China aircraft carrier crosses Taiwan Strait amid tension (Source: BBC)
by Mary W Maxwell, LLB
This article is about secession, and also about the “recognition” of a new state, and also about human identity and group loyalty.
The main point I wish to make is that the separation of groups into political entities with a name (such as “France” or “Uganda” or “Queensland”) is conventional. There is no point trying to find out where that political entity begins or ends as though we were measuring where an object (e.g., a dining room table) begins and ends.
The dining room table is a real thing. The state (or city or nation) is a concept in our minds. It’s a name we give to something that looks to us to be an entity. In fact, just naming any concept, such as love, or legalism, or good health, is a standard way to help us to envision the thing, and talk about it. Just imagine if we had no name for “love”!
Things Need Names
Once we have given a territory or a people a name — say, “France” — other mental processes may follow. Examples: admiration of “the French people” may develop. French citizens may be required to pay income tax to France and not to neighboring Spain. An international body may extend “diplomatic privilege” to the head-of-state of France: “He can attend the summit.” Etc.
I realize that many people think that each state or city is as real as the dining room table. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. To do business with peoples outside your own group, you need some sort of reference point. A city government needs to know the boundaries around which it is responsible to do the snow plowing, or which children it should provide schools for.
The article at hand was prompted by an Associated Press announcement yesterday, May 21, 2024: “Norway, Ireland and Spain said Wednesday they are recognizing a Palestinian state…. Israel immediately ordered back its ambassadors from Norway and Ireland.”
Everybody knows that, within living memory, the states of both Palestine and Israel got their official existence by way of recognition by other states. Famously, in 1948, US President Truman “granted” that “a Jewish state” could be established. For that matter, the world leaders who had sat around the table in 1919 at Versailles “granted” that “Iraq,” “Finland,” and “Hungary,” would henceforth stand as independent nations.
In 1962, somebody-or-other decided that West Papua would become part of Indonesia. In 1946, Staten Island tried to secede from New York City. In 1900, Australia invited New Zealand to become part of Australia. Today, descendants of the Kingdom of Hawaii say that the US annexation of their islands in 1893 was not kosher.
But what makes a claim to statehood “kosher”? You have only to utter the words “Taiwan deserves independence” to find out that people are usually wedded to the status quo of statehood — at least for their own state. China “owns” Taiwan, doesn’t it? China’s leaders have threatened war with any nation that “recognizes” Taiwan.
Self Determination — a Supposed “Right”
There are people who look to find out the morals of international affairs. I am not one of those people. My book Morality among Nations (1990, State Uni Press of New York) proclaims that it is not possible to work out a moral code of “international society” as there is no international society. Biologically, a society is a group of people that has its own rules and values. (Or so say I, and Alfred Rubin said so, too, in his book Ethics and Authority in International Law (1997, Cambridge Uni Press).
By now, that situation is changing a bit. There is more of an international (or “global”) society in the 2020s. National leaders have ceded some of their authority to what is ironically called “the greater good.” As I see it, a rather hidden global elite has subdued nearly all groups that challenge the elite’s personal reign. We may soon be 8 billion atoms with no country.
Thus, I speculate that decision-making really doesn’t arise from public demand or theological disputation. It is created in a golden tower somewhere and handed down. Wham. Pow. Accept it.
Still, most folks, if asked “Is it OK to wipe out a nation?,” or “Do people have a right to local rule?,” don’t shout “I want what the global elite wants, thank you.” They will hesitate and try to find some justification for doing the right thing. They don’t want to hear about a tribe getting clobbered, or starved out of existence, or whatever.
In the heyday of the road to independence for colonial people, the United Nations came out with a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on December 10, 1948. The General Assembly, consisting of 56 states, voted it as a Resolution. It is not binding, and the UN is not a legislative body. Still, it carried weight in public opinion. It was resorted to by leaders of independence movements, particularly in Asia and Africa. As of 1960, Algerians were still at war to escape their ownership by France.
Later, in 1966, the Declaration had developed into a treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR, whose Article 1 proclaims:
“1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
“2. All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation….” [Fancy that!]
