{ "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T11:32:41Z", "providers": [ "Codex" ], "breadth": "recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read", "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "seconds": 19.7, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.4\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a09563-4005-70a2-b516-454bcb61c88e\n--------\nuser\nDescribe what is already known about one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: near abroad\nSense to describe: (none recorded)\nDomain code: PHY.PLC\nAlso known as: (none)\n\n\nContext for this batch of 1001 things:\n# Batch 044: 1001 reg", "usd": 0.0, "recall": true }, "codex": { "seconds": 57.0, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.4\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a09563-4018-7351-b012-2ab0f97974c3\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: near abroad\nRegistry id: vr.tr.near-abroad\nPlane / domain: PHY / PHY.PLC\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into this entry: (none)\n\n\n" } }, "enrichment": { "pass": 3, "engine": "claude", "producedAt": "2026-10-06T12:00:00Z", "ingestedAt": "2026-10-06T08:42:17+00:00", "fields": [ "agent_conduct", "ethics", "failure_modes_and_hazards", "owners" ] }, "gate": { "passed": true, "version": "1.0", "at": "2026-10-07T10:10:32+00:00", "evidence": [ "completeness 1.00", "sense: Wikidata description", "2 live sources", "review by codex: pass" ] } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q601795", "registryId": "vr.tr.near-abroad", "name": "near abroad", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "PHY.PLC" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q601795/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.near-abroad", "name": "near abroad", "purpose": "Enable an agent to interpret, compare and responsibly use references to the near abroad while preserving who defines the region, when, and for what purpose.", "definition": "The near abroad is a Russian geopolitical term for the independent states other than Russia that emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, expressing a perceived special relationship with Russia rather than a formally bounded geographic or legal region.", "scope_statement": "This model owns the near abroad as a geographically referential, politically situated regional designation associated with Russia's framing of the post-Soviet neighbourhood, including attributed membership, temporal scope and contested implications; it does not treat the designation as a sovereign territory or universally agreed region.", "in_scope": [ "Attributed definitions and uses of the expression near abroad", "Source-specific inclusion, exclusion and ambiguous membership of places", "Relationships between regional membership, Soviet historical connections and geographic proximity", "Changes in the designation's meaning and extent over time", "Political implications and objections attached to particular uses", "Rules for representing the designation in maps, catalogues and agent outputs" ], "out_of_scope": [ "Complete geographic and administrative models of individual countries", "Legal adjudication of sovereignty or territorial disputes", "The former Soviet Union as a historical state", "Membership and governance of regional organisations", "Russia's foreign policy as a whole", "Populations, ethnic groups and diasporas as independent entities" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "A use must identify or establish a speaker's regional framing; physical closeness alone does not establish membership.", "The designation can refer to a set of countries without creating an administrative unit or a single authoritative boundary.", "Its extension must be checked against the source rather than automatically equated with all former Soviet republics or every state bordering Russia.", "A reference can carry political implications beyond location, but those implications require attribution rather than being assumed for every use.", "Regional inclusion neither establishes sovereignty nor grants a state authority over another state's territory." ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Attributed defining actor", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Speaker, institution, publication or analyst responsible for a particular definition", "why_it_matters": "Prevents one actor's framing from becoming an unattributed geographic fact." }, { "name": "Usage context", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Official policy; diplomatic speech; scholarship; journalism; quoted historical usage; other documented context", "why_it_matters": "Distinguishes policy language from analysis, reporting and quotation." }, { "name": "Place inclusion status", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Explicitly included; explicitly excluded; inferred with explanation; ambiguous; not addressed", "why_it_matters": "Supports comparison without converting silence into exclusion." }, { "name": "Reference period", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "Calendar date or date interval, with precision and uncertainty", "why_it_matters": "Keeps historical descriptions separate from later interpretations." }, { "name": "Membership rationale", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Historical connection; proximity; policy priority; institutional connection; mixed; unstated", "why_it_matters": "Makes the source's inclusion logic inspectable." }, { "name": "Geographic referent", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Identified country, territory or regional grouping, with applicable date and geographic identifier where available", "why_it_matters": "Separates the regional label from the places to which it is applied." }, { "name": "Political implication", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Descriptive grouping; asserted special interest; asserted privileged influence; contested interpretation; unspecified", "why_it_matters": "Records implications supported by context without attributing them automatically." } ], "affordances": [ "Resolve a mention of near abroad to an attributed and dated regional interpretation.", "Compare two sources' country sets and explain their differences.", "Produce a map with explicit membership rules, boundary provenance and uncertainty.", "Detect conflation with neighbouring states, the former Soviet Union or regional organisations.", "Explain objections to a particular usage with attribution.", "Choose an explicit country list or a more precise regional description when the label would obscure the intended scope." ], "agent_conduct": { "may": [ "Explain the term's origin, meaning and use in political discourse, noting who uses it and for what purpose.", "Refer to the countries concerned by their own official names and status as independent states." ], "must_not": [ "Present the term as a neutral geographic region or as implying any legal claim over the states concerned.", "Use the term to justify interference, aggression or denial of other states' sovereignty.", "Attribute political positions to individuals or governments without evidence.", "Treat people of these countries as defined by Russian interests." ], "requires_human": [ "Choosing terminology for official or educational material about the region." ] }, "ethics": { "considerations": [ "The term carries claims of influence that many of the states concerned reject.", "It has been used to frame wars and pressure on neighbouring countries." ], "affected_parties": [ "People of the post-Soviet states", "Minority communities in the region", "Readers and students" ] }, "owners": { "steward": "Nobody owns it; it is a political term, not a defined territory.", "master_systems": [] }, "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Use of the concept to justify military intervention and occupation.", "Propaganda that erases the independent identity of neighbouring nations." ], "what_it_is_for": [ "The term appears in Russian foreign policy discourse, journalism and scholarship concerning other former Soviet republics.", "It is used to frame perceived regional relationships and interests, so interpretation depends on the speaker, date and political context.", "Its use does not establish Russian jurisdiction over the independent states it describes." ], "facets_not_applicable": { "interfaces": "The term has no standardized legal boundary or official classification that establishes a universally applicable membership.", "recognition": "This geopolitical concept has no intrinsic visual appearance that distinguishes it from other regional groupings." } }, "sources": [ { "id": "wikidata", "title": "Wikidata item Q601795: near abroad", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q601795", "url_status": "live", "what_it_supports": "identity and sense of the item", "checked_by": "wikidata-api" }, { "id": "wikipedia-en", "title": "Wikipedia: Near abroad", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_abroad", "url_status": "live", "what_it_supports": "general description of the item", "checked_by": "wikidata-api sitelink" } ], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "term-and-perspective", "name": "Term and perspective", "description": "Establish what a particular use means and whose perspective it expresses.", "rationale": "Near abroad requires an attributed frame of reference before it can support geographic reasoning.", "layers": [ { "id": "expression-and-translation", "name": "Expression and translation", "description": "Connect the displayed label to its source-language expression and contextual meaning.", "findings": [ { "id": "identify-the-expression", "name": "Identify the expression", "description": "Record whether the phrase names this regional concept, translates another expression or merely describes nearby foreign places.", "questions": [ { "text": "What exact expression and language occur in the source?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "identify-the-expression-q01" }, { "text": "Does the context establish a post-Soviet regional designation or only ordinary geographic proximity?", "kind": "definition", "id": "identify-the-expression-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "speaker-and-reference-centre", "name": "Speaker and reference centre", "description": "Separate the author using the expression from the actor whose viewpoint it represents.", "findings": [ { "id": "attribute-the-regional-frame", "name": "Attribute the regional frame", "description": "Identify the defining actor, geographic reference centre and whether the expression is endorsed, quoted or criticised.", "questions": [ { "text": "Whose understanding of the near abroad is being expressed or reported?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "attribute-the-regional-frame-q01" }, { "text": "Is Russia the reference centre in this use, and what evidence establishes that?", "kind": "definition", "id": "attribute-the-regional-frame-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "membership-and-spatial-expression", "name": "Membership and spatial expression", "description": "Represent which places a usage includes and how that set can be shown geographically.", "rationale": "A regional label cannot supply a reliable country list or polygon without explicit inclusion rules.", "layers": [ { "id": "inclusion-and-exclusion", "name": "Inclusion and exclusion", "description": "Record place membership at the precision supported by each source.", "findings": [ { "id": "establish-the-place-set", "name": "Establish the place set", "description": "Preserve explicit inclusions, exclusions and unresolved cases rather than filling gaps from assumed historical membership.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which countries or territories does this source explicitly include or exclude?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "establish-the-place-set-q01" }, { "text": "How does it treat the Baltic states, and does it explain that treatment?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "establish-the-place-set-q02" }, { "text": "Does the source provide an exhaustive set, illustrative examples or only a general description?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "establish-the-place-set-q03" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mapping-the-designation", "name": "Mapping the designation", "description": "Translate an attributed place set into a qualified spatial representation.", "findings": [ { "id": "separate-membership-from-borders", "name": "Separate membership from borders", "description": "Keep decisions about regional inclusion distinct from the territorial geometries used to draw constituent places.", "questions": [ { "text": "Does this use require whole-country membership, subnational areas or only a schematic regional depiction?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "separate-membership-from-borders-q01" }, { "text": "Which dated boundary dataset, coordinate reference system and territorial-claim conventions support the map?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "separate-membership-from-borders-q02" }, { "text": "How should ambiguous membership and disputed territorial depictions be made visible?", "kind": "action", "id": "separate-membership-from-borders-q03" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "historical-and-institutional-context", "name": "Historical and institutional context", "description": "Locate each usage in time and distinguish it from related historical or organisational groupings.", "rationale": "Historical connections and institutional overlap can explain usage but cannot substitute for its actual definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "dated-meaning", "name": "Dated meaning", "description": "Track the period a description concerns separately from when its source was published.", "findings": [ { "id": "trace-definition-changes", "name": "Trace definition changes", "description": "Compare dated uses for changes in membership, emphasis and political meaning.", "questions": [ { "text": "When was the source produced, and what period does its use of near abroad describe?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "trace-definition-changes-q01" }, { "text": "What source evidence shows that membership or meaning changed between the compared periods?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "trace-definition-changes-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "neighbouring-regional-concepts", "name": "Neighbouring regional concepts", "description": "Compare near abroad with other groupings without making them synonyms.", "findings": [ { "id": "test-regional-equivalence", "name": "Test regional equivalence", "description": "Check the specific overlap with post-Soviet space, bordering countries and named regional organisations.", "questions": [ { "text": "Where does this source's near abroad differ from the former Soviet republics outside Russia?