Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know
Speaker 1: from house Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to
Speaker 1: the podcast. I haven't said that in a long time,
Speaker 1: and I said it just like PF. Tompkins for some reason.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, that's kind of how he would say it.
Speaker 1: But you're not wearing a vest in bowtie. No, and
Speaker 1: my mustask is non existent too, port by hat. I've
Speaker 1: got nothing except for that one inflection. Okay, that's the
Speaker 1: only similarity. So Josh is in a great mood because
Speaker 1: it's Friday and we're actually not like we aren't usually
Speaker 1: pleased to be here, but we haven't done this in
Speaker 1: two weeks because we've been doing other stuff and we
Speaker 1: stacked up, you know, recordings, and it's like it's a
Speaker 1: genuine pleasure to be back in here doing this. Is
Speaker 1: I can feel like I could do this with my
Speaker 1: eyes closed. Try it Star podcast. I can't see my notes.
Speaker 1: It was still pretty good, Chuck, you got a joke
Speaker 1: in there anyway. Um. Yeah, I'm happy to be here
Speaker 1: because I know I can do this right. You know,
Speaker 1: there's not a camera in front of its inferior. You
Speaker 1: feel good. I feel good to Chuck. So I'm going
Speaker 1: to uh use that good feeling to give you an introduction. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's say, chuckers that you did not have a very
Speaker 1: good time in high school, but I did. But I'll
Speaker 1: imagine that you're suspending disbelief here. Um, you were one
Speaker 1: of the less popular kids, perhaps because of that one
Speaker 1: time you wore that cape to school. It didn't go
Speaker 1: nearly as well as you had expected it would. I
Speaker 1: thought I would be uh lauded as a superhero among
Speaker 1: my beers, but they made fun of me. Okay, Um,
Speaker 1: and that pretty much set the timber for the rest
Speaker 1: of your high school experience. And it really stuck with you.
Speaker 1: You know, it really got in your craw that that
Speaker 1: you were so mistreated in high school. And you had
Speaker 1: a couple of friends, Kevin and Jim, and um, they
Speaker 1: had similar experiences. And you guys are now in your
Speaker 1: thirties or forties, You've got a little money, and you
Speaker 1: still are driven by bitter anger. You want vengeance, right right,
Speaker 1: You're not exactly the type to um kill somebody, and um,
Speaker 1: your idea of revenge is pretty grand. So what you
Speaker 1: decide to do is to start your own country. Hey,
Speaker 1: that's a good way to get back at the jerks
Speaker 1: in high school. Exactly. This is the legal way to
Speaker 1: do it, right, Okay, all you do start your own country, um,
Speaker 1: and you invite these guys to come visit and then
Speaker 1: throw them in prison the moment they get there. Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe even put them on a terrorist watch list before
Speaker 1: they get there, and not alert your authorities of what's
Speaker 1: going on, and then just sit back and wait for
Speaker 1: the good times to roll. Right, Okay, all right, done.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of problems here. Okay. One, you have
Speaker 1: no idea how to start your own country? Well do
Speaker 1: you in real life? Because I've read your article. But yeah,
Speaker 1: well that's what I was gonna say. We're here to
Speaker 1: tell you that's right. So everyone who here's this podcast
Speaker 1: will know how to start their own country pretty much.
Speaker 1: And it's easier than you think in theory. Sure, well,
Speaker 1: let's let's talk about it, Chuck. All right, Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: one way Josh, that you can do so, and history
Speaker 1: has shown that it's it's works. Is uh a larger nation,
Speaker 1: let's say Great Britain. They used to be into colonizing
Speaker 1: places all over the world, the lovely places that they
Speaker 1: like to relax on the beach, and um, they did
Speaker 1: so well. Rhodesia is not exactly on the beach, but
Speaker 1: I was speaking of like the Virgin Islands. But they
Speaker 1: did that a larger nation, uh, colonized a smaller one
Speaker 1: and change the name to Rhodesian, said this is a
Speaker 1: new country. Yes, you are now Rhodesian's yep. And if
Speaker 1: you don't like it, we've got guns here. And that
Speaker 1: is one way to do it. And then there's the
Speaker 1: opposite way to do it. You could be a Rhodesian
Speaker 1: and be like, you know what, we have guns now too,
Speaker 1: or Zimbabwe and now this place is called Zimbabwe. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Zulu Zulu Zulu yeah. Um. And then there's uh, let's
Speaker 1: see the kind of succession that where you go buy
Speaker 1: an island and basically say, okay, this island is now
Speaker 1: its own thing. Yeah. I think didn't Marlon Brando own
Speaker 1: his own island? Yeah? I don't think he tried to
Speaker 1: make it his own country, although he may have. There
Speaker 1: are a significant number of islands for sale in the world. Really, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're pretty small though, Huh. I guess they range.
