and how do you stop these microstates from running their banking systems? when their biggest asset is secrecy?
France has an escort carrier, I believe?
I would argue that breaking open tax cheat enabling countries is one of the very, very few justifiable uses of plain old gunboat diplomacy.
But even without that, one could simply outlaw all transactions going to or from such places and/or places that do not have similar transparency laws. 'Course, that'd require the transparent system to be self-sufficient (and then some) so it could effectively break off all financial contact with the noncompliant countries, so gunboat diplomacy might be easier.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
If, for instance, a government were to DOS - say - the Cayman Islands' internet grid, do you really think the public would object? If a government sabotaged their phone lines? If a government "accidentally" jammed their radios and satellite uplinks?
History doesn't suggest that the public will mind at all. Of course, I'd wish that we had a public that did mind. But then again, if we had that, we probably wouldn't have a big problem with tax havens in the first place.
