Birth Tourism

Want your child to have the citizenship of a different country other than your own or your spouse's? Its pretty simple, first you will need to find a country that follows jus soil, also known as right to soil. After you find your desired country you will travel to this country on vacation. Now you will have to time it just right. You or your spouse will need to be pregnant and you will need to time the vacation around the time the baby will pop out. Now if your lucky your child will be born in the country that follows jus soil and presto! Your baby is now a citizen of that nation and will receive full benefits of that country.

What was described above is the practice of Birth Tourism. Birth Tourism is having your baby born in a place that follows jus soil or some equivalent so that the baby will receive the citizenship in that nation and the benefits of having that citizenship.

Some Korean women have used this practice in order to get their children US citizenship. (Article about a woman who did this) These women uselessly come from the upper class in South Korea and can afford to buy a plane ticket and a tourist visa to get to the United States. These women do it because of many reasons. Some do it to enroll their child into American schools, escape South Korean mandatory military service for males or a combination of both and some other reasons. This practice has also been popular among some women from Taiwan for similar reasons too, like Taiwan's mandatory military service for men.

Birth Tourism is also popular for women from mainland China to have their child born in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Baby Boom). After 1997 Hong Kong was handed back over the People's Republic of China from the United Kingdom, but has had the right to keep their laws and ways of life. Many mainland Chinese women do this for a number of reasons. One reason is the fact Hong Kong does not have follow the One Child Policy. Another reason is Hong Kong's right of abode and anyone born in Hong Kong who's parent is a Chinese citizen or a Hong Kong resident is given the right of abode. The right of abode is the right to legally reside in Hong Kong without any limits. Because of the right of abode many to be mothers from mainland China want their child born in Hong Kong. Not only that but Hong Kong is in many ways cultural different from mainland China, because of Hong Kong's past of being a colony of Great Britain. Hong Kong also does not have to follow all Chinese laws because of Hong Kong's and China's odd relationship.

Citizen by Birthplace or Blood

Becoming a citizen of a nation someone can take multiple paths. In many nations if you are a foreigner you have to live there for so many and some other requirements then you can apply to be come a citizen. But most people are born and get some citizenship automatically and there are two ways this can happen. There are the practices of jus sanguinis, meaning right of blood in Latin, and jus soli, meaning right of soil.

Jus sanguinis is the practice that almost every country uses when it comes to citizenship. When a child is born their are giving the same citizenship as their parents or by their ethnic ancestry. For example in the United Kingdom someone born their of foreign parents does not gain automatic citizenship, but the parents must apply for their child if they have permanent residence in the country, but if both parents are British citizens the child will receive citizenship. By this way citizenship is passed down the blood line. However jus soli is a bit different.

Jus soli is the practice of giving citizenship to someone when they are born on that countries land. Countries that practice jus soli also practice jus sanguinis. For example someone can become a citizen of the United States by either being born on US territory or being born of paretns who are US citizens. Out of the 194 nations in the world, only 30 of them practice jus soli. Many countries used to practice jus soli, but have modified it to discourage illegal immigration. In some cases at least one parent must have be a citizen of said nation or at least a permanent residence. In a way these modifications have turned into jus sanguinis. Other countries have completely abolished jus soli. In the case of India jus soli was abolished to help stop illegal immigration from its neighbor Bangladeshi.

Almost no country in Europe, Asia, Africa, or Australia fully practices jus soli. The only countries that still practice Jus soli are all in North and South America, or if you want to put it a different way just the western hemisphere. Canada and the United States are the only devolved countries in the world that still practice jus soli. In way you can see the difference between the New World and the Old World still with jus soli. The nations of today in what we considered the Old World do not practice jus soli. While the Americas or the New World continues to practice it It seems that the idea of being a nation instead of a colony might be the reason the countries of the Americas still follow this. Settlers and colonists coming to the Americas voluntary or by force either wanted to be separate entities than their mother country or have forgotten their heritage and created a new one. By implementing jus soli the people can enforce their new national identity.

