This Christian Science Monitor story will probably open quite a few eyes: Transdniestria? Where the hell is that?
But I have to admit that, while I had heard of the region named Eritrea, I was surprised to discover that it had not only become an independent nation but enjoyed UN membership. East Timor officially split from Indonesia a few years ago, and Montenegro recently voted to split from Serbia. How many micro-states are there? To make the question more interesting, how many micro-states and non-recognized states are there?
I knew of Transdniestria, not because of my geopolitical savvy, but because an anecdote related in The Game takes place there. A friend of mine, raised in the Soviet Union, told me that there was no such place.
But what are Monaco, Andorra, and San Marino if not micro-states? How about the Vatican, Singapore, and (before July 1997) Hong Kong? Micro-states all, and they have been around for some time, so I guess they're "viable."
And what about the biggies, by which I mean Palestine and Taiwan? Not micro-states -- at least, not Taiwan, but: How many other states recognize them? Taiwan is certainly viable and has been since 1949. Palestine...well, they certainly get a lot of press, don't they?
I don't think much of the idea of "self-determination of peoples," not much at all. To me it smacks of tribalism at best, racist determinism at worst. Or maybe they're the same thing. But in general I wish these micro-states well. If nothing else, some visionaries see that as a trend anyway (James Dale Davidson and Lord Rees-Mogg in The Sovereign Individual believe that China, India, and probably Canada will break up in the near future).
I read somewhere that Moldova gets much of its electricity from Transdniestria. I want to visit there. I want the visa stamp in my passport.