Memories of the 28th Century

After careful consideration, I have concluded that conquest of all or part of Kiribati would be best for my retirement community. More specifically, the Phoenix Islands are all but completely uninhabited, so it probably would be possible to take over without offending many people. Unfortunately, the islands have been declared a marine heritage zone, or some such thing. That’s fine with me, and with most people, because humans live on land, not in the ocean, and our food needs wouldn’t make much of a dent on what is in the ocean. A retirement community containing a few hundred people does not require a tremendous amount of resources.
The islands are there for the stealing, and there are enough plants to make huts that would be reminiscent of “Gilligan’s Island”, and if the professor could manage to build those huts in one show, then I am sure that I could manage it with the help of the crew.

Kiribati is so peaceful that it has no military forces, but Kiribati has defense agreements with Australia and New Zealand, and both countries have competent forces. But interference from another country is not a major worry, because I would be conquering territory that no one seems to be interested in. Considering the size of the economy, even the paltry amount that a retirement community might add to the economy would be a significant amount. That’s another reason to think that the conquest would not be opposed. On the other hand, the stated labor force on the CIA site is 7870 out of a population of 106,461 and an unemployment rate of 2.5%, and rate of participation in the economy suggests that there is a significant underground economy. It is also possible that the statistics were dreamed up without any research. One would expect the labor force to be at least half of the population. That leads me to wonder whether the population might be interested in having a different leadership.

One problem that Kiribati has that might make conquest even easier is that some people think that it will be sinking beneath the waves when climate change kicks in again, but, since the increase in temperature has stalled for the last fifteen years, that might not be happening. Apparently that didn’t happen during the last warm cycle. If someone convinces the people that submersion is imminent, perhaps the people will leave and hand the country over to me. But there are a number of islands on which there are no sources of fresh water.

The lack of fresh water could be a major problem, if there are to be thousands of people on such an island, but there are simple ways to purify water in quantities that would be adequate for a few hundreds. A simple solar still can be made for a sheet of plastic film and a bucket in which we can catch the water.

At present there are some fishing resorts in Kiribati, especially on Christmas Inlands in the Line Islands, so putting a retirement community in the Phoenix Islands would not be all that strange. It might even be welcomed, especially since the Phoenix Islands are considered thoroughly worthless.

We will be looking for people who want to live there and for people who would like to join in the management and operations. Don’t worry, the pay will be adequate, and the working conditions will be excellent. People of all sorts will be necessary, from dental hygienists to computer programmers to military operatives to cooks to sanitation professionals. In a small community most people will have to do more than one thing, but there will still be time for splashing in the water, and fishing will be a major diversion, because fish will be a significant part of our diet, and the same is true of hunting birds and collecting eggs.

I expect to install a tidal generation system, so there should be adequate electricity, but that system probably will require having a technician on call all of the time. Agricultural specialists will also be necessary, because the gardens will need expert care, because the soil is not of the highest quality, and the salt water is not all that distant from the surface. Regardless of your specialty, or lack thereof, I am sure that we could find work for you I the gardens or fishing.

Are you interested? Do you want to take part in the conquest of a country that has never done any harm to another country? Do you have skills that would be useful in a new island country?

Or do you have a burning desire to emulate James Brooke?




Map of Kiribati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ki...entered%29.svg

Map of Phoenix Islands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KI...ix_islands.PNG

Names and data
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Islands

Atoll K, Laurel and Hardy movie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atoll_K
Atoll K, complete
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqIxea07OuI

CIA data regarding Kiribati
https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/kr.html