ARTICLE: "After Iraq," by Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic, January/February 2008, p. 68.
When I wrote the "55th State" for Esquire, I wrote it in the vein of this piece. There is going to be a lot of remapping in the world in coming decades, with lots of new states emerging. Few will be immediately sustainable, meaning they'll be seeking pol-mil shelter. That will create a certain competition for influence—even political integration of the sort the EU practices and Russia dreams about. It just seems illogical to me to expect that the United States will simply sit on the sidelines across this century, saying in effect: "We're good with our package."
Some of the states imagined here are easy, like Kurdistan and the "Islamic Emirate of Gaza." Then there's the "Sunni Republic of Iraq" and the "Shiite Islamic State of Iraq."
Pakistan is another obvious source, along with nearby Iran: imagine Pashtunistan and Baluchistan.
The list gets weirder and weirder as you read on, but it's a great piece. Very thought provoking.
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Comments (3)
I just so hope Pushtoonistan comes about.
Eseentially..they want their own foreign policy ( anti-US , anti-everyone)) while sheltering under the skirt of Pakistan ( its convenient flak jacket).
They could then negotiate directly with Nato Ambassadors ,Iranians, Russians , kafirs and the other northern tribes , the actionable hatred they have for everyone in the region .
Posted by Javaid Akhtar | February 3, 2008 12:27 AM
Following-up on White House-based neoconservative opposition to change borders, John Bolton is against recognizing Kosovo.
Posted by dan tdaxp
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February 3, 2008 3:19 PM
Actually, I have to agree with John Bolton on this one (This is twice now I've agreed with him, what IS this world coming to!?). If much of the gap's misery is caused by foreign powers redrawing local borders in ignorance (or malicious defiance) of local realities, then unilateral recognition of Kosovo won't do anyone in the Balkans any good over the long term. The Serbs and Albanians need to decide this between themselves, and we need to limit our involvement to keeping their decision process non-violent. Unfortunately, we also need to find a way to keep other foreign powers from biasing the process; not an easy balance to strike.
Posted by Michael
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February 4, 2008 8:36 PM