Ian Lynch wrote:
Just think, the United States of New Holland! ;)
Why not the United States of South America? If that is too big a leap the South American Economic Union
Have I mentioned the South American Community of Nations (SACN) here yet? I think I might have mentioned it in passing.
It's an interesting idea, and I hope it'll work. Up until last year, there were two main trading blocks in South America:
1) The Andean Community covered Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
2) Mercosur covered Brazil, Urugay, Paraguay and Argentina.
Last december, these two joined together, along with Chile, Surimare and Guayana, to make SACN. It's goal is to create a union modeled after the EU (this won't be easy, but let's ignore the roadlbocks for now). SACN covers all of South America except for French Guiana, which is really part of France. Technically, this means that the EU and SACN have a common border. :-)
There's a map here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SACN#Participating_nations
It's big. Altogether SACN is bigger than Russia.
- We have one of those in Europe so it seems that it would be simpler in South America because the languages are much more similar. Maybe they have one and I just don't know about it.
We /just/ got one last week. ;-) (well, last December actually).
Right now SACN is little more than a name on a piece of paper. It is true that logistically it's easier. But SACN faces other challenges. In particular, lack of social maturity, and hence, lack of political will. And that's a pretty formidable barrier.
But then again, the EU wasn't built in a day :-)
The EU took 50 years to reach the point where it is today. To expect SACN to reach the EU soon is unreasonable.
Let's face it, the only thing I know about Bolivia is that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid died there. No doubt Daniel will be able to educate me in a few weeks time ;-)
;-)
Bolivia's capital (La Paz) is the highest capital city in the world. It is 3600 m above sea level. It is inside a sort of cavity on a mountain. Not sure how to describe it (it'd be easier to draw). The top of the mountain isn't a peak, but it actualy comes down a bit. Kind of like a volcano. That's where they chose to put the city. :-)
The air is very thin in La Paz. This means that when other footbal teams come play in the city, they're at a disadvantage because they run out of breath very quickly.
Cheers, Daniel.