This makes it sound like any peoples can declare themselves independent. Indeed, some try, and may even win. Others fail, such as the Kurds or the Chechens. I think we can make an assumption that outside factors will influence the success or failure. But also the strength of the people’s desire, and their belief in the righteousness of their claim, will be a factor. Recall that in 1976 the Brits in America got up on their high horse and cut ties with Britain. After a short “revolutionary war,” they won.
It’s Complicated
Ideals matter. People’s ethical inclination are part of the road to justice. The committing of ideal to paper matters, too. Folks have to start somewhere to correct a visible wrong, and looking it up in a law book helps a lot.
The rights of minorities within a state have also received some legal protections. I can remember when Aboriginal languages in Australia were not allowed to be taught. But in general, the fact of being a numerical minority makes for poor chances to get favorable public policy. The majority group has to bother to care. South Africa had an apartheid system from 1949 to 1990. In part, it was the “harassment” by human rights argumentation that caused the white rulers to concede to the demand for decent treatment of the black majority.
Instinct has provided us with many contradictory moves. We want our nation to win, even to the extent of grabbing the natural resources from weaker nations. On the other hand, we more or less understand — as is said in the Preamble of the ICCPR — “that these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.” Most of us can feel what it’s like in the other person’s shoes. That is as much an instinct as is grabbiness.
Plus, there is the value of peace and harmony. Many of the claims and counterclaims as to a group’s rights are equipped with weapons.
Today, the decision to allow a group to separate tends to be made without regard to peace or human kindness. I fear that our top decision-makers are “off with the fairies.” (Australian euphemism for mental illness). Or maybe “off with the devil.” I see horrendous decisions being made, such as the “bombing” of Hawaii last year, with almost no protest from below. My best guess is that the bomb — I mean the Lahaina fire — was the elite’s “clever way” to smack down the Hawaiian people’s re-thinking of US statehood.
At the moment, Texas is thinking of seceding, largely as a result of federal policy to open the southern border. Of all American states, Texas has the most chutzpah. It’s current conversation about “Texit” could well give people in other countries some needed chutzpah.
Likewise, the decision by Ireland to recognize Palestine is likely to resonate in unexpected ways. People who know how the Irish got kicked around by the British prior to 1922 will simply “understand.”
Here is a song for Palestine by an Irish group. This video was made before the Hamas attack of October 23, 2023 (starts at 1.50 minutes in Gaelic):
“WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH A STORM, KEEP YOUR HEAD HELD HIGH, AND DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK….”
“Palestine may exist in the minds of those who seek to do Israel harm. But in the real world, it is nothing more than a mirage. And a malevolent one at that.
An uninformed observer scrolling through X (formerly known as Twitter) could be forgiven for assuming that there is an entity called Palestine that is under occupation and is clamoring to be released.
On a daily basis, Palestinians and their supporters flood social media, and a lot of public thoroughfares too, with demands, declarations, and disinformation, repeating ad nauseam their insistence to “free Palestine” as though it is the central issue on the international agenda.
This mantra has been harped on for so long, and so often, that many people believe it to be urgent and even true; some out of ignorance, others out of willful disregard for history or reality.
And that is why it often comes as such a surprise to some to learn that they have been hoodwinked.
After all, Palestine is the equivalent of political science fiction, an entity invented with the sole aim of delegitimizing Israel and undermining its existence.’
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-779964”
That last paragraph would have to be a bit of an understatement
“ignorance and/or willful disregard for history or reality.”
A condition that’s compounded by endless ill-founded & irrelevant claims about Israel, as tabled below
I disagree with you “elspeth berry”. Britain allowed Israel to be formed from the land known as Palestine in 1947. I don’t know where Britain obtained it’s ruling but the world has suffered ever since for that decision.
My primary school headmaster who served in 2nd World War held a film night for students and parents of sites he saw in PALESTINE (his own words) during that period of time. I don’t think my teacher was a liar.
Shocking footage filmed by Israeli soldiers shows them burning books, Qurans and entire libraries in Gaza, where every university has been destroyed by the Israeli rampage. The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss.
Sorry, the singing doesn’t begin until 2 minutes into the above vid. And I meant to say the video was made MONTHS before the Oct 23 event. And it wasn’t Gaelic, it was Arabic.
Did I get anything right? Let me know.
Note: My article above isn’t meant to focus on any one of the examples. Kurds, Texans, Taiwanese, Hungarians. Gazans, Finns.
