Minor point but reading another article on the subject I noted that they were saying it would be free from government interference like ‘restrictive planning laws and weapons possession.’ Surely if yoiu are on a platform in the ocean planning laws are extremely important if you don’t want to sink? And weapons if you want any sort of political stability?
Sorry, I meant ‘weapons laws,’ of the sort that prevent non-government groups from exercising a huge amount of power by force. It would seem trivially easy for a small band of well armed mercenaries to take over such a platform.
I don’t think the threat is internal though—not from their citizens. Its external groups—basically, pirates. I don’t see how weapons laws will protect them against pirates. Indeed in their FAQ they allude to the fact that citizens will have to be armed to resist the more amateur pirates. More serious operations they hope to resist through not having enough worth taking. That is a more dubious line of argument but in either case I don’t see how having or not having weapons laws will really protect them.
Minor point but reading another article on the subject I noted that they were saying it would be free from government interference like ‘restrictive planning laws and weapons possession.’ Surely if yoiu are on a platform in the ocean planning laws are extremely important if you don’t want to sink? And weapons if you want any sort of political stability?
Weapons are a detriment to political stability?
Sorry, I meant ‘weapons laws,’ of the sort that prevent non-government groups from exercising a huge amount of power by force. It would seem trivially easy for a small band of well armed mercenaries to take over such a platform.
Yes, and this has been a problem with micronations in the past. Look at the history of Sealand.
I don’t think the threat is internal though—not from their citizens. Its external groups—basically, pirates. I don’t see how weapons laws will protect them against pirates. Indeed in their FAQ they allude to the fact that citizens will have to be armed to resist the more amateur pirates. More serious operations they hope to resist through not having enough worth taking. That is a more dubious line of argument but in either case I don’t see how having or not having weapons laws will really protect them.