Speaker 1: I mean they're small enough or they're big enough. Right.
Speaker 1: The problem is the getting electricity. That's the that's the
Speaker 1: big problem. I think. Although if I was going to
Speaker 1: buy an island, I would try and keep it off grid,
Speaker 1: you know, or or you know, do the solar thing
Speaker 1: or sure, yeah I can't, man, I'd deck my island out. Well,
Speaker 1: I'd want mine decked out, though you can still deck
Speaker 1: it out with solar panels and like the the Swiss
Speaker 1: family Robinson or something, that's that's just how I roll.
Speaker 1: But the more the more customary way of starting your
Speaker 1: own country is like we were saying, um, say Zimbabwe
Speaker 1: or something like that is called the land based secession. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not as easy, No, it really isn't. Because, um, whereas
Speaker 1: if you were to buy a deserted tropical island that
Speaker 1: no country, that a country technically own but wasn't doing
Speaker 1: anything with, they probably wouldn't put up too much of
Speaker 1: a fight. If you own property in a country and
Speaker 1: say this is no longer part of this country, you're
Speaker 1: going to get some sort of resistance, absolutely, right, Like
Speaker 1: Russia Soviet Union obviously dissolved, and uh, they're still doing
Speaker 1: battle with Georgians you know today they definitely they didn't
Speaker 1: just forget and say it's no big deal. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: relations among the former Soviet states with Russia are definitely strained.
Speaker 1: Where yeah, Chester and rebels are, um, not the most
Speaker 1: happy people around, and they will kill children. They've shown
Speaker 1: two succeed Yeah, successions are bloody and horrible. Or were
Speaker 1: they the school? Oh yeah, okay, what was that the
Speaker 1: swap podcast? Yeah? I think so. Um, let's see what else. Oh, Yugoslavia. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's another really good example too. Um. There was a
Speaker 1: guy named Joseph Tito, right, not Tito Jackson or Tito's
Speaker 1: handmade vodka. Uh. Tito. Um, was this guy who was
Speaker 1: a brutal, iron fisted dictator, but there was a he
Speaker 1: had a reputation where people would say, Tito is a brutal,
Speaker 1: iron fisted dictator. But you gotta hand it to him.
Speaker 1: He's keeping Yugoslavia together. And this is amazing. This Yugoslavia
Speaker 1: before Tito and then after Tito, we're a bunch of
Speaker 1: ethnic people, um groups living together that it hated each
Speaker 1: other for a thousand years, like the I think the
Speaker 1: problem between the Albanians and the Serbs went back to
Speaker 1: um a massacre or the murder of a martyr in
Speaker 1: like twelve something century. So Tito comes along and it's like, no,
Speaker 1: you all live together in my country. After Tito dies,
Speaker 1: Yugoslavia falls apart, and all of a sudden you have Albania, Serbia,
Speaker 1: all that stuff. But these were huge, enormous problems for
Speaker 1: the world. The Balkans are a big match or a
Speaker 1: big flash point, right, But ultimately what happened was a
Speaker 1: bunch of ethnic Albanians said, you know what, we're no
Speaker 1: longer part of Serbia. Have our own we have our
Speaker 1: own nations. Now. Uh, that's one way to do it.
Speaker 1: That's land based session. And like we said, it's usually
Speaker 1: kind of bloody, right, But there are a few steps
Speaker 1: that Albanians took that Serbs eventually took um and that
Speaker 1: other people have taken. They are basically like a four
Speaker 1: part means of becoming an independent nation. So so also
Speaker 1: I should I have to give a huge shout out
Speaker 1: to UM Joshua Keating who wrote a really cool article
Speaker 1: UM on Foreign Policy Foreign Policy Magazine about this um
Speaker 1: that formed the basis of this article. It's just way better.
Speaker 1: This is way better. Yeah, fine, it's way better than
Speaker 1: the editor at Foreign Policy Magazine. Well, so three things, Josh,
Speaker 1: and there we're gonna talk about the four steps. But
Speaker 1: three things that generally give you a leg up if
Speaker 1: you want to form a new country is a population
Speaker 1: of I guess like minded folks, not just a population,
Speaker 1: a permanent population like this, these people's homeland or this
Speaker 1: is where they live, this is where they farm, not
Speaker 1: they're on vacation. Here. Let's get a country going exactly
Speaker 1: government and land. Those that that will really give you
Speaker 1: a leg up. If you've got those three things, it's
Speaker 1: a good starter kit. And there's a fourth one that's
Speaker 1: not necessarily those three are internationally recognized as yes, if
Speaker 1: you can. If you have those three things, then you're
Speaker 1: on your way to to forming a country with fourth currency.