Oh, what the hell, here is “Finlandia” (globalized). Music is my guiding light:
“Too many ‘pro-Palestine’ liberals have failed to reckon with the reality of Hamas.
Salman Rushdie has done the rarest of things. He has made a public pronouncement on Gaza, while remembering to think first. The author has, by his own account, argued for a Palestinian state since the 1980s. Nevertheless, in a new interview, he says that if one were to be created immediately, it ‘would be run by Hamas, and that would make it a Taliban-like state’. In other words, it would be a totalitarian, Islamist dictatorship.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/05/22/salman-rushies-lonely-crusade-against-islamism/
Problem with such reasoning is that”pro-Palestine liberals”, by definition, conflate state-hood with nationhood:
“A nation is a group of people who see themselves as a cohesive and coherent unit based on shared cultural or historical criteria. Nations are socially constructed units, not given by nature. Their existence, definition, and members can change dramatically based on circumstances. Nations in some ways can be thought of as “imagined communities” that are bound together by notions of unity that can pivot around religion, ethnic identity, language, cultural practice and so forth. The concept and practice of a nation work to establish who belongs and who does not (insider vs. outsider). Such conceptions often ignore political boundaries such that a single nation may “spill over” into multiple states. Furthermore, states ≠ nations: not every nation has a state (e.g., Kurds; Roma; Palestine). Some states may contain all or parts of multiple nations.”
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog128/node/534
“Some states may contain all or parts of multiple nations.”
e. g. Israel
Excepting the black Africans, excluded and reports of expulsion
A claim that’s based on ?
Reports I came across years ago….they were expelling the blacks.
Want to call me a liar …… ? well I have a good recollection of WHAT I NOTE. I NOTED IT WAS SHEER HYPOCRISY AT THE TIME.
DO YOR OWN DUE DILIGENCE.
🙀💁🏼💁🏼💁🏼💁🏼💁🏼💁🏼💁🏼💁🏼🤣🤣🤣🤣⚖️🤣🤣
Just did a search at duck duck go ….. could not be bothered going over to the next page.
Heaps up front ….. perhaps you may not be aware that some Jews are black ….. well, what horror😱🤣
Look at the time of each comment above .
You just wasted 6 minutes of my time plus more for this.
Pretty rich given the fact that you’re the ultimate time-waster
Perhaps you’re not aware that getting narky when asked to substantiate a claim just proves you haven’t got a leg to stand on
Perhaps you don’t want to know that the King of the Jews Himself was/is of mixed bloodlines and that He could otherwise hardly have been the progenitor of Christianity
Perhaps you don’t aspire to anything more than being a team member of the side that appears to be winning and ridiculing/belittling/antagonising anyone who gets in your way
YOUR problem, not mine
“The King of the Jews Himself was/is of mixed bloodlines;He could otherwise hardly have been the progenitor of Christianity”
‘’Narkey’.
‘Ultimate time waster’.
And you spent all of your time to not reply on research of the issue! (rather than look up the reports)
💁🤪🍿🍿🍿🍿
Yep, add this to being ‘barley’ and more waste of my time.
‘NARKEY’ not barley.
Bugger.
Lost my essay.
Just read ‘banking on Baghdad.’
Research at whatreallyhappened.com on the subject.
The Lusitania was set up. The Germans warned the passengers – NY Times and do not miss the magic 6m budget.
DID SOMEONE SAY OIL🍿?
E.B. Christ came here to set an example for each of us to follow – hence the term, Christian, a follower of Christ’s example.
If Jesus had not offered himself up for sacrifice in the most horrific manner to die from, and then be resurrected 36 hours later, then his teachings would no longer be remembered.
There is only one Creator, no one needs a church, book or intermediary, to acknowledge our Creator because the Creator dwells within all of us.
And that is what Jesus wanted us all to know.
God is within our DNA.
The fact that everyone is created in God’s image doesn’t negate individual choice as to where eternity will be spent. What Jesus wanted everyone to know is that observing the 10 commandments, participating in a political movement, and/or religious institution won’t save anyone from eternal damnation, that everyone needs to enter into his crucifixion to overcome the power of death:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
https://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/1-18.htm
Well, the Balfour agreement was a doozey……it created a stat?!. And so on for a hundred years of created hate, theft and misery. Who were the original terrorists?
