02-12-2003 09:54									#1
	If I built a MASSIVE offshore platform in international waters off the U.S..... Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

I build a 5 square mile((5^1/2) miles on each side) platform off the coast of the U.S.-200 miles off the coast of oh..... say Florida-descent climate

Forget the fact I would have no way of building it.... assume I have, and have the resources to maintain it.

I want to live there and have anyone there I want-basically, I want my own country small country. It is armed to the tetth to ensure no pirates or random excriment try to screw around with it, what do you think would happen?


Why hasent any big corporation done this to have its own sovreinty and be exempt from all laws?

	02-12-2003 10:00									#2
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The big corporations can go to the many islands we have near the US that are already pretty much the same situation and do the exact same thing.

	02-12-2003 10:07									#3
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Look up Sealand on Google. A gun platform(?) country off of the coast of Essex/Suffolk, England.

	02-12-2003 10:07									#4
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Because no one would recognize their sovreignty. In order to be considered, you would have to be on a piece of rock that is above water at high tide (IIRC, might be low toide). All of these bits of rock are claimed.

There is a former gun platform off the coast of Britain that is inhabited (by a family) and claims to be an independent country, but it's really just a joke.

	02-12-2003 10:07									#5
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Why would they want that when they can go to one of the tax havens?

	02-12-2003 10:23									#6
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Look up Sealand here on Apolyton, as we tracked it down on the maps.

	02-12-2003 10:45									#7
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quote: Why hasent any big corporation done this to have its own sovreinty and be exempt from all laws?

Well one problem is that corporations need other countries to buy its products, and those countries can decide what taxes to charge on imports (maybe a special tariff on the company).

Sealand is an exeption because it relies on people coming to IT. Then again, it started out as a personal country and then they decided they could make some money with database storage.

	02-12-2003 15:52									#8
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you ever hear of pirates?

The offshore platforms would not be protected by any country. You would have to maintain your own defense.

Yes I realize we don't have pirates today. But if we had things like these in international waters you can believe we would still have pirates.


The costs of constructing the damn thing, and maintaing defense would be too much. It's cheaper just to move to Bermuda.

Last edited by Dis on 02-12-2003 at 16:07

	02-12-2003 16:02									#9
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quote: Yes I realize we don't have pirates today.

Yes we do. There's quite a lot of them in the Singapore area actually. They've hijacked a good number of container ships in recent years.

	02-12-2003 19:08									#10
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Malaysia, Boshko, Malaysia.

	02-12-2003 19:14									#11
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Malaysia is in the Singapore area.

	02-12-2003 19:15									#12
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Why don't you just vote for a President who'll let you do whatever you want without having to move house?

	02-12-2003 19:18									#13
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident you ever hear of pirates? The offshore platforms would not be protected by any country. You would have to maintain your own defense. Yes I realize we don't have pirates today. But if we had things like these in international waters you can believe we would still have pirates. The costs of constructing the damn thing, and maintaing defense would be too much. It's cheaper just to move to Bermuda.

I mentioned this in my original post, we still have pirates.

	02-12-2003 19:27									#14
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Sealand 2000

Attachment: fortress.jpg
This has been downloaded 86 time(s).

	02-12-2003 19:32									#15
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Is that really it?

	02-12-2003 19:53									#16
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quote: Originally posted by Vesayen Is that really it?

http://www.fruitsofthesea.demon.co....nd/gallery.html


Yup.

	03-12-2003 04:01									#17
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And everyone just kinda leaves them alone .

I don't think anyone has recognized them as a state, though.

	03-12-2003 04:06									#18
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I'm going to go over there and demand their lunch money

	03-12-2003 04:24									#19
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okay I'm unclear on certain things.

How do they generate power? I suppose they import food and other goods. Couldn't England just tax/tariff these goods?

	03-12-2003 04:50									#20
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quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui And everyone just kinda leaves them alone . I don't think anyone has recognized them as a state, though.

Britain certainly has, more than once. Germany and the Netherlands have been forced to on one occasion when Britain refused to intervene in a dispute.

Their income is derived from turning the country over to a web-hosting company.

	03-12-2003 05:12									#21
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quote: I don't think anyone has recognized them as a state, though.

Why not? You could use ONE and only one soldier to keep the whole damn island in check, and it's not like they could do anything worth bothering over anyways. Man, I wish we had neighbors like those more often. Well, with Canada we do, but Mexico requires about 5 or 6 soldiers to watch it.

	03-12-2003 05:22									#22
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident I'm going to go over there and demand their lunch money

Let's just borrow a helicopter and do a night raid air assault drop.

"The entire nation of Sealand has been occupied by a militia group who has demanded $10 from the UN for their safe release.................."



"Okay, how about $5?"

	03-12-2003 05:28									#23
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quote: Originally posted by Immortal Wombat Their income is derived from turning the country over to a web-hosting company.

State-owned enterprise? Sounds like communism to me.

	03-12-2003 05:47									#24
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quote: Germany and the Netherlands have been forced to on one occasion when Britain refused to intervene in a dispute.

That doesn't mean they recognize Sealand as a state. They just may have said, we can't do anything.

Does Britain have a Sealand embassy? Merely acknowledging a place exists and formally recognizing it as a state are two different things.

http://www.sealandgov.com/history.html

Shows that while certain states have recognized Sealand as a de facto state, none have formally recognized it.

quote: Why not?

Probably because they don't want to set the precedent that you can do this. So they recognize it de facto, but not formally (de jure).

quote: You could use ONE and only one soldier to keep the whole damn island in check, and it's not like they could do anything worth bothering over anyways.

Which does not have any bearing on formal recognition.

	03-12-2003 05:53									#25
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quote: So they recognize it de facto, but not formally (de jure).

So they recognise it. That's all you said. Who's quibbling anyway? The longer nobody says anything now, the more likely they are to get recognised in the future.

St Leo: no, company-owned state. I suspect they had some serious financial problems running SeaLand and were pretty much forced to sell out.