Re: Countries with needless definite article.

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The Bronx, but not The Greenwich Village. Or, in San Francisco, The
Castro (district) but not The North Beach. Or, in London, The City (of
Westminster) but not The Tottenham. Go figure.
≪since "U.A.R." stands for "United Arab Republic", the "the" does make
sense there, since (as Patricia pointed out with other examples) it has
a generic quality, despite being an official proper noun phrase. We say
"the United States" and "the United Kingdom" (or "the U.S." or "the
U.K.")...≫
Yes, I'm sure Patricia has nailed this one before. The U.S.S.R., The
Confederate States of America, The Commonwealth of Nations, etc. all
follow a pattern. The Philippines, of course, is ellipsis for The
Philippine Islands, same as The Marshall Islands or The Aleutian
Islands. "The Nether Lands" is a similar case, often called The Low
Countries in Europe, as they are the drainboard of the Rhine River
Valley. The Benelux is another example of this plural form which takes
"The".