Q says that Israel will be left for last.
What does that mean and what is the basis?
Well, let us go back 24 years to 911 and before that other terrorist activities like the King Charles hotel, operation Susannah or the USS Liberty in 1967 ( still being subject to LIES to cover up a war crime mass murder)as examples.
Countries have form ….. just like a race horse. People punt on ‘form’.
Well the winning line could be within the last furlong..
Bit obtuse Simon, Mary, E.B.?
So just got to beforeit’snews.com. People powered news and listen to the discussion, especially from 30 mins ….. after the Taiwan analysis.
Heading the BIN site currently is:
“Trump and the Q ream TO EXPOSE 9-11? You’ve got to hear this (video)”
It is so obvious as to what T knows and has in mind…… never forget…..
Going to be an interesting time to November? I have heard of the ‘TRUMP CARD’. When will it be played and what is it, the mystery….. timing is everything🙀💁🏼⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️
Enjoying the movie?🧨
All good Ned – strange though, that nearly everyone on this site can see the problem, but seem to miss the pointers given to them and that would allow them all, to not only find the solution, but also comprehend what caused the problem in the first place?
There will be no place in the New Earth for continued naivety.
Your superiority has thus far produced “Trump is a trumpet” and apparently I am the Veggie, and we should read RealRawNews by one Baxter for reality.
Joe – is that what you get from my warnings? You seem to not be able to get past your own emotive reactions to whatever it is that I put out to warn about.
So, you tend to discount me personally and whatever I put out, rather than present your arguments based in your own knowledge or lack of, against whatever the subject/warning is that I present, and that you find fault with.
This site is all about learning via the exchanging of ideas, opinions, and gained knowledge. The yearning to spread knowledge gained is not being ‘superior’ but a desire to alert everyone who has the patience to see, hear and read, that many are still unaware of.
And you seem to be like so many on this site, who just cannot bother themselves to look past their own inclination to rise above the self-imposed limitations of what is acceptable to know, rather than learn what it is you should be knowing.
And I have always addressed you as, Joe, not ‘veggie’.
And I should have added, Joe, that spiritual enlightenment can only be achieved through the expansion of one’s knowledge via the acceptance of some very hard Truths.
Reading a book that contains elements of Truth, but lots of disinformation and lies, and was put together to deliberately exclude other important and Truthful information, and that applies to many books today, will not a spiritual enlightenment give you.
And if you are still reading this: Taiwan is the HUB, along with UKRAINE, of Human and drug trafficking, and Satanic practises. China is no longer controlled by the CCP (Globalist Cabal) and is part of the military alliance headed by the White Hats.
BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa – and now includes around 80% of the worlds nations. Will never accept any nation that is not sovereign unto itself and is beholden to the destructive ideologies that has plagued this world for hundreds of years.
And if you think this info is made up, why not check it out for yourself?
You are so whacked out there is little point in engaging with you but for anyone who can be bothered to follow up I suggest you put a link to whatever you are raving about today.
And that Joe, is your standard response. Rather than delve a little deeper into where Ned and I point to, you’d rather keep on devaluing any input that may actually assist you in comprehending how this world has been working for thousands of years.
And it’s not just Ned and I, that you choose to devalue. Millions around the world are on the same page in elevating their spirituality. But, I believe you will ignore all that knowledge because it fails to suit your limited belief system.
I’ve been at taking in all I can gather for well over forty years – and most of what I put out is from my own knowledge. Very difficult to cram that much knowledge into a few paragraphs, don’t you think?
You do believe we all survive our death, don’t you Joe?
Wouldn’t you agree, that it is well past time that this world sought out a more enlightening existence than the one we are now leaving behind?
Meet Ireland’s new pro-Hamas ambassador:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=0287887dd28220e3&q=bambi+thug+images&tbm=isch&source=lnms&prmd
=ivnsmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjM9JjenLGGAxWTTWwGHZjFDkoQ0pQJegQIDxAB&biw=1680&bih=869&dpr=1
You’d think he/she would be enough to alert anyone to the agenda on which the Euro song contest was founded, but despite it’s pertinence, this write-up misses said beat:
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/05/13/bambie-thug-has-exposed-the-rottenness-of-the-new-ireland/
After wasting time with EB above I am now into this.
