[EIDXA] When Is A Country Not A Country?

[Nelson Moyer]

That's the title of a Back Story in the June 1, 2009 issue of Newsweek (see
page 68). The answer to that rhetorical question is, "When the Untied
Nations says it not", and it takes 9 of 15 Security Council members to
establish a country. That must be news to ARRL! They seem to think they're
the supreme authority on country-making.

Looking at the map published in this article, there are ten 'almost'
countries by UN definition. They are Abkhazia, South Ossetia,
Nagorno-Karrbakh, Northern Cyprus, Taiwan, Somaliland, Palestine, Kosovo,
Western Sahara, and Transdniestria. Interestingly, you will notice that
Western Sahara (S0), Taiwan (BV), Northern Cyprus (ZC4), and Palestine (E4)
are on the DXCC list, however Kosovo is not. Why, might you ask, when 60 UN
member nations recognize Kosovo sovereignty, the ARRL does not? Of all the
non-nations, only Palestine has more member recognition (98 member nations)
than Kosovo. Of the countries on the DXCC list, Western Sahara is recognized
by only 46 nations, Taiwan by only 22 nations, and Northern Cyprus by only 1
nation. Obviously, the DXCC rules are out of sync with the rest of the
world.

The ARRL no longer calls the 'countries' on the DXXC list 'countries', no,
they are now called entities. The definition of entities, as currently
defined, excludes Kosovo. Perhaps it's time for the ARRL to reexamine the
DXCC rules with an eye toward adjusting them to reflect the world situation
and to be consistent!

Nelson, KU0A