since we now have good reason to expect accurate bengal clave counts later
this year from brendan

& since we are not aware of any other outstanding de jure clave count
problems anywhere else in the dry world

& since we can postpone consideration of de facto claves & disputed
territories generally
seeing as these are ontologically distinct types or entities

& since we can separate our counts of the landlubbing from the high seas claves
just to keep everyone assuaged & engaged
even if the two types are not ontologically distinct

& since we can also probably sort out the entire maritime world for
ourselves now
by simply assuming the global standard of 12nm of territoral seas everywhere
even if such a regime is not yet strictly in force absolutely everywhere

& since we can also ignore or at least postpone consideration of the so
called human heritage area &or everyones land
by temporarily assuming that all whole countries embedded in the high seas
& all metro areas & claves of countries embedded in the high seas are
actually embedded in some as yet unspecified ontological entity
a somewhat awkward decision taken nevertheless in the interest of moving
forward

& since we can consider the paucity of preliminary comment to be good news
both as an index of consensus & a harbinger of ease & simplicity
while still inviting & expecting additional input from all
& at any phase of the work in progress whatsoever

it is possible as well as pleasing to proceed now
in anticipation of the timely arrivals of all the missing data & necessary
corrections

so first of all i would like to adopt the full list of the 192 best
available consensus countries as provided by grant in message 2270
& to define these as the full set of sovereign entities
while allowing for any changes that may occur
whether due to world events or to our own review

lets just say for the time being that either grant atop the list or the
empty space at the end of the list stands for the mentioned unspecified
entity
a possible 193rd &or first among coequal members of the mereotopological
set embodying full global surface coverage

this happens to coincide with a multinationally recognized federative territory
if not yet an actual federative entity like the united nations which
engendered it
& it is clearly ontologically distinct from all the 192 other members of
the set
& which it may actually come to subsume in their ongoing confederation
just like the federal districts &or federal territories of federal countries

so the 192 either become federal in relation to it
or they continue as parts of the same whole yet without any relation to its
overwhelmingly greatest part

but such loose ends as these reflect matters of ontology rather than
mereotopology
& for now they can be arranged to suit any tastes or beliefs

the first matter of actual clave typology i think will be to recognize the
varieties of ways in which any of these 192 or 193 sovereign entities
either manifests itself as sovereign territory anywhere on the planetary
surface
or else has its sovereign territory interrupted by anothers

in other words to simply identify & count all the territorial patches of &
all the territorial holes within all these various modalities of sovereign
territoriality

as for drawing ontological distinctions among the claves themselves
rather than purely mereotopological ones
i think that concern is postponable if not a dead issue
since all sets of territorial & administrative subdivisions comprise
entities that are distinct & distinguishable from the members of all other
ontological sets

even the likeliest of their common characteristics
specifically their hierarchical subdivisional rank
is often a very flakey & unsatisfactory index of commonality

it should not be necessary to detain ourselves over how these patches of
territory are constituted or organized by &or within their subsuming entity
but only that they are somehow subsumed by it

so of de jure exclaves
including all patches generally
there appear to be the following 8 or 9 most basic types

0 metropolitan patches even if not normally considered exclaves
such as spain with ceuta since they evidently form a single 12nm patch
or such as the entire maltese archipelago similarly 1 patch
or even such as san marino not more nor less than a single patch
thus including possible subtypologies 0a & 0c & 0l
to distinguish such archipelagic & coastal & landlocked subtypes
but with all assigned a 0 status for equally easy dismissal up front
& trotted out here only tentatively & apologetically
since few people would consider metropatch & exclave as ontologically
the same

but anyway to continue with or to begin the actual typology

1 fully embedded enclave exclaves such as llivia
2 doubly embedded such as found only in baarle & bengal
3 triply embedded unique to bengal
4 boundary crossed peneexclave such as jungholz or the baarle pair
5 fully surrounded by land patches such as andorra or nakhichevan
6 partly abutted by high seas such as melilla or cabinda or redonda
with some typologically negligible distinctions possible
7 unabutted except by high seas such as alboran or other islands with
12nm seas
8 condominial semiclave such as ile de la conference possibly

& of de jure enclaves
there appear to be the following 9 or 10 most basic types

0 an absence of holes or the presence of an integrity
again dispensable for anyone who wishes to ignore it

