Some Countries Exist Only on Paper
Why Hacker News recommends it
Cited in threads on borders, Taiwan's status and how many countries exist, as a quick explanation of why recognition is political.
What it is
A short CGP Grey explainer about how countries are defined, why recognition by others matters, and the oddities of places like Taiwan and Vatican City. It shows that statehood is partly a matter of diplomacy rather than fact.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2016 to 2020.
What Hacker News said
Recommends dwheeler · 2018-07 · on “Why No HTTPS?”
Officially, many countries and businesses agree that Taiwan isn't a country, while continuing in practice to do everything that only makes sense if Taiwan is in fact a country. This is an old game that fools no one. I wouldn't fuss about the name, we all know what's really going on, and the name game probably saves millions of lives. You might find this video clip interesting: [this video]
Cites jack9 · 2016-01 · on “The Great Republican Land Heist”
> The government owns all land until it is transferred/sold to a private owner. That's not a new thing: that precedent goes back to Day 1 of the United States, and maybe further I think you are talking about the fluidity of borders and lands worldwide. In reality, country borders are based on if land can be defended from other claimants ( [this video] ). This is the final arbitration, even after exploring existing treaties (which arent always followed, [LINK] ). The idea that the US federal government owns land until it's disseminated is one of those american myths that the US Govt tries REALLY hard to let alone, despite most federal lands being originally acquired by fiat and in the last 200 yea
Cites dwheeler · 2020-05 · on “HashiCorp forbids its software being used in China”
It says it only applies to the People's Republic of China, and in the notes above it's only because of the laws of the People's Republic of China. In all practical senses Taiwan is a separate country, but there are reasons not to admit it: [this video]
Cites judge2020 · 2020-10 · on “Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store”
There are 193 countries (footnote[0]), so that might mean 193 app stores, but then some countries might delegate the power to require their own app store to their own regions/"states". 0: [this video]