Other articles regarding nationality - Nationality Laws Must Knows

The Treaty of Antarctica

Antarctica the frozen wasteland that resides at the bottom of our maps, globes, and are minds as probably the last place you ever want to go because it is too damn cold. The continent of Antarctica was official first sighted by a Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in 1820 and since then explores and scientists alike have traveled to the winter wonderland to conduct their research and experiments.

But who owns Antarctica? In 1961 The Antarctic Treaty was signed by 12 countries and is now by 50 countries agreeing that no new claim can be made in Antarctica and already exciting ones can't be extended. The treaty allowed countries with claims before to keep them, those countries being Australia, New Zealand, The United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, France, Norway, and the gives rights to Russia and the United States to make a claim, but neither has yet. The claims made by these 7 nations have some overlap. France's claim is inside of Australia's claim and the claims of the United Kingdom, Chile, and Argentina all overlap each other.

The treaty institutes that only peaceful activities will ever take place on  Antarctica, which means no military activities or weapons testing, prohibits the use of nuclear weapons testing, which would seem obvious and fall under no weapons testing. The treaty also promotes the freedom of scientific investigation, cooperation, and the free exchange of information with other researchers, the United Nations and any other international organizations. Later agreements made it illegal for nations to use Antarctica as dumping ground for any type of waste and gathering mineral resources except in only the case of scientific research and experimentation. The continent is now, in my opinion, a giant playground where scientist of multiple nations can come together, conduct experiments and share with each other their ideas and results in order to help advance their fields of science, all while enjoying a hot cup of coco

The treaty and later agreements of Antarctica has helped make the continent into one large scientific reserves. Scientist can go their and conduct experiments and share with each other their results to help better advance science and the great landmass of Antarctica is probably one of the largest places that will remain untouched by the many things that humans are famous for, like cities, roads, and landfills, and will remain that way for many years to come and serve has a symbol to of nations working together in name of science.

Want to Join the French Foreign Legion?

Ever wanted to join the military, start a new life, become a French Citizen, or all 3, well the French Foreign Legion is for you. (French Foreign Legion Website) 

The French Foreign Legion is a part of the French Army and was first established in 1831. The Legion was created for people of foreign nationalities could serve in the French military. In recent years many recruits have been coming from Latin America, but the Legion is open to French citizens as well and as of 2007 24% of the French Foreign Legion if made of up of French citizens.

Any male is allowed to join the French Foreign Legion regardless of their nationality, race, and religion to serve under the flag of France. When someone enlists into the Legion they can make up what nationality they are. For example an American can enlist and say he is Canadian, German, Chinese, or Brazilian, it does not matter to the Legion and they will accept whatever you tell them. Another example of this is as a result of World War 2 many former German Soldiers joined the Legion and listed under Swiss or Austrian nationality.

The French Foreign Legion until 2010 forced recruits to enlist under pseudonyms so that men could start new lives. Recruits can now enlist under real identities' and if a recruit uses a fake identity they can choose to switch back to their true identity after a year of service. This would be ideal for anyone who wants a reset or wants to get away from their past and on a side note this would make a great premise for a story. You can see it now, "The Legionnaires" follow the story of an American , a former Russian mobster, and a Chilean looking for a better life and trying to run from their past.

Joining the Legion is not only a good way to give yourself a new life, but also a good way to gain French citizenship. After serving 3 years in the Legion, servicemen can apply to become French citizens, but in order to apply they must be switched to their true identity and must have all issues cleared and taken care of with authorities. However you can become a French citizen another way under the rule "Français par le sang versé", which means French by spilled blood. This means if you are serving in the Legion and are wounded in a battle for France you can immediately apply to become a French citizen.