MM more than 7 mins but try and manage from about 7 mins. …. And keep going as a ll.b.
The Terries should also enjoy.
Anyway it is found in the cultist’s club at beforeitsnews.com – people powered news.
‘New C W insider’s club bombshell revelations for May 24.’
It’s looking more and more Biblical – Revelations – ‘and the dead shall arise’.
Why is it that all topics seem to trans send into religion the biggest cause of chaos and wars on our planet? Have you own beliefs but don’t continually preach to others, I say. Don’t forget The Bible, The Talmud and other books of religion are all put together by man. You know that being that is apt to lie to get his story across. It is also known that a particular story is likely to be changed after passing very few people and can sometimes mean opposite to what it started out as.
“British Palestine” was created specifically for the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans and once accepted, was subdivided into Jordan and Israel. Globalist time frames are about 40 years or two generations between new paradigms.
“Palestinians” is the name for local stateless peoples who have been and are being dispossessed or their traditional real estate. Their flag dates back to the Arab Revolt, their country no longer exists ( it was stolen ).
Taiwan is Chinese only by virtue of the ROC citizens who fled the CCP. If the ROC citizens all packed up and fled to, say, Okinawa, would that become Chinese too ?
The CCP can defeat Taiwan if it accepts being destroyed in the process.
As for Chechnya, what are they going to do, throw turnips ?
The testimony of one ex-pat Brit & his adopted daughters who narrowly escaped annihilation circa 1948:
An eye-witness aggregate of just how divorced from the real world the goodie/baddie narrative always is
Seems That I might being censored for referring to history despite two attempts.
We have been served historic bs.
Read ‘banking on Baghdad’and look up what really happened.com
Did someone say O-I-L?
Ah,
Last comment wasted up on EB.
US neutral🤣
NYTs German warnings. – Lousitania.
Jews promised US in. For Balfour deal
Churchill sends Lousitania down torpedo alley – yanks suckered.
So u 2 EB🙀💁🏼😱🙏
And that Turdhill withdrew the naval escort for the Lusitania’s passenger’s fate.
Did you know that EB?
It was a SETUP…… just like Pear Harbour, the gulf of Tonkin whale, 911, Iraq weapons of BS, (thanks John Howard) and all the others in history. Hitler was a master of false flags and deceit.
So who do we have who is different? Including a dumb suckered public.
Over last decade munitions found in L wreck…. The Germans had warned in NY Ts
The NYT forecast in about 1917 that 6m required for sacrifice for their ends 25 years early.
Well EB, not the ABC is it?
Due diligence required at http://www.whatreallyhappened.com to smell the Historic BULLSHIT.
Churchill the scumbag Globalist – the more you learn the more you will know. The planned American involvement in both world wars, originated across Churchill’s desk.
They’ve been pulling down the wrong statues – but that will soon change.
Mary,
Thank you always. Truth glorious as morning sun, doesn’t need make up.
Essentially we’re from the same mould with slight variations cause that’s the way Almighty wants us to be. Living in peace harmony and love not war, just because my plot has a better view than neighbours.
I’ll go out on a limb, and say we were all better off without modern gadgetry and AI, now that we’re all shackled to the beast.
Traditional tried and true methods, through all ages, with arts crafts and music made by people everywhere are still the best.
I come from a seaside village that has experienced much since WW1 ignited by banksters. My people, a small nation of islands and coastal strip, small in numbers have survived for over two millennia maybe more. Many invaders through the centuries, place of birth essentially still the same although now invaded by the melting pot that is globalism.
Anyway getting back to the plot, after ww1 Austro Hungary was defeated, Krown Serbia moved in forming a royal regime of ticks fleas and disorder. Many people left their sunny islands, looking for better life in new worlds. Disease and depression came first followed by ww2, Italian army invaded, followed by Germans then British. With Tito’s partizans forming communist republic in 1948. Similar to Israel I guess. People everywhere just need to be left alone to do their own thing without war for profit and OIL etc.
Through those turbulent 34 years, there was a fisherman who had to feed his family, so he had half a dozen flags in cellar, raising the current occupiers on mast top of house with each succession.
Law is love your neighbour, don’t kill, every life a miracle from above. 🙏
Story well told “ant56” Message “live in peace”. Great!