Speaker 1: The fourth. Now, the fourth is that that government has
Speaker 1: to be able to communicate with the outside world. Um.
Speaker 1: And then that that came out of a treaty in
Speaker 1: three in Monto Video where the US said, Okay, we'll
Speaker 1: leave Latin America alone. You guys are your own sovereign nations.
Speaker 1: Now we'll just undermine you covertly rather than overtly. Um.
Speaker 1: And uh, that's kind of disputed. I think the United
Speaker 1: States recognizes it's still but other countries don't necessarily see
Speaker 1: that as criteria for nationhood. Well, it's tricky and we'll
Speaker 1: see here in a minute when we start talking about
Speaker 1: the awesomely funny and wacky sealand I can't wait. Being recognized.
Speaker 1: It's it's some people recognize certain things, and some people
Speaker 1: say your sovereign nation and then or an independent Uh.
Speaker 1: It's it's very formal and informal whether or not you're
Speaker 1: recognized or not. And I can't really tell when you're
Speaker 1: a legitimate country anymore. Really, the only way there isn't
Speaker 1: there's another recognized country recognizes you. Even even that doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily mean anything, because take Taiwan. Taiwan used to be
Speaker 1: a recognized country part of the u N and then
Speaker 1: in ninete Nixon through to the dogs as a in
Speaker 1: alive branch to China and Taiwan hasn't been part of
Speaker 1: the u N since then. Yes, Tetician to come back
Speaker 1: into the UN not even come in the first time
Speaker 1: to come back. They got booted out because Nixon was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the U S isn't backing you, and we got our
Speaker 1: little anty chair there with our little placard. I see
Speaker 1: it right there with the microphone exactly. There's a little earpiece.
Speaker 1: Interpreter's like a cob But yeah, so Taiwan is a
Speaker 1: sovereign nation as far as it's concerned, as far as
Speaker 1: many other nations are concerned, but it's not officially recognized
Speaker 1: by other countries. Well, you know a big important one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you and protection. That's big because that means that
Speaker 1: your former country, if you're all of a sudden recognized
Speaker 1: by the UN, can't roll in there and take you
Speaker 1: back by force, at least per the UN's rules. They can't.
Speaker 1: They're not supposed to know, because once you do that,
Speaker 1: that's war. And there's first I should say, once you've
Speaker 1: completed step two, which is declare independence, right, you gotta
Speaker 1: write your own declaration of independence. And then once you
Speaker 1: write your own declaration of independent to the important people
Speaker 1: that need to see that. I guess right, well, the
Speaker 1: the country that you're succeeding from, they'd be first on
Speaker 1: the list. And then and then if you can get recognized,
Speaker 1: then you're a sovereign nation basically on the international stage.
Speaker 1: And that's an act of war, an unprovoked active aggression
Speaker 1: on par with um Pearl Harbor or nine eleven or whatever.
Speaker 1: And I think that would you mentioned Kosovo and Montenegro
Speaker 1: is being on the winning side of that, those laws
Speaker 1: that kept them protected from Serbia. Yeah. So, um, that's
Speaker 1: because the US recognized Kosovo on the day it on
Speaker 1: the day it declared independence. George Bush was like, hey, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're going to recognize you as a sovereign nation, and
Speaker 1: they were like, what, we recognize you right? Um. And
Speaker 1: the reason why Keating points out that back in the day,
Speaker 1: during the Cold War, Um, it used to be that, uh,
Speaker 1: all you had to do is say I'm anti Soviet
Speaker 1: and the US would recognize you immediately. Or you could
Speaker 1: be like you know, American capitalist pig dogs in the
Speaker 1: USSR would be like, hey, you're on our team, you're
Speaker 1: a country. But um, and they both start printing stamps. Right.
