Gears of the Globe: October 2013

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Lost Tribes

Lost Tribes, also known as Uncontacted Peoples or Isolated Peoples are communities of people who have remained isolated from global civilization, either by chance or by choice. Brazil has the highest number of uncontacted tribes, with the government listing 77, Peru has 15, and India has 2 on islands. There are several uncontacted tribes in central Africa and Malaysia and about a dozen in Indonesia and New Guinea.

Brazil and Peru have established laws that prohibit people from interacting with the uncontacted tribes and trespassing on their lands, by setting up areas that are reserved for these tribes, but there are loop-holes in these polices loggers and miners take advantage of to make use of the land the tribes use. A main reason these laws are in place is because of the uncontacted peoples immune systems. They have not been exposed to many diseases that Europeans brought when coming to the Americas and have no natural immunity to fight these diseases and their whole tribe could be wiped out if they contracted one of these diseases. Another reason is that uncontacted tribes are considered dangerous and even hostile to outsiders.

The uncontacted tribe of Mashco-Piro in Peru are considered dangerous and should be avoided. This tribe chose to isolate themselves from outsiders. Around the 1900s rubber companies in the Amazon massacred many Mashco-Piro tribes people, and since then they have become weary and hostile of outsiders. Most uncontacted tribes choose to remain isolated, and those that do integrate into modern society end up being at the bottom of the social ladder.

There are many movements to leave unconctated tribes alone in order to protect them from disease and to preserve their way of life. These movements prevent the deforestation of the tribes land by companies and governments.

More on Uncotacted Peoples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontacted_peoples
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24090-how-many-uncontacted-tribes-are-left-in-the-world.html#.Um2xOnAWJRw
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/isolated-peruvian-tribe-tries-make-contact-sparking-standoff-6C10962822
http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/

The Permanent 5

The United Nations Security Council is in charge of peace and security on the international scale. The Security Council is responsible for operating peacekeeping operations, sanctions and automatism military action. The Security Council is made of 15 member states, 5 of which have a permanent seat while the other 10 are elected by the other member states for 2 year terms. The 5 permanent member states, also known as the Permanent 5 (P5) have the power to veto any decision voted by the Security Council. Under article 27 of the United Nations Charter, each member of the Security Council gets one vote and 9 votes are needed for something to pass. However it may only pass if each of the permanent members allows it, this is where they get their veto power. If one of the permanent members does not vote to pass it or doesn't vote at all, then the action they were voting on does not pass. The Security Council not only votes on military actions, but also if a new member's application is accepted.

So who are the five permanent powers of the United Nations Security Council, who hold so much power? They are nations who are great powers (a great powers is a nation with a lot of military, political, and economic influence) that were victorious after the Second World War. These great powers that won the war are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Over the years some of the governments of the permanent 5 have changed. After the World War II France's seat was held by the Forth French Republic, but in 1958 a new constitution was written and the Fifth French Republic was born, or simply the French Republic. Before 1971 China's seat belonged to the Republic of China, but switched to the People's Republic of China, because of the Republic of China's exile to Taiwan and having no power on mainland China. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the successor to the Soviet Union for the Council seat was seen as the Russian Federation.

The Permanent 5 have used their veto power for a total of 268 times as of 2007. The most belonging to the Russian seat with 123, most of which were under the USSR, and the least with 6 belonging to China. There has been no vetoes this year, but 7 have been used in the years of 2011 and 2012. In 2011 the US vetoed an action regarding Palestine, and in the same year Russia and China vetoed an act regarding the Middle East. In 2012 both Russia and China used their vetoes on issues regarding the Middle East and one regarding the issue in Syria.

Debate has been sparked by and weather or not the 5 permanent members should hold exclusive right to the veto power. Critics point to the fact the P5 use their veto power to help themselves or their allies. There is also a group known as the G4, which is made of four countries that wish to extend the amount of permanent members in the Security Council. These countries include Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan and each state supports the other in trying to obtain a permanent seat.

More on the United Nations Security Council
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power#Aftermath_of_the_Cold_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_veto_power
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/scact_veto_en.shtml
http://www.un.org/en/sc/
http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter5.shtml
http://www.un.org/en/members/about.shtml

Eurasian Union (Soviet Union 2.0?)

