this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2025
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Explain Like I'm Five
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???
Out of the ones you mention, Dubai is in fact not a real country and I have not seen anyone claim that it is; it is a city and region of the country called the United Arab Emirates.
Israel isn't universally recognized by all countries because some countries claim it is illegitimate (for religious reasons, because they say it is a colonialist project, etc. etc.).
Belgium is a country with different parts speaking different languages also spoken in neighboring countries, that is why some people have claimed it's not (culturally) its own country, but I don't think anyone seriously refuses to recognize it as a country.
As for Latvia, no idea whatsoever what you're talking about.
So the question as asked is unanswerable because you're giving confusing and inconsistent examples.
"Out of the ones you mention, Dubai is in fact not a real country and I have not seen anyone claim that it is;"
I swear to god I read a wiki article about the state of Dubai. I've also seen other people talk about it as if it's a country.
"As for Latvia, no idea whatsoever what you’re talking about."
A lot of communists don't like the three Baltic states, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. They calm there not real countries for some reason. They say the same for the Ukraine.
"So the question as asked is unanswerable because you’re giving confusing and inconsistent examples."
The examples I gave didn't matter. I was asking a broader question about what makes the country legitimate or not.
Dubai is likely the most well-known part of the UAE, so you may have heard people mention Dubai as if it were a country (because the audience might associate more with "Dubai" than "UAE"), without them meaning to imply that it's a real country.
There are certainly irredentist movements in many parts of the world that want to restore previous states of geopolitics, including the existence of the Soviet Union.
A country is ultimately a country if it is recognized as such by other countries. There are videos on the Internet that give greater details (search for keywords like "how many countries are there"). There are many places that some other countries say are countries, others not.