kevin
back to my original answer to your original question
& even including jespers admirable hans island pipe dream
border as if it were already real & of whatever length anyone
imagines it to be
i still think your roughly 1200 meter esgb land border at gibraltar
is entirely comparable
apples & apples
with the roughly 50 meter land border at penon de velez de la
gomera
the reality & comparability of which i think you can see for
yourself in the link to message 6832
& as for the question of what is the definitive qualifier or indicator
of real & independent countryhood
tho i agree there is no simple answer
i just dont see how you can seriously maintain it is the
ownership of an iso diglyph
if i had to come up with a better indicator
i would pick ownership of a seat at the united nations instead
& resign myself to missing a couple of odd crabapples
namely taiwan & the vatican
rather than having to eat all your dozens of oranges &
pineapples
& granted that there are many ways to look at everything
including cross eyed & upside down
but i still think we should try for the best available truth in all
things
even if they arent multipointing things
--- In
BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Jesper Nielsen"
<jesniel@i...> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kevin Meynell" <kevin@m...>
> To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2003 8:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Shortest border??
>
>
> >
> > >but i would not agree that having an iso diglyph definitively
makes a
> > >place a real country
> >
> > ISO 3166-1 doesn't just list countries, but distinct territories
as well.
> >
> > >familiar cases in point are
> > >ai anguilla
> > >an netherlands antilles
> > >aq antarctica
> > >as american samoa
> > >aw aruba
> >
> > Many of the national overseas territories on the list (including
most of
> > the above) are more-or-less separate countries. They are
self-governing,
> > and only rely on their 'parent' country for defence and external
> relations.
> > Even then, these aspects are usually conducted in
accordance with the
> > territory's wishes.
> >
> > I would agree that there are some questionable inclusions
on the list
> (e.g.
> > Bouvet Island), and the French DOMs should possibly not be
on there
> either,
> > but it's about as definite as you can probably find. The list of
reserved
> > codes is also quite interesting as it gives away how some
countries
> > consider the status of their territories (e.g. Spain with the
Canary
> > Islands, Ceuta and Melilla).
> >
> > Anyway, back to the original question - can anyone find a
border which has
> > a total length of less than 1.2 km?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Kevin Meynell
> >
> I am working on one!
>
> I 1973 Canada and Denmark agreed on their continental shelf
line, but a tiny
> island, Hans Island got in their way. The line is made to the
island and
> stops and continues from the other side of the island. If they
combine the
> two points the island will be divided.
>
> My plan is to research into the case and propose to the
governments and
> politicians to end the case and draw the line.
>
> Apart from being the shortest land border, it will also be the
most
> northern.
>
> The dispute is described in "Boundary and Security Bulletin,
Vol. 5, No. 3".
>
> Jesper