In 2011 the Prime Minster of Russia, Vladimir Putin, now president, proposed a Eurasian Union. This union would expand on the already established Customs Union between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. The presidents of each nation in 2011 singed an agreement of forming a Eurasian Union, which would be fully operational in 2015. Russia wishes to have six former soviet states join the Eurasian Union, which include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. In 2013 Armenia declared they would join the Eurasian Union, while Ukraine wishes to join the European Union instead. Membership is not restricted to those six, it has been stated that they are willing to have any countries join that are cultural or historical close to Russia, like Finland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cuba and Venezuela.

The Eurasian Union would operate similar to the European Union in that borders between the countries that join would be no borders and a common currency. Russian is said to be the language of trade within the Eurasian Union. The union plans on making trading and cooperation between all members easy and beneficial for all involved. The union also includes a military alliance between the member nations. In 2006 a military alliance between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan called the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was put into to effect. The Russian military is the most prominent in the military alliance, because it controls the most military bases of all the them. In 2009 the CSTO formed the Rapid Reaction Forces (KSOR), which is meant to act a permanent military force that is ready in a need of crisis.

Many people have criticized Putin's idea of Eurasian Union. Many claim that this Putin's way of reviving the old Soviet Union. They use the fact that Putin once called the collapse of the Soviet Union "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century" and that Putin is a former KGB agent for the Soviet Union. United States had also criticized Putin's Eurasian Union. In 2012 the US Sectary of State, Hillary Clinton, stated that the Russia's proposal is just a new USSR, and that they will try to find ways to slow it down. Putin has stated that he has no desires to rebuild the Soviet Union and that it will be a bond of today's economic and political values. There are many names being given to the Eurasian Union to describe it, many of which point toward USSR style of running things. The best one I have herd to describe it, is it will be like the USSR without the communism.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Somalia Divided

In 1991 the government of Somalia was ousted by rival clans, but the clans had no agreement on who would secede and how to establish the new government. Since then the country has been divided among different factions fighting for power. Somalia has become vary unstable over the last two decades and the constant fighting has mad it hard for the country to deal with natural disasters and is predicted that about half a million people died because of famine during this time.

In 2012 the United Nations installed a central government in Somalia, the Somali Republic and the republic is recognized as the legitimate ruler of Somalia. Over the years of the civil war the UN and the African Union have deployed troops to help bring stability to the country.

The Somali Republic is recognized in the international community, but two regions in the north Somalia are not recognized at all. In north Somalia the regions of Somaliland and Puntland are not recognized by the international community. Both govern themselves and claim to be independent nations. However Puntland is willing to negotiate with Somalia in terms of coming together, while Somaliland has opted out and wants to remain independent. Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 after the fall of the old government and since then has set up their own parliament and military. Somaliland and its neighbor Puntland are in border disputes. Somaliland claims all of the territory of the former British Somaliland, but is only control of the western part. Violence has broken out between Somaliland and Puntland between 2002 and 2009 regarding the border. Both Somaliland and Puntland are not recognized by the United Nations as independent nations. The fighting within Somalia still continues as other factions resist the power of the Somali government.

City States

City States are cities and sometimes surrounding areas that are either completely independent or are autonomous and are not administrated by the local government, but just do it themselves. In history the most popular are the city state Rome or the cities of Greece, like Athens and Sparta. City States are still around today. There are two main types of city states, sovereign ones and non-sovereign ones.

Sovereign city states are recognized, treated, and operate like any other nation in the world. Today there are only three sovereign city states. Singapore, Monaco and Vatican City are city states that have full membership in the UN, expect Vatican City only being a observer. Each one make their own laws and rule how they please in their territory. Vatican City is located within Rome, Italy and has the smallest populations out of the three with about 840 people and is famous for home of the Pope of the Catholic Church. Monaco's land border is completely shared with France and has population of about 30,000 people. Monaco has been a member of the UN since 1993. Even though Monaco is its own nation it relies on France for military aid. The largest city state is the city of Singapore. Singapore has a population above 5,000,000 people and rules over islands on the tip of Penang, Malaysia. Singapore is not only a city, unlike Monaco or Vatican City but also has rural areas that surround it. Out of the three city states, Singapore is the only one with its only military.

