One other note about Iristun: you really can't negotiate these things they way the regions and geopolitics are currently conceived. I had thought that Kosovo should have been at least negotiated or drawn so that the Serb towns stayed in Serbia, but discussions with folks from the area confirmed that the Serbs would never agree to to any giveaway of land, period. Ditto the Georgians: Saakashvili ran primarily on giving away none of the breakaway regions, which made it impossible for anyone to negotiate the status the Georgian regions of Ossetia and Abkhazia if they wanted to, especially after the bombings.

Like the Bonn Agreement on greenhouse emissions was caused by Bush insulting Europe, Iristun's independence, like Kosovo's, was brought about by anti-diplomacy and chest-thumping. These new nations will need to be more diplomatic in their difficult early years when they won't have the luxury to squander an economic superpower on a bloated defense budget and the corruption of the executive branch by the oil cartels. The pro-Western Khatami was president of Iran when they were put on the Axis of Evil and the anagonism was ramped up thereafter.

Good videos to watch to put McCain's sudden interest in Arcadian culture in context.