Countries That Don't Exist

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151103-the-countries-that-dont-exist

by chewxy • 11 years ago

123 41 11 years ago

guai898• 11 years ago

Taiwan is probably the largest "invisible" country. 23 million people Army personnel : 290,000 Tanks: 2,005 Total aircraft: 804 Submarines: 4

imrehg• 11 years ago

Greetings from Taiwan. :) It's pretty much a "let's pretend we cannot see you" sort of diplomacy one the side of most countries (including my birth country in Europe) - most just set up a "trade office" and conduct things almost like an embassy.

Living here for ~7 years and thinking quite a bit about it, I believe statehood defined by membership of "club" that is the United Nations is quite laughable. There was no such thing a hundred years ago, and while the UN does bring a lot of good things to the table, this misrepresentation of reality (for obvious powerplay reasons) is just awful...

matthewrudy• 11 years ago

I lived in Taipei for a year.

I loved it, but I could never find a suitable startup to work with. So ended up moving back to HK.

I'll be back some time. But I fear for Taiwan's future.

maxerickson• 11 years ago

Some change this week:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Taiwan&tbm=nws

(I don't pretend to understand how meaningful it is, but it was the first such meeting)

ultimatejman• 11 years ago

The micro nation Sealand is brilliant.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150414-i-rule-my-own-ocean...

TazeTSchnitzel2• 11 years ago

Hasn't been legitimate for a long time, though. England's maritime boundaries were extended a while back. If they try something, English police will descend.

Choronzon• 11 years ago

Libya and Iraq can effectively added to this list.

paublyrne• 11 years ago

Yes. And many African and Middle East countries are inventions to various degrees of the colonial powers. See Nigeria, Transjordania ...

alextgordon2• 11 years ago

I thought this was going to be about the excellent BBC series "Places That Don't Exist"[1] that covers Somaliland, Transnistria, Taiwan, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_That_Don%27t_Exist

Simon Reeve himself has posted it on youtube, so I guess it's OK to link it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRET1fHLWdE

__float• 11 years ago

Was the video working when you posted this? I just see "This video is unavailable." (in the US though--but it doesn't say it's blocked in my country?)

aluhut• 11 years ago

Surprisingly it's available from Germany.

tellarin• 11 years ago

Works fine for me in South Korea.

dennisgorelik• 11 years ago

It does not work for me (US).

TazeTSchnitzel2• 11 years ago

Don't forget frozen conflicts.

South Ossetia, Nagoro-Karabakh, Donetsk People's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic, Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, Abkhazia... these are just the post-Soviet ones.

Then there's the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, of course. Legitimate or not, it's very much a state.

serpentor2• 11 years ago

The funny thing about depictions of ISIS' areas of operation and control on maps provided by, say... The New York Times, is that they're always shown as wispy red tendrils curling along main highways and around towns, and that level of spin is a bit silly.

The point being that there's some sort of psychological effort being made, to assert that while all the main roads are under control, and all the main roads certainly surround much larger areas, ISIS only controls the first 25 feet outside of the roadway, as if it's bound by some sort of municipal Iraqi or Syrian zoning ordinance.

KevinEldon• 11 years ago

ISIS doesn't have an Air Force; they can't really defend the desert they don't occupy event if it's terrorist with little strategic importance.

Had the maps shown ISIS with more territory someone might suggest a psychoigical effort was being made to scare people into supporting a more direct conflict with ISIS.

I do think it would be interesting to know how journalists draw these maps though.

jdfellow• 11 years ago

And here's a new one, on the west bank of the Danube between Croatia and Serbia.

https://liberland.org

nommm-nommm• 11 years ago

Would Republika Srpska be considered one?

Mz• 11 years ago

Reminds me of an email I once wrote that started out talking about Georgia as an imaginary place. Countries, states, counties, cities -- these all have to be dreamed up first in a way that, say, a continent or river does not need to be dreamed up. A continent exists whether we define it and name it or not. Not so with a politically defined "place."

cwmma• 11 years ago

Strange they mentioned the Republic of Lakotah while not mentioning the Navaho Nation[1] as the latter is an actually functional government, though the fact that it doesn't try to claim statehood doesn't help, the fact that it actually operates does give it a leg up on Lakotah.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Nation

freditup• 11 years ago

The area of the midwest referenced in this article is a fascinating area. It's essentially undiscussed and unthought about in mainstream American thought. But it's so interesting to drive around out there, so much land, few people, and when you do come to towns, everyone in them is Native American. It's just different than anything I've experienced on the east or west coasts.

stephengillie• 11 years ago

Interesting that Western Sahara isn't mentioned. It actually isn't a country, but it looks like one. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Sahara

Systemic33• 11 years ago

The paragraph about Christiania is bullshit.

It is not legal to smoke or sell cannabis there, and the police have done several raids over the years. Most people don't even consider it a country, but more like a borough for the hippies. Copenhagen is mainly social democrat, with some areas even more left wing, and clearing out Christiania would be a very unpopular idea, because a large majority of their voters support Christiania.

JupiterMoon• 11 years ago

I'm not sure about how large (or how solid) the majority that support Christiania is, most Copenhageners seem divided on the issue.

Cannabis is de facto legal in Christiania: people buy, sell and use it openly there without repercussions. This seems to be widely regarded as a good thing.

rmason• 11 years ago

The amateur radio organization, American Radio Relay League (ARRL), has its own definition of a country. I can't locate the exact definition on the web but in general it is stated that each discrete geographical or political entity is considered to be a country. Many of these 'countries' lack even population but are considered so for awards purposes. Hams schedule trips to put these countries on the air.

Here's the ARRL list:

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/dxcclist.txt

ThinkingGuy• 11 years ago

The Travelers Century Club maintains a similar list. Feel free to compare and contrast:

http://travelerscenturyclub.org/countries-and-territories/

john_fushi• 11 years ago

After playing Eu4 for a while, I'm kinda disapointed the knights aren't mentionned.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Ma...

geon• 11 years ago

Having a state not based on a geographical boundary would be interesting for democracy. You could join such a state based on your political alignment, and pay/not pay your taxes to them. It would be like working abroad.

joss82• 11 years ago

It's sad that they don't talk about Uzupis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C5%BEupis

A nice little artsy pseudo-country in Vilnius, Lithuania.

gozo2• 11 years ago

I know way too much about this subject, some favorites are...

Åland Islands, an autonomous region between Sweden and Finland which belongs to Finland but is Swedish-speaking. What makes it notable is that it's a demilitarized zone. Something that is more usual for conflict zones like in Korea or far away places like Antarctica. It also holds an VAT exception from the EU which makes it possible to buy tax-free goods on the ferries between Sweden and Finland. TLD: .ax

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85land_Islands

San Marino, a microstate in Italy claiming to be the oldest sovereign state in the world that for some reason enjoy the best visa rules to China of any country. Presumably because China will generally give you the same visa rules as you give its citizens. Like many other microstates it's hard to become a neutralized citizen, requiring having lived there for at least 30 years. TLD: .sm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_microstates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_China

Bir Tawil, an area between Egypt and Sudan that is, because of disagreement over borders, claimed by neither of them. Supposedly the most non-remote unclaimed territory on earth. TLD: not yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil

vitd• 11 years ago

I just have to ask, given your name, are you from Gozo? I visited once about 7-8 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it!

gozo2• 11 years ago

No, few people are. But I've been there and, although probably not Gozo, I'm looking to move to Malta in a few months.

desdiv2• 11 years ago

San Marino is in the UN though, so it's a proper country country.

Countries That Don't Exist

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