polymathwannabe comments on Crazy Ideas Thread - Less Wrong Discussion
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (344)
Greece lacks money, but they do have a whole lot of reasonably large, quite beautiful islands they barely use (only a small fraction of the 1200 islands are significantly inhabited) but which have the ideal Mediterranean climate for human habitation. Selling off sovereignty over these islands to other countries or to new country projects would be a great way to get some quick cash and there might be some downstream benefits, like increased trade in the region.
Selling territory is a big no-no, but selling EU citizenship is in fashion.
Selling land is out. "Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks" will not play well in Athens now.
What about a face saving land trade? For every island Greece sells it gets cash plus an equal amount of land in Greenland.
Denmark already refused to sell any of Greenland back when there was more on offer, it was much poorer, and it needed the funds much more.
In the eyes of whom would that be anywhere near "face saving"? It would probably be even worse from that perspective than only getting cash.