allen’s very funny film “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” a minor character identifies himself as the ‘leader of a non-existant, but real-sounding country.’ He says:" It’s hard to be the leader of a new country. Why , we still have the entire population packed up in boxes! But the first open spot on the map, & we’re next."
It all depends on what you define a ‘country’ to be. Chechnya is, for all intents and purposes, independent of Rossiya, but I don’t know if any countries acknowledge its independence officially, such as by exchange of diplomatic personnel. On the other hand, as far as I can remember, the United Nations never accepted the annexation of East Timor into Indonesia.
As for the next area to successfully set-up and independent government recognized by a majority of the world’s nations, I suggest looking at Africa. The lines drawn there are mostly arbitrary old colonial divisions, which fail to recognize the reality of tribal divisions.
Now who wants to tackle the issue of whether Palestine is already a separate country? <ducking>
I think the Palestine is a nation without a state. Much like the Kurds.
It doesn’t solve anything but it makes us all sleep better at night.
Macau, if you treat Hong Kong’s present status as a “new nation”.
Otherwise, Tokelau, bound to be removed from U.N. Trust Territory Status one of these days. (Presently under New Zealand administration)
“Proverbs for Paranoids, 1: You may never get to touch the Master, but you can tickle his creatures.”
- T.Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow.
Jorge
I don’t understand the Macau reference. Hong Kong isn’t a new country it is part of China. Macau will be part of China come this December. Am I missing something?