Subject: Re: Islands in dispute between USA and others<br/>
Date: Apr 16, 2005 @ 20:59<br/>
Author: aletheiak (&quot;aletheiak&quot; &lt;aletheiak@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-1574139217">good thinking<br/>
since why bother bush <br/>
when this may suffice to settle it<br/>
<br/>
& will be fun in any case <br/>
as i think we may well have stumbled on at least 1 quadribanger miniarchipelago here<br/>
which might at least equal the greatest number of known national claims to any naturally <br/>
dry land in the world that we are aware of <br/>
on several of the individual spratly islands<br/>
even if we dont any longer have <br/>
or never had <br/>
a true quintibanger<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
but doesnt the situation feel eerily similar to the way china dropped her claim to sikkim <br/>
by quietly modifying a map & or list on a government web page one night in 2003<br/>
<br/>
except that that occurred rather poignantly in the midst of a cnin negotiation iirc<br/>
<br/>
whereas in this case <br/>
there would not appear to have been any specific discussions between the usa & any of the <br/>
4 other putative claimants sufficient to have driven such definitive events<br/>
or at least i dont recall being aware of any<br/>
while there would appear to be some political factors to inhibit dropping the claims <br/>
out loud anyway<br/>
<br/>
& so the question may well boil down to exactly how & when do claims such as these <br/>
cease to have legal effect<br/>
<br/>
--- In <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com">BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com</a>, &quot;Lowell G. McManus&quot; &lt;mcmanus71496@m...&gt; <br/>
wrote:<br/>
<blockquote><span title="qreply"> &gt; Mike D. wrote:<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; &gt; & i like your subsequent truly original finding<br/>
&gt; &gt; as well as your laying it at the feet of bush where it apparently actually now <br/>
&gt; &gt; belongs<br/>
&gt; &gt; as we scribble<br/>
&gt; &gt; but are you then just going to stop there<br/>
&gt; &gt; or are you going to ask freakin bush<br/>
&gt; &gt; hahaha<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; &gt; or am i supposed to take responsibility for your extravagance & ask him myself<br/>
&gt; &gt; hahahaha<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; Before receiving your question above, I have just sent an e-mail inquiry to <br/>
&gt; Nikolau Pula, Director of the Office of Insular affairs.  After setting out the <br/>
&gt; inconsistencies on the OIA web site concerning the two places in question, I <br/>
&gt; asked him:<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; &gt; What is the current position, if any, of the US government on the status of<br/>
&gt; &gt; these islands?  Has there been any official determination, or is it the policy<br/>
&gt; &gt; just to ignore them?  If there has been any official renunciation of the US<br/>
&gt; &gt; claims, I would appreciate knowing when and to whom.<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; Lowell G. McManus<br/>
&gt; Leesville, Louisiana, USA </span></blockquote></div>