Without asking you to bell the cat am I right to understand that
you stand for a wholesome discussion about existing boundaries in
Africa altogether and for a full discussion about current geographic
descriptions as viable states or are you saying
uti possidetis is an everlasting truth. Somehow I suspect
the earlier for which if I am right you are a brave man indeed.
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)
Direct Line 0044
(0)1227 824817
Fax: 0044 (0) 1227 827831
Email:
[log in to unmask] http://www.kent.ac.uk/law/people/index.htm