Supplementary Information to the Legend of Sovereignty

(March 2003)

(to the Legend of Sovereignty mainpage)

Reference links

British Overseas Territories

http://www.eurolegal.org/btbot.htm

Jan S. Krogh's GeoSite

http://home.no.net/enklaver/

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Actual small states/dependencies and Governments in exile and sovereignty projects

Autonomous Monastic State of Ayion Oros

(Athonian Republic or Regime of Mount Athos)

(“According to the Constitutional Charter of the Holy Mountain, which is enshrined in the constitution of Greece, Mt. Athos is a self-governed part of the Greek state which is spiritually subject to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (remarks: the supreme head of Orthodox Church, like the Pope of the Catholic Church). The Holy Community (in Greek - Hiera Koenotes) is the government of the Mountain” – from the website http://poseidon.csd.auth.gr/athos/)

(“Mount Athos is the oldest monastic republic still in existence. Located on the Athos peninsula of Chalkidiki, in the Greek part of Macedonia, it was officially established in 963, when a monk named Athanasios the Athonite built the Monastery of the Great Lavra” (http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/intro.html))

Information sites on Mount Athos:

http://www.medialab.ntua.gr/athos.html

http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/

http://abacus.bates.edu/~rallison/friends/

Official websites of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Head of the Orthodox Church / Spiritual Head of the Athonian Republic):

http://www.patriarchate.org/ (in English)

http://www.epnet.gr/default.asp (in Greek)

For more information:

http://www.fotw.net/flags/gr-ortho.html (information on status of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Athonian Republic as well as relationships between them)

http://www.meteora-greece.com/ (information site on Meteora – a specially protected area in Greece serving as home for monasteries as like Mount Athos)

Kingdom of Bahrain

(Formerly known as State of Bahrain)

(Bahrain has changed its title and adopted a new flag (only a bit different with the old one) on 14 February 2002 (day of promulgation of new constitution). Pls refer to the new constitution (http://www.bahrain.gov.bh/images/constitutione.pdf) for details.)

British Monarch

(HM Queen Elizabeth II of the House of Windsor)

(In the present world, only three heads of state are sovereign over more than one state/entity, namely the French Presidency (as President of the Republic of France and one of the Coprinces of the Principality of Andorra (together with Bishop of Seo de Urgel, Spain), the Pontificate (as Pope of the Holy See (a sovereign entity under international law) and Sovereign of the State of Vatican City), as well as the British Monarch. The latter is the most unique one. He/She is Head of The Commonwealth, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 15 other Realms in the world (namely Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand (including Cook Islands and Niue), Papua New Guinea, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu), as well as their dependencies, Duke of Normandy (ie Jersey Island as well as Guernsey Island and dependencies), Lord of Mann (Isle of Man), as well as Supreme Governor of the Anglican Church)

(According to http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page351.asp, “as the British Passport is issued in the name of Her Majesty, it is unnecessary for The Queen to possess one” and similar formula is used in other realms (ie Commonwealth countries where The Queen is Sovereign)

http://www.royal.gov.uk/ (official website of the British Monarchy)

http://www.fotw.net/flags/gb-royal.html (more information on flags used by the monarch)

Union of the COMOROS

(Formerly known as Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros)

(Comoros has changed its title and adopted a new flag on 7 January 2002)

http://www.presidence-rfic.com/ (official website of the Presidency of Comoros)

Democratic Republic of East Timor

(Presently under the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor)

(Pls refer to the new constitution (http://www.etan.org/etanpdf/pdf2/constfnen.pdf) for information on the flag)

http://www.gov.east-timor.org/ (official website of the Transitional Government of East Timor)

Golan Heights Region

(Disputed territory in cross-border region in Israel and Syria which is now under Israli control)

http://english.golan.org.il (website of Golan Heights Information Server - by Israel)

http://www.golan-syria.org (website of Occupied Golan - by Syria)

Holy See / State of the Vatican City

(According to the official website of the Holy See (http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/insigne/sp_ss_scv_stemma-bandiera-sigillo_en.html), the Coat of Arms is for both the Holy See and the City State, whereas the Flag is for the City State)

http://www.holyseemission.org (website of the Holy See mission to UN)