The other types of city states are non-sovereign city states. These city states either have restricted autonomy or are administrated by a federal government. Hong Kong was handed over to China from the United Kingdom in 1997. Since then Hong Kong has been under the One China Two Systems policy. The policy allows Hong Kong to keep its economic systems and political systems while being part of the country of China. Hong Kong gets to make their own laws all while being part of China. Federal administrated cities are cities that are in federations that are ran by the federal government. Countries like the United States and Russia are countries that are federations. The two countries capitals, Washington D.C in the US and Moscow in Russia are both governed by their federal government. In the case of D.C, the city is not part of any US state but under administration of the US government.

More on City States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City-state
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco#Security
http://country-facts.findthedata.org/compare/106-135/Singapore-vs-Monaco
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_country,_two_systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore

Is Taiwan on the Map?

Looking at a map if the world, at least in the US will most likely have Taiwan as a different color than that of China. Problem with this is that the Chinese government, the People's Republic of China (PRC) claims that the island of Taiwan and any other islands are under the rule of the PRC and is supported by all of the nations in the UN expect 23 of them. Taiwan and other neighboring islands under the rule of the Republic of China (ROC) and claim to have rule over mainland China. So how is it that there are two different governments that claim to have jurisdiction of the same lands? The ROC was established in 1911 and was exiled to the island of Taiwan after being defeated in a civil war in 1949 and in the PRC taking over. And in 1971 the ROC lost its seat in the United Nations as the government of China and was replaced with the PRC and other nations started to recognize the PRC capital of Beijing as the capital of China, instead of the ROC capital of Taipei located in Taiwan.

Only 23 nations recognize the ROC as the legitimate government of China and keep diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Because of the PRC's One China policy, the PRC will cut off all diplomatic relations that recognizes Taiwan and the ROC. Because of the tension between China and Taiwan other origination and nations must be careful about their wording and actions when regarding China or Taiwan. For an goverenment to publicly regard Taiwan as country or simply leaving the word People's out of the People's Republic of China will get a reaction from the PRC.

The US and The ROC have an odd relationship. After the ROC was exiled out the China, the communist party in China gained more influenced, which did not sit well the US government and till 1979 the US supported the ROC as the government of China. The US supported the ROC because the PRC were communists and supported other communists in wars like the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Since the ROC's exile to Taiwan, the US has given weapons and military training to Taiwan in hopes of them taking power back from the PRC, but no such power shifts have happened. In 1979 the US recognized the PRC as the sole legal government of China and cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The US embassy that was in Taiwan is now replaced with the American Institute in Taiwan. The US government does not support Taiwan independence, but both are close business partners and allies and there unofficial relationship is dictated by the Taiwan Relation Act of 1979.

China and Taiwan is a rocky subject to debate. It seems now there is no way possible for the Republic of China to ever take power away from the People's Republic of China, which leaves only three options. Taiwan is reunified completely either peacefully or by force, which if by force the US would most likely get involved, Taiwan declares independence which would probably be meet with Chinese retaliation, or the relationships remain the same.

More on Taiwan
http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/
http://www.taiwanembassy.org/US/ct.asp?xItem=266456&CtNode=2297&mp=12&xp1=12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Taiwan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China-United_States_relations#1945-1949
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_Republic_of_China
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35855.htm
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32177#axzz2iISHhuI4
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-announces-that-it-will-recognize-communist-china

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Stateless people

Almost every person is the world is born with some type of citizenship. When someone is born they will get the citizenship of their parapets and in some cases the nation they are born. So everyone in the world should be a citizen of some country in the world. But some people in the world are do not have a citizenship and are stateless. Being stateless comes with many difficulties and hardships. The person is unable to obtain healthcare, public education, have no property-rights and can't move freely.

There are two types of stateless people, there is de jure stateless people and de facto stateless people.

