Free Private Cities + seasteading Thailand coast

[RLAretired]

 

With many expats here considering relocating, I will post this email about a Free Private City about to start up in Hondouras.  The same email also mentions the recent "incident" with an attempt at seasteading off the coast of Thailand.

 

(To avoid any hint of advertising, I have omitted the photos in the email, but we all know what tropical islands look like.)

 

I have no personal connection to either of these ventures, but I am very interested in both.  For discussion, I welcome private messages.

 

 

Quote

Newsletter #9 - June 22nd/2019
Q2 2019

Dear friends of Free Private Cities,

Finally, the waiting has an end. I want to introduce you to our flagship project, which comes closest to a Free Private City in the world of today. And we have to report interesting developments from the Seasteaders.

Honduras Próspera project
We are excited to announce that Honduras will soon be making public a program with transformative potential called Honduras Próspera. Implemented in partnership with NeWay Capital, a company with which I am associated, Honduras Próspera is anchored in Article 329 of the Honduran Constitution which enables the creation of unique Special Economic Zones. The vision of the program is to unleash untapped potential and create opportunities for socioeconomic development through the creation of prosperity hubs. neWay Capital

According to the laws regulating these zones, these prosperity hubs can have their own rules and regulations, legal systems—including their own courts, and their own security force.

Although prosperity hubs are not exactly free private cities, they do benefit from a degree of autonomy that will allow them to fully implement principles that create prosperity.

I have been responsible for creating the legal structure which will make such an undertaking successful. In this endeavor, I am, supported by a strong legal team, looking to time-proven best practices, but designed in a way that is unique in guaranteeing the personal and economic freedom we all cherish.

Prospera

The first of these prosperity hubs will be launched in Roatan. Roatan is the largest of the Bay Islands. It is an idyllic location nestled in lush greenery and surrounded by the piercing blue waters of the Western Caribbean.

Roatán Of note for those who can’t relocate (yet): there will be an e-resident option, similar to the one in Estonia, which, among other things, entitles the e-resident to set up a company and use our arbitration system.

It will be possible to apply for (e-) residence through the official Honduras Próspera website, which will be launching soon. We will issue a special newsletter once this site is live.

We are also in the planning phases of establishing other prosperity hubs including one in La Ceiba, which is directly across the water from Roatan. The prosperity hub in La Ceiba is poised to be an industrial park and will offer entrepreneurs and business leaders a whole other set of opportunities.

As you can imagine, constructing the legal framework for such an endeavor, is not an easy task. Yet, as we all know, it is a worthy undertaking. We are honored to have been tasked by the Honduran government to set up this system and impressed by their willingness to create opportunity and catalyze prosperity for their people.

Seasteading

The news made the rounds worldwide at the end of May: a loving couple was facing the death penalty due to the establishment of a Seastead-platform off the coast of Thailand. What had happened?

The world's first offshore Seastead from company OceanBuilders was manned in April 2019 by US bitcoin investor Chad Elwartowski and his Thai life partner Nadia Supranee Thepdet and was a success. The local fishermen sold food to the couple and occasionally the two took the boat to the mainland to replenish supplies. As readers of this newsletter know, videos were published by the Seasteading Institute and there were plans to mobilize more volunteers to build a first small settlement and then make a contractual agreement with Thailand. Local Thai agencies had no problem with the project at this time, when asked by interested parties. Then in May, out of the blue, came the Thai Navy, which claimed that the couple was being investigated for treason, for which the death penalty can be imposed under Thai criminal law. The activities supposedly posed a threat to Thailand's sovereignty and the platform also allegedly hindered shipping. Finally, it was argued that the platform was within Thailand's territorial waters. Apparently, the couple were warned in advance by an informed party so that they could leave the platform in time.

Subsequently, OceanBuilders published the coordinates of the Seastead. As a result, the platform clearly was located outside the territorial waters of the twelve-mile zone. It was further argued that such a small structure, completely off the shipping lines, cannot pose any threat to shipping and that the company retains all ownership rights to the platform.

The Seasteading Institute announced that Thailand was completely overreacting. At most, the couple may have violated registration regulations, but in no way is the sea outside the territorial waters an area in which Thai law can impose the death penalty. Later, the Thai government back-pedaled on the accusation of treason. To date, no charges at all have been brought.

Now, what are we to think of this? In fact, the legal situation is unclear. The often-heard assumption that one is free of state regulation outside the territorial waters (also called coastal sea or twelve-mile zone) is not true. Both the so-called contiguous zone (12 to 24 nautical miles) and the exclusive economic zone (another 200 nautical miles) give the coastal state certain rights, usually to prevent smuggling or the unauthorized exploitation of resources. The coastal state also has the right to regulate artificial islands within these zones in accordance with the relevant UN Convention. It is not known if and which laws Thailand has enacted in this respect. On the other hand, it is logically difficult to understand how a platform outside Thailand's territorial waters, which should also remain there and which is also subject to Thai law, at least in some areas, can impair Thailand's sovereignty. The accusation of obstructing shipping also seems to have been far-fetched.

Nevertheless, the case shows that any attempt to establish new forms of coexistence should not be directed against states, but instead on the basis of contractual agreement with the state. This corresponds to the concept of Free Private Cities, which the Seasteading Institute has in a way adopted with its idea of an autonomous “Seazone”.

Seastead In all the excitement, however, the fact that a technological breakthrough has taken place has remained largely unnoticed. This is the first time that ocean-going dwellings have been created which are affordable for private individuals (150k $) and which also offer the possibility of creating low-cost settlements near the coast or commercial underwater restaurants and hotels.

Both OceanBuilders and the Seasteading Institute are currently negotiating new project locations. Things are guaranteed to remain exciting for some time.

 

... [minor product promotion deleted]

Thank you for your continued interest and support. For any questions, proposals, critics, etc. you are welcome to write at [email protected].

Monaco, June 2019
Titus Gebel
 

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by RLAretired

[Rhys]

...the soon to be RTN submarine squadron has the first torpedo practice object. 55555

 

[grollies]

I see the Nigerian scammers have upped their game somewhat.

[Kwasaki]

6 hours ago, RLAretired said:

Free Private Cities,

Pay someone to stay in another country sounds a daft idea .

 

6 hours ago, RLAretired said:

Seasteading

Living in a white box 12 miles off coast must be real fun.

Edited June 23, 2019 by Kwasaki