Speaker 1: But with Kosovo in particular declaring independence, it was kind
Speaker 1: of like a thumb in the eye to Russia because
Speaker 1: you know, former Soviet Soviet state satellite um, and so
Speaker 1: Bush recognizing it was kind of like a to the Russians,
Speaker 1: what was that? You know? What it was? Yes, Josh,
Speaker 1: and those rules that we're talking about. The U N
Speaker 1: rules are a remnant of the Cold War to protect
Speaker 1: new states that were not yet recognized by one side
Speaker 1: of the block or the other. Right, they hadn't they
Speaker 1: hadn't declared, there's the LC not new kids on the
Speaker 1: block with a K? Did they spellers with a K? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that wouldn't be two kids on the block. That would
Speaker 1: have been a different bind. So, um, that was the
Speaker 1: first three steps. I believe. Right, you have criteria declare independence,
Speaker 1: you petition for um U N recognition. And I should
Speaker 1: also say it's incredibly easy to petition for UN recognition.
Speaker 1: It's almost cute how easy it is. It's almost adorable
Speaker 1: that you can just write a letter and tell him Chuck, Well,
Speaker 1: you just write a letter to the Secretary General and
Speaker 1: say I would like to be a country. I don't
Speaker 1: even that was a mix of like eight accents. So
Speaker 1: don't call me out like, um, yes, that's exactly who
Speaker 1: it's to, thank you very much. So, um, yeah, you
Speaker 1: just write a letter and getting in I mean the
Speaker 1: letter writing part is easy. That's that's the big part.
Speaker 1: And as a matter of fact, as a p s A,
Speaker 1: we're gonna give you the address send your letter to.
Speaker 1: If you are going to um declare your independence, you
Speaker 1: want to address your letter to Bond ky Moon, Secretary
Speaker 1: General the United Nations, First Avenue at forty six Street,
Speaker 1: New York, New York, one zero zero one seven. And
Speaker 1: all you have to do is say, Mr Bond, Um,
Speaker 1: we would like to be a nation. We have a
Speaker 1: we have a sedentary population. We have a government. Our
Speaker 1: government can even talk to people if you're into that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. Yeah, and um, we have a we
Speaker 1: have a geography, so let us send huh chuck. Also, Um,
Speaker 1: to be accepted into the u N, you need recognition
Speaker 1: by a two thirds vote, and a two thirds majority
Speaker 1: is that you're a quote peace loving state that can
Speaker 1: carry out the duties of the u N Charter. That
Speaker 1: means you are in yes, but that can be easily
Speaker 1: vetoed by member nations. And um, like you point on
Speaker 1: the article, I guess it's it's you want to make
Speaker 1: friends with the big players in the u N and
Speaker 1: get them on your side. That that would definitely help. Yeah, Um,
Speaker 1: there's a you know, neutral countries are always like sure,
Speaker 1: well neutral, whatever you want to do. Um, they don't
Speaker 1: care much weight though, no not not nearly as much
Speaker 1: as you know the the you could basically call them
Speaker 1: bully countries, countries that have the economic and military might
Speaker 1: to push everybody else around make decisions for the rest
Speaker 1: of the world. Um So, if you can get recognized
Speaker 1: and get in bed with one of those guys, you're
Speaker 1: gonna your nation is going to start to thrive. Another
Speaker 1: um way to get your nation to thrive is to
Speaker 1: tracked foreign investors. Yeah, he pointed out natural resources. If
Speaker 1: you happen to have an island like the one let's
Speaker 1: say the Wappony Wooves had Booboo. If you remember, I
Speaker 1: don't remember that Boobaroo was this uh mineral. I believe
Speaker 1: that the will Ponies had. I remember he was. He
Speaker 1: wanted their island. That was the whole point. He wanted
Speaker 1: it for Boobooroo because it helped out with whatever his
Speaker 1: business was. Lloyd Bridges, of course we're talking about the
Speaker 1: late great boyd Bridge. I liked his little stint on Seinfeld.
Speaker 1: Towards the end of his life, he just came out
Speaker 1: because he had He was the father of the Old Trainer, right,
Speaker 1: he know, he was the old Trainer and then his
Speaker 1: son would like drive the car while he was turned
Speaker 1: around like shouting at a out of a bullhorn at Jerry.
