The other topic raised concerns ccTLDs acting like gTLDs without bearing the obligations of gTLDs (and more generally, my observation that the CCs appear to exist in a parallel universe, being involved with ICANN when it suits them and thumbing their nose at ICANN when there's the least irritation).
Yup.
The fact that a poor state of affairs was allowed to happen in the past does not make the situation less poor now. And it certainly does not give anyone the right to object to the mere discussion of the how bad it is, simply because it wasn't discussed before.
The countries involved consider it to be a point of national sovereignty, so there's no way it's going to change. Despite the leverage it via its various contracts, the US government has conspicuously refrained from telling IANA how to manage ccTLD entries, even for Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and other countries the government doesn't like. They're certainly not going to care that .CO is going commercial. R's, John