October 1, 2010
Vilnius, Lithuania
Yesterday was an eventful day. I had stayed up most of the prior evening in Kiev with a rather interesting group (including the Ukrainian national Monopoly champion and some folks from the foreign ministry), and in the morning my wonderful friends Sasha and Dasha took me to Boryspol airport for my departure.
Now, the airport experience in Ukraine is nothing short of a complete disaster– hour-long queues, lost reservations, bribery, corruption, extortion, etc. Strangely enough, however, they have managed to install a series of L3 ProVision body scanners which now line the security checkpoint.
Typical of Ukraine, though, the government workers haven’t figured out how to use them yet. They just sort of stare at a blank screen and pretend like everything is working. It boggles the mind.
Finally, after a series of inexplicable delays, I arrived to Vilnius just in the knick of time for our premium service teleconference. This is something we do on a monthly basis– stage a teleconference for all premium subscribers to ask questions directly to me and the panel of experts that I’ve invited.
On yesterday’s call, we discussed some easy, cost-effective residency/citizenship options, and some contacts for establishing a foreign bank account without leaving your home country.
According to the feedback we received, yesterday’s call was a good one. As subscriber Mike B. wrote to us later, “I learned that Ecuador was easier to get residency than I had read elsewhere. That’s the kind of info I’m looking for!” Subscriber Burley Cain says, “I enjoyed the first teleconference and am proud to be part of SovereignMan: Confidential from the start, this is an eye opening and great group. Chuck N. says, “The telecon was superb!! Kudos to Simon and team !! The value was much more than my cost.”
Ironically, at the same time we were on the call, the media was reporting rather sensational headlines about a coup attempt against Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa. I phoned my attorney and a few other local contacts afterwards to make sure that everyone was OK.
“Sure, everything’s fine. I’m right in downtown Quito where all the action is supposed to be, but it’s business as usual. The papers make it seem like we’re having a civil war, but it’s not true. We’re Ecuadorans– these things happen from time to time. How would they handle civil unrest in the US or Canada?”
It was an interesting question. Without a doubt, there are some parts of the world that have been tested before. In Latin America, for example, many countries have seen massive economic decline, hyperinflation, and political instability.
The societies there are experienced in dealing with such things, so the events tend to pass quickly and without too much incident. Most of all, people are prepared.
I wonder how societies in the developed, ‘rich’ world are going to deal with similar circumstances– food riots, eye-popping energy prices, austerity protests, etc.?
My fear is that developed governments will turn to their police jackals and launch a war in the streets– the sorts of things we see from time to time during G20 protests. If this isn’t a preview of things to come, I don’t know what is…
The chief difference is that in developing countries like Ecuador, the ultimate power lies with the people. In the developed world, the government has (and uses) its media, manpower, and firepower to completely dominate its people.
That’s why I think it’s so important even to just make basic preparations– move some capital offshore, look overseas for property and other economic opportunities, develop some valuable skills, and network with like-minded people.
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P.S. We’re no longer offering discounted memberships to SovereignMan: Confidential, but at the request of some subscribers, we did create a 6 month and monthly payment option. You can find out about our one of a kind SovereignMan: Confidential and the new payment options here.