& to continue or begin the real typology of these

1 embedded country such as san marino
2 embedded exclave such as llivia
including exclaves embedded also in territorial waters
such as the coastal cypriot enclave in uk sov base
& possibly campione &or malawi
3 doubly embedded exclave baarle & bengal
4 triply embedded unique bengal
5 boundary crossed peneenclave such as jungholz or the baarle pair
6 whole country fully embedded in high seas
such as malta
7 metropatch fully embedded in high seas
such as antigua & barbuda
8 exclave island or group fully embedded in high seas
such as alboran
9 embedded condominial semiclave such as ile de la conference possibly

note
in case anyone was worried that the recognition of island claves dilutes
the meaning of claves beyond recognition
it is probably worth emphasizing that the great majority of islands &
groups will not form separate patches but will simply combine & blend in
with continental coastal areas &or other islands within 24nm of them

it is only the most isolated of islands & groups
representing a minuscule fraction of all islands
that will fall outside the 24nm margin & produce separate patches of territory

of course even assuming the above typology is technically adequate it
still fails to consider de facto & disputed cases
so until we can somehow at some point account for these also
as for example by including them indiscriminately in terra nullius
or by carefully elaborating adequate typologies for them all too
we will necessarily be in denial of such patches as really do exist in
places like the spratly islands & turkish cyprus & all the united nations
peacekeeping & other administrative areas worldwide

but all such considerations seem eminently deferrable for now at least

in any case
just to test the analysis & start the survey
& without necessarily vouching for any of the data
here is a nominally random sample but a fair swipe

1
afghanistan is landlocked & unbroken
hence all in one patch & with no holes
hence it is typologically only 0exclave 0enclave
or 0x 0n

2
albania is coastal & unbroken
with no remote islands
hence all in one patch & with no holes
0x 0n

3
algeria is coastal & unbroken
with no remote islands
0x 0n

4
andorra is landlocked & unbroken
0x 0n

5
angola is coastal with a coastal exclave & no enclaves
& no remote islands
0x 6x 0n

6
antigua & barbuda is archipelagic & comprises 2 patches
a metropatch enclosing both of these islands
& a separate redonda island exclave
0x 6x 7x 0n 7n

7
argentina is coastal & unbroken
with no remote islands or other patches
assuming claims to the falklands & antarctica are irrelevant
hence all in 1 patch & with no holes
0x 0n

8
armenia is landlocked & has artsvashen exclave enclaved in azerbaijan
excluding de facto nagorno karabakh from de jure consideration
& is host to 2 or 3 azeri exclaves of uncertain status
depending on whether you believe the cia or rolf
but preferring to believe rolf
hence simply 2 patches of which the metro one has 3 holes
0x 1x 2n3

9
australia is technically archipelagic & appears to comprise 29 patches
assuming antarctic claims are irrelevant
counting as follows
1 metropatch incl tasmania
1 king island
1 ashmore & cartier assuming drying reefs intervene
1 christmas i
1 cocos is
1 norfolk i etc
1 heard & mcdonald is
1 rowley shoals
14 coral sea islands & groups
7 boigu & saibai & 5 other island group claves within papuan waters
hence 0x1 1x7 7x21 0n 8n21

10
austria is landlocked & unbroken but for jungholz
0x 4x 0n

11
azerbaijan is coastal & has nakhichevan unembedded exclave
& 3 other exclaves embedded in armenia
0x1 1x3 5x1 2n

12
bahamas is archipelagic & has 10 patches of which 2 abut cuba
0x1 6x2 7x8 0n 7n1 8n7

13
bahrain is technically archipelagic & appears unbroken
following the recent icj decision
0x 0n

14
bangladesh is coastal with 51 first order & 21 second order exclaves
& has 111 first order holes with 3 second order & 1 third order hole
with a possible boundary cross
all per a recent surmise & subject to change as mentioned
0x 1x51 2x21 4x1 2n111 3n3 4n1

15
barbados is an island & unbroken
0x 7x 0n 6n

16
belarus is landlocked was recently said to have a russian exclave embedded
in it
0x 2n

17
belgium is coastal & has 22 exclaves enclaved in holland
including 1 or 2 with a boundary cross
& has embedded within it 1 primary & 7 secondary exclaves of holland
& 5 primary exclaves of germany
0x1 1x22 4x1 2n6 3n7

as good a place as any to pause
& take a peek at the growing tabulations
consider possible improvements etc

no co 0x 1x 2x 3x 4x 5x 6x 7x 8x 0n 1n 2n 3n 4n 5n 6n 7n 8n 9n

01 af 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
02 al 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
03 dz 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
04 ad 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
05 ao 01 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
06 ag 01 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 01 00 00
07 ar 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
08 am 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 003 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
09 au 01 07 00 00 00 00 00 21 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 21 00
10 at 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
11 az 01 03 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 001 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
12 bs 01 00 00 00 00 00 02 08 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 00 01 07 00
13 bh 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
14 bd 01 51 21 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 111 03 01 00 00 00 00 00
15 bb 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 00 000 00 00 00 01 00 00 00
16 by 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 001 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
17 be 01 22 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 006 07 00 00 00 00 00 00

totals
so far 17 84 21 01 02 01 04 31 00 11 00 122 10 01 00 01 02 28 00

anyway just a scouting party
but what does anyone think
& where to from here

m