With the elevation of Kosovo to Nationhood last week, not only are there now too many countries claiming to be European (a problem dealt with in our previous blog), there are too many "countries" full stop.
Each month we, the members of the Paulisario Front, will target a would-be nation for admission to, or deletion from, the international community. We will be applying the tried and tested Montevideo Criteria, along with a few additional tests designed to meet the changing needs of international diplomacy.
Part I - Original criteria
A nation must have:
(a) A permanent population
(b) A defined territory
(c) A government
(d) The ability to enter into diplomatic relations
Careful readers will note that these criteria do not set the bar for nationhood particularly high, presumably reflecting the restriction that any test named after Uruguay not be so demanding as to undermine the host's own somewhat dubious claim to nationhood. Hence...
Part II - Supplementary criteria
A genuine nation should possess some or all of the following:
(a) Delicious and/or hilarious foodstuffs
(b) Attractive and/or hilarious native fauna
(c) Distinctive and/or hilarious national customs
(d) Within easy reach of London via hire car, channel tunnel or budget airline
Take your marks, aspiring UN general assembly delegates of the world, the race is on!
Note: As with Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, the categories in the title of this blog are either synonyms or antonyms depending on your level of education. Erudite and/or deluded readers should feel free to venture their own thoughts on the subject in the comments.
Also, "Polisario" is, heroically, an acronym and so "Paulisario" probably ought to be capitalised, but isn't going to be.
1 comment:
Are words still acronyms if they are made out of more than one letter per word that composes the full version of the name (e.g. Sibneft)? One for the pedants, methinks...and therefore I expect to see a full refutation and/or justification in a future post.
Post a Comment