It’s worth noting that the Islamic State, previously thought to be inactive here, also came into the picture when suicide bombings that killed over 140 people in Houthi-dominated areas were claimed by an I.S. loyal group.  So to the extent the U.S. gets involved in Yemen, it will be cooperating with Saudi Arabia (explicitly) and Islamic State (implicitly) against Houthi rebels (explicitly) and Iran (implicitly) while simultaneously  cooperating with Iran against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.  Do I have that right?  A confusing region is getting more confusing.   Cue all the updated “The Middle East Explained in XYZ # of Chart” infographics.  Better yet, don’t.

Southern Yemen separatists

Iraq is claiming victory in Tikrit over Islamic State

Catalonia round-up:  Podemos: friend or foe?  /  Agreement on an independence roadmap / On the Catalan and Irish languages

Did the promise of more power to Scotland affect their referendum?

Moldova’s autonomous region elected a pro-Russian governor.

Brief look at Novorossiya’s role in Ukraine

The Chechen proxy war in Ukraine

Trouble between Armenia and Azerbaijan over a disputed separatist region

Young Kosovars are leaving; police are arresting their smugglers.

Devolution (and murder) in Mozambique.  Details on the bill here

Singapore‘s independence “accident.”

Xi Jinping:  “The separatist forces of ‘Taiwan independence’ and their activities threaten national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”  The Economist on the countries’ relationship.

*****

Data visualization: % of global population living under various polities over time

The time New England colonized Kansas

The internet’s first anarchist:

Barlow’s 846-word text, published online in February 1996, begins with a bold rebuke of traditional sovereign powers: “Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.”

Micronations in pictures

Arctic private cities & implications for other-planet colonization

During their chat, Tyler Cowen and Peter Thiel were asked about private cities.

Thiel:  If you could give me a convincing way it could work for $50 million instead of $50 billion, I’d be interested.   & Cowen:  I tend to favor larger political units and to think that human freedom will be found by the wealth and diversity within larger political units, giving people pockets.  I’m not sure we will ever have a bottom-down creation of a lot of micro-units which compete very intensely and, through exit, give people true liberty.  I’m more optimistic about the larger political unit vision.

Georgism and proprietary cities

Decentralization as free-market federalism

NYT Magazine article for open borders

PanAm Post roundup:  iNation founders on bringing competition to government services / Against a gold standard for bitcoin / On the U.S. – Mexico border

*****

Should Alberta ditch Canada for the U.S.?

Alberta as an independent country doesn’t solve a huge number of problems. If it left Canada, its currency goes through the roof because all it has is oil exports, and that would drive agriculture out of business. It would be a one-horse economy in a very short time.

Seceding to the U.S. becomes the only political and economic option. If you do that, the inflation issue goes away, the tax problem goes away, the security problem goes away. Alberta gets everything it says it wants out of Canada within the first year of joining the U.S.

On Hawaiian sovereignty.

L.A. Times overview of the Southern Tier N.Y. secession threat over fracking: “It’s hard for them to accept that the line on the map makes such a huge difference“

Short and sweet: The time has come for 51

(Image sources 1 & 2)