Gbenga

----- Original Message -----
From: Aletheia Kallos <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, December 11, 2008 8:47 pm
Subject: Re: [INT-BOUNDARIES] aha very clever
To: [log in to unmask]

> 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
> themselveseven today
> as if they hadnt yet had enough of the enslavement & other
> exploitationvisited 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
>

Dr. Gbenga Oduntan
Lecturer in International Commercial Law,
Kent Law School,
Eliot College,
University of Kent,
Canterbury,
Kent CT2 7NS, UK.

Phone:
Switchboard 0044 (0)1227 764000 (ext 4817)
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