By Frank O'Collins (June 2006)
 
  In the battle of economic and political titans across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the smaller Island nations are often forgotten.
 
  Sometimes feted for their influence as permanent members of the United Nations, or various international bodies (such as the whaling commission) these smaller nations have struggled to survive since their various dates of independence.
  
  The age of asymmetrical warfare, terrorism and the influence of the individual
  
  Whereas during the period of the Cold War, a general truce existed whereby the superpowers held each other in check, today we live in the age of asymmetrical warfare, of terrorism, cyber crime and the influence of the individual.
  
  Small nations now represent sometimes easy targets for groups as a centre for organized crime, for terrorism hide-outs, for staging posts from which to attack and disrupt their much large neighbours. In a sense, the reality of the networked world has finally awoken larger nations to take interest in the affairs of these smaller Island nations.
  
  In places such as the Solomon Islands, the poverty and urban slums of Honiara are as bad as any major populated Asian city. As has already been shown, failure to address the pressing social problems of chronic unemployment, poor health and education of the poor of Pacific and Indian Ocean nations, is a recipe for anarchy and terror.
  
  Economies of scale, maintaining sovereign integrity and a common union
  
  What is the solution then to the seeming impossible problem of maintaining the sovereign integrity of the world’s smallest nations, while at the same time addressing their long term needs?
  
  Some have argued that the two concepts (sovereign integrity and economic well being) are unsustainable together- that the only viable solution is re-colonization of these Island states.
  
  The problem of re-colonization versus other solutions is not worth thinking about. Both in terms of the forces in which it unleashes back into the world, let alone the social unrest of members of the former independent nation. Regardless of the longer term cost and consequences of the new parent nation, such action represents a retrograde step- a step back to the days where subjugation and second-class people were accepted as the norm.
  
  The Oceanic Union as the solution  
  There is a viable alternative to the challenge of Island nation unrest- the establishment of a common union, which provides the overarching financial, security and social framework for this family of nations.
  
  Such an institution could assist collectively in the training of military and police, in the maintenance of common currency and financial standards and in the significant improvement of living standards and social skills without contravening the sovereign integrity of these island nations.
  
  This is the proposal of the Oceanic-Union.
  
  When and how will the Oceanic Union be formed?
  
  The largest Island nation forming the Oceanic Union would be Australia. Based on the current government of Australia, there is some possibility that the pragmatism of the present leader may see a political solution to the current crisis through some mechanism. Then again, change rarely happens without some fits and starts.
  
  Then again, the call for the Oceanic Union may come from the smaller Island nations themselves- recognizing that their sovereign integrity, indeed their very survival depends upon some vision beyond simply occupation forces (even if under the UN banner) to maintain law and order.
  

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