Are planets sovereign?

[Chef Jim]

On 10/29/2020 at 7:59 PM, 4merper4mer said:

Spoiler alert:. There aren't.

Yes there are and they be us!

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

9 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I guess there already is a treaty addressing this. Sorry, Elon.

 

https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/articles/sorry-elon-mars-is-not-a-legal-vacuum-and-its-not-yours-either/

 

1.  Nations on earth have come up with treaties that, as between themselves, establish and govern their self-proclaimed rights and obligations with respect to their activities on Mars and elsewhere off this planet.  They have apparently decided that if an American company is performing acts on another planet, America is responsible for such conduct, and that the nation of America can be held accountable if an American company violates any treaty obligations of the American nation.

 

2.  So what?  Why do earthly nations have a right to create legal obligations that govern activities on another planet?  It's just a power grab by existing earthly nations that have no jurisdiction to establish the rights of people who, when they eventually go to live on Mars, will be Martians (not Americans, or Canadians or Russians, etc.).  And if you claim they are still Americans, etc, what of people who will eventually be born on Mars, which apparently cannot be an American, Canadian or Russian, etc. territory under the existing earthly space law treaties?  Certainly people born on Mars in the future can be considered Martians.  Why shouldn't people born on Mars have the right to determine their own laws?  No taxation without representation and all that good Revolutionary War stuff.

 

3.  If the American colonies could claim independence from England and form their own new, sovereign nation back in 1776, why can't Martians claim independence from Earth in 2776 and form their own nation(s) with their own government(s)?  Their rallying cry for the Martian War of Independence could be "Make Mars Great Again."

 

4.  Think about it.  How would you feel if Plutonians showed up on earth, and upon descending from their spaceship, informed you that the nations on Pluto had decided among themselves eons ago that you had no American rights,  or Canadian rights, or Russian rights, etc. because the sovereign nations on Pluto had agreed among themselves how to regulate conduct on Earth, and how to determine which Plutonian nations would be responsible for any violations of the treaty that all Plutonian nations had agreed upon among themselves?

 

5.  Elon Musk won't be around to see new sovereign nations formed on Mars, but his future descendants very well might be. 

[Not at the table Karlos]

On 11/7/2020 at 8:09 AM, PromoTheRobot said:

I guess there already is a treaty addressing this. Sorry, Elon.

 

https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/articles/sorry-elon-mars-is-not-a-legal-vacuum-and-its-not-yours-either/

There’s no way I would acknowledge this if I were Musk. They have a problem with it fly to mars and stop him. I hope he brings weapons.