Abstract:
Since the gulf war, many commentators have discussed its ‘lessons’. But one important lesson has not received its due attention, although it must be only too apparent to third world leaders. In Europe, we have seen a few centuries of friction, incidents and wars during which borders were adjusted to correspond with the current strength and current demands (legitimate or otherwise) of the nation-states. (Even the past tense is inappropriate here; if we ever thought that Europe had essentially completed this often bloody process, events in the old Soviet empire, the former Yugoslavia in particular, must surely have disabused us.)
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