The maritime law tribunal of the United Nations has ruled that Britain has no sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. It criticized London for its failure to hand the territory back to Mauritius. The judges’ decision confirms a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and a vote in the UN General Assembly.

Many Hong Kong citizens and opposition politicians look to Taiwan as a place to escape China’s growing influence. However, there is less desire for independence or to become a new Taiwan. The crux of Hong Kong’s issues lies in its confused identity and awkward geopolitical position. A long read from our new explorer Jonathan Casewell.

San Escobar is a non-existent country and emerged out of a blunder by the former Polish minister of foreign affairs, Witold Waszczykowski. The minister told reporters he had met with officials from various countries, including meeting some Caribbean nations ‘perhaps for the first time in the history of our diplomacy. For example with countries such as San Escobar or Belize’.

Only shortly after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, both parties issued postage stamps depicting the conflict from their own perspective. Hence, the propaganda war continues.

In Blood and Honey: Encounters at the Borders of the Balkans, Dutch journalist Irene van der Linde and documentary photographer Nicole Segers set out to document the borders of Balkans. The picture they show is rather grim.

Since 1833 the Falkland Islands have been part of the British Overseas Territories. Argentina has always protested against this claim, also via philately. Stamps as actors in a “postal war”.

Gibraltar is moving towards a new era after the UK and Spain reached a preliminary post-Brexit deal to avoid a hard border on the south of the Iberian peninsula. This agreement would allow Gibraltar—officially a ‘British Overseas Territory’—to join the Schengen zone that guarantees passport-free travel and freedom of movement to more than 400 million EU citizens.

Their stadium is still in ruins due to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, but FK Qarabag, the ‘Barcelona of the Caucasus’, cannot wait to play its first home game again. A feature by Jarl van der Ploeg with pictures of Freek van den Bergh (in Dutch).

The Glacier Republic was founded by Greenpeace in the hope to protect Chilean glaciers from mining activities. Apart from rising temperatures, the mining explosions and pollution take a great toll on this environment. Greenpeace stated that once Chile passes legislation that will protect its glaciers, the republic will cease to exist. However, after seven years this micronation is still on the map.

Happy New Year! Early in January 1949 James Thomas Mangan posted a formal request to all the countries in the world to recognize his recently registered Nation of Celestial Space. This new nation was formed by ‘all of outer space’, because no other country should have political hegemony in space.

Antarktikos is a printed magazine, published once a year and it is looking for contributions. This annual journal combines artistic and scientific exploration within the inspiring and thought-provoking context of Antarctica. All disciplines are welcome to contribute. Antarktikos is an initiative by artist Esther Kokmeijer.

After the release of L’Isola delle Rose by Netflix, the extraordinary but largely untold story of the ‘prince of anarchists’ Giorgio Rose became popular immediately. The Italian engineer built his own island in the Adriatic sea in the 1960s, which housed a restaurant, bar, souvenir shop and even a post office.

Habib Chaab, founder of the Iranian separatist group ASMLA, was kidnapped in Turkey after a ‘honeytrap’ by Iran. Sky News published a detailed reconstruction of the audacious cross-border kidnap plan carried out in Istanbul. Two days after his abduction the founder of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz appeared on Iranian state television ‘confessing’ to terror acts.

‘Today, I signed a proclamation recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara’, President Trump wrote on Twitter, dramatically reversing U.S. policy on one of the world’s longest running and most neglected conflicts. What is going on here?

Lithuanian photographer Tadas Kazakevičius’s visual love letter Between Two Shores captures the peace and idiosyncrasy of the Curonian Spit—a unique and spectacular geographical formation, barely a mile wide across, that extends for over 60 miles from the coast of Lithuania into the Kaliningrad oblast of the Russian Federation.

While football may strive to be apolitical and unite people, it has become highly politicised. In Blood and Circuses, Robert O’Connor delves into the collective memory and experiences of football by people who are living in contested territories like Transnistria and Kosovo.

What are the motives and instruments that both EU and Russia exploit in their power projections towards Transnistria? And how do de facto state authorities tackle possible tensions emerging from externally imposed choices? A research paper by Eiki Berg and Kristel Vits of the University of Tartu (Estonia).

One week ago, on November 10, a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement was signed by the president of Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia, ending six weeks of warfare over disputed territory in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. As the handover date approached last weekend, some villagers set their own homes on fire before fleeing to Armenia.

The leader of a pro-independence group in Western Sahara declared war on Morocco, shattering a three-decade-long cease-fire and threatening a full-blown military conflict in the disputed desert territory in northwest Africa.

With the election of the conservative Turkish Cypriot Ersin Tatar, many anticipate a hardening of Turkish Cypriots’ position in negotiations over the final status of the island. An analysis by the Glasgow University lecturer Adrian Florea.

The president of Azerbaijan has said his troops have captured the strategically important city of Shushi—a claim refuted by Armenia. At least 1,000 people have died in Nagorno-Karabakh since fighting broke out.

In 2014, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ended the maritime conflict between Chile and Peru. In a Solomonic way, they divided the disputed sea between the two countries. However, the Court’s ruling left one point unresolved: the Terrestrial Triangle.

De Facto is looking for an intern who can join our team. Specifically, we are looking for someone with a background in Political Sciences. As the internship will be remote due to covid-19, the student can do his/her work from all over the world.

The Free Republic of Hakkelaarsbrug, a hamlet in the Netherlands, declared the independence in 2017. The micronation has a passport, banknotes, postage stamps, its own flag and a national anthem. It also has its own White House where meetings are held. However, there are no political parties—in fact, politics are banned completely.

A rightwing hardliner who has long advocated closer ties with Turkey has won a presidential runoff in the Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus. ‘We are the voice of Turkish Cypriots, we are fighters, we are fighting to exist within the TRNC,’ the newly elected leader said after his victory.

In the nineteenth century, a temporary country was created between Prussia and The Netherlands. Journalist Philip Dröge wrote a book about this ‘most curious place in the world’: Moresnet. Dröge was supposed to be interviewed live at our De Facto event, which was cancelled due to COVID-19. As an alternative, we publish this video interview—in expectation of better times.

The long-term reasons for the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh are well known. But what caused such an extensive military intervention as the one we are seeing these days, over 25 years after the ceasefire? And what can and should be done now? An analysis by Giorgio Comai.

An area of eastern Ghana has declared itself a sovereign state. The region known as Western Togoland has had secessionist attempts in the past.

Since September 27, large-scale military operations have continued around Nagorno-Karabakh and on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Stepanakert is under attack, and on October 4, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced the capture of Talish. For live updates, videos and photos, follow JAMnews, the independent media platform from the Caucasus.

Are you interested in pursuing research on de facto state patron-client relations? The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and the Department of Politics, University of York, are seeking a postdoctoral researcher to join the team of researchers on the project ‘Dynamics of de facto state patron-client relations (DeFacto)’. They are looking for a candidate with experience and ability to conduct empirical studies and field research.