Speaker 1: But wasn't. Wasn't. His father's son was an old man,
Speaker 1: and he was like the older man. Anyway, we were
Speaker 1: talking about Joe versus the Bolcano obviously, which we've mentioned
Speaker 1: before and in that movie. Um, he wanted the mineral
Speaker 1: rights to this imaginary element or mineral and um, that's
Speaker 1: a good way to get soverenity is to attract I
Speaker 1: guess a wealthy entrepreneur and say, hey, I've got some
Speaker 1: awesome sand on this island. Right. Um, you've got that,
Speaker 1: you can Um, you can also create currency and back
Speaker 1: it with said mineral or natural resource, Like this is
Speaker 1: an eight gas bucks if you have natural gas. Let's
Speaker 1: just Nevada thing. There's a guy, um who what's the
Speaker 1: name of the place, The Republic of uh Molasia. Okay,
Speaker 1: there's a guy in Nevada who owns like a a
Speaker 1: parcel of arid land that no one else wants in Nevada,
Speaker 1: and he has declared it in a republic. It will
Speaker 1: never ever get recognized internationally because it's in the United States, right,
Speaker 1: And that that's a perfect example, Chuck of what what
Speaker 1: Internet national recognition is? Like, imagine if China recognized the
Speaker 1: Republic of Milasia as an independent nation within Nevada. Can
Speaker 1: you imagine when a thumb in the eye of the
Speaker 1: United States, it would go nowhere. There would be nothing
Speaker 1: whe are the Chinese aren't gonna arm this guy? Right,
Speaker 1: So like that's what is going on. I mean, think
Speaker 1: about this, like American Indian tribes, Native American tribes have
Speaker 1: petitioned for independence and they can't get it. This guy
Speaker 1: in Milasie is never gonna get it. Then they were
Speaker 1: here long before that guy. Now imagine if this were
Speaker 1: serious and there there, you know, there were really huge
Speaker 1: like mineral rights at stake. These people were accepting arms,
Speaker 1: they were warring with somebody that could pull you into
Speaker 1: a war. Then it starts to get like a little
Speaker 1: more nerve racking. But the things the exact same. People
Speaker 1: recognize nations just to take off other nations, to embroil
Speaker 1: other nations and war problems, or to show to scoff at.
Speaker 1: It's basically like another popular kid into a locker. That's
Speaker 1: like recognizing a new nation that's that's often a company
Speaker 1: to it and then shutting a locker. Yeah, what is
Speaker 1: the guy Nevada back his currency? Does he have currency
Speaker 1: or just he backed it with chocolate chip cookie? Go,
Speaker 1: And you pointed out that that's not very valid, But
Speaker 1: I point out I countered that, sir, and say that
Speaker 1: I would love for things to be backed with chocolate
Speaker 1: chip cookie though. Well, yeah, I mean I guess I
Speaker 1: would too, But after a while I'd be like, I
Speaker 1: don't want any more money. Yeah, that's true. You eat
Speaker 1: enough cookie done, You're gonna get sick to your stomach.
Speaker 1: I would strongly recommend reading that Chicago Tribune UM story
Speaker 1: on that guy, because it is extremely interesting. It's called
Speaker 1: One Nation Under Me by Colleen Mustoni. Came out in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight on the Republic of Malassia. Awesome.
Speaker 1: He is not the only wacky guy running around UM
Speaker 1: with UH saying like I'm an independent nation. Um, he's
Speaker 1: actually not. I mean he's kind of serious, but not really.
Speaker 1: I get the impression he's half performance artists. There's a
Speaker 1: guy who founded his own nation in the sixties UM
Speaker 1: off the coast of Great Britain, and um it's still
Speaker 1: around today. Seland it's an amazing story. It is. I
Speaker 1: think they're making it, or they talked about making a
Speaker 1: movie and this has been requested. In fact, I didn't
Speaker 1: hear about this at all until someone had requested it
Speaker 1: um a while ago, about six months ago. So whoever
Speaker 1: that was, thank you, so chuck. Apparently a World War two,
Speaker 1: the British um made a bunch of military outposts that
Speaker 1: were basically like um oil derricks or oil platforms that
Speaker 1: weren't pumping oil. They're just stationary out in the North
Speaker 1: Sea off the British coast to basically shoot down German
Speaker 1: airplanes in case of attack. Yeah, just big almost like
Speaker 1: stationary aircraft carriers, right, And they tore most of them
Speaker 1: down after the war, except they left one up. And
Speaker 1: apparently no one has any idea why this one particular
Speaker 1: one has left up. But it was about seven miles
Speaker 1: seven nautical miles, which is like one point one something
Speaker 1: land miles. I don't even know why they have those
Speaker 1: what nautical miles? Yeah, he's different in the water, buddy.
