0 million refugees at the end of the war were mostly Europeans, who were absorbed relatively quickly by other Western nations. Today's heterogeneous refugee population is a global phenomenon comprising widely diverging cultures that resist simple assimilation. Since 1983, this group has been the fastest growing segment of the world population, with an average of 10 - 20% increase per year. Dotting the globe, these strangers account for 1% of the world population and are ranked twentieth on the list of the most populated countries (out of 220). The Refugee Republic has as many inhabitants as Turkey, nearly as many as Italy or England, and twice as many as Canada. If this trend would continue in a linear fashion, the Refugee Republic would surpass the United States or Russia within ten years. Nation, State and Territory Assuming that a nation consists of an integral territory and a common culture and language and thus identity, there is hardly a country today that is not multi-national; but there are nations that exist without a country: the Kurds, the Navajo, the PLO, and many other groups. If it were possible for the refugees to pack and take with them a proportional part of their country (measured at approximately 37 people per square kilometer), it could be pieced together into a state the size of France, Germany, England, and Italy combined. Placed as an intercontinental federation, it would span the globe, never seeing the sun set. The old refugee republics developed because there still were large, sparsely inhabited areas to be discovered and conquered. Today, there are more than just moral reasons for not engaging in military conquests. The most one can expect are Pyrrhic victories an absurdity since wars have turned out to be economic disasters, even in the rare cases where there has been an apparent victor. All the earth's territories have been discovered, charted and densely populated, though to varying degrees. Ecological cap...
