Homelands

Homelands

How countries break apart. Scotland’s bid for secession from the UK offers a road-map for a best-case scenario. History is full of worst-case scenarios, such as the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971 at a cost of one million lives. Somewhere between the two lies Kosovo: “It’s one thing to amputate parts of your gangrenous leg yourself. It’s quite another for NATO to lunge in, wielding a rusty hacksaw”