5 ms·
No economy. No infrastructure. No housing. Little of value except a concept, a minimum viable product, and something to sell to investors. This is something tha
by rexreed 5y ago
No economy. No infrastructure. No housing. Little of value except a concept, a minimum viable product, and something to sell to investors. This is something that can part people with their "investment" dollars. In many ways analogous to so many venture "investments" without any of the potential exit strategies, except by boat. This particular investment has a literal chance of being under water for the investors. Very telling that at the end of the piece, the folks who sold the investment said they don't know where to take things next because they hadn't thought farther than buying the island and getting investors. This is quite the analogy for tech startup investing in many ways.
- zozbot234 5y agoWith enough cooperation from the Government of Belize, this could turn into great marketing for an independently-run "Special Economic Zone", or "charter city". It's a very risky endeavor as you point out, but not without potential.
- tuccinator 5y agoThe island is only 1.5 acres though. The size is too small to build any significant infrastructure. The island could maybe fit 100 people on it comfortably. I cannot find any reason that someone would want to visit this place for longer than a few hours.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoHow about to set up a bank account and mailing address?
- atlasunshrugged 5y agoI'm a big fan of charter cities/SEZs and new city/country projects but I'm more skeptical this is a practical avenue for making money. There are plenty of established jurisdictions to do this (e.g. basically all the former British colonies, a few American states) and the 'infrastructure' of lawyers, accountants, etc. who know how to deal with it are already established. This is the same reason I don't get why people are bullish on e-Residency for Honduras, Liberland, etc. What's the real value prop of incorporating an entity in these places?
- csomar 5y agoWith CRS/FATCA infecting almost every country, then that might be the reason?
- Carioca 5y ago100 people is about 5m² per person. That's already a crowd. The island is smaller than Times Square. It's 100 times smaller than Vatican City, it's in fact a fifth the size of St Peter's square.
- postingawayonhn 5y agoIsn't it 60m2 per person?
- kragen 5y ago49 m² per person, enough for a small house, not 5. If you build a skyscraper (or, more ambitiously, underground) you could have luxury space for hundreds of people. Energy would be a problem, but not as much of a problem as the Belizean government. $ units Currency exchange rates from FloatRates (USD base) on 2019-05-31 3460 units, 109 prefixes, 109 nonlinear units You have: 1.2 acres You want: Definition: 4856.2277 m^2 You have: 1.2 acres/100 people You want: Definition: 48.562277 m^2
- Apocryphon 5y agoComing soon: Caribbean Walled City
- kragen 5y agoLess useful in the era of high explosive artillery shells, much less high-altitude bombers, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and precision-guided munitions.
- Fatnino 5y agoI think this has nothing to do with defence and everything to do with Kowloon Walled City that was sort of a no law enclave where everything was built very high and shoulder to shoulder to maximize floor space. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City
- dillondoyle 5y agoBelize has already let Carnival dredge and basically create their own. Including their own port now too I think?
- melony 5y agoMore importantly they need connections to the US government. If you want true sovereignty in the Monroe doctrine sphere of influence, then you better have friends in Washington.
- axiolite 5y ago> No economy. No infrastructure. No housing. Little of value except a concept Coastline could be the answer to all of those. Ships are housing and have their own self-contained infrastructure. Fishing and transport are a few major economic activities of significant value. With motivation, time, and a bit of capital, this could turn into something. I just wouldn't bet on it.
- ethbr0 5y agohttps://www.google.com/maps/@17.5746578,-88.1629002,16z https://www.google.com/maps/@17.5746578,-88.1629002,16z From a quick glance, it appears to be inside the outermost barrier islands of Belize. Consequently, I believe UNCLOS would typically mark their EEZ equidistant from the nearest Belize coastlines (either mainland or island). Which is to say: small. And that's even assuming they overcame the insurmountable challenge of becoming a recognized party to the convention. Everyone wants to be a sovereign island nation, but no one wants to sit through 20+ years of UN proceedings to make it happen.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoYou don't need UN recognition, you just need a host state to cede legal jurisdiction.
- ethbr0 5y agoDoes that automatically cascade to maritime claims? I was trying to figure out what right is actually used for deciding whose coast a given coast is, for international treaty purposes.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoI'm not sure, but not sure why it matters either. Any country can cede or sell territory to someone else. The UN or maritime law doesn't play into it. Maybe I'm missing the context where the island would need be recognized as independent by anyone besides Belize