Comments on: If Kosovo, Why Not Vermont?

By: ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Nation States: From Non-Existent to Status Quo

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:01:18 +0000

[...] [Part I] [...]

By: IJ

IJ — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:31:50 +0000

It’s a pity that internationally recognised territorial borders aren’t always respected. Moreover the changing rules on borders have consequences for the Falkland Islands as well as the Arctic.

By: Consul-At-Arms

Consul-At-Arms — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:36:03 +0000

I’ve quoted you and linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2008/02/re-if-kosovo-why-not-vermont.html

By: A.R.Yngve

A.R.Yngve — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:13:01 +0000

The Balkans, unlike Vermont, suffers from a “surplus of history.”

By: lirelou

lirelou — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:49:18 +0000

I’d add Puerto Rico to the list of nations which are not nation-states. Indeed, all politics on the island are based upon that dichotomy.

By: sun bin

sun bin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:22:25 +0000

PRC Macedonia? :)

you need to understand this is a result of competition.
someone else is trying to compete with PRC in recognizing Macedonia, and it needs to act fast.
as a matter of fact, ROC has already volunteered to recognize Kosovo!

By: elambend

elambend — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:27:35 +0000

I agree with the Ambassador. The very logic that concludes with the split of Kosovo from Serbia must apply to those Serbian areas inside of historic Kosovo. If we are in for a penny with partition, we should be in for a pound. It will not take away Serbian bitterness over the secession, but it will lower the chances of incidents and the need to ‘protect’ Serbs in Kosovo (and would protect some of the historic Monastaries there as well.

By: R

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:47:30 +0000

Thomas de Waal on the impact of Kosovo on the southern Caucasus:

http://www.iwpr.net/EN-crs-f-342806

By: walter

walter — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:15:59 +0000

If Kosovo, why not northern Kosovo? Why do we support Kosovo’s independence from Serbia but not the independence of Serb-majority northern Kosovo from Kosovo? As I understand it they want to rejoin (or not leave) Serbia. Why can’t they? One posting says there are four reasons why it won’t happen. The UN, the US, Serbia, and Kosovo are all against it. See http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2007/03/kosovo-un-plans-human-rights-disaster.php

By: Soob

Soob — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:49:29 +0000

“Why not Vermont?” Because the most vocal knuckleheads that support such foolishness are never able to lay out how they’ll accomplish it. Ask them and they’ll ramble on ad infinite about “why” but can’t seem to get around to any comprehensive strategy for pulling it off.

Looking forward to your posts on this.

By: R

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:40:11 +0000

Interesting take by former UK ambassador to Yugoslavia, Ivor Roberts. For him the solution is to partition Kosovo:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/ivor-roberts-the-threat-of-a-balkan-flareup-has-not-gone-away-778043.html

By: P. Aeneas

P. Aeneas — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:53:41 +0000

“I fully support the death of Leviathan. I hope to help it along its path to extinction or at least irrelevance. The welfare/warfare state is on its way out.”

In my short life, I’ve found that it’s usually unwise to quit your job unless have you another source of income lined up. If you want a more concrete example, from international affairs, look at Iraq. I wasn’t sad to see Saddam’s regime go the way of the dodo, but the lack of another ‘Leviathan’ to replace it in the immediate aftermath led to years of brutal chaos. Forgive me if I’m not anxious to sign up for that.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:59:18 +0000

I fully support the death of Leviathan. I hope to help it along its path to extinction or at least irrelevance. The welfare/warfare state is on its way out.

By: ElamBend

ElamBend — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:30:16 +0000

Do you think that the ability of ever smaller countries to exist rests upon a relatively stable set of international institutions: The United Nations and the United States, as well as the EU (and the global economic system they support)? Also, small nation-states and countries only work when they are assured relatively small or non-existent trade barriers (or they sit on a pile of oil).

Nations seem to exert themselves at either end of the stability spectrum. If the situation is complete chaos, then the Nation becomes the default mode. If it is in a middle ground, the compromise and banding together may be encouraged, particularly against ‘outside’ aggressors. If things are completely stable, then affluence can render such bonds unnecessarily and encourage a rise of National pride, though not necessarily strife.

By: dj

dj — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:38:12 +0000

I eagerly await the nation-state discussion. I enjoy this topic, especially from a geographic perspective.

By: Curzon

Curzon — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:52:28 +0000

“An example would be Germany, France or America.”

Well, perhaps the “United States of America,” but even there I think it’s very hard to argue that the US is a nation-state.

Jack: interestingly enough, the PRC was the first major power to recognize Macedonia as an independent state a decade and change ago. Shows how things change…

By: Jesus Reyes

Jesus Reyes — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:40:27 +0000

Russell Means has a pretty well developed Lakotah Nation secession movement. Mark Ames has a pretty funny piece on it at The Exile.

By: Chirol

Chirol — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:02:18 +0000

YH: No I haven’t but I think I will now!

By: Younghusband

Younghusband — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:54:03 +0000

Hey Chirol have you read Breaking of Nations by Cooper? He deals with these kinds of definitions.

By: AC

AC — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:54:01 +0000

Why not? Maybe because Vermont hasn’t been ethnically cleansed and governed by the UN for the past 9 years?

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:58:41 +0000

Well, the PRC also has not recognized Kosovo at this point, for obvious reasons as well.