To answer somewhat cocky comments from domain blogs (including this blog: read here) and other independent information sources, ICANN has posted to its official blog to explain the situation about domain names of Abkhazia and Ossetia.
ICANN reiterates that it is an international organization and is not dependent upon USA. For Abkhazia and Ossetia to apply for their national top level domain TLD, their two-character code must be assigned by ISO (International Standards Organization). In order for ISO to legally do that, the new countries must be recognized by United Nations.
People making strange comments about USA’s involvement in decision making within ICANN, should start their campaign by targeting UN. If there is a legal base to assign AB. and .OS domain names, ICANN will do it regardless of whether Mr Bush likes Russia or not!
In fact, I believe that the new countries in Caucasus will eventually gain their domain names, however it will take time, so be patient.
