![]() ![]() The glib description of Somalilanders doing "quite a bit of dying for their land and for their spaghetti" does not progress our understanding, but worse, risks reinforcing false perceptions. ![]() The very real contribution that de facto states make to good governance and democracy, both regionally and within their own territories, goes beyond mass production of miniature desk flags. His references to "fake countries" and "wannabe states" are intended to be wry, but undermine the significant role played by what are more accurately described as "de facto states." We welcome Graeme Wood’s analysis of so-called "limbo" states, but fear that it will remain little more than an enjoyable series of colorful pen-pictures. We hope that someday Wood will return to our country with an open mind and a willingness to see what we are creating: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Like the founders of the United States, Abkhazians have sacrificed their lives and livelihoods for independence and understand that the mantle of nationhood is earned. Still, while the justices at the International Court of Justice in The Hague debate the legitimate markers of statehood, Abkhazia’s people are building a country. I do agree with Wood on one point: The post-Cold War world has not devised a satisfactory method for determining a country’s legitimacy. We are expanding relations with countries such as Russia and Turkey, modernizing our tourism industry so that visitors to the 2014 Sochi Olympics can enjoy our beaches, and rebuilding libraries so the next generation has the historical understanding to avoid past mistakes. Despite ongoing hostilities from our larger neighbor, Abkhazia is rebuilding its war-damaged schools and hospitals and rewriting laws to meet international standards. This is the third presidential election my country has held since gaining independence from Georgia in a bloody war 16 years ago. President Sergei Bagapsh was re-elected with 59.4 percent of the vote in a vigorously contested race, declared fair and free of fraud by both international observers and local NGOs. ![]() 12, in a turnout of 73 percent, 100,740 Abkhazians cast votes for a chief executive. His misrepresentation of Abkhazia, past and present, is disappointing and discouraging. After spending only a few days in our country, Graeme Wood (" Limbo World," January/February 2010) dismissed Abkhazia as a "fake" country filled with "functionaries in neckties" whose language is a "linguistic freak show." Wood’s flippant tone shows a lack of respect for our people and history. ![]()
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