Speaker 1: But we hear about it um off of the coast
Speaker 1: of England, right, which puts it outside of the three
Speaker 1: mile range of territorial waters. Remember who owns the ocean? Right? Okay,
Speaker 1: So this thing is in international waters, even though the
Speaker 1: British built it. Roughs Tower was the name of this
Speaker 1: particular one. And like you said, it stayed there or
Speaker 1: the rest of them were abandoned and then torn down,
Speaker 1: and this one was just it was abandoned and left up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: abandon left up. So a guy a pirate radio broadcaster,
Speaker 1: which at the time England was lousy with pirate radio
Speaker 1: broadcasters that weren't allowed to broadcast certain things, uh in England,
Speaker 1: so they'd go outside to international waters. And what Christians
Speaker 1: later did, it's right. And there was a movie philipsy
Speaker 1: Moore Hoffman was just then about pirate radio. Okay, I
Speaker 1: believe called pirate radio. Yeah, it sounds familiar. But anyway,
Speaker 1: this guy, English Major Patty Roy Bates was a pirate
Speaker 1: radio broadcaster who took up residents September nineteen sixty seven
Speaker 1: about six thousand square feet this platform is and said,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm the Prince of Sea Land. And
Speaker 1: his wife just shook her head and he said, but oh,
Speaker 1: you're the Princess of Sea Land, so don't shake your yeah,
Speaker 1: and then she was down with it. And this is
Speaker 1: the Principality of Sea Land, and we are our own
Speaker 1: nation and we are not a part of England, so
Speaker 1: be it. Yeah, and that was pretty much how it started.
Speaker 1: So this guy, I guess the story would probably end there.
Speaker 1: But this guy was bound and determined. He was dead
Speaker 1: serious to get call him a crack pot or whatever,
Speaker 1: but this guy made this place right. One of the
Speaker 1: great crack pots though. So, uh, I guess what was that?
Speaker 1: That was the nineteen sixty seven. The next year, the
Speaker 1: British Navy sailed into this guy's waters. They were aware
Speaker 1: of them. Yeah, they went to fix a buoy. Is
Speaker 1: that what happened? Yeah, there was uh some sort of
Speaker 1: buoy out there that needed maintenance, so they entered his
Speaker 1: waters air quotes and he son son Michael Actually I think, um,
Speaker 1: this was wrong. I think his son Michaels, who fired
Speaker 1: warning shots in the air and got in trouble. Well,
Speaker 1: you you get the attention of the navy when you
Speaker 1: start firing shots, like for their attention, you know. Um,
Speaker 1: And yeah, that was kind of a that was a
Speaker 1: big deal back on back on the on the island
Speaker 1: of England. Um, a lot of people were calling for
Speaker 1: this guy to be court martial there, thrown in jail
Speaker 1: or something right. So a case was brought against him
Speaker 1: in the House of Commons or in the Common Court
Speaker 1: right lawsuit basically, and the court ruled, we can't do anything.
Speaker 1: This is not within our jurisdiction. It's not within English jurisdiction.
Speaker 1: They went sweet and through that ruling it was recognized
Speaker 1: and documented that this guy had a de facto sovereign nation.
Speaker 1: That's right, a court of another nation, another sovereign nation,
Speaker 1: ruled that it had no jurisdiction over this place called
Speaker 1: seland this platform out in the ocean. So uh, seven
Speaker 1: years later they proclaimed the constitution. They have since then
Speaker 1: have developed a flag. They have a coat of arms
Speaker 1: that's nice and it's on the flag. Um. They have
Speaker 1: a national anthem. They have stamps. They have currency, uh,
Speaker 1: sea Land dollars, which are equivalent to one American dollar. Um.
Speaker 1: I guess whatever the American dollar happens to be. That's
Speaker 1: Sea Land changes along with us. And they had passports
Speaker 1: made and they gave them out to people that didn't
Speaker 1: sell them. There's about two hundred of them in existence,
Speaker 1: real ones today. Yes, there's five hundred times more forged
Speaker 1: ones in exists right because people started to use Sealand
Speaker 1: as a as like a boy to open bank account.
Speaker 1: They just forged these documents, and since no one had
Speaker 1: ever seen him, people would say what is this and
Speaker 1: then they go do some research and they'd say, oh, well, okay,
Speaker 1: this is a real thing, okay, and they would give
Speaker 1: them the loan. August there'd be a lot of okay.
Speaker 1: August of seventy eight. Let's flash forward a bit um
Speaker 1: they quote unquote win a war. Uh. This guy named
Speaker 1: Alexander Ackenbach who um called himself the Prime Minister of Sealand.
