April 25, 2006

Nauru is a tiny island nation (the smallest republic in the world, even) in the South Pacific that is about to collapse. The island has been purged of its one asset -- phosphate deposits from bird guano -- and after a century and a half of mismanagement the deposits are about to dry up. Meanwhile the country can barely afford to provide fresh water and electricity to the citizens and the vegetation has been stripped back to bare coral. Parts of it are still beautiful, and apparently tourist-worthy.

It's amazing that a country that was essentially raped by colonists managed to recover so well in the 1970s and '80s, yet collapsed so badly in the 1990s through mismanagement and poor decision-making. The Economist article is an old one, and doesn't cover the entire story of Australia's Pacific Solution, which is a story in itself, or the dodgy agreement with the US, Operation Weasel (scroll to the green sidebar), to open a phony embassy in China to aid defecting North Korean scientists. Ah, Nauru, what mischief will you get into next? Incidentally, I was looking up their top-level domain (.nr) and found their sole ISP's website, which announces that from 10am to 4pm every day, web users are limited to checking email only, due to their tiny, tiny pipeline.

posted by tracicle 18 years ago
  • We're not really as lovely and moral a country as we think, are we tracicle? Do we give Nauruans automatic NZ citizenship? We should, and a free NZ farmlet each too.
  • Damn straight! Maybe a nice piece of land in the Mackenzie high country, which would still be a desert if not for all that phosphate. (Well, more of a desert.)
  • I'd come across the Operation Weasel article before, very strange. Seems Nauru will try any old get-rich-quick scheme. The bit in the Economist article about 50% of Nauruans having diabetes is pretty shocking.
  • Nauru now rues?
  • Seems Nauru will try any old get-rich-quick scheme. As opposed to the US, which which would NEVER do such a thing. *points toes of goody-two-shoes together
  • A dark bit of Aussie history. One of the links mentioned that thanks to global warming and rising sea levels any remaining habitable areas may eventually be reclaimed by the sea. Which may be the best possible outcome.
  • The introduction of firearms and alcohol destroyed a relatively peaceful co-existence of the 12 tribes living on the island, leading to a ten-year war.
    excellent. chalk another one up for western "civilization"
  • oh good stuff btw tracicle
  • Yeah, excellent post.
  • Excellent post. Sad people.