Рубрика: Messages

This is usually where I make requests and suggestions.

Libertarian Theory of War, starting to write a book

I think it’s enough throwing unstructured notes at you; it’s time to get started on the book itself.

The current version of the book will be available on my website at a fixed location at https://ancapchan.info/war/. Currently, there is a rough table of contents available there, which gives an idea of how I envision the structure of the future text. And to get things started, I am immediately posting a short preface.

The scale of the task scares me a little. Moreover, I don’t want to drag out the writing process for over a year, as happened with the basic book on ancap, but rather manage it a bit faster. Wish me luck, cheer me up with donations, criticize the text as it appears — let’s together expand the horizon of human conceptions of the world a little (well, okay, in our case, not so much about the world as about war).

#freeLegkodymov

Yesterday, security forces from the USA, France, Spain, Portugal, and Cyprus carried out a loud act of terror, destroying Bitzlato, a bitcoin-to-ruble exchange service that had been operating successfully since 2016 (the turnover of other crypto and fiat constituted a very modest part of the total turnover), and arresting its founder, Anatoly Legkodymov. These terrorists issued a boastful press release, promising to continue pursuing the cryptocurrency business worldwide, regardless of the formal boundaries of jurisdictions.

Anatoly is accused of neglecting the state-imposed identity verification of users, collaborating with darknet markets, and performing other actions that are completely legitimate for any libertarian, while consistently satisfying his clients. In other words, he was arrested for making our lives better. Now he faces five years of imprisonment, and, of course, his business will be destroyed, and our money, which was kept in the company’s wallets for operational needs, will be seized by the state.

I had to say goodbye to a certain amount of bitcoin, as well as remove all recommendations for using the destroyed service from my website. I hope the next generation of crypto exchangers will already be using Lightning, and there will be no question of storing funds in third-party accounts. For now, the most reliable way to exchange cryptocurrency for fiat was and remains exchange through trusted acquaintances.

The well-known statist Leonid Volkov, in his channel, approves of the actions of the American authorities, after which he finally ceases to exist as a personality and begins to exist as a faggot. His beloved Navalny, whom he so touchingly demands be released, personally went to surrender to the Russian authorities, ignoring the shouts of “don’t go in – it’ll kill you.” At the time, the man diligently distanced himself from the USA, indulging the whims of the local legislation as much as possible—but he had the imprudence to physically appear on the territory of this terrorist state, for which he paid the price.

What do I propose?

First, of course, no donations to the FBK—they are our enemies, even if they stand against Putin. Unsubscribe and ignore.

Second, if possible, avoid the USA (I realize this sounds something like “do not overindulge in black caviar”).

Third, we see that storing money in centralized services is fraught not only with scams from these very services, but, on the contrary, with the confiscation of your money by the state, if these services do their job truly well. So, no matter how attractive online wallets on various exchanges may be, let’s maintain hygiene and keep money only under our own direct control.

I am not well-versed in the intricacies of legal squabbles, so I will not undertake to call for any actions in this field in attempts to recover my pennies. But I hope that everyone who approves of this act of terror will thereby ruin their reputation in the eyes of the widest possible circle of people, and preferably specifically those they depend on.

Finished the book about ancap. Hurrah.

The final chapter, summarizing the third part of the book, is finished. Now, everyone who dislikes ongoing works can finally download the book in its entirety and devour it in one evening. Those who postponed their donation until the completion of the work, not wanting to spend money on something that might not be finished, can also relax and open their wallets. By starting to write a book and continuing to do so, you eventually finish it. By starting to achieve ancap and moving in the right direction, you eventually achieve it. That is the way things work.

Next, the book will undergo editing (please send in your valuable comments), and after that, I will handle its distribution, and I, of course, urge you to do the same. Prepare your publishing capacities for the distribution of hard copies, consider which resources to spread links to the text on, write reviews—everything helps.

It was a great pleasure working on this project. I believe it allowed me to seriously systematize my own views. I hope it allows you to do the same.

Mobilization is about mobility. Mobilize!

So, Putin announced mobilization. Not enough military recruitment offices were burned down in Russia for him to give up on this idea. Before that, not enough Rosgvardiya officers were killed during protests for Putin to give up on the idea of going for who-knows-which term of the presidency. And so on. This is a classic tragedy of the commons, where each protest activist bears personal costs, while the hypothetical result is achievable only collectively, and the contribution of a specific activist is always relatively small and can easily be replaced by the contribution of some other activist. For collective protest to be successful in such a situation, many crutches and fortunately aligned factors are required: political culture, charismatic leaders, a split among elites, and so on.