De jure stateless people are not considered to be a national by any state according to their laws, while de facto stateless people is someone outside of their country and is unwilling or unable to receive the protection of their country. A person can become stateless when their nationality is no longer valid because the nation does not exist any more and a completely new government gains power and excludes groups of people from being citizens or does not recognize them as one of them. Someone can become stateless if the country does not have the same laws for nationality for women and men. The women could give birth to a child and not be able the obtain the nationality of the father to give to the child. There is also state succession, when a territory is handed over to a different government and the people of the acquired territory can slip past and do not gain the new nationality and become stateless. Another way someone can become stateless is by unregistered birth, because birth certificates are used to document and determine someones nationality. And there are many examples of stateless people across the world. When the Soviet Union fell many of the former citizens did not have a nationality that was recognized, In Kenya Nubian people do not receive citizen rights. And in the case of Sudam Hussein he and his regime stripped the nationalities of Feili Kurds, which was later repealed in 2006.

There are groups and agreements to help reduce statelessness and help those who are stateless. There is the UN Refugee Agency, the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The convention set ground rules in order to reduce the chances of someone being stateless. Some of these included the right for a nation to grant nationality to any one with any reason and that someone born on a sea vessel or aircraft will be granted the nationality of the flag the craft is under.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that every person has the right to citizenship and that no one can have their citizenship stripped or denied to change citizenship.

Being stateless can cause many problems for those who are effected by it and it is best to reduce the chances of someone becoming stateless, either because of their birth or because of governments not recognizing the nationality of certain groups of people.

Create Your Own Nation - Micronations

Fed up with the government? Think you can do better? Or just want to have your own nation? Well just create one and declare independence and become a Micronation. Just get your flag and claim your land. Go from to your back to your front yard or just claim the land the size of the entire state of Texas. Now you and your followers can now live in peace the newly created Kingdom of Tacos, or the Republic of Jamborees, or the Empire of French Fries, or what ever you choose to name it because it is your nation. However micronaitons have almost no legitimacy and are never recognized at all by the international community. There are probably at least hundreds to thousands of proclaimed micronations, but it is hard to keep track of them all. You would think these micronations declaring independence and land within an existing country would spark some type of concern by the government. But most governments don't act or simply don't care because these nations are no treat, have no power and in some cases are kind of ridiculous and amusing.

Many micronations have the title of republics, kingdoms, federations, empires and even issued their own stamps and currency, but most are just composed of one family or a small group of people, which is not enough people to be legitimate. According to the Micronation wiki, the largest amount of citizens in a micronation is the Free land of Dodoa with 274 registered citizens and the largest amount of unregistered citizens is the New Republic of Texas with 25,000,000+, because they claim almost all of the state of Texas as part of their nation. Other micronations do not get any legitimacy because the material of the land they claim. The most well known micronation is the Principality of Sealand that is located 6 miles off the coast of England. Sealand is not an island nation, but a nation that has claimed a retired sea fort from the Second World War. The United Kingdom has addressed the legitimacy of Sealand and has stated that Sealand can not be a nation because the United Kingdom claims that a nation must have some type of territory claim and not be man made structure.

Some micronations might be started by people for real reasons, but a good amount seem to made just for the fun of it, a experiment or out of protest. The Republic of Awesome seems to be the best example of people just having fun, located in Australia. The Republic of Awesome has many misters that are in charge of affairs in the their country, just to name a few there is the Minister of Visual Arts and Pancakes, the Minister of Nostalgia and 42, the Minister of Magic and many more. The Republic of Awesome has two police forces, the Federal police, who enforce laws and the Fun police, who allow anything that promotes fun, but if the fun infringes on the rights or hurts other citizens the Fun police must step in and stop the fun. Other micronations are started out of political protest. The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands in Australia for example was declared in 2004 to protest the Australian's government not recognize same-sex marriage.

Micronations, some more ridiculous than others, are interesting ways for people to experiment with government, have some fun, send a message to governments. Some are most definitely amusing to look at on the outside and even the world governments seem not to care much as long it doesn't get to big. But maybe in the post apocalyptic future of the Sealand will expand across Europe, the Republic of Awesome will bring Fun to all of the destroyed lands of humanity and the New Republic of Texas will come to annex and rebuild the shattered nuclear wasteland of the United States.