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "test-regional-equivalence-q01" }, { "text": "Is any organisational membership being used as an explicit criterion or merely assumed to define the region?", "kind": "definition", "id": "test-regional-equivalence-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "contestation-and-agent-use", "name": "Contestation and agent use", "description": "Preserve political disagreement and govern how an agent applies the designation.", "rationale": "Using the term without context can turn an attributed regional framing into an apparent territorial or political entitlement.", "layers": [ { "id": "claims-and-responses", "name": "Claims and responses", "description": "Record implications asserted by users of the term and objections made by others.", "findings": [ { "id": "attribute-political-implications", "name": "Attribute political implications", "description": "Distinguish descriptive reference, claims of special interest and critical interpretations using the surrounding evidence.", "questions": [ { "text": "What political relationship, if any, does the speaker explicitly associate with the designation?", "kind": "definition", "id": "attribute-political-implications-q01" }, { "text": "Which affected states or other actors object to this particular usage, and on what stated grounds?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "attribute-political-implications-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "responsible-reference", "name": "Responsible reference", "description": "Determine whether the designation is precise enough for the agent's intended output.", "findings": [ { "id": "qualify-or-replace-the-label", "name": "Qualify or replace the label", "description": "Use attribution, dates and explicit place sets where the label alone cannot support the requested reasoning.", "questions": [ { "text": "Does the task require quoting this actor's terminology, comparing interpretations or selecting actual places?", "kind": "action", "id": "qualify-or-replace-the-label-q01" }, { "text": "Would an explicit country list or another sourced regional description make the intended scope clearer?", "kind": "action", "id": "qualify-or-replace-the-label-q02" }, { "text": "What qualification prevents regional inclusion from being read as recognition of political authority over the included places?", "kind": "action", "id": "qualify-or-replace-the-label-q03" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-confidence-notes", "name": "Check these first", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "The registry sense is absent; this description assumes the established Russian geopolitical meaning.", "Treat PHY.PLC as a geographic indexing choice: the term denotes a politically constructed region, not a physical feature with a standard boundary.", "Check the intended membership and treatment of the Baltic states against the specific speaker and period; no sources were consulted for this recall-based description." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-confidence-notes-q01", "text": "Which of these check these first hold for the sense of near abroad this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-real-world-use", "name": "Real-world use", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Describing Russian foreign policy toward other former Soviet republics.", "Analysing regional security, migration, economic ties and Russian influence in the post-Soviet space.", "Examining political language that presents neighbouring sovereign states as belonging to a privileged sphere of Russian interest." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-real-world-use-q01", "text": "Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of near abroad this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards", "name": "Failure modes and hazards", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Treating the term as an internationally recognised administrative region or legal category.", "Implying that historical Soviet membership gives Russia authority over another sovereign state.", "Assuming the term means only countries sharing a land border with Russia.", "Assigning a fixed boundary without recording the speaker, date and intended membership.", "Conflating governments, populations and political identities across distinct states." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01", "text": "Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of near abroad this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-regional-variation", "name": "Regional variation", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "The Russian expression is \"ближнее зарубежье\", commonly translated into English as \"near abroad\".", "The term reflects a Russia-centred perspective; the states it describes may reject its implied political hierarchy.", "The Baltic states fall within the broad former-Soviet definition but are often treated separately in political usage and regional analysis." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-regional-variation-q01", "text": "Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of near abroad this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-neighbours", "name": "Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ { "name": "post-Soviet space", "difference": "Usually includes Russia and describes a shared Soviet historical background; near abroad excludes Russia and frames the other states from a Russian perspective." }, { "name": "Commonwealth of Independent States", "difference": "An organisation with formal participation arrangements; near abroad is an informal geopolitical category whose scope does not depend on CIS membership." }, { "name": "Russian border states", "difference": "Defined by sharing a border with Russia; near abroad includes former Soviet republics without such a border and excludes bordering countries outside that historical grouping." }, { "name": "sphere of influence", "difference": "A general concept describing external political influence; near abroad names a particular geopolitical grouping that may be invoked in claims to such influence." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-neighbours-q01", "text": "Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of near abroad this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Which registry source or identifier establishes the intended sense of near abroad, given the missing definition?", "Which primary sources best establish the expression's origin, translations and changes in meaning?", "How do documented definitions differ in their treatment of the Baltic states and other potentially ambiguous members?", "Which affected actors have explicitly accepted, rejected or reformulated the designation, and in what contexts?", "Does an existing Vercy world model already cover this concept, and how should this PHY.PLC entry relate to its political and discursive dimensions?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 9, "findings": 13, "questions": 24 } }