Of course, everyone understands this. FBK investigations plus lobbying for personal sanctions, as well as smart voting, are measures aimed at splitting the elites. Organizing rallies, training observers, and participating in elections are measures aimed at forming a political culture. Promoting opposition information channels is a measure aimed at the emergence of charismatic leaders. Navalny, Yashin, and Roizman demonstrated by their example that they not only call on others to bear costs but are ready to bear them themselves. The leaders of the Russian opposition have acted and continue to act generally quite competently.

As a countermeasure, the regime acted with maximum audacity, which was aptly described at the time by the formula “Yes, we’ve gone totally off the rails, so what?” The regime made it clear that in response to any criticism, it would destroy the source of that criticism, and this naturally led to a situation where now everything is banned in Russia. And if not long ago the regime’s propagandists were saying, “if you don’t like it, get out,” now even the option of leaving is becoming less accessible and increasingly subject to criminal charges.

Well then. If previously burning down recruitment offices seemed like a perfectly adequate measure that did not entail unnecessary casualties, now it is clearly insufficient. As correctly noted online, if you beat up a recruitment officer, you’ll get a lighter sentence than for draft evasion—provided, of course, that you don’t shout extremist slogans while doing it. But this, of course, is only relevant for those who are already in the first line for mobilization.

If I previously recommended the tactic of “committing a terror act and immediately fleeing abroad,” now everything has changed; there are traffic jams at the borders, plane tickets are sold out, and there is a high probability you’ll have to hide within the country, which is much harder. Therefore, active actions will need to be planned much more carefully to avoid being caught, and you certainly must not waste yourself on suicidal actions that have purely symbolic significance with negligible destructive effect. I’m talking about rallies, pickets, and similar non-working crap.

As for us in Montellibero, we are still ready to welcome those who managed to evacuate from the sinking ship and help them settle in. Even if your husband has been mobilized, that is no reason for you to remain a hostage of the regime, waiting for him in Russia—it is much more pleasant when a husband knows that you are safe. You won’t be lost here.

Find out where the recruitment office employees live, and don’t let them reach the main road

Optimal tactics for the Russian opposition during the upcoming elections

Elections are coming soon in Russia. Last time, voting at polling stations lasted for three whole days, and I hope this practice continues now. The FBK, as usual, is calling for smart voting, and of course, the Russian opposition (those who haven’t left yet) should publicly support this initiative. Be sure to post on social media that it is now more important than ever to act within the legal framework, support democratic institutions, and so on and so forth. And even go and vote for someone; it might prove useful.

The most important thing for the Russian opposition in the coming voting days is that a vast number of polling stations are open across the country, and at each one, there is one or even two cops on duty. This, in turn, means a sharp increase in the police response time to various truly important political actions, such as burning down certain government institutions—like the already familiar military recruitment offices—or even something more tasty. It would be a sin not to take advantage of this!

Remember: the only thing that justifies a Russian oppositionist remaining in Russia right now is participation in sabotage, diversions, and terrorist attacks. Your sitting in prison weakens the regime far less, and participating in some pickets actually strengthens it, because you will inevitably pay the regime a hefty fine afterwards. So, for those of you remaining behind enemy lines, it is far more useful to promote some theory of small deeds, write that the special operation is “not that straightforward,” and generally behave in a moderately unacceptable manner—while steadily unscrewing the nuts from the rails.

Firstly, it’s beautiful…

Preliminary results of the request for support

Over the past day, five people purchased my debt obligations for a total of approximately 65 euros. All five are small investors in the Montelibero tokenomics; thus, the large investors respected my request and did not rush to buy up the debt first. Well, now it is time for them. I am keeping the sell order at a price of 0.97 open until this evening (19.06), and at 22:00 Podgorica time, I will close it, leaving only the standard order at a price of 1 EURMTL. Tomorrow I will need to spend the first two hundred-and-something euros, so to obtain the remaining amount I will still lack after closing the sale of debt obligations, I will sell some MTL tokens.

In connection with all this movement, I have received several questions about why such an unusual method of obtaining money was chosen. Actually, the method is quite conventional, as these are essentially ordinary short-term bonds. It is just that usually, legal entities rather than individuals borrow in this form. I wanted to test how capable our tokenomics is of servicing personal brands, as well as to get some evaluation of what my social capital is equal to in monetary terms.

I was also suggested another possible alternative: using stablecoin loans collateralized by Bitcoins. This is also potentially a good way to attract fiat during a crypto winter, however, it requires preliminary preparation: finding a suitable exchange, ensuring that it allows not only depositing funds but also withdrawing them without insane commissions and without presenting a “good Russian” passport, plus having the tools to obtain those very loans. In general, during a period when holders of Russian passports are being chased away with jeers across the entire financial world, I would not want to deal with exchanges.

