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How To Build Your Own Nation!

The Futurist CoverWhat reasonable person wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to build a small island nation all their own? Good news: According to The Futurist, “Modern land-moving technology makes it easier than ever.”

Three experts on the subject—yes, there are experts on the subject—weigh in:

McKinley Conway, engineer:

Many micro-nations, Conway explains, “have been launched by people trying to establish modern utopias, seeking total freedom from the pressures of government or society. Others of a more practical nature have sought to set up tax havens that would attract investors. Some have looked for sites to base lotteries and gambling casinos or pirate radio transmitters.

Erwin S. Strauss, author of How to Start Your Own Country:

"Currently, international agreements generally recognize a territorial limit of 12 nautical miles from land, and an 'exclusive economic zone' extending to 200 nautical miles. The zone provision is focused on securing rights to fishing as well as oil and gas exploitation while allowing a “right of innocent passage” to all nations’ ships; however, it’s clear that most nations would interpret this as precluding the establishment of any independent entity in those waters. This leaves a substantial amount of water unaccounted for, including some that is quite shallow."

George Dunford, micro-nation documentarian:

"The best micronationalists know there’s some fun to be had. Segway inventor Dean Kamen refers to the New York state island he bought as the Kingdom of North Dumpling Island. His reason for seceding came when local authorities refused to let him build his own turbine, and he got his buddy, then-President George Herbert Walker Bush, in on the joke by signing a nonaggression pact with the kingdom. Kamen made several appointments to his court, including ministers of Nepotism, Brunch and Ice Cream (the latter officers were the founders of Ben & Jerry’s). He reputedly carries his own made-up currency in his wallet, which he has attempted to use as payment on the mainland."

Dunford quotes the infinite wisdom of the infinitely wise Frank Zappa: “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline — it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.”

(Thanks, Britannica Blog.) 

Source: The Futurist