Speaker 1: Apparently when Roy was I'm sorry, the Prince of Sealand
Speaker 1: and the and the Princess were on the British mainland,
Speaker 1: he sent in um some mercenaries to take the keep
Speaker 1: wanting to call an island to take Seland why I
Speaker 1: didn't find out why, I'm not sure. To be honest,
Speaker 1: I guess he was. I mean, he said he was
Speaker 1: a prime minister, so maybe he was trying to you know,
Speaker 1: he had had enough of Prince Roy's iron fisted rule
Speaker 1: or something, and he wanted to take it for himself.
Speaker 1: He was tired of him strutting around, so they they
Speaker 1: sent these helicopters and speedboats in that was a battle.
Speaker 1: They kidnapped the son Michael, Yeah, this is serious, took
Speaker 1: Seland by force. And then Roy hears of this obviously,
Speaker 1: he gets on it and wages a battle against uh,
Speaker 1: these mercenaries and wins and retake sealand holds these people captive,
Speaker 1: releases the Dutch there were Dutch in Germans, and charges
Speaker 1: Achenbach with treason because he was prime Minister of sealand
Speaker 1: holds him and this is this is the best part
Speaker 1: of the whole thing. Eventually Germany sent a diplomat to
Speaker 1: sea Land to negotiate his release, and that is used
Speaker 1: today still as de facto evidence because an official diplomat
Speaker 1: from a country came to our country to to negotiate
Speaker 1: with us. So that is the facto proof that we
Speaker 1: are a sovereign nation. Well, it's proof two out of
Speaker 1: two at least. Yeah. Although I mean, like all the
Speaker 1: stuff they were doing internally, like issuing passports and forming
Speaker 1: currency in a flag and other national treasures that um
Speaker 1: that um that that definitely uh suggests that their sovereign
Speaker 1: nation as well. Yeah, they proved they said, hey, this
Speaker 1: guy recognized this, this German diplomat came here. But plus,
Speaker 1: I mean not just sovereign, but that's like a war.
Speaker 1: They won the war, like you said, and technically, um,
Speaker 1: and also that's a lot like um the mouse that roared. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought of that same thing, man. Yeah, well, I
Speaker 1: mean it's like almost exactly the same was that nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty nine? I think the book or the movie, the
Speaker 1: movie with Peter Seller's David Niven. I'm sure those two
Speaker 1: are inseparable. What was the deal? They America declared a
Speaker 1: kind of a phony war on all nation, right, that
Speaker 1: was like going under declared war in America that they
Speaker 1: could surrender, not just get pressed, but so they could
Speaker 1: get international aid for having lost a war with America.
Speaker 1: Apparently the humanitarian aid pours in. But they won, right right,
Speaker 1: right right? I remember I read that, did you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: good for you, Chuck. So uh flash forward a bit
Speaker 1: more and um to nineteen seven. Uh, Britain extended territorial
Speaker 1: waters to twelve nautical miles. The day before Britain does this,
Speaker 1: Prince Roy does the same thing. So they have over
Speaker 1: overlapping waters. And even though they've never negotiated anything, apparently
Speaker 1: there's an understanding that it's split down the middle. When
Speaker 1: this happens between countries, you do not mess with Prince Roy.
Speaker 1: And understand. The other cool thing is because international law
Speaker 1: doesn't allow you to claim new land when you extend
Speaker 1: your sea rights. It was grandfathered in and just to
Speaker 1: this day is still sitting there. Well it's speaking of
Speaker 1: to this day after forty years. Um, Prince Roy is like,
Speaker 1: I'm done. I did it. He's gotta be old. He
Speaker 1: is old. He I think he tried to give it
Speaker 1: to his son. So I was like, so Prince Roy
Speaker 1: is trying to sell it, Michael in London, He's like it. Um.
Speaker 1: It started. It experienced a revival with um some investment
Speaker 1: from Haveing Co Limited, which basically says, hey, we have
Speaker 1: Internet servers on this island and they're in a sovereign nation,
Speaker 1: which means they can't be shut down except you know,
Speaker 1: by attack. And that attracted a lot of people who
Speaker 1: like Pirate Bay, like rogue Bit, torrent Um sites mirror
Speaker 1: their stuff on these servers. It's a lot like the
Speaker 1: internet's version of um offshore bank accounts of the Caymans. UM.
Speaker 1: So the Pirate Bay was looking at selling buying it.
