The terrorist outfit ISIS has conquered parts of Iraq and declares itself a nation, the new Caliphate. You do not become a nation just by saying you are. You do not become a nation until you’ve won. Prussia was a city state, first among equals of the string of German city states along the Baltic, until Bismarck united them into a new German nation. The Confederacy was never a nation, but had they won they would have been. Iraq was never a nation, but a monstrosity cobbled together by the British and French after WW1 from the stinking corpse of the Ottoman Empire. ISIS will not be a nation no matter how much of Iraq it conquers, and to believe otherwise is delusional. One might as well call the Mafia a nation.

A nation has history, and culture and art
And science and rivers and streams
And people who work on the land from the start
And reach for impossible dreams
A nation has industry, cities and towns
And wheat fields uncut by the knife
And millions of kids in their caps and their gowns
All bursting to get on with life
A nation is hard working mothers and dads
Who bring up their children to care
For country and family eschewing the fads
That promise that life will be fair
That nation is ours, yes the home of the brave
Where scoundrels may sometimes take hold
We sometimes elect a slick con man or knave
And sometimes a man of pure gold
It matters not though to a nation like ours
For presidents come and they go
If followed by curses or candy and flowers
No wonder we’re loving her so