Finally, there were questions about what guarantees I can provide for the fulfillment of my debt obligations. There are no guarantees in the sense that collateral is not held by third parties. Therefore, I rely only on my public reputation. Also, theoretically, holders of my tokens can sell them at a discount to project participants living near me, so that they could recover their money through the threat of force or confiscation of property. This is also an ancient and venerable way of getting money from debtors, which is always worth keeping in mind.

Request for support

I would like to address my readers with a proposal. In the coming days, I will face some expenses in euros that cannot be covered by my own euro income. This primarily concerns costs for renewing my residence permit, as well as repairing my scooter. Meanwhile, almost all of my savings are held in bitcoins, and now is an extremely inappropriate time to sell them because the exchange rate has crashed significantly.

As an alternative, I could sell the remains of my MTL tokens, and if the method I want to propose to you does not work, that is exactly what I will do.

I have placed a sell order for 500 ANCAPCHAN tokens at a price of 0.97 EURMTL, and I am selling the rest, as before, at par value for 1 EURMTL. Starting October 1, 2022, I will place buy orders for my tokens at a price of 1 EURMTL and undertake to increase the total volume of buyback offers at this price to 500 no later than December 31, 2022; in other words, from October 1 until the New Year, all buyers of my promissory notes will have the opportunity to redeem them, if they wish, receiving a premium of 0.03 EURMTL per token.

Exactly how to acquire ANCAPCHAN tokens is described in my guide to Montelibero tokenomics.

I hope that as a result of this special operation, the tokens will be distributed among a fairly wide audience; it would be more pleasant for me to know that a lot of people wanted to buy them in small amounts, rather than one large trader. But we shall see; let the market decide.

Routinization of the nightmare

The war in Ukraine has entered a protracted stage and is beginning to slowly slip from the current agenda. The most unpleasant outcome this could lead to is:

  • The front stabilizes, the sides dig in, and losses decrease;
  • The Russian economy slowly degrades under sanctions, but the political structure proves resilient enough, and the state does not collapse;
  • The Ukrainian economy slowly degrades under shelling, and effectively only those fighting and those servicing the war remain in the country; the majority of those left either scatter far from the front line or leave the country, and once gone, gradually get used to their new place of residence;
  • Russians, who failed to flee the RF in the early stages of the war, gradually lose the ability to do so: they are welcome nowhere, they run out of money for tickets, and international flights will cease to exist. Wittingly or unwittingly, they tighten their belts and begin to survive;
  • By the way, regarding the replenishment of the RF army with cannon fodder, there is no need to worry in this scenario: it is enough to give the conscript’s family army rations and immediately deprive them of them as soon as the conscript deserts or surrenders. Son in the army—parents are fed. Many would be willing to accept such a deal.
  • And this continues for years.

To some extent, this scenario could be hindered by the opening of new hotspots of tension around the RF: the remnants of Russian troops will begin to be pushed out of Transnistria and the Caucasus; the RF will try to act on all fronts and will ultimately break down relatively quickly. However, one should not rely solely on the help of Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Georgia. It is better to continue pushing the RF toward a rapid military defeat and political collapse, primarily through the efforts of Russians.

Initially, I proposed exclusively “herbivore” measures, such as burning down military recruitment offices. This creates chaos in the troop mobilization system, entails no collateral casualties, looks effective, and has an inspiring effect on any supporter of freedom. Now, however, I see that in many places they have gone further: there are reports of sabotage on the railways. Again, without human casualties. Relay cabinets, which as I understand it, serve for cargo dispatching, are being destroyed. That is, the throughput capacity of the road is sharply reduced, but trains do not derail. A mass of other sabotage proposals of varying degrees of ingenuity is circulating online, but for the most part, it boils down to provoking failures in the troop supply system.

What interests us much more is the collapse of the country. And here, it is very difficult for me to think of any political activity in the RF that would allow a libertarian to keep their “white coat” on. Propose simplifying business operations and lowering taxes? Advocate for simplifying the circulation of civilian weapons? Call for a complete transition to a highly professional contract army? Are you serious? Now? In Russia? Honestly, now, on the contrary, it would make sense to support the communists in everything. Give them full nationalization of industry! Price controls! Export restrictions on goods outside their production region! Replace Nabiullina with Glazyev! IT specialists to the machine shops! What else do they want? Let them have it. Otherwise, they will just blame capitalism again for bringing the country to its knees. No, let it collapse under Glazyev.

So, honest to God, I cannot think of a more worthy goal for Russian libertarians today than to leave the RF as quickly as possible and leave the country to be torn apart by leftists. As Ayn Rand enjoined. As Navalny suggested to libertarians. Square your shoulders.

Sorry for the choice of illustration from the popular anime Attack on Titan…

Keep working, brothers!

