The Principality of Sealand

[Az]

Stunning. It feels like being billions of years ago.

[Flubber]

The Sealand thing is quirky-- Their claims are pretty groundless given that I understand they are actually on a thing CREATED by the British Military. I don't know how long an anti-aircraft platform would have to be abandoned before someone else could claim ownership rights of it let alone sovereignty rights . I suspect the charges could not be brought not because Sealand is independent but because the events were outside British territory at the time. BY what authority would Britain prevent ANYONE, even a British citizen from carrying a weapon on what is essentaily international waters.


Now if someone wanted to, they could try to assert an independent nation on some uninhabited and unclaimed island in the Pacific. Perhaps no one else would recognize your new state but neither would they be exerting any jurisdiction over your lands either. So libertatrians could set up their society. The only problem might be that many countries will continue to tax you based on residency and you cannot lose residency in one country until you gain residency in another. So unless you could get recognition, you may find that your former country will still purport to assert taxing power over you.

[chequita guevara]

There are no unclaimed islands.

Here's another picture by the same photographer. A wildfire in the Florida Everglades.

[Az]

There are no unclaimed islands.

There is lots of land that is scarcely populated, and is of doubtful legal ownership, or without any real authority whatsoever.
Somalia, Western Sahara....

[Sandman]

Sealand should be annexed. Britain does have an acceptable casus belli.

[Az]

I will form my own "stop the war" coalition, then.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Azazel

There is lots of land that is scarcely populated, and is of doubtful legal ownership, or without any real authority whatsoever.

Yeah, but I don't want to live in Antarctica.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
There are no unclaimed islands.
.

That suprises me -- So every dot of land EVERYWHERE has been claimed by some nation? I would have thought that there would be some tiny atolls or such that are more than 200 miles from any recognized state and never formally claimed. I just see such large large expanses of the South Pacific. But then again, the European nations blissfully claimed the entire globe in the colonial days.

[Az]

hehe.

[chequita guevara]

Even uninhabitable rocks are claimed, because that gives the country an economic claim to the surrounding waters for 200 miles. Some are claimed by mre than one country, but every spot on the globe that rises above sea level at low tide is claimed.

[Az]

Who is claiming Western Sahara?

[KrazyHorse]

Probably Israel.

[Az]

Cool.

[chairmanmeow]

IIRC, Morocco claims Western Sahara.

[KrazyHorse]

Sure, as a puppet government for the Jews.