One of the last remaining foreign-flag enclaves on the continent of Asia*was erased last week. In the first international cash-for-territory deal since the U.S. paid $25 million for Denmark's Virgin Islands in 1917, the republic of Pakistan purchased the sun-blanched, 300-sq.-mi. peninsula of Gwadar (pop. 20,000) from the Sultan of Muscat and Oman. Price: $8,400,000 cash and a percentage of any oil ever found on Gwadar's rainless shores.
Gwadar, which in the Baluchi language means Gateway of Winds, has been a haven for Arab seamen since the fabled Sindbad the Sailor cruised its coasts. The place passed into the hands...