Its Right to Land

One of the things that always puzzled me was the concept that "a country" has the "right" to a particular piece of territory. Surely a country is no more and no less than its citizens? So how could the good Soviet citizens of Vladivostok contribute to the Soviet Union's "right" to incorporate Armenia or Estonia, regardless of the opinions of the citizens of those regions? Did the people walk around the streets of Vladivostok and mutter spells that gave the country the Soviet Union some metaphysical "right" to Estonia? Were those spells more efficient that the spells of the Estonians? Whose magic was strongest?

A recent example of this magical right is Kosovo. People in Belgrade seem to walk around casting spells on international law to make it include a right of Serbia to include Kosovo.

The main reason for Serbia's "right", however, seems to be the battle of Kosovo at Косово поље, Бој на Косову, 1389, which is such an important part of Serbia's history, that the place has to remain Serbian forever. It is difficult not to think that with that logic Waterloo should be French. And British. And Prussian. Breitenfeld should be Swedish. Trafalgar should be British. And Verdun should be American.