Subject: closing the gap at tp  bahrain qatar saudi arabia  aka bhqasa<br/>
Date: Apr 20, 2001 @ 13:33<br/>
Author: michael donner  by way of jane capellaro (michael donner &lt;m@discovernet.net&gt; (by way of jane capellaro &lt;j@discovernet.net&gt;))<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-1048031670">the recent wrong guess at a  maritime & islamic law  tricountry point<br/>
   based on bhqa icj maps 2 & 7  linked in message 2090<br/>
has at least had the beneficial result of spotlighting the hole in reality<br/>
that does exist between & among the several convergent but still loose &or<br/>
unknown ends of the bhqa & bhsa & qasa boundaries<br/>
<br/>
the situation prior to the bhqa decision & qasa agreement of last month is<br/>
probably shown pretty well by the cia map at<br/>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/middle_east_and_asia/Qatar_rel">http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/middle_east_and_asia/Qatar_rel</a><br/>
95.jpg<br/>
<br/>
there you can see the nearly convergent termini of the 1958 bhsa line & the<br/>
1992 qasa line<br/>
   which was evidently also reaffirmed in 1996 & 1999<br/>
<br/>
both appear to be lines of equidistance from opposing coasts<br/>
<br/>
the recent icj bhqa decision mentions in passing that the 1958 bhsa terminus<br/>
   aka  point s1<br/>
is situated at  exactly<br/>
   n lat 25d 35m 38s  &  e long 50d 31m 45s<br/>
<br/>
so you can also see that both the icj & cia maps do at least a fairly good <br/>
job of approximating its position<br/>
<br/>
by contrast  the coordinates of the 1992 1996 1999 qasa terminus are<br/>
unknown to me<br/>
   tho its position is probably indicated by the cia with a similar degree <br/>
of accuracy<br/>
& the coords of the new 2001 qasa agreement reported in message 1873 are <br/>
also unknown<br/>
<br/>
however  it seems likely<br/>
   in view of how quickly the the 2001 qasa treaty followed on the 2001 <br/>
bhqa decision<br/>
that the position of the qasa terminus was simply pulled back by the 2001 <br/>
qasa revision to the point of intersection of the old qasa line with the <br/>
new icj bhqa terminal loxodrome<br/>
<br/>
this loxodrome has been set by the court at 234d 16m 53s<br/>
from its point of departure<br/>
   aka  point 1<br/>
at  n lat 25d 34m 34s  &  e long 50d 34m 03s<br/>
   until it reaches saudi maritime territory<br/>
<br/>
the position of the loxodromic conjunction<br/>
& thus of the predicted position of bhqasa<br/>
is very approximately at<br/>
n lat 25d 33m 42s  &  e long 50d 32m 48s<br/>
   in degrees & minutes  &  deciminutes<br/>
     rather than actual seconds<br/>
since i dont know how to compute it or place the qasa equidistance line <br/>
more precisely<br/>
   hence its thickness on the attached illustration<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
& after all<br/>
this point of their conjunction<br/>
   & thus of the most putative bhqasa tripoint<br/>
has probably already been precisely stated in the new qasa accord<br/>
& is thus probably not unknown  but merely unknown to us<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
anyway it seems as tho the court didnt & couldnt tie down the exact <br/>
geoposition of the bhqasa tripoint<br/>
not only because saudi arabia was not a party to the bhqa case<br/>
but also because there was a gap between rather than an overlap of the <br/>
predecessor bhsa & qasa lines<br/>
<br/>
once the qasa boundary was fully closed by the bhqa & qasa events of last month<br/>
it only remained & remains for bahrain & saudi arabia to close this gap by <br/>
extending their existing boundary<br/>
either by a deflection from the abovementioned point s1 to the revised qasa <br/>
terminus at the loxodrome junction<br/>
or else  if less likely  by a simple projection of its terminal course thru <br/>
point s1 until it strikes the loxodromic line<br/>
<br/>
both of these most probable scenarios are shown in the attached illustration<br/>
but it seems almost inescapable that the tripoint<br/>
   tho still not legally completed nor publicly announced in degminsec<br/>
is already actually known & precisely pinned down<br/>
<br/>
so bhqasa could well be or become the first  marine & islamic law<br/>
tricountry point  after all<br/>
but that depends entirely on what is actually in the minds of its 3 sovereigns<br/>
<br/>
m</div>