Kosovo's Sovereignty: A Modern [Deep Dive] - February 17th, 2026

[00:00] Thatcher Collins: Hello and welcome to the program. [00:02] Thatcher Collins: Today, on Deep Dive, we are examining a date that marks a significant redrawing of the [00:08] Thatcher Collins: world map, both in terms of modern geopolitics and ancient geology. [00:14] Thatcher Collins: It is February 17th, and we have quite a bit to unpack. [00:19] Thatcher Collins: And it is a pleasure to be here. [00:20] Thatcher Collins: Our focus today spans from the legal declarations that shape the Balkans in the 21st century [00:27] Thatcher Collins: to the scientific discovery of a hidden continent and the legacies of individuals who rose to the heights of power and fame. [00:35] Thatcher Collins: It is really a testament to how much can happen on a single calendar day, Thatcher. [00:40] Thatcher Collins: Right. [00:41] Thatcher Collins: As we look at the calendar for February 17th, the year 2008 stands out as a massive turning point for European diplomacy. [00:50] Thatcher Collins: Right. [00:50] Thatcher Collins: This was the day Kosovo officially declared its independence from Serbia, [00:55] Thatcher Collins: an event that sent shockwaves through the international community. [00:59] Victor Hale: It certainly did. [01:01] Victor Hale: This was not a sudden decision, but rather the culmination of a decade of intense conflict and international oversight. [01:08] Victor Hale: The region's secession followed the Kosovo War of the late 90s, [01:13] Victor Hale: which eventually led to a long period of UN-led administration. [01:17] Victor Hale: By 2008, the leadership in Pristina felt the time for full sovereignty had arrived. [01:24] Thatcher Collins: The declaration itself was such a bold move. [01:28] Thatcher Collins: It immediately raised complex questions about international law and the rights of a region [01:34] Thatcher Collins: to secede without the consent of the central government. [01:38] Thatcher Collins: How did the global community react when the news broke, Victor? [01:42] Victor Hale: That's remarkable because of how polarized the response was. [01:46] Victor Hale: While Serbia and its allies strongly opposed the move, citing territorial integrity, [01:52] Victor Hale: the declaration was a pivotal step toward recognition by the United States and much of the European Union. [01:59] Victor Hale: Legally, it was a unique case that required balancing the principle of self-determination against established national borders. [02:07] Thatcher Collins: That balance of boundaries is actually a great transition to our next topic. [02:11] Thatcher Collins: While diplomats were drawing lines on maps in 2008, geologists were discovering that we had entirely missed a major part of the map for centuries. [02:21] Thatcher Collins: It turns out there was a whole continent hiding in plain sight. [02:24] Thatcher Collins: Exactly. You are talking about the 2017 announcement regarding Zealandia. [02:30] Thatcher Collins: It is so rare that we get to add a new continent to the textbooks in the modern era. [02:35] Thatcher Collins: People usually think every corner of the Earth has been cataloged by now. [02:39] Thatcher Collins: Yep. On this day in 2017, researchers published a paper in the journal GSA Today, [02:45] Thatcher Collins: asserting that Zealandia is a mostly submerged continental crust in the South Pacific. [02:51] Thatcher Collins: It covers about 5 million square kilometers, which is roughly the size of the Indian subcontinent, [02:57] Thatcher Collins: but 94% of it is underwater. [02:59] Thatcher Collins: No way! [03:01] Thatcher Collins: It really changes how we perceive the geography of the South Pacific, from the sovereignty [03:06] Thatcher Collins: of nations to the sovereignty of the Earth itself. [03:08] Thatcher Collins: Today is full of major shifts, and that extends to the people born on this day who have reshaped our culture in profound ways. [03:17] Thatcher Collins: We have a very diverse group of birthday anniversaries to cover, starting with a truly historic figure from the 7th century. [03:24] Thatcher Collins: Victor, who are we looking at first to start this timeline? [03:27] Thatcher Collins: We begin in the year 624 with the birth of Wu Zetian. [03:31] Thatcher Collins: She is a fascinating figure because she remains the only woman to ever rule China as an emperor [03:37] Thatcher Collins: in her own right, establishing her own Zhu dynasty within the Tang period. Her path to the throne [03:44] Thatcher Collins: was legendary. Truly, her reign was incredibly significant. Despite being characterized [03:50] Thatcher Collins: as ruthless by some later historians, she was a highly effective administrator. [03:56] Thatcher Collins: She expanded the empire's borders and, perhaps most importantly, opened up government positions to people based on merit, rather than just noble birth through the imperial examination system. [04:10] Thatcher Collins: Absolutely. Moving from ancient politics to modern sports, we also celebrate the birth of Michael Jordan, born in 1963. [04:20] Thatcher Collins: He is a figure whose influence on the court transformed basketball into a global phenomenon. [04:26] Thatcher Collins: I don't think anyone has had a bigger impact on the game. [04:30] Thatcher Collins: Jordan wasn't just a player, he became an icon of excellence. [04:34] Thatcher Collins: Between his six championships and his massive success as a brand ambassador, [04:39] Thatcher Collins: he redefined what it meant to be a professional athlete. [04:43] Thatcher Collins: His work ethic and competitive drive are still the gold standard for players today, regardless of the sport. [04:50] Thatcher Collins: And finally, we have a birthday from 1981 that represents a major shift in how we understand modern media, Paris Hilton. [04:59] Thatcher Collins: She's often credited with pioneering the influencer model that dominates our social landscape today, long before social media even existed. [05:09] Thatcher Collins: That is a great point. [05:11] Thatcher Collins: As a model, actress, and entrepreneur, Hilton navigated the transition to the digital age [05:16] Thatcher Collins: by turning her own persona into a global brand. [05:21] Thatcher Collins: It is a path that countless creators have followed since, [05:24] Thatcher Collins: but she was certainly at the forefront of that movement in the early 2000s. [05:28] Thatcher Collins: From an empress in ancient China to a basketball legend and a modern media mogul, [05:33] Thatcher Collins: these three figures each took the systems of their time and left an indelible mark on them. [05:39] Thatcher Collins: It shows how individual influence can ripple through centuries. [05:44] Thatcher Collins: It has been a fascinating look at the boundaries we create, [05:47] Thatcher Collins: the ones we discover, and the people who push past them. [05:51] Thatcher Collins: That brings us to the end of our dive into February 17th. [05:54] Thatcher Collins: For more stories like these, you can visit deepdive.neuralnewscast.com. [06:00] Thatcher Collins: Thank you for joining us for another look at the history that shapes our present. [06:04] Thatcher Collins: Deep dive is AI-assisted, human-reviewed. [06:07] Thatcher Collins: Explore history every day on Neural Newscast.