It seems to me that the questions about classification
of countries for assignments to regions may (inadvertently I'm sure) be badly stated
and that a restatement may be appropriate. I'm going to focus on the "middle
east", since some of the questions are more clear to me, but similar issues may apply
to the Caucasus. E.g., (i) It is noted that address allocations
for the Middle East are handled by RIPE-NCC. But the question posed is whether
Middle Eastern countries should be allocated to Africa or Asia. RIPE-NCC is
nominally a European organization. Should including these countries with
Europe be an additional possible choice? Or, stated differently, why was that
possibility excluded from the question as stated?
(ii) The
definition of "middle east" is historically quite fuzzy. Would the Board or Staff
kindly list the countries considered to be in each category for regional allocation
purposes and, having done so, indicate whether all of them necessarily must be assigned
to the same region or whether different allocations can be considered?
(iii) There is a case to be made that at least some of the countries on the Mediterranean
coast of Africa are more European-facing or Middle Eastern in character than they
are similar to most of the sub-Saharan countries. Assuming that all of them
are not considered "Middle East" today (see (ii)), should an additional question
be posted as to whether some or all of these countries should be considered part
of Europe or the Middle East rather than Africa?
(iv) My vague
recollection has been that there was also some discussion as to whether some or all
English- and/or French- speaking countries in the Latin America/Caribbean region
should be reclassified into the North American one. Since it might inform the
two listed questions, has that issue been resolved, and, if so, how? And, if
it has not been resolved, should it be listed as well?
Note that I don't, personally,
have strong opinions on any of these questions: I merely believe that it is important
that they be raised, both to increase the probability that discussions of the issues
be using common language and assumption about what is being discussed and to make
it more likely that optimal regions can be achieved.