Thank you for your further comments and questions. I have few facts with
which to reply, so I provide speculation and opinion. Hopefully others will
jump in with corrections or disagreements where appropriate.
1. Regarding the unclaimed portion of Antarctica, if there were economic
gain from it, I believe that countries and/or multinationals would be quick
to claim it, or to act without bothering to claim, especially if the
Antarctic Treaty System had collapsed. Sorry to be cynical, but I think
that it is also being realistic. Conflicting claims, including exploitation
vs environmentalism, could of course lead to war. If the West Antarctic Ice
Sheet were to collapse, presumably due to climate change, I do not know how
much of Marie Byrd Land would be left nor how accessible that portion would
be for resource extraction or conservation/research activities.
2. Are there any other land areas on Earth which are unclaimed? Not like
the Spratly Islands which are claimed several times, but like Marie Byrd
Land and the section outside Norway's Antarctic claim for which no claim
exists. Are these unclaimed lands rocks and islets or are there further
substantial portions of unclaimed land?
3. To supplement the boundary crosses, I had understood that four countries
meet in southern Africa? See
http://www.lowdown.co.zm/2003/2003-12/wherefourcountriesmeet.htm and
http://www.safarinow.com/go/ChobeMarinaLodge
Or have I been fooled by tourist literature?
4. Regarding going from No One's Land to Everyone's Land and "a nation state
in which the sovereignty of every individual human being both within that
state & outside of it is indeed fully regarded & valued as equally divine",
those would require a complete and nearly universal change regarding how our
species views identity, statehood, culture, and nationhood. Perhaps in a
few centuries or millennia. Consider how those views have changed since a
few centuries and millennia in the past. So it is not impossible, it just
takes time--or perhaps a fundamental change such as a catastrophe wiping out
90%+ of humanity or an attack by extraterrestrials. I think that this
discussion has drifted slightly away from international borders.
Ilan
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