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/docs_index_en.htm. (information on Holy See/Vatican City State)

Hong Kong

(Former British Colony)

http://www.oocities.org/wcheukt/index.htm (information on the former colony)

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

(The Taliban regime)

http://www.afghanistan-ie.com/ (the official website of the ex-regime)

http://www.taliban.org/ (the Taliban “official” website)

Jerusalem

(According to the UN partition plan of 1947, the total of Palestine was to be divided into a Jewish state and an Arab State, whereas Jerusalem would become an international zone. However, as a result of the wars in 1949 and 1967, Israel controlled the whole Jerusalem and declared it the capital (not recognized by the international community). East Jerusalem is claimed by Palestine as its future capital. Permanent sovereignty status of Jerusalem (including the Old City and the Temple Mount / the Noble Sanctuary) is to be determined.)

Israeli official websites on Jerusalem:

http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/ (website of Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem)

http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00j60 (website by Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Information on the Old City of Jerusalem:

http://www.unesco.org/whc/sites/148.htm (UNESCO’s homepage)

http://www.historychannel.com/cgi-bin/frameit.cgi?p=http%3A//www.historychannel.com/classroom/unesco/jerusalem/main.html (History Channel’s homepage)

Information on the Temple Mount / the Noble Sanctuary:

http://www.templemount.org/ (The Temple Mount in Jerusalem website)

http://www.noblesanctuary.com/index.html (The Noble Sanctuary website)

Views on Jerusalem (both Israel and Palestine):

http://www.jerusalem-times.net/ (The Jerusalem Times – by Palestine)

http://www.jpost.com/ (The Jerusalem Post – by Israel)

Kowloon Walled City

(According to the 1898 treaty, the whole Kowloon peninsula south of Shenzhen River was ceded by China to Britain as “leased territory”, with the Kowloon Walled City left under Chinese Control with troops and administration. Later, after an incident, the Chinese officials were expelled by the British authority in Hong Kong. Since the place was still under Chinese sovereignty, the British government did not exercise control, leaving political vacuum in it. It was not until the Joint Declaration signed between China and Britain on returning the sovereignty of Hong Kong to China in 1997 that China agreed British government to exercise control over the walled city)

http://www.flex.co.jp/kowloon/home_e.html (Internet Kowloon Walled City)

http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/ (Kowloon Walled City)

Palestine

(State of Palestine / Palestinian National Authority)

The following are major official websites of Palestine:

http://www.pna.gov.ps and http://www.pna.org (Palestinian National Authority)

http://www.p-p-o.com (Office of the President)

http://www.nad-plo.org (Negotiations Affairs Department, containing information on the negotiation between Israel and Palestine)

http://www.palestine-un.org (Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to UN)

Shanghai International Settlement

(In late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, there were many “leased territories” in China that were ruled by different colonial powers. Among them the Shanghai International Settlement was administered not by any countries but by a Municipal Council composed of Councillers elected by taxpayers in the territory. In 1930s, many Jewish people settled in the territory as it was the only place in the world that did not require a passport to enter. The Settlement was finally returned to China after the WWII)

http://www.oocities.org/hk/guoshiren/oldshanghai.html (links to websites on Shanghai International Settlement)

Sinuiju

(A Special Administrative Region of North Korea under the China’s Hong Kong and Macau models)

http://www.oocities.org/hk/guoshiren/sinuiju.html (links to website on Sinuiju)

Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of the Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta

(Order of Malta)

(According to the Constitutional Charter of the Order (http://www.orderofmalta.org/pdf/Constitution.pdf), both flags are official)

http://www.orderofmalta.org (new URL of the official website of the Order)

Ulster Nation

http://www.ulsternation.org.uk

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Micronations and related websites

Kingdom of DESCRETE

http://mail.tku.edu.tw/brf/mud/descrete/

The Great of PENAL Empire

http://www.oocities.org/penal_lam/

Raelian Revolution

http://www.rael.org/

V-TOPIA

(A virtual state proposed by an author named Zhang Xiguo)

http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~chang/V.htm (the complete online text version of the book V-topia by Zhang)

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