More on Micronations
http://micronations.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_micronations_by_establishment
http://micronations.wordpress.com/resources/what-the-world-says/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_and_Lesbian_Kingdom_of_the_Coral_Sea_Islands

Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Nation in Italy - The Republic of San Marino

The Republic of San Marino is the 5th smallest recognized country in the world. The entire country is 23.63 square miles (61.2 square kilometers) and is completely surrounded by Italy on Mount Titano. San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving republic in Europe, being founded in 301. The origin of San Marino is shaped by both fact and legend. It is said that Marinus and Dalmatian fled from the Roman Emperor and Marinus (Marino) founded a community of Christians at Mount Titano. It is possible that Saint Marino, who the capital city and country are named after did not exist in the 300s, but instead he was around between 500 and 700. It is also possible that the Saint Marino was not actually a saint and that this was added later to give legitimacy and help defend the monastery on the territory from being claimed by the Bishop of Rimini, because the territory was not referred as San Marino till 885. Regardless if San Marino's life story is partially made up the, country is named after him and have a celebration in his honor of his death, which is said to be in 366 on September 3rd.

Even though San Marino is not part of the European Union the country participates in many things with the EU. San Marino is part of the European Union Customs Union. San Marino made the Euro their official currency and are allowed to a set amount of Euros. San Marino's only neighbor is Italy and ever since Italian Unification in 1862 the two nations have had diplomatic relations. San Marino has a open border policy with only occasional checks made by police. However directly importing into San Marino is illegal and must go through Italy first before heading into San Marino and they must use and mint the Italian Euro. San Marino also allows Italy to have a monopoly on the tobacco industry and ship 250 tons of sea salt, 40 tons of tobacco, 20 tons of cigarettes and unlimited matches.

The 32,00 Citizens of San Marino have a high standard of living, similar to the their neighbors in Italy. The country has GDP of about 1.44 billion US dollars and per capita of $44,208 and is ranked 24th overall in the world. San Marino makes about 2.2% of their GDP from Tourism and in 2009 2 million tourists visited the country. San Marino is a huge advocate of tourists because no passport is required to enter San Marino if you are entering for tourists purposes. San Marino is also involved in banking, manufacturing of ceramics, clothing, fabrics, furniture, paints, tiles, and wine.

The Republic of San Marino the enclave in Italy is quite an interesting place. Even though it is small the country is recognized by most of the major world organizations. The small nation gets to enjoy independence and recognition all while living fairly wealthy.

More on the Republic of San Marino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino
http://www.sanmarinosite.com/eng/index.php
http://data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crName=San%20Marino
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sm.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino%E2%80%93European_Union_relations
http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02278/versiunea_text/san_marino.html

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Dual Citizenship

Acquiring the citizenship of a country can happen through many process. By being born in that country, through your parents blood, by marriage, naturalization, or being adopted from another country as a minor. Because of these different process it is possible to have multiple citizenship. For example I could be acquire dual citizenship because I was born in the US and because my mom is Filipino, I could apply for Filipino citizenship and have dual citizenship. Also someone with French citizenship is also a citizen of the European Union, the same is also true with any other nations that are part of the European Union.

Some nations do not allow multiple citizenship at all. Azerbaijan China, Czech Republic, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Kazakhstan do not allow dual citizenship and if some one voluntary acquires another citizenship they automatically lose their citizenship. These nations require the person to choose citizenship and may only have one. For example in Japan a person may be born with dual citizenship, like Canadian and Japanese, but by the age of 22 they must choose one.

Dual Citizenship is handled differently in the US. If the person is born in the US and has parents of some other nationality they will gain both citizenship. The same also goes to US citizen marring someone of another nationality. Naturalized citizens in the US also can keep the citizenship they were born with. However if a US citizen could lose their citizenship by voluntarily applying for another one.

Many nations around the world do offer dual citizenship, each with their own policies and requirements. UK citizens can apply for another citizenship and they will not loose their British citizenship. Germany and Austria only allow dual citizenship at birth or if someone does apply for another citizenship they must ask permission from Germany or Austria to keep their citizenship . And Pakistan will only allow dual citizenship with 16 other countries.

Dual citizenship would be cool to get. For me, I could be both American and Filipino. But I have only visited the Philippines once, and even though I have family there, I would identify myself American before Filipino. Maybe if I lived there I would reconsider, but at the moment it would not make much sense.