The idea of starting a new life can is very appealing for those who've had troubles, wanting to find their path without their past being a factor in it, finding a sense of honor, and the French Foreign Legion offers this chance for any man who wishes to be "reborn". The Legion is known for its ability to create strong team bonds, even though they face the challenge that the men come from different countries. From what I interpret from the French Foreign Legion is that it should not matter what nationality you are or what your pass was, but instead it should be what you can do now and how you can help a bigger community.

Monarchies in the World

Over the years monarchies have been abolished and have been replaced by Republics and elected leaders. In the world there are currently 46 countries ruled by a monarch and there 30 monarchies left. Most monarchs today only have sovereignty in one nation, except The United Kingdom, whose Queen has rule over 16 different nations, including the UK.

Most monarchies today are constitutional monarchs, for example the UK, which means that Queen Elizabeth has limited power and must follow a constitution, work with parliament to pass and make laws, and mostly serves as figure head and symbol for the UK.

Out of the 30 monarchies, only 6 of them are absolute monarchies. These are the nations of Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, and Vatican City. In an absolute monarchy, the monarch has complete rule over the state and government.

When I think of kings and queens I tend to think that the king or queen became the ruler after it being passed down from their family, which is true in many cases like the UK (Video about how to become a British Monarch). 

Myself I have wondered if there once was or is a country where the people elected someone for king for life or for a number of years. But I guess they really wouldn't be a king if they had no blood line or some sort of royalty, or they would just be like any other elected president. However some monarchs are elected in. There are 3 nations that have elected monarchs, the 3 being Vatican City, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates. These elected monarchs are not voted by the people, but are voted in by a elite group. In Vatican City the Pope is elected by the College of Cardinals (Video about how to become the Pope), and the Federal King of Malaysia is voted in by the sultans of Malaysia and the King serves for a 5 year term. 

Coming from the point of view of someone from a country with an elected leader, the concept of having a king or queen rule is odd. But I understand that at least in the case of Great Britain and probably many other monarchies is that it is used for tradition and national unity for the people of the nation. Has time goes it seems as thou there are more monarchies being abolished, the most recent one being in Nepal in 2008.

A amusing remark about the decline of monarchy.

 "Soon there will be only five Kings left — the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds." - King Farouk, The Last King of Egypt 

List of Monarchies 

 

How Many Nations Are There?

How many nations are there in the world? According to the number of members in the UN, there is 193 nations in the world. But depending who ask this number should be smaller or greater.

As an American the idea of being our own separate nation has been in our history since the founding of the 13 colonies. But what is the benefit of declaring your own nation if others won't recognize you. If they don't recognize you, what chance do you have to be taken seriously?

For a nation to be considered a nation and a full member of the UN does it need the recognition of all the other nations? No, for example the governments of North and South Korea do not recognize the other, The State of Israel is not recognized by 32 other UN members, and the People's Republic of China is not recognized as the sovereign ruler of China by 22 nations. All of these countries have full member ship, but not full recognition. 

However there are a fair amount of countries in the world that want to be recognized and have the ability to rule themselves. Good examples are the State of Palestine and the Republic of China or Taiwan. Fortunately for Palestine they have been excepted as an observer state in the UN, but Taiwan struggles to achieve the same status. Other nations face a similar problem of that of Taiwan (list of nations with limited recognition / Video). It is hard for these nations to gain support for their cause because they are under the rule of bigger and more influential countries, and if someone would want to take the side of the those who declare independence it would not go over well with the ones who have more influence on the world stage and don't want to loose land.

Personally I believe a nation becomes one if the people of region have created their own identity and do not identify or even want to associate themselves with the people or the country that rules them. If conflict and tensions between the groups rise, sometimes it is better to split up instead of trying to keep a falling relationship together and having it snowball into something bigger years later. It will be impossible for all the problems to disappear in one night. People will still hold old grudges and prejudices and will take time for things to be at peace. But who knows after the break up and years later the two can have a healthy relationship as being just friends.