Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles no nation state, no matter how strong their economy, no matter how United their population, can last forever all countries will eventually disappear some will slowly fade away and some will suddenly collapse it's likely that several countries will go this way in the next 10 years here are some at risk of disappearing Lesotho is the last absolute monarchy in Africa it's a small country surrounded by South Africa Their king is basically insane So Lesotho has long been a poor country. But it's got so bad recently that the people of Lesotho are looking for an exit a campaign within the country is begging South Africa to invade Lesotho would cease to exist as an independent country the monarchy would be overthrown and it would become a province of south africa support for the campaign is growing rapidly as the life expectancy in Lesotho has fallen to just 34 so the South African government could invade at any time I don't think the Ukraine can last much longer and the reason for this is that it was never meant to exist in the first place it was created as a buffer between Russia and the rest of Europe and Russia has always wanted to control Ukrainian land because of their natural gas pipelines in 2014, Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia and has been under Russian control since other areas of Ukraine are currently engaged in power struggles with with Russia clearly seeking more control the Ukrainian people have never been United with seventeen percent of their population identifying as Russian Their country is being torn apart for 42 years, libya was ruled by Colonel Gaddafi but in 2011, he was killed in the Arab Spring since then libya has been a fractured country, with different regions being held by different armies the problems started when Libya's new government failed to crush all the other power-hungry groups So the country fell into civil war the situation was a lot better when Gaddafi held power Barack Obama has called not preparing for a post-gaddafi Libya his biggest mistake if we're being honest libya isn't really a country anymore it's been split into three different ones it's only a matter of time until the UN realizes Libya hasn't existed since 2014 the UK is a union of 4 countries England Scotland Wales And Northern-Ireland if any of these countries were to leave for union it would be a big deal But if England or Scotland were to leave, the union would effectively disappear Last year, the people of Scotland voted against independence The population of Scotland is currently split around 50/50 on the issue so it's not beyond imagination that Scotland may one day and leave the union if that were to happen it's unlikely the union could survive spain is one of europe's biggest countries, but that might soon change A number of regions within Spain have their own independence movements The most likely to gain independence is Catalonia there is a big cultural divide between Catalonia and the rest of Spain they even have their own language earlier this year, catalonia's Parliament gained a new leader who is pro-independence his party aims for Catalonia to break away from Spain within 18 months they have already began building their own institutions like a military the spanish government is opposing their actions on constitutional grounds it's going to be interesting to see which side wins North Korea is different from other countries on this list for obvious reasons so many sanctions have been put on North Korea that it's government can't afford to feed most of its population it's among the most impoverished nations there are 3 things likely to soon happen to North Korea the first is that their government collapses and society breaks down until it's reunified with South Korea the second is that they try to invade South Korea, in which case we'd see a similar outcome the third is that North Korea is completely annexed by China and simply becomes a Chinese province I actually think the third is more likely much like Libya, Syria has been in a state of civil war since the Arab Spring but the Syrian dictator was never overthrown he still controls 40% of the country's land and 66% of the population the rest is controlled either by Syrian rebels, the Kurds, or Isis I don't think the country will every unify because of the ethnic divisions within the country the Kurds have always wanted an independent country in northern Syria they basically have that now what we now recognize as Syria was first created as a colony in the French Empire not as an independent country. That's why the ethnic divisions are so visible in 2008 Kosovo became an independent country up until that point it was a un Up until that point it was a UN Protectorate and before that, it was part of serbia but Kosovo broke away from serbia in a brutal civil war Today, it's an extremely weak country it's tiny economy is still recovering from the war it really doesn't make sense for kosovo to exist as a country ninety-two percent of its population are ethnically Albanian and they share a border with Albania the obvious solution is for Albania to absorb Kosovo I'm surprised it hasn't happened already Albania's Prime Minister has publicly stated that the unification of the two countries is inevitable thanks to rising sea levels there are a whole load of islands at risk of completely disappearing I mean, the Maldives, they'll soon be gone and most of micronesia as well the island nation of Kiribati is home to 100 thousand people, but their islands are vanishing and they need a new home so their government is planning on moving them all to Fiji Fiji is also an island nation so maybe it's not the best plan the European Union is essentially a federalist country in the same way the United States is it has its own flag, its own legal system to enforce its own laws, it's represented in the g20, and it's soon to have its own military With all these things, it can only be called a country but it's a country in trouble all across the continent we see the rise of anti-union movements great britain may soon leave the Union. This would be a hammer blow to the Union possibly inspiring other members to leave I think it's going to be difficult for the Union to survive the next 10 years
B1 US country libya union scotland catalonia kosovo 10 Countries That May Soon Disappear 122 8 Parisa Chan posted on 2017/06/19 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary