Unbound DRAFT Issue #1 by UnBound

Savusavu Hidden Fiji DRAFT Destination Spotlight

Kayak Trip Vanua Levu Island Dragon Island Investment and Real Estate

24 hours:

San Francisco Trouble in Argentina

Impact Investing

Making a difference while making profits

Citizenship in the Caribbean Currency Wars

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Publisher’s Note The smooth hum of the twin engines lulls the senses. I am barely winning the battle to keep my eyes open while dreamily staring out the old scratched window at a kaleidoscope of blue South Pacific pierced only by the lush jagged mountains.

he past days have been a long journey. My departure from Central Java began with a 3 hour taxi ride to catch a flight to Jakarta. From there, I hopped another to Hong Kong, and eventually had a layover in Nadi. A few minutes from now, when the plane lands, I will have another hour or so of driving to meet up with some friends in Savusavu. The past 20 years has been a long journey. I have been around the world standing on the wing of a jet; my eco-sensitive desires destroyed by my carbon footprint. After prep school, I was lucky enough to take a quick trip around the world. My parents hoped this trip would quench my thirst for travel and allow me to focus on university. Things didn’t work out that way. My life experience is a bit eccentric. I have lived in developing countries for years on less than US$100/month, experiencing the 3rd world in a way few gringos have. I have created, managed and invested in companies around the world. I have partied with the jet set in exclusive playgrounds; danced in clubs, enjoyed fast cars, boutique hotels, wine & food. I am comfortable with dirt floors and cardboard walls but intimately know the finer fruits of Mammon. I lust for adventure; new cultures, people, languages, places, opportunities. I’m often hiking or camping, exploring unknown beaches and mountain peaks. Sometimes I stay in hole-in the wall places, while at others I’ll sleep in exclusive villas. There is nothing I enjoy more than the tranquility of lapping waves on a remote island, yet I am often dancing to the rhythmic beat of live music or DJ’s mixes in major cities. There is nothing quite like the feel of something new. Leaving your comfort bubble offers great insights into global issues, presents intriguing offshore investment opportunities and always imprints unique world views. You’ll cross paths with incredible people while traveling - friends for a lifetime, or only 5 minutes (often simultaneously).Locals have incredible stories that the media don’t talk about. Ex-pats and other travelers often share unusually brilliant experiences. In a modern world with invasive and punitive government policies, where masses rule the individual, constant rumors of economic collapse and this and that… there has never been a better time to be a Perpetual Traveler (PT). As the small plane descends into a simpler world, the deep green jungle contrasts a grey tropical sky. We touch down on the narrow potholed grey airstrip at Labasa. Its time to share a life UnBound.

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DRAFT Contents

- W. Driver

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Contents

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Lifestyle

perpetual traveler

“Are you a PT?” asks the border guard, thumbing through all the entry stamps and residence visas from countries he has never heard of in your passport. If you are, then you know the correct answer without blinking: “A what, sir?”

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Are you a PT? by peter macfarlane

PTs were once described as “an amorphous group of freedom-loving individuals.” In fact, you may well already be one without even knowing it. PT is not a club to which you can belong. It’s a lifestyle choice. PTs see themselves as sovereign individuals: untethered to any nation state, they are expatriates but definitely not patriots. Politically, if only you could pigeon-hole PTs (which you can’t) you might describe them as libertarians who have no interest in politics. There are a number of ‘how-to’ books about being a PT, but if you put twenty PTs in a room together you will undoubtedly get twenty different answers about the best ways to implement those instructions. PT, above all, is about individuality and freedom.

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Whether talking to border guards or to casual acquaintances in bars from Singapore to Stockholm (and cheaper places in between), PTs are discreet by nature and will always have a cover story. A typical PT will have the outward appearance of a seasoned and rather boring business traveler, rather than the pot-smoking backpacker who wants to overthrow the government, who may be quietly lurking inside. A friend of mine calls them “gold card hippies.” This is the result of several generations of successful adaption to habitat - such as TSA requirements and the simple realization that Marriotts are more comfortable than youth hostels. PTs know that while there’s no point fighting the system, the system can certainly be played from within.

The term ‘Perpetual Traveller’ or ‘Permanent Tourist’ was first coined by Harry Schultz in the 1950s. Harry Schultz is a legendary investor, trader and slightly wacky newsletter publisher, now retired and reportedly living in Monaco. (I should warn you however that ‘Privacy Thinkers’ are known to get a kick out of spreading disinformation on their whereabouts.) Schultz, who considered himself both a tax exile and a conscientious objector to the military service that was then obligatory in his native USA, wrote about a jet-set lifestyle using three countries or ‘flags’ to legally avoid inconveniences like taxes and conscription. On his travels he quickly discovered that pretty much everywhere you go, governments treat foreigners better than locals. Simple then: change citizenship and become a foreigner. Live in a different country from the one where your passport is issued. For good measure, keep your money and business in a third country where neither of the other two governments knows about it. As such, one is ‘Protected Thoroughly’ by three flags. In the 1980s, the next generation of PT came from writer and lecturer Dr W.G. Hill and Scope International, his publisher based in a large country house in southern England. A series of books with titles like PT1, PT2, and The Passport Report were advertised in magazines and newspapers worldwide. Those who got on the mailing list received a regular free newsletter called the ‘Mouse Monitor’ – sub-titled ‘the international journal of bureau-rat control.’ Much of Scope’s material was of course tongue-in-cheek: gems in the PT books include how to be ordained by mail in California for ten dollars, and how to join the ranks of British nobility by buying a square foot of land in Scotland that came with a legally rather questionable right to a title. The humor of these harmless antics was, however, lost on many as it was undeniably anti-establishment. There was a more serious side too: PT in those days was all about not paying tax. On the surface, Hill

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The 6 Flags of the Perpetual Traveller CITIZENSHIP: The passport you carry. Should be from a neutral, well-respected country so that it has good visa-free travel possibilities. Should also be a country that doesn’t tax its non-resident citizens and allows multiple citizenships. Examples: Canada, most European and Caribbean countries… RESIDENCE: Your official country of residence, though not necessarily where you spend your time. This is the address you give when you check into a hotel. You will normally have an official document such as a residence permit from this country. It should be from a country that doesn’t tax its residents on income generated outside its borders. Example: Monaco, Andorra, Belize, Malaysia, most of Latin America. ASSET HAVEN: One or more stable financial centers where you keep and manage your money, using trusted asset managers and possibly making use of trusts, foundations etc. Examples: Switzerland, Singapore, Panama. BUSINESS BASE: One or more countries where you earn your income. Everything you do here is tied up in companies that file their own accounts and pay as necessary. The companies are owned from the asset haven so they don’t trigger any requirement to file a personal tax return. These companies can be located anywhere in the world. The PT ideal is to sell goods and services over the internet so the business base can be a simple offshore company. PLAYGROUNDS: These are countries where you spend your time physically, depending entirely on your personal likes and dislikes. Hot beaches or nightlife, or cool mountains, you choose. If you get bored, you move on. In these countries you are a mere tourist ‘Passing Through’ who is welcomed because you spend money, and nobody even thinks of trying to tax you. CYBERSPACE: This is your extra-jurisdictional flag that brings the other five together. You can be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. One or more secure data havens or communications centers are essential to today’s PT lifestyle.

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Lifestyle y

perpetual traveler preached legal tax avoidance - but many readers were no doubt tempted to cross the line to illegal tax evasion. PT therefore developed a slightly edgy side, with its proponents becoming ‘Paranoid Together’ and taking on a ‘trust nobody’ approach. As Margaret Thatcher relentlessly knocked down trade barriers and globalization was becoming the norm, Hill developed Schultz’s ideas by adding another two flags, creating the Five Flags Theory. Scope relentlessly couriered out expensive leather-bound books about the five flags to willing buyers in all four corners of the world. Their best moment was when the late Democratic Senator Pat Moynihan, an anti-tax-evasion campaigner, held up one of the Scope books in a televised debate as an example of what the filthy rich were doing and declared “this is the manual on how to legally avoid taxes.” Sales went through the roof. Even on my travels today, I sometimes recognize these books on the shelves of lawyers or bankers I visit. Then, in 2006, an anonymous author writing under the name of ‘Grandpa’ released a three volume tome entitled ‘Bye Bye Big Brother.’ Firmly rooted in the internet era and in the post-9/11 surveillance state, Grandpa added the sixth and final flag: cyberspace.

scanners into ‘Perfect Transparency’? I believe yes. The original concept of PT was living off the books. Early PTs didn’t need to bother about the residence flag at all. They could literally live nowhere. This doesn’t work any longer, except perhaps for a very dedicated few. Governments around the world have clamped down on hidden foreign bank accounts and penalties for failing to declare have become nothing short of draconian. Passport security has tightened up a lot too. However, in so many ways I see PT ideas becoming much more widely accepted by society at large. Passports are the most obvious example. Dual or multiple citizenship was a rarity even a decade ago, whereas now it has become the norm. Surely most of us know many couples of different nationalities who have kids with multiple passports. Yes, dual citizenship, that crucial aspect of PT that governments tried to resist for decades, has become totally normal and accepted. The internet has opened up the possibility for any entrepreneur to form a company and open a bank account on the other side of the world for a thousand bucks. ‘Privacy Tactics’ that used to be reserved for the privileged elite are now accessible to everybody. And finally, it’s no longer about taxes. I think these days it’s more a genuine lifestyle choice. Today’s young entrepreneurs are more mobile and totally willing to hop on a plane to seek out opportunities, whether in business or with the opposite sex (leading to yet more kids with multiple passports.) The next generation of PTs is again adapting to habitat to achieve goals effectively and explore exciting new frontiers of global business. Yes, that’s right, sixty years after Harry Schultz coined the term, PT is going mainstream… Am I a PT? Most certainly not! But I do know a few.

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Today’s young entrepreneurs are more mobile and totally willing to hop on a plane to seek out opportunities,whether in business or with the opposite sex. Having reached a certain age, I can now look back romantically at the more cloak-and-dagger aspects of PT. I clearly recall, for example, the first Austrian ‘sparbuch’ anonymous savings account I bought as a student, carefully paying cash for the booklet and having it shipped to a maildrop so it couldn’t be traced back to me. The fact that I didn’t have any money to hide, especially after becoming the proud owner of a square foot of land in Scotland, didn’t deter me in the least! But can the PT concept survive the new age where ‘Privacy Thinkers’ are being forced through full body

St. Kitts Scenic Railway

elcome to St. Kitts, an enchanted island of expansive rainforests and stately sugar plantations. Home to forgotten coves of turquoise

waters, lush green mountains and a thousand natural treasures. And not Peter Macfarlane is a financial commentator and joint editor of The Q Wealth Report (www.qwealthreport.com) who also runs a private consulting firm in the field of offshore finance, Peter Macfarlane and Associates (www.petermacfarlane.info) He spends most of the year on the road visiting his portfolio of high net worth clients, attending conferences, and carrying out due diligence on offshore banks.

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Basseterre

a single traffic light. This is St. Kitts. Still unspoiled. Still a sanctuary of inner beauty. Still all yours to discover.

Explore www.StKittsTourism.kn

/StKittsTourism

/MyStKitts

Cool Stuff

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DRAFT Cool Stuff When living a life unbound, one needs to be current with what’s happening to insure life quality and make sure that we don’t fall behind… even if we choose not to keep up. Check out these products and new ideas for the perpetual traveller.

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Cool Fashion

Cool House

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Stance Socks

Ever had one of those days when you just can’t decide which socks to wear? Based in the surf capital of San Clemente, STANCE, makes some of the most rad socks anywhere. High quality materials and smart design make these socks feel great, yet the individualistic styles make you feel like a extreme ‘core athlete or a ultra-hipster. As strange as it sounds, these socks feel and look spectacular on your feet. So next time you need that extra accessory to show your unconventional style or just to tell the world to piss off, do what I have done; get a different pair of socks for everyday in the fortnight. www.stance.com

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blueseed

Look… It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a floating Sovereign Nation? Actually none of the above, but the Blueseed residence concept floating in international waters, is about as unique as a flying man in tights. “Blueseed will station a ship 12 nautical miles from the coast of San Francisco, in international waters. The location will allow startup entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world to start or grow their company near Silicon Valley, without the need for a U.S. work visa. The ship will be converted into a co-working and co-living space, and will have high-speed Internet access and daily transportation to the mainland via ferry boat. So far, over 1000 entrepreneurs from 60+ countries expressed interest in living on the ship.” Although there are still plenty of hurdles to overcome – they are still in the design stage while sourcing financing, and exploring international law. Blueseed could be the first of a new breed of mobile living opportunities that expand personal freedoms and permit exciting business ventures. By legally sidestepping the inconveniences and restrictions of multi-jurisdictional immigration (WCBusiness) with the sole purpose of progress ideas and commerce, Blueseed has gained our support. Though the Man of Steel has overcome many insurmountable foes, Blueseed may need the help of Aquaman on this one. www.blueseed.co

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Cool Accessory

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Snowlizard

Tired of your iPhone's battery dying 4 hours into your 12-hour flight? Remember dropping it in the jacuzzi just when things were heating up, or the 3rd time your screen shattered? What about the last time you were hiking or fishing and you just needed to make one call? You had one signal bar, but the battery picture was just a sliver of red?. SnowLizard has your iPhone covered with the first ever battery-powered, solar-charging, ruggedized waterproof iPhone case. Built with tough polycarbonate military standard materials and rubber grips, the SLXtreme protects your phone in the great outdoors and severe weather. Your iPhone or iPad slide easily in and out through top-loading latch, and are sealed out of the elements. Although the case is a little bulky for everyday city use, all of the iphone features work great. The touchscreen and buttons work just the same as always. The the only noticeable difference is a slight muting of the speakers due to the waterproofing, so phone voices sound a bit distant. Additionally you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t plug in your headphones, the trade off is safety as the the ultra-durable case, does completely seal and protect the electronics. The case is rated waterproof to 2 meters and the foam interior padding takes the worry out ofaccidental drops and missed catches. SnowLizard

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DRAFT also offers belt clip, bike and chest mounting accessories to keep your smart phone secure in the most extreme activities. The SLXtremeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extra battery allows long talk time on thevery worst of cell signals, and the solar panels let your iPhone's battery resurrect anywhere it can gobble enough photons (including space, where it willwork even better). Designed withthe sea in mind, this case is a great tool for sailing and boating, simply mount your iPad to your console and access your digital maps and weatherreports with out any concern of getting your electronics wet. The SLXtreme isavailable for iPhone 4, 4s, 5 as well as iPad. SnowLizardProducts.com & facebook.com/snowlizardproducts.

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Cool Internet

Kickstarter

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Ever had an idea, but you weren’t sure if you were the only one who thought it was a good idea? Perhaps you have a great product concept that could change the world, but no capital to get off the ground? Maybe you just need a little exposure to markets, and you could retire and travel in luxury. Kickstarter.com offers solutions to these age-old issues. Formed in 2009, the site isn’t the new kid on the block anymore; the crown sourcing finance leader has started a person-to-person financing revolution. Today there are over 450 crowdfunding platforms available, many focusing on a niche markets. HOW IT WORKS: Anyone with an interesting new project or idea — from objects to movies — can post their plan and the required funds needed to make the project move forward. If there are enough interested people giving donations – then the project moves forward into development. If not, then the projects go away, or at least back to the drawing board. THE CATCH: Donors do not receive equity in the projects or financial ROI. Investors are rewarded with other tangible non-traditional “returns”, such as sneak peaks of the development process, the first products available to the public or even lunch with the projects principals and tour of facilities. Although less than 4% of crowdfunding involves equity shares it hasn’t scared away capital and it look like this alternative funding is here to stay: $2.7 billion generated in 2012, a 81% increase over 2011 with a projected to increase of 88% in 2013. Kickstarter’s funding is all-or-nothing, leaving many project behind, but the knowledge gained from the exercise can save money by acting as a market study, indicating if there are enough people who would pay for the project to make it worth actually producing. Before you get too excited, it is important to note that more than 50% of Kickstarter’s projects do not achieve funding goals. Many raise no money at all. With Kickstarter you CAN get a penny for your thoughts… and (if you are lucky) become a millionaire.

Cool Travel

Multiple SIM Solutions

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Do you travel abroad often? Do you have a collection of SIM cards from your favorite countries? If you do, you may constantly be fighting with how/where to store your SIMs. Either of these solutions is an upgrade from my current solution of masking tape on an old credit card!

Solution A: iPhone Case

We are stoked to find this iPhone case that holds your SIMs! SIMPLcase safely stores your spare SIM cards SIM CARD PASSPORT HOLDER and a eject tool (no more paper clips needed.) Just External Dimensions: (H x W) Sim Card Size: Standard snap the case off the phone and access the underside Closed: 11 x 14 cm (4.33” x 5.51”) DESCRIPTION: Open: 22 x 14 cm (8.66” x 5.51”) holding up 3 SIMs. Another cool feature - snap any -Holds one (1) passport. standard credit card in the back, and it doubles as a -Stores six (6) Standard Size Sim Card. stand for your iPhone. www.lgcldesigns.com -Additional pocket stores travel documents. -Designed with six (6) available card slots. -Made of waterproof material, PVC. -Available in different colors.

Solution B: Passport and Card Holder

ComfortTravel holds one passport and stores six SIM Cards. Additional pocket stores travel documents. Comes in different colors and materials; PVC or Leather. www.comfortravel.com

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Lifestyle y book review

WEALTH REPORT

recipe

Find ﬁnancial freedom oﬀshore PROTECTION for your assets PRIVACY from corporations, governments and everyone else!

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Cosmic Bandios[1986] Allan Weisbecker

Just a short time ago, Mr. Quark was making millions smuggling drugs from South America, but his days of flying around the Caribbean in private jets and partying up a storm came to an abrupt end. Now he is broke and hidden deep in the jungles of Columbia, slowly going crazy with only his dog, his guns and a snake to keep him company. That is until one day when his only contact to the outside world, a bandito named José, mugs some tourists, bringing the stolen goods (including a book on Quantum Physics) back to the mountain hideout. The ensuing adventure is a hilarious story intertwining the Latin American outlaw world and metaphysical science. Although a short read, the absurd connections of random unfathomable the author has events kept me laughing out loud. created a very The deteriorating, yet still astute warm and thought processes of the narrator grasping a deeper understanding of personal multidimensional theoretical science explanation while immersed in a complicated of quantum society of rival bandito gangs is mechanics and unequalled. Strangely, the author has created a very warm and personal 3rd world drug explanation of quantum mechanics and running. 3rd world drug running. If you like the whimsical and unique, I highly recommend this wildly entertaining tale of selfawareness, corruption, fate and drugs from a slightly skewed worldview. Be aware! After reading Cosmic Banditos, you may start randomly laughing every time you hear the children’s song “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”

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Lime Wedge Tequila Jello shots!

Ingredients [Makes 24 lime jello shots] 6-8 limes 3 ounces fresh squeezed lime juice 1 ounce water 1/4 cup sugar 1 package unflavored gelatin (2 teaspoons) 3 ounces good quality tequila 1 ounce Grand Marnier or Cointreau (or Triple Sec if you must) sea salt and/or large crystal sugar, for garnish MAKE IT 1. Cut the limes in half and squeeze out the juice. Turn the lime halves inside out and remove the pulp. 2. Mix the jelly powder with boiling water. Stir until completely dissolved. 3. Add Triple Sec and Tequila. Pour the liquid into the lime and lemon halves and chill in the fridge until set. 4. Before serving, cut the lime and lemon cups in half to make wedges.

PROFIT from private business and investment opportunities

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Get our Flagship 5 Day Oﬀshore Secrets Course at www.qwealthreport.com

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Q Wealth is the leading private membership site on oﬀshore asset protection, wealth creation, private banking and international retirement. Our expert insights and practical strategies can help you preserve and grow your wealth - and empower you to build a ﬁnancially free future.

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Q WEALTH LIMITED Suite 404 Albany House, 324-326 Regent Street London W1B 3HH, United Kingdom Phone: +44 20 3384 1993 UK unbound

Lifestyle y Westcoast

westcoast

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Sweden’s Västkust (Westcoast)

When one thinks of Sweden, depending on who you talk to, many different visions come to mind immediately: Blonde haired, blue eyed women, almost always in bikinis… meatballs & vodka are usually the first images.

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sweden’s capital is stockholm, one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Unfortunately, this is as far as most people get when talking about or even travelling to Sweden. For the PT, there is an alternative to the well worn path of your generic travel guide, where you can literally feel the vibe of a country and its people: the Västkust. We start in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city and Scandinavia’s largest port. It sits about half way between Copenhagen, Denmark and Oslo, Norway. Most tourists see it as a nice little stopover for a day or so on their way between the two countries. They’re also missing the heart and soul of Sweden’s west coast. Just an hour or so north of Gothenburg sits the island of Orust.

proper. They probably took what they needed from the Brits and hauled back to the homeland to catch the last month or so of summertime funtime. But festivities aside, the Swedes are a seafaring people. Sailing is a passion, going back to their Viking roots. It doesn’t matter if you have a dingy or a 50 footer, if you have wind, you sail, especially in the summertime. On any given day, the ocean highway that winds through the archipelago and on up into Norway is filled with boats of all types, from day sailors to families, to groups in multiboat armadas cruising to a different little harbor every day, drinking through the night, then setting sail for the next round of drinks awaiting them at the next port of call. From little seaside villages like Hällevksstrand, Gullholmen, and Mollösund, to Lysekil, Smögen, Fjällbaka and on up to Strömstad further north, it is like going back in time. It’s the sea at its finest, the weary sailor returning home, his little town on the horizon, a warm bowl of fish soup waiting for him and a nice hot cup of coffee to get the blood flowing again with a little schnapps to top it off for good measure. As summer comes to an end, the days get a little shorter, the sun not so bright and the winds of change start blowing again. It’s time for the final summer party. You find an excuse, any excuse, and the Swedes will make a national holiday out of it, especially when staring at 8 long months of gloom on the horizon. This is the time for Kräftor (Crayfish) parties. The recipe is simple: mounds and mounds of shellfish, lots of schnapps, some funny looking party hats and bibs, and traditional Swedish songs = the official “end of summer” party in Sweden. This is the Swedish west coast in the summertime. It is full of people trying to take advantage of the 3 or so months of good weather (at least, what the Swedes call good weather). Their spirits rise, the national pride comes out, and the full bloom of the land of the Viking beckons for the world to see. It is a time to feed your soul and lose yourself in a different culture with a rich history to offer for the PT.

It’s Sweden’s third largest island actually, although it doesn’t seem like an island in the classic sense of the word. The entire west coast is made up of thousands of little islands that make up the Swedish archipelago. As spring finally turns to summer, the Swedes take notice. It’s like the call of the African Serengeti to the grazing herds. That’s the way Scandinavians feel about the sun. After 8 months or so of dark, crappy weather, the sun gives a gigantic shot of adrenaline. The country awakens and there is a freshness and noticeable

vibe of excitement in the air. Now is the time to be in Sweden. A particularly festive event is midsummer, or the summer solstice. After 8 long months in the dark, it is feast time, and Swedes tend to cram as much of the good life into those fleeting summer months as is humanly possible. This would be the time of year that probably gives credence to the reputation of beautiful, blonde haired, blue eyed, Swedes running around naked with flowers in their hair. It’s probably why the Vikings never ventured further south into Europe

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Money

DRAFT

Decentralization Shift

As adoption of the ‘cloud’ increases, another technology trend rides along... A move towards decentralization of technology & information is paradoxically restoring ownership to the very people moving their data and applications up into that same nebulous cloud.

bitcoin (btc) is a digital currency; a computerized and decentralized form of currency. No one entity has complete control over its use, supply, or production. Based on Wikipedia, there is a total limit of how many bitcoins will be produced which is 21 million. Recent information suggests there are already 11 million “bitcoins” in circulation, which can be produced by anyone with a computer. Much like mining physical gold

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by leonine lee

in the gold rush of 1849, bitcoins have been mined digitally since 2009, using computers to run encryption algorithms. In other words, people use computers to mine bitcoins virtually. Bitcoin works through a distributed and decentralized peer to peer network. Using computer algorithms, this distributed network governs how long it would take for a computer to mine and produce a Bitcoin. As more Bitcoins are mined and come

intocirculation, the longer and harder it is to mine and produce another Bitcoin. The decentralized network makes it harder and harder as more and more come into the Bitcoin supply. This prevents any one person from monopolizing the artificially limited supply of bitcoins. Bitcoin is a decentralized, community driven system of monetary exchange, where the prevention in the increase in money supply is key to its existence and attractiveness. This can seem like a virtual video game and public adoption has taken time. In the past few years, there have also been wellpublicized cases of hackers breaking into the system and stealing bitcoins. Like all systems, it takes time to work the kinks out. The constant improvement and innovation will make adoption easier, and more importantly, boost trust and confidence in the system. New businesses have been built around the Bitcoin economy, from ATM machines, to pre-paid Visa/Mastercards, to merchant services. Bitcoins can be exchanged for both currency and precious metals. Near the end of 2012, Wordpress, an extremely well-known company which provides tools for easy website production and maintenance, announced it would begin accepting payment in bitcoins. A payment gateway company called Ripple (ripple.com) intends to make bitcoin payments easier than PayPal transactions. Ripple is new and still in the testing phase but the Bitcoin community is keeping an eye on this promising company. A generally accepted payment processing system for bitcoin will add tremendous value. Ripple also offers it’s own currency called Ripples (XRP) and has set a hard limit of 100 Billion units. In that regard, perhaps Ripple will be to silver as Bitcoin is to gold in the digital frontier. Decentralization has affected other companies in payment processing. Companies like Transferwise (transferwise. com), operating in Estonia and the UK, and Paymium (paymium.com) in France, are challenging the traditional banking system by offering extremely low cost money transfer fees, directly competing with the traditional international bank transfers. These companies are also

directly competing with PayPal as a payment method. As mentioned earlier, with new technology comes with security risks. Companies like BitInstant (bitinstant. com), which help facilitate exchange between Bitcoin and currencies, have been hacked into causing loss of clients’ Bitcoin accounts. To combat the ongoing online attacks; companies in the business of Bitcoin apply 2nd password layer protection for payment transfers, using Google Authenticator (which is like having a Token), SMS text or other

methods. Time will tell what systems prove trustworthy and earn confidence. Decentralization of money and payment systems has also influenced the social network community. Many new social networks are popping up, but one in particular took an extra step forward and made their entire social network, decentralized. Diaspora (joindiaspora. com) is a new social network with one twist, it allows you to completely own the information that you produce and create, and gives you full control of what to share. Unlike Facebook, Diaspora does not own any information you post or share and it is not the central authority for deciding what information should flow into the network. It lets the community members decide for themselves. There have been stories of Facebook shutting down certain company sites or posts for providing information Facebook finds in conflict with its policies. The founders of Diaspora believe they can help people socialize on the Internet without requiring ownership of other people’s information. Their members are allowed to decide for themselves what information they can provide and share. Diaspora’s social network operates without any fixed servers or data centers. There are many computers and servers all over the world, connected to each other that create the network. Diaspora claims that, unlike Facebook, even a company shutdown won’t stop their decentralized social network from running. A good analogy is to think of Diaspora as made up of member controlled mini-Facebooks, with local control of member’s shared and posted information. Both Bitcoin and Diaspora are decentralized open-source technologies for community building and growth. Their technology continually progresses and improves. Decentralization has even enabled communities to build up their own hubs and nodes of the Internet. Traditionally, Internet access is through Internet Service Providers (ISPs) typically communication companies such as cable and telephone providers or Google,Yahoo, or Cisco Networks. An upstart Kansas foundation is offering a solution where groups of people

DRAFT New businesses have been built around the Bitcoin economy, from ATM machines, to pre-paid Visa/ Mastercards, to merchant services.

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Money can become their own ISPs, bypassing the traditional ISPs completely. The Free Network Foundation’s philosophy “Anyone may join, use and expand the network, and must allow others to do the same.” “The Free Network Foundation envisions a world where communities build, maintain, and own their own share of the global computer network”. Using a collection of microwave dishes, small towns, communities, or groups of people can create a wireless Internet connection, hence powering a decentralized Internet. Along those same lines, Mycelium (bitcoincard.org) is powering a decentralized wireless network based upon a swarm of credit card sized communication devices self-organizing into their own communication network. The cards will need to be within about 300 meters of each other, and the company claims that the network is infinitely expandable, with a minimum of a few cards per city block to keep the network active. The cards are all powered by photovoltaic cells and communicate by radio in a license free spectrum. The current system goals include pushing personally directed advertising to potential customers, with the ability to charge the maximum the cardholders are willing to pay (price discrimination), based upon their purchase history and what other merchandise they are browsing. The cards will even let merchants know everywhere the cardholders went in their stores and how much time they spent in each place, as well as the sequence of stops. The cards should also allow direct card to card money transfers, and payments without the customers needing to remove the cards from their wallets or purses. The system is also planned to allow passing text messages and pictures. Decentralization is an old concept but is at the core these three aforementioned technologies: digital currency, social networking, and ultimately the Internet. Sometimes, when old school places the value of people above all else, old school doesn’t go out of style or relevance. Keep an eye out on the early adopters of these new technologies and new paradigm shift. They could later be the new trendsetters and change how business is conducted. Regardless of whatever new technologies come out in the next year, six months, or six minutes, technology will always change. That applies not only to technology, but also to decentralization, and ultimately life itself. You can either surf the unforgiving wave of change feeling utterly alive, or get crushed by it and slide away in the undertow. Technological decentralization is exploding the old traditional paradigms, giving people more choices, more possibilities, and ultimately more freedom. So go out and surf….

SpeakGeek? Tech terms explained for the rest of us.

API (Application Protocol Interface) – It is the 3.5mm connector that allows you to hook up your Bose Headset to your iPod. The STACK – It is a Hotel operation in the Internet. PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) – It is a phone scrambler that scrambles your conversation over the email instead of the phone.

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Expanded Definition

“API” - An API is a standard method of communicating with a specific computer service, or application. For example, "French" and "Spanish" can be thought of as API's for communicating with French and Spanish speaking people, respectively. When a computer services API is 'open' it is available to be used by anybody who cares to look up the specifications. Knowing the API is necessary to being able to let programs or services interact with each other. Microsoft was notorious for keeping their closed API's secret, (API's were routinely kept private from other divisions of the same company!) preventing other companies from making software that could interact well with MS programs and operating systems, thus reinforcing their own monopoly. Most companies today prefer open API's to get the most people possible using them, and thus generating revenue, like Facebook, Amazon and Google.

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“The STACK” – It is a combination of many programs fitting together (through API's) to do a job. All the large, famous web outfits 'webpages' nowadays are actually tens or dozens of programs all working together to make a simple looking webpage that does great things. Facebook, Bitcoin, PayPal, Amazon, eBay are all using very large and complicated 'stacks' of software to do the job. “PGP” – A program that will rewrite your documents and communications into secret code. This works exactly like the World War II enigma machine, except millions of times harder to crack, since computers have gotten a lot better since the 1930's. Deciphering the random looking jumble of letters, numbers and symbols requires either very advanced and expensive computers, or your cooperation, which can be obtained in unhappy ways. Anyone wanting a more in-depth lesson is invited to explore "cryptography". Warning: you cannot avoid math when exploring cryptography.

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Beating Back Big Brother

The secure private mindset by david evry

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It's a great pleasure to be asked to contribute an article for the premiere edition of a magazine dedicated to capturing the human spirit and limitless upside potential of free people. However, I have found it difficult to stay true to the positive course that Unbound has set forth while critically examining the state of Big Brother and his nefarious surveillance state. With the recent revelations (to some...) of NSA spying from hero/whistleblower Edward Snowden, then the cascading disclosures of surveillance programs of the US government with insider corporations, it's easy to feel hopeless that Big Brother's all seeing eye can ever be blocked.

Fortunately, there are many things one can do. Combining legal structures, a smart mix of investments, an understanding how technology is both an ally and enemy, and well developed â&#x20AC;&#x153;secure-private mindsetâ&#x20AC;&#x153;, an individual can become more free in our unfree world. The world consists of nothing more than artificial, complex systems that tightly regulate and control key areas of our lives

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and attack individual freedom. Complex systems are easier to defeat. These complex political, legal, financial and technical systems serve to maintain tight control over property, finances, freedom to travel, etc. Happily, these complex systems suffer mightily from their own complexity. Any sufficiently complex system can be circumvented with a good enough one understanding of its workings.

Just as any skilled programmer can hack into a government system, or a skilled mechanic can make most any vehicle run, or an excellent attorney can find a loophole for his client, all complex systems suffer from their own complexity. As long as there are politics, there will be sides to play off one another. As long as there are legal systems, there will be legal loopholes. As long as there is a financial system, there will be arbitrage opportunities and free (but possibly black) markets. As long as there is a technology-driven surveillance state, there will always be software glitches, bugs, points of poor integration and limitations countered by other technologies. Once you understand how these complex systems function, interact, and evolve, you have the tools at your disposal to resist having your property rights and freedom infringed upon. You use the complexity of the system itself as your ally. And that is how you beat back Big Brother.

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The secure-private mindset is all about seeingthe weaknesses in these complex systems so that you can take action to defend yourself,your property and your family against Big Brother's control mechanisms.

Gold and silver prices are based on speculation, and obviously, some manipulation. The strategic specialty metals are based on supply and demand and are used in over 80% of all products today. They have a relatively finite yearly supply to meet an ever increasing demand coming from emerging populations who want all the products that contain these metals. Emerging markets have billions of people who are on the ascent financially. They are the true engines of growth that will power the next stage of the global economy â&#x20AC;Ś and that stage will stretch across decades - Jeff D. Opdyke, Editor of Profit Seeker July 2013 To learn more about this program and how GWP readers can get free storage and free silver please contact SMI at 1-855 854 4679 or email them at : info@swissmetal.net

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Beating Back Big Brother Suffice it to say that obtaining or maintaining your freedom of person and property is no easy challenge in today's world. It's not even a singular event. It requires a wide range of knowledge and expertise of complex systems that must continually evolve as the systems evolve. It requires continuing education and relationships with experts in their respective fields of understanding each of these critical areas – and it's not something that ever stops. It's an evolving process. What's important, however, is that it is possible. People make the move to live free every day. You can live free and outside of the confines of each control point governed by the complexities of the political, legal, financial, and technological systems that serve almost no purpose today other than to restrict freedom. With the odor of the 2008 financial crisis still rancid in the air and the dark, foreboding cloud of the next financial crisis on the horizon, now is the time to begin guarding against the next likely event of governments seizing assets to fund their unsustainable policies and finances. As the recent spate of “bail-ins” illustrated by the events in Cyprus and showcased by government communications about how to handle the next financial crisis have shown, governments have a clear desire to ratchet up the level of spying on all people, including their own citizens. If spending largess is to be funded, it will be funded from the savings and assets of law-abiding citizens. From the governmental perspective, the need to track all citizens' assets, cash flows, and behaviors is becoming ever more critical, and the time frame before these governments need access to your assets to cover their debts is getting shorter. That means you must absolutely understand the methods of the surveillance state and take action to protect your privacy in all matters. It may be the single most important time in history to defend your privacy for the degree of your privacy is quickly becoming directly equivalent to your degree of freedom. It is no coincidence that there is a war against privacy. In this series of articles on Beating Back Big Brother, I will primarily focus on the surveillance state and the role of technology being used to control you, as well as the technological (and common sense) solutions to defend against the encroachment of Big Brother. In much the same way that freedom is 95% mental, so is defending against Big Brother. For example, as most freethinking individuals already know, Big Brother has little to

no ability to protect people from external threats. It is indeed the rare case for a police officer to stop a crime before it happens – they are always there afterward to file a report after the fact or are busy generating revenue for the state. For all of the illusion of security perpetuated by the US Department of Homeland Security, for example, they have never stopped any criminal action – any real threats have always been stopped by aware individuals. Why restrict bottles of liquid to 100 ml (3 ounces)? Wouldn't real terrorists simply send multiple people through the lines with several 100 ml bottles of explosive material and combine them on the other side of the security line? Why ban 16 ounce printer cartridges, but no 12 ounce cartridges (yes, this is a fact when you travel through the US)? Wouldn't real terrorists simply stand in the long security line caused by all of this security theater and detonate a bomb before going through security? Big Brother cannot keep anyone safe – the most it can do is make people feel safe. The real terror for Big Brother would be showing the public that they have no power, no ability to secure anything, and are simply a pariah on individual freedom. Shattering the illusion of security is what Big Brother fears. Recognizing the difference between what Big Brother says - “I will make you safe,” and what Big Brother does - “I will track and monitor everything everyone does so I can maintain power,” is the what developing the secure-private mindset is all about. To develop your own secure-private mindset is to see Big Brother's illusion of security for what it is, understand Big Brother's approach to surveillance and understand your own vulnerabilities to the surveillance state. It's a learned skill that will begin to make you view your world very critically and allow you to see the weaknesses in the complex system of surveillance that surrounds you. It takes time and practice to make it second nature, but soon it will come with no effort at all.

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Don't buy the illusions – look for the vulnerabilities.

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Questions and comments are always welcome at secure.mindset@cryptogroup.net

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DRAFT If you fly between Asia and North America, chances are you have spent some time in the City by the Bay. One of the most vibrant cities in North America, San Fran offers a unique California Pacific flavour: sophisticated counterculture, original music, world class sports, vivacious lifestyle and tantalizing wine. by marc s.

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24 Hours: SFO

DRAFT SFO Layovers

When it comes to layovers, most are left to decide between airport mainstays Chlis’, TGIFridays or a plethora of chains that just make you feel comfortable. Fortunately, we’re in San Francisco, however, ‘run of the mill chains’ do not cut it here. 24 Hours to stretch your legs, fill your belly, expand your comfort zone and soak up the cultural melting pot that is San Francisco.

your palate can travel the world in sf’s 49 square miles. Here are some tips for a quick stay you’ll pick up many more along the as San Franciscans’ love to share their favorite hang-outs with guests: On a trip to the Lower Haight, which severs as the more grown up and mature neighbor to the ’ peace and love’ Haight-Ashbury blocks, you will find one of the best beer selections in the world at Toronado. I recently visited with a guest from Belgium, who was able to find Belgian beers that he couldn’t at home. When the beer is half gone, it’s time for some food, so ask your bartender to keep an eye on your drink and head next door to for the best sausage sandwich this side of Munich at Rosamunde. Be prepared to choose between the beer sausage, Knocwurst, Duck and Fig, Wild Boar and Chicken Habanero. Naming all of the toppings would require another paragraph, so I’