[BRIEF NOTE] From the South Pacific: Not Quite Independence, but ...

[rfmcdonald]

Jonathan Edelstein reports that French Polynesia's president wants his country to become fully self-governing, enjoying something like the free association linking the Cook Islands with New Zealand. Easter Island, under Chilean sovereignty, is also starting to move towards a similar status, though full independence will likely be prohibited by Easter Island's extreme insularity and its Chilean-majority population. This movement towards isolated island colonies gaining substantial autonomy short of independence is a trend that I wrote about last May in relation to New Caledonia, another South Pacific possession of France.