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Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#21

Post by Muromec »

lupusreal wrote: post #10
willbw wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you might be imposing an America-centric view on the BBC. I doubt that was the intention.

It does describe Las Vegas perfectly, and I sincerely doubt your first thought after reading that headline was "its a British publication, so of course they mean that city in Myanmar."

I did, because I also followed the Chinese actor kidnapping story from the Thai publications and know about the magical place across the river and it's history. South East Asia is historically fascinating. It's worth reading Burman diaries to put later writings of Orwell into some context.

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#22

Post by lupusreal »

Muromec wrote: post #19
rsynnott wrote: post #12

You know those quasi-libertarian dreams of independent privately-owned city-states? Yeah, doesn't seem like such a good idea now, does it? (I'm kind of surprised none of those crypto-libertarian groups have tried Myanmar, actually; it is, at least at the moment, particularly vulnerable to this sort of thing.)

Does anybody dream of living in one or just dreams of owning the one? I fail to see the upside of living in somebody's pocket soviet union when places like Singapure actually exist.

Singapore certainly isn't for me, but I don't think you can call it unpopular by any means.

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#23

Post by rob74 »

rsynnott wrote: post #12

You know those quasi-libertarian dreams of independent privately-owned city-states? Yeah, doesn't seem like such a good idea now, does it? (I'm kind of surprised none of those crypto-libertarian groups have tried Myanmar, actually; it is, at least at the moment, particularly vulnerable to this sort of thing.)

Depending on a local warlord to protect your independent privately owned city-state (in exchange for a healthy cut out of your profits, of course) doesn't sound like something that is likely to work long term.

But at least one well known crypto-libertarian seems to be making some money out of it:

> With Thailand cutting off power and telecommunications, electricity comes from diesel generators, which are expensive to run. And communications go through Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system, which is also very costly.

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#25

Post by Reason077 »

lmm wrote: post #16
pjc50 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Las Vegas is not the only city with casinos.

No, but it's probably the most famous (at worst, second behind Monte Carlo).

Monte Carlo isn't a city. It's a casino named after the Monaco neighbourhood where it's located:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_Casino

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#26

Post by noja »

rob74 wrote: post #23
rsynnott wrote: post #12

You know those quasi-libertarian dreams of independent privately-owned city-states? Yeah, doesn't seem like such a good idea now, does it? (I'm kind of surprised none of those crypto-libertarian groups have tried Myanmar, actually; it is, at least at the moment, particularly vulnerable to this sort of thing.)

Depending on a local warlord to protect your independent privately owned city-state (in exchange for a healthy cut out of your profits, of course) doesn't sound like something that is likely to work long term. But at least one well known crypto-libertarian seems to be making some money out of it: > With Thailand cutting off power and telecommunications, electricity comes from diesel generators, which are expensive to…

Musk, the crypto libertarian who works for the US government?

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#27

Post by misantroop »

amiga386 wrote: post #18

On a related note, POGOs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_offshore_gaming_ope... The Philippines (under Duterte) said to Chinese criminals: Feel free to base your operations here and rip off your fellow Chinese, but don't rip off us Filipinos. Then these POGO centres started scamming locals and Chinese alike, and staffed themselves with scam victims, using blackmail and torture to force them to work there an…

Philippines is corrupt to the core as well, from courts to police to civilians. So the real reason why POGOs were thrown out of the country was that the didn't pay off the right people. Nothing gets done in Philippines without bribes.

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#28

Post by snakeyjake »

redeux wrote: post #2

I thought they were talking about Las Vegas until I read the article. I wonder if that was the intention when they titled the article.

>Jonathan Head

>South East Asia correspondent

>Reporting from Shwe Kokko, Myanmar

Before the article even started.

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#29

Post by rob74 »

noja wrote: post #26
rob74 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on a local warlord to protect your independent privately owned city-state (in exchange for a healthy cut out of your profits, of course) doesn't sound like something that is likely to work long term. But at least one well known crypto-libertarian seems to be making some money out of it: > With Thailand cutting off power and telecommunications, electricity comes from diesel generators, which are expensive to…

Musk, the crypto libertarian who works for the US government?

I suspect that when he's done working for it, there won't be a (functioning) government anymore, so yes.

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#30

Post by snakeyjake »

lmm wrote: post #16
pjc50 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Las Vegas is not the only city with casinos.

No, but it's probably the most famous (at worst, second behind Monte Carlo).

Las Vegas is an insignificant mote of dust compared to Macau when it comes to Casinos and gambling.
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