---
title: "O. Shane Balloun "They do not have independent power or food." Again,..."
date: 2023-10-22
source: facebook
type: comment
context: "Archer T. Ships replied to Larry Fine's comment."
fb_link: "https://www.facebook.com/dyi/l/?l=AYMDFS7uDk12PYhcSJiBllQdRvGMx9CEwIQbL0MK7uEUF1MoK8kklSx0H5AZ-ABqchRW--40iNQZ0l14VgFWDlyaXrZdqaKhaU409KU9mEslnZUljre679BypTmkeVopQQOcAmozm5qQO_5XFgK0QVbFzuy9yVtIQqFPL2Ky3oYZ_VoDRIVo2EV9mEV464j56dPdHMO5aXRA&s=519"
---

# O. Shane Balloun "They do not have independent power or food." Again,...

*October 22, 2023 — Comment Archer T. Ships replied to Larry Fine's comment.*

O. Shane Balloun "They do not have independent power or food." Again, many countries don't meet that criteria. "but the difference is that Singapore is recognized as politically independent." Yes, that's one difference. "Cruise ships under the current regime will never enjoy that independence precisely because they do not produce their own food and power and thus have to dock and regularly submit themselves to various jurisdictions beyond their flagging regimes. " Cruise ships operators also, as a rule, aren't _seeking_ political independence. A cruise ship could send in re-supply tenders for food and fuel if they didn't want to dock.  They would then be in the same position as Singapore, vulnerable to attacks on their food and fuel supply lines. I would argue that the primary differences between Singapore and a cruise ship is a) size b) military power c) intent. A 8 K person cruise ship / seastead in international waters isn't going to be able to mount an effective defense against almost any country's police or military (unless they operate under the protection of a much larger country, like the US). Therefore, seasteads aren't going to be independent in the sense of not being forced to submit to other powers until they are populous enough and powerful enough to make such submission too costly. I think the main differences between a seastead and cruise ship are: a) a seastead is optimized for comfortable long term operation in a single location (even though it can move if need be); a cruise ship is optimitized for frequent travel b) a seastead is optimized for day to day living, a cruise is optimized for vacaction experiences  (though there are some residential cruise ships) c) a cruise ship is governed by the company that owns them; most seasteads will be governed by the people who live on them. In the end, I don't think there's a sharp dividing line.