Danny Younger wrote:
you may want to remind Paul that the At-Large Study Committee recommended the creation of a sixth ICANN region comprising India (.in), Pakistan (.pk), Afghanistan (.af), Kazakhstan (.kz), Uzbekistan (.uz), Kyrgyzstan (.kg), Turkmenistan (.tm), Tajikistan (.tj), Sri Lanka (.lk), Maldives (.mv), Iraq (.iq), Iran (.ir), Israel (.il), Syria (.sy), Jordan (.jo), Lebanon (.lb), Palestine Territories (.ps), Kuwait (.kw), UAE (.ae), Yemen (.ye), Oman (.om), Bahrain (.bh), Qatar (.qa), Saudi Arabia (.sa).
Of course, the board ignored this recommendation [...] It may be less that this was ignored and more that it was deemed politically impractical.
India and Pakistan generally don't consider themselves part of the middle east, and putting Israel together with its neighbours is almost always a non-starter. Stuff that seems logical with a pen and a map just doesn't happen that easily. The above alignment will never happen.
So why don't we play at reorganizing the regions instead of focusing on efforts to restore the representation that has been denied to us... perhaps that will keep us sufficiently diverted...
I hear you. Still, the oblivion apparent in the original recommendation is remarkable. - Evan