Kevin,

I agree completely that what is integral or not in various countries is for the
various countries to determine. Let each make it's own rules. That is why we
have various countries!

I would argue that, among USA dependencies, only uninhabited Palmyra rises to
the level of the District of Columbia as an integral (permanently inalienable)
part of the USA.

The page at http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/political_types.htm goes a long
way toward explaining the distinctions between various types of US dependencies.

Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Meynell" <knm@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 10:42 AM
Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Gibraltar

> Lowell/Mike,
>
> >While the contortions of the EU as to what and where their various rules
> >do and do not apply are quite amusing to us Americans
>
> And it becomes harder to understand when people consider the various
> appendages to be a single political unit.
>
> >we have our own idiosyncrasies that defy understanding elsewhere (and
> >sometimes here).
>
> My point exactly. It could well be argued that Puerto Rico and the USVI are
> an integral part of the US in the same way that DC clearly is, but how then
> do you deal with the likes of the Northern Mariana Islands?
>
> This said, it's not my place to argue about what people in different
> countries consider to be integral or otherwise. I merely raised the issue
> because we so often see tenuous claims based on misunderstandings of
realities.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kevin Meynell
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
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