Garrett Wollman said:
And furthermore, there are external authorities which make it possible to avoid deciding what constitutes a ``country''; this only breaks down when the international-affairs community willfully chooses to ignore reality. (But even Taiwan has its own ISO 3166 code, despite official claims that .TW == .CN.)
3166 makes it clear that it does not state what is or isn't a country. [Note, in particular, the codes for French TOMs/DOMs (or whatever they're now called) that are clearly not countries, or those for UK colonies.] -- Clive D.W. Feather | Work: <clive@demon.net> | Tel: +44 20 8371 1138 Internet Expert | Home: <clive@davros.org> | Fax: +44 20 8371 1037 Demon Internet | WWW: http://www.davros.org | DFax: +44 20 8371 4037 Thus plc | | Mobile: +44 7973 377646