4 ms·

You can call yourself a nation, but if the only reason you exist is the fact that the price of the fuel needed to ferry a police officer to your location and ar

You can call yourself a nation, but if the only reason you exist is the fact that the price of the fuel needed to ferry a police officer to your location and arrest you is more than what your country is worth, you're not a nation.

ballenf 6y ago
By that metric there's a few macro nations that are "not a nation".
- bena 6y ago
  With larger nations, there's also the cost of searching for the fugitive and also of dealing with the foreign nation itself (vis a vis police, military, etc). It's more than the cost of getting there. Sealand can be "conquered" on a whim. It exists solely at the pleasure of the UK.
ocdtrekkie 6y ago
Note that Sealand is outside of the UK's territorial waters. Technically speaking, that police officer can't legally arrest anyone on Sealand. Micronations tend to be declared in spots where to do geographic and legal oddity, no larger jurisdiction actually applies.
- bena 6y ago
  In 1987, the UK extended their territorial waters to 12 miles, which encompasses Sealand.
  - jki275 6y ago
    But it doesn't work that way. If there's an entity already there, then the difference is split. You can't just extend your territorial jurisdiction and take over another country.
    - yongjik 6y ago
      But that's begging the question, isn't it? If the UK recognizes Sealand as another country, then of course the difference is split. But the UK clearly doesn't, so it will just consider Sealand part of its territorial waters, and every other country (that doesn't recognize Sealand) will side with UK here.
    - 6nf 6y ago
      The UK argues that nobody recognised Sealand as a legitimate entity so there's no dispute. I'm not aware of any other countries officially recognizing Sealand as a sovereign nation before the border change.
    - _-___________-_ 6y ago
      Of course you can. There might be consequences, of course, but in the case of Sealand it's very unlikely any other nation will care enough to do anything.
    - mewse-hn 6y ago
      "You can't just extend your territorial jurisdiction and take over another country." laughs in british
    - AdrianB1 6y ago
      There are 2 famous cases in the recent history, one is Russia in Crimea and another one was supposed to start yesterday near the Dead Sea. Big fish eats small fish.

ballenf 6y ago

By that metric there's a few macro nations that are "not a nation".

bena 6y ago
With larger nations, there's also the cost of searching for the fugitive and also of dealing with the foreign nation itself (vis a vis police, military, etc). It's more than the cost of getting there. Sealand can be "conquered" on a whim. It exists solely at the pleasure of the UK.

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

Note that Sealand is outside of the UK's territorial waters. Technically speaking, that police officer can't legally arrest anyone on Sealand. Micronations tend to be declared in spots where to do geographic and legal oddity, no larger jurisdiction actually applies.

bena 6y ago
In 1987, the UK extended their territorial waters to 12 miles, which encompasses Sealand.
- jki275 6y ago
  But it doesn't work that way. If there's an entity already there, then the difference is split. You can't just extend your territorial jurisdiction and take over another country.
  - yongjik 6y ago
    But that's begging the question, isn't it? If the UK recognizes Sealand as another country, then of course the difference is split. But the UK clearly doesn't, so it will just consider Sealand part of its territorial waters, and every other country (that doesn't recognize Sealand) will side with UK here.
  - 6nf 6y ago
    The UK argues that nobody recognised Sealand as a legitimate entity so there's no dispute. I'm not aware of any other countries officially recognizing Sealand as a sovereign nation before the border change.
  - _-___________-_ 6y ago
    Of course you can. There might be consequences, of course, but in the case of Sealand it's very unlikely any other nation will care enough to do anything.
  - mewse-hn 6y ago
    "You can't just extend your territorial jurisdiction and take over another country." laughs in british
  - AdrianB1 6y ago
    There are 2 famous cases in the recent history, one is Russia in Crimea and another one was supposed to start yesterday near the Dead Sea. Big fish eats small fish.