Countries most likely to unite/split in our lifetime

[Joseph]

Originally posted by C0ckney
it saddens me that englishmen can talk seriously about abandoning northern ireland to the catholics

NO SURRENDER TO THE IRA!

Keep this in mine the next time you said that. England invaded Ireland some 900 year ago and move Englishmen to Ireland to take over the country.

[Fake Boris]

That would be great for the US. Then we could bomb the sh!t out of the state.

Keep this in mine the next time you said that. England invaded Ireland some 900 year ago and move Englishmen to Ireland to take over the country.

I hope you are a master of sarcasm. Because if this has got to be stupidity, then you're a Grand Master in it.

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris


Wasn't Taiwan Chinese before the Japanese conquest of the 19th century? (circa 1877 I think).

No. When the Dutch found the island (1600s), no and I mean no Chinese lived there. The island people were polynesian. The polynesian there at the time told the Dutch they did not know how long they had lived on the Island but all said their Grandfather had live there and their Grandfather had live there. They told the Dutch that from time to time Chinese pirates would come and hid from the Chinese Navy. After the Dutch settle there, they needed people to work for them with no pay (slaves). So the Dutch when to south central China and pick up whoever they could buy and took them to Taiwan. And that is how the Chinese came to Taiwan. Some early Chinese Goverments knew about Taiwan, but did not try to settle it.

Here is a another one I just found out about. Iwo Jima and it's other island was found by the American Navy and not by the Japanese. We told them about the Island and later they came and claim them for Japan, but our Navy had Naval Station on them for some time.

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by Joseph
Keep this in mine the next time you said that. England invaded Ireland some 900 year ago and move Englishmen to Ireland to take over the country.

Talking about what happened 900 years ago doesn't get anyone very far. Then again nor does talking abot surrendering to the IRA.

Although one of the main reason the provos stoppes the bombings was because they were losing big style.

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Joseph
Keep this in mine the next time you said that. America invaded California some 150 year ago and move Americans to California to take over the country.

'people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'

[molly bloom]

Possibly a southern African economic union. A shared history of struggle against white minority rule unites S.A. and Zimbabwe and Namibia, there are ethnic ties, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland are all also in the Commonwealth, there are certainly good reasons why they should unite.

An economic union of the Maghreb (as opposed to membership of the Arab League).

Indonesia is certainly a good case for separatism, with ethnic tensions in Borneo, and occupied West Papua, and in Aceh.

A united Korea would be a very good idea- perhaps when the North Korean dictator/god for life pops his clogs....

I doubt the United Kingdom will disunite any time soon. Why would Eire want to be saddled with the economic and political burden of a disaffected Loyalist Protestant minority? The E.U. security blanket is a better home.

Sudan should definitely split- a Muslim Arab north has no business ruling a Christian/Animist black African south, with an iron fist in a mailed glove and sharia law.

[Bosh]

molly bloom: Mozambique isn't Commonwealth and never war.

[/nit picking]

And a reuinited Korea would be hell for the South's economy, would be vastly harder to make work than it was for Germany.

[East Street Trader]

I agree that the EU is gradually changing european allegiances.

It seems totally daft for people in N. Ireland to feel strongly enough about which "nation" they belong to to kill each other when both the UK and Ireland are members of the EU. No doubt which council fixes your local taxes and runs your local garbage disposal has some significance - but it is difficult to get up a really impressive head of steam on such things.

And I agree this change may well make it easier for a Basque or a Scot or a Breton to reconcile allegiance to their particular locality with allegiance to their country and allegiance to the greater union which the EU is forging.

Which seems to me very desirable. We need to move on from the concept of the nation state. If the world were a more threatening place than it has become we might still need all the cohesion which the nation state brings.

But it is not.

In fact the biggest threat around is yet another huge war sparked off by the kind of power games which nation states indulge in.

It occurs to me that both the UK and the USA represent staging posts along this development. When England/Wales and Scotland agreed to unite it was done on the basis that each would maintain their own distinctive system of law. And that has continued through to the present day. When the USA was created a federal model was adopted so that each state could preserve aspects of its own history and culture.

The USSR, by contrast, does not seem to have managed any internal diversity rather seeking a homogenous set of arrangements, to be applied everywhere.

I suspect it is going to take a long time for the last vestiges of the nation state to pass. But it is good that some things are happening which begin its demise.

[Winston]

Boshko,

Despite being a former Portuguese colony, Mozambique is in fact a member of the Commonwealth of Nations today. They applied and were accepted some time in the mid 1990's if memory serves me right.

[Bosh]

Despite being a former Portuguese colony, Mozambique is in fact a member of the Commonwealth of Nations today.

Ah, shouldn't have opened my big stupid mouth then. Thanks for the info.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Joseph
No. When the Dutch found the island (1600s), no and I mean no Chinese lived there. The island people were polynesian. The polynesian there at the time told the Dutch they did not know how long they had lived on the Island but all said their Grandfather had live there and their Grandfather had live there. They told the Dutch that from time to time Chinese pirates would come and hid from the Chinese Navy. After the Dutch settle there, they needed people to work for them with no pay (slaves). So the Dutch when to south central China and pick up whoever they could buy and took them to Taiwan. And that is how the Chinese came to Taiwan. Some early Chinese Goverments knew about Taiwan, but did not try to settle it.

Here is a another one I just found out about. Iwo Jima and it's other island was found by the American Navy and not by the Japanese. We told them about the Island and later they came and claim them for Japan, but our Navy had Naval Station on them for some time.

All right. But I suppose then that in 'history', polynesian=native waiting to be colonized. And since Taiwan speaks Chinese, and since it is the remnants of Chiang Kai Shek, I guess China's claims are not that unjustified.

[JimmyCracksCorn]

Originally posted by C0ckney
it saddens me that englishmen can talk seriously about abandoning northern ireland to the catholics

NO SURRENDER TO THE IRA!

Glad to see religious war isn't just limited to the Middle East.

Why don't we just call them the IRA instead of the catholics, ok? Lets try not to make this off to be some crusade.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by C0ckney


'people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'

But when the US took over California, Mexican land titles were respected, and Mexican landowners assimilated into the California upper class. Kinda like what happened in Ireland in say, 1100. Very UNLIKE what happened in Ireland in 1650 or thereabouts. Not to prejudice the current situation in the North, but what happened in Ireland in the 1600s, though arguably driven by the grand strategic situation vis a vis france and Spain, was QUITE nasty.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris


All right. But I suppose then that in 'history', polynesian=native waiting to be colonized. And since Taiwan speaks Chinese, and since it is the remnants of Chiang Kai Shek, I guess China's claims are not that unjustified.

Taiwan was under Japanese rule from 1895 (?) to 1945, and there was significant cultural influence. In 1945 the Chiang govt not only sought to eliminate any Japanese cultural influence, but also subordinated the local dialect of Chinese (which, like most southern Chinese "dialects" IIUC, is not intelligble to Mandarin speakers) to Mandarin, the language of the KMT exiles. IIUC in contemporary Taiwan the local dialect is making a comeback and Mandarin is in decline.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by molly bloom
Possibly a southern African economic union. A shared history of struggle against white minority rule unites S.A. and Zimbabwe and Namibia, there are ethnic ties, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland are all also in the Commonwealth, there are certainly good reasons why they should unite.

.

South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe.

lets think political - economic systems. Which one doesnt belong?