but aha again 
as well as yikes
& hopefully not in quadruplicate any more either

for even more clever than conflict avoidance in this case would be the
realization that no extended shelf claims are even possible in the
referenced dispute areas 
of the kuriles & senkakus & takeshima 
as this handy & probably reliable map also appears to confirm
http://geology.usgs.gov/connections/mms/landscapes/508_descriptions/shelf_map_image_text.htm

so most likely no puzzle at all here after all barbara


& for gbenga et al
if i might conserve a message by also adding here to the other current
discussion
about boundary ultraconservatism in africa
whether of the purely sentimental or the really proactive variety
i feel the present drift of international boundary practice is already far
too conservative everywhere on earth for the general well being to really be
served
but most especially too conservative as applied by africans in africa

the unexamined & sometimes even express assumption is that boundary
conservatism & boundary conservation 
no matter how inappropriate or ignorant the boundary being conserved
actually is 
prevents wars & genocides & other miseries

but our actual experience appears to fly directly into the face of such a
lame belief

the fact that places like the congo or sudan or somalia etc dont & wont &
cant be allowed to disintegrate into more natural groupings 
but are artificially sustained in all their dysfunctionality by the
international system
led by the usa & other majors
while functional & sensible places like somaliland or south sudan etc go
begging & hoping & praying for recognition
is an extra tragedy that africans are inexplicably visiting upon themselves
even today
as if they hadnt yet had enough of the enslavement & other exploitation
visited upon them by outsiders

& this appears to happen 
mainly if not exclusively 
because the oas & au have always been so largely comprised of thug regimes
that are simply paranoid on principle about their personal security & turf
that anything novel which might work better or that already clearly works
remains a nonstarter 

it is not a matter of letting sleeping dogs lie or not

the solution in my view is simply to elevate the principle of self
determination above the principle of territorial socalled integrity
where it rightly belongs

first things first
& then we will have real integrity

just as the sea follows the land
so in reality does the land follow the people 

& only then would it make any real sense to repair the few technical
imperfections in the delimitations & densify the demarcations etc

cheers
ak md