Who Owns Space

Who owns Space or the moon for the matter. Well if we used the rules of claiming land, the Moon would be the America's giant orbiting colony, be cause Armstrong and Aldrin planted the American flag on the Moon, like how Christopher Columbus planted the Spanish flag in the Americas. But the Moon does not belong to any country regardless if they planted their flag on it. Because of bills passed by Congress in 1969, the US flag will be used as a symbol of national pride and not for claiming territory.

But can anyone ever own land on the Moon. According to the Moon Treaty, molded after the Antarctic Treaty, was set up in 1979 and states that any celestial body in space is under international jurisdiction and can not be under the sovereignty of any nation. The problem with the Moon Treaty is that it is not ratified by any nation that launches its own objects into space and is only ratified by 15 states (probably nations that are jealous of not having a space program). However the Outer Space Treaty has gotten a lot more support and recognition. The Outer Space Treaty was set up in 1967 and has been ratified by 102 states, which include all the major space faring countries, so naturally this treaty has more authority then the Moon treaty.

The Outer Space Treaty states that no nation can claim sovereignty on any celestial body, but any thing launched into space is under that nations jurisdiction and space is the "Common Heritage of Mankind". So if the US lunches a giant base that lands on the Moon, the US has full control of that base, but not the moon rock below it.

The Outer Space Treaty is a great principals but has some flaws. First the treaty was made during a time of high tensions and fears of nuclear war. Some have pointed out that the treaty does not give enough incentive to nations and private parties to explore space. If no one can claim territory in space, then why even lunch things up there, there is no gain for the party. So dreams of having a colonies in space may be harder to achieve. Another flaw it is kind of ridiculous to think that all of space is to be governed under this treaty. We have no idea what is out there. There could be some other intelligent life form that has space capabilities and would they follow are authority over space? No.

It could be possible that as Space programs get more ambitious, such as bases on the moon or even on Mars, that a nations would start denouncing the treaty and a new one would have to be formed. The treaty is not bad, because it promotes unity between the space faring nations.

More on the Moon Treaty and the Outer Space Treaty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Treaty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_law

http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/outerspt.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbgz4yY-xX0

http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/moon.html

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/960/1

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Chivarly is Not Dead- Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Many people believe Chivalry is dead, but obviously they are not looking hard enough. The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem and of Malta, all so known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta or simply as the Order of Malta is the oldest surviving order of Chivalry and just calibrated its 900 year anniversary this year. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta has its headquarters located in Rome and is subject to international laws, treated as a sovereign entity and hold permanent observer status in the UN.

The SMOM has had many homes throughout history. SMOM is the continuation of the Knights Hospitallers that was established around 1048 in Jerusalem and later on became a military order. During the First Crusade the knights build hospitals to treat pilgrims coming to the holy land. Hover the order relocated to Rhodes in 1310, then to Malta in 1530. The Order stayed on Malta until 1798 when Napoleon kicked them out and found their current home in Rome in 1834.

The SMOM still follows Chivalry and the practice of Knights and Dames. There are 13,500 Knights and Dames in the Order now, around 80,000 volunteers, and 20,000 medical personal. Keeping to their Hospitaller roots the Order of Malta is heavily involved in humanitarian aid, by setting up hospitals, medical centers, nursing homes and take care of the elderly, disabled and terminally ill. So where does the military order come in, well they needed to become a military order in the crusades in order to protect themselves, but these days the name is kept and they follow military tradition.

The Order of Malta is present in over 120 nations and has diplomatic relations with 104 nations in the world. Their members are issued with passports which allows to travel to countries to help provide humanitarian aid where it is need. The Order of Malta are a permanent observer in the UN, but they are not an independent country, but they do govern themselves and hold more resemblance to the Red Cross and Crescent Societies also since both groups are heavily involved in providing humanitarian aid and are permanent observers in the UN. The Order also has institutions and associations in various nations, with 23 cities in the United States harboring Knights and Dames.

Not going to lie when I first came across the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, I thought it sounded like secrete society out of a conspiracy theory who were intent on ruling over the world, mostly because it has the words military order in it. . But as with any thing when you actually look into it, it is something almost different. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, like many other international organizations are using their time and resources to help people the need it the most and will still continue to do for the next 900 years or so.

Read more about the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Official Website

Wikipedia

Geography About

Order of Malta in the US