Speaker 1: I think it's seven but fell through. As far as
Speaker 1: I know, you could conceivably buy Sea Land today. Well,
Speaker 1: Pirate Bay was gonna buy it, but they found out
Speaker 1: that was hardwood floors under the carpet, so they said, yeah, yeah, thanks,
Speaker 1: or they were rotted right. Yeah, so that's Sea Land
Speaker 1: A yeah, and it's still going strong. And I mean
Speaker 1: they claim de facto recognition still to this day. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: well it's the sovereign country. Yeah, dude. If if Britain's like,
Speaker 1: we can't mess with you, and they win a war
Speaker 1: with Germany and he didn't pay into the health system,
Speaker 1: Britain said, all right, you don't have to pay into
Speaker 1: the health system, but don't call us when you get sick.
Speaker 1: So that's a that's a what's considered a micro nation.
Speaker 1: Although I realized there are also other micro nations that
Speaker 1: exist only on the web. We need to do one
Speaker 1: on those, I think, have we not? Alright, it's on
Speaker 1: the list. All right, you should go do a little
Speaker 1: more research on this. On how stuff works dot com.
Speaker 1: You should probably check out how Do I Start My
Speaker 1: Own Country for starters. There's some good links in that
Speaker 1: article too. Um we mentioned who owns the oceans? You
Speaker 1: need to know that, and then how currency Works is
Speaker 1: probably a good one to brush up on as well. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: go read the mouse at roared or watch it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do that too. You can find all that by using
Speaker 1: the dapper search bar at how stuff works dot com. Right,
Speaker 1: I said dapper, so that triggers listener to mail today,
Speaker 1: That's right? Uh, Josh, this is another update from Sarah
Speaker 1: the Amazing fan. Hey Sara, we get these uh usually
Speaker 1: around her birthday and it gets maudlin. As everybody knows,
Speaker 1: we have been keeping up with Sarah since she was eleven,
Speaker 1: the amazing eleven year old fan. And Sarah's about to
Speaker 1: turn fourteen, growing up right, not right before our eyes,
Speaker 1: but right before our ears, and she just writes the
Speaker 1: best emails. So this is from Sarah. Dear Chuck, Josh, Jerry, Frank,
Speaker 1: the Chair, Handy Dandy microphones, and last but not least,
Speaker 1: the Last Chance garage hat. Wow, she wrote into my hat. Wow,
Speaker 1: what a year. I don't know if y'all have been
Speaker 1: keeping track. I seriously doubt it, but I can dream, right,
Speaker 1: But I will be turning fourteen and fifteen days on
Speaker 1: the twenty four and I'm not sure when this is
Speaker 1: coming out. But should be sometime around here. Not only
Speaker 1: is my birthday in two weeks, but my eighth grade
Speaker 1: graduation falls in the day before, meaning that my class
Speaker 1: trip to six Flags by the Way, is on my birthday.
Speaker 1: It smiley face. Because of the two and a half
Speaker 1: hour to three hour drive, I'll probably be listening to
Speaker 1: some epic podcast on the way. Now to the real
Speaker 1: topic of this email, I'm gonna share my hardcore parker experience.
Speaker 1: After I read the blog that Chucker's posted on parkour
Speaker 1: in the computer lab at school, I went on a
Speaker 1: parkour rampage. Well, not really a rampage, but I just
Speaker 1: decided to randomly walk up to things, jump next to them,
Speaker 1: and say Parkour. When I did a Parker jump next
Speaker 1: to one of my friends, she goes, do you watch
Speaker 1: The Office? Apparently there was an episode where some of
Speaker 1: the characters went on a park or rampage similar to mine.
Speaker 1: I decided to look it up and found that it
Speaker 1: was really hilarious. You may want to start a Parker
Speaker 1: club right there at how Stuff Works dot com. After
Speaker 1: we watch The Way, too fat old for that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've learned that this week. Uh so that's she says,
Speaker 1: ha ha, ha, well, loving rockets, Sarah the amazing thirteen
Speaker 1: almost fourteen year old fan. That is awesome. And she
Speaker 1: made a Daniel Ashe reference there at the end with
Speaker 1: loving rockets. I don't even know she meant that, but
Speaker 1: I think it's an adorable way to sign an email
Speaker 1: for Well, it's Sarah. She's adorable all over. Absolutely, Sarah,
Speaker 1: Happy happy birthday. We're so glad you've been growing up
Speaker 1: with us. We appreciate you. You stay safe parkouring out there,
Speaker 1: Please do have fun at six Plagues. Be careful on
Speaker 1: the roller coasters, you know they make me nervous. And um,
Speaker 1: well we'll stay Happy birthday againding next year. Okay, absolutely
Speaker 1: all right. If you have a flag, if you have
Speaker 1: a name of a country, if you have any ideas
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