Literally yesterday I was in a gloomy and completely non-festive mood, but this morning I’m almost squealing with delight: the first news of a military enlistment office being burned down in the Russian Federation has arrived. This is exactly what I called for in one of my anti-Russian posts. The news was anonymously published in a Ukrainian Telegram channel, which is understandable, as such things wouldn’t be shown on the first state channel.

The target was chosen magnificently: a solitary building, locked for the night, without any guards or other possible victims. The area is rural, which means that the conscripts registered here are likely not wealthy and have no means to dodge the draft, so this event could be a real help for them. Now I would really like to see daytime photos demonstrating the result of the work, but we’ll see how it goes.

Guy, well done! Now, after the trial by fire, you face the trial of “copper pipes”: not to brag about your heroic act and not to get caught by the authorities. It is precisely the impunity of such actions that will best encourage their repetition throughout Russia. And for now, it’s better to hide the proofs securely and not take them out until the end of the war or successful emigration. In any case, thank you so much!

I urge my readers outside of Russia to actively repost this news, and those in Russia to send it to friends in private messages. And gather your courage to creatively develop this amateur activity. Once things really catch fire, it will be possible to start burning other interesting objects besides military enlistment offices: police stations and tax offices. But those are better guarded, so please be more careful with them. Again, collateral victims are possible in police stations, and not only among employees, so everything must be weighed three times here before deciding.

Anti-Russian post 2

As you can see, my imagination is not very rich when it comes to headlines. Usually, the authors of the questions provide them for me, preventing me from revealing my inadequacy.

A march in support of Ukraine’s defenders took place in Podgorica today. Unfortunately, I work without days off, and I couldn’t find a replacement, so I didn’t attend; I only watched the videos. By my estimates, there were between five hundred and a thousand people. Considering that it is currently the off-season for tourism, this means that a very large proportion of the Russian-speaking diaspora showed up. In local chats, statements from those who approve of the war are literally solitary. People have split into those discussing how to help the victims of the attack, and those who snort irritably at the discussion of politics, after first assuring that they, of course, deeply sympathize with the Ukrainians, but the topic is simply off-topic for the chat.

Several people who had previously expressed interest in the Montelibero project in the vein of “I should visit you in the summer and have a look” have now changed their tone to “I’m urgently gathering my documents and moving to you for good.” I recommend you join their ranks as soon as possible. You need a foreign passport, a diploma or certificate, a police clearance certificate, a Tinkoff Bank card, and the standard COVID kit that grants the right to cross borders. There are no direct connections between Russia and Montenegro; for now, the most reliable route is via Istanbul. If possible, bring cash Euros. If this is difficult (I fully admit that there may be unjustifiably large spreads when buying currency in Russia now), bring bitcoins. Dollars are not needed here at all.

It feels like the Russian leadership has frightened the whole world quite a bit, and under the influence of panic, people are prone to impulsive actions. Pavel Durov almost closed the Russian segment of Telegram. European countries are stopping the issuance of visas to citizens of the Russian Federation. There are rumors about crypto-exchanges blocking Russian wallets. In short, in every “watchman,” there awakens a desire to immediately close some entrance or exit, because something must be done, given what a fucking disaster is happening.

Therefore, if you have so far neglected the recommendations to store savings in non-custodial bitcoin wallets, it is quite likely that you have suddenly become significantly poorer. This also means that if you rush abroad right now, you will find yourself there completely unprepared. Do not hesitate to ask for help, but also do not assume that anyone owes you anything. As I have written repeatedly about social welfare under ancap — the main virtue of the poor is to be sweet and grateful.

If you decide to stay in Russia — it is difficult for me to give detailed recommendations here; I am no longer well-oriented in the situation and do not know where it is more dangerous — in a conditional Moscow or in a conditional village. I will be very surprised if Russia does not see a wave of reports about the mining of various government institutions, or even defense enterprises, as well as cyberattacks. Actual terrorist attacks are more likely in the border zone. Try not to end up in the troops; that is the stupidest thing you can do right now. If the military enlistment office becomes interested in you, do not try to sue or count on alternative civilian service (AGS); just get out, at least by moving to another district outside your registered address. They are unlikely to be ceremonious with you now, so do not contact the state more than necessary.

Final paragraph — for those who want to be heroes in this war. Burn down the military enlistment offices. It is hard to think of a more effective peaceful anti-war action. The recipe for a Molotov cocktail is publicly available, and enlistment offices are usually not in residential buildings, so in a nighttime arson, the probability of casualties is minimal, while the benefit is obvious: destroying the infrastructure for conscription undermines mobilization capabilities. With literally a couple of liters of gasoline and a liter of oil, you are capable of saving several hundred human fates. In the worst-case scenario, you will ruin your own, so try not to get caught stupidly.