Shifting borders and shifting sands

You must have seen this picture many times:

As an amateur historian, I am always curious about the boundaries and how history is framed. For example, the first photo establishes a state called as Palestine in 1946 which sort of puzzled me because there was an Ottoman Empire then and not a country known as Palestine. Mind you, there wasnt a state called as Israel either before 1948! If one thinks about Zionism as a driver, then this should go back to centuries and millennium. But as an ideology, you can go back to 1882 when the immigration started. But the immigration went into the Ottoman Empire and not into a state called as Palestine.

On the other hand, you can then draw the Palestinian parallels to the Philistines. You can also legitimately argue that the Roman state unit called as Palaestina created after they defeated the Jews was one of the ancestors of current day Palestine.

Now if I go back a bit further, you can see where the challenge comes from. Look here at how the Roman Empire grew and shrunk over hundreds of years. 

Obviously, the latter part of the presentation talks about the Byzantine empire and how it got taken over by the Ottoman Empire and then the Ottoman Empire then disintegrated into various countries just like the Roman Empire did. Borders shift all the time when seen from a distance. See more here for Ethiopia.

But this was even more interesting, how do you look at the Persian Empire? They also ruled over vast swathes of the Middle East. Did you know, the bastion of Sunni thought, Al Azhar, was actually founded by a Shia empire? Curious, no? Check out the Middle East changes here.

How about the Armenians? See their history here. How about Kosovo? It has had a long history and how there is talk about it seceding from Serbia. And as soon as it does, it will be recognised by the USA and UK. And when it does, a huge spear called as hypocrisy will go through almost every political structure.

If Kosovo can be independent, why cant Palestine be? Or Northern Cyprus? Or Kurdistan in Turkey? Or Eastern Shia in Saudi Arabia? Or Baluchistan in Pakistan? Or Kashmir in India? Or Southern Thailand? Or Darfur from Sudan? The basic principle is the same no?

But over the long view, you can see how boundaries rise and change.

Technorati Tags: Geography,Kosovo,History,Palestine,Middle East,Serbia,Turkey

Legal Arguments For/Against Kosovo Independence

Two links here and here to the legal debate. Very interesting, read if you are bored! I quote:

I am not really sure, but the erosion of the U.N. system and international law is something that is part of every Serbian and Russian government spokesman on this issue. And there is certainly some plausibility to this argument, as I understand it. U.N. member states are supposed to recognize the territorial sovereignty of other member states. (See, e.g., UN Charter, Art. 2 ("All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. ")But Kosovo's nationhood is, quite frankly, a creation of NATO's 1999 military intervention (an intervention that was itself arguably illegal under international law).

So the NATO states have "illegally" severed Kosovo from Serbia via an "illegal" military action. Let's be honest. Neither the Serbs nor the Russians are particularly sympathetic parties here. But this does not completely explain the deafening silence from Western public international law professors on this issue.

Or the angry protests from international-law-abiding progressives in the Western world, who raised the "illegality" argument constantly against the Iraq and Afghanistan interventions. Where is the outrage, or at least the fair-minded analysis? It doesn't have anything to do with the policy preferences of Western international law academics and Western progressives, does it?

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Can North Kosovo declare independence from Kosovo?

Good question, and why not? I quote:

Serbia does not formally back partition but Serb politicians have said that if Kosovo breaks from Belgrade, Serb-majority north Kosovo should break from Pristina.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Shifting borders and shifting sands

You must have seen this picture many times:

As an amateur historian, I am always curious about the boundaries and how history is framed. For example, the first photo establishes a state called as Palestine in 1946 which sort of puzzled me because there was an Ottoman Empire then and not a country known as Palestine. Mind you, there wasnt a state called as Israel either before 1948! If one thinks about Zionism as a driver, then this should go back to centuries and millennium. But as an ideology, you can go back to 1882 when the immigration started. But the immigration went into the Ottoman Empire and not into a state called as Palestine.

On the other hand, you can then draw the Palestinian parallels to the Philistines. You can also legitimately argue that the Roman state unit called as Palaestina created after they defeated the Jews was one of the ancestors of current day Palestine.

Now if I go back a bit further, you can see where the challenge comes from. Look here at how the Roman Empire grew and shrunk over hundreds of years. 

Obviously, the latter part of the presentation talks about the Byzantine empire and how it got taken over by the Ottoman Empire and then the Ottoman Empire then disintegrated into various countries just like the Roman Empire did. Borders shift all the time when seen from a distance. See more here for Ethiopia.

But this was even more interesting, how do you look at the Persian Empire? They also ruled over vast swathes of the Middle East. Did you know, the bastion of Sunni thought, Al Azhar, was actually founded by a Shia empire? Curious, no? Check out the Middle East changes here.

How about the Armenians? See their history here. How about Kosovo? It has had a long history and how there is talk about it seceding from Serbia. And as soon as it does, it will be recognised by the USA and UK. And when it does, a huge spear called as hypocrisy will go through almost every political structure.

If Kosovo can be independent, why cant Palestine be? Or Northern Cyprus? Or Kurdistan in Turkey? Or Eastern Shia in Saudi Arabia? Or Baluchistan in Pakistan? Or Kashmir in India? Or Southern Thailand? Or Darfur from Sudan? The basic principle is the same no?

But over the long view, you can see how boundaries rise and change.

Technorati Tags: Geography,Kosovo,History,Palestine,Middle East,Serbia,Turkey

Breathtaking vision to join gas networks of 8 countries!

I personally like people who paint grand visions which are realistic at the same time. When you hear about it, you go, bloody hell, it makes perfect sense and why on earth did nobody think of it before? Its not like proposing a vision to setup holiday camps on venus, but to join the gas networks of 8 countries. For core infrastructure like this, it is a scale matter, and bigger the scale, the better it is. And it provides energy security to Europe by providing an alternative to Russia. I quote:

Mol, the Hungarian oil and gas company facing a take-over bid from OMV of Austria, has proposed a merger of the gas transmission businesses of eight countries in central and south-east Europe to form a new $10bn company that could be floated on the stock market.
The radical project, given the working name of the New Europe Transmission System, would create one of the biggest gas networks in Europe. It would bring together the pipeline systems of Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria.
Mol says unifying the networks would encourage investment, build connections between countries and create a single gas market in the region. It would also help open up alternatives to Russian sources of supply, such as the Nabucco project to bring gas from the Caspian region to the European Union.

Execution will be tough, but hey, so is any great and wonderful thing!, go for it!

Read, wonder and hope!

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!