the mauritians are already acting like it is a done deal, bringing in these international experts to map their new maritime borders, surveying this reef to see if it might actually count as an island. i haven't seen any dry land yet. no dry land. no. that's not good news, then, for the mauritians? well, the legal aspects, i'll leave them to the lawyers. and the mauritian lawyers have been busy. they have won two victories at the united nations. under international law, britain is illegally occupying these islands. the british and the americans say their priority here is security, that if the uk surrenders sovereignty over this strategic archipelago, before long, the chinese navy could be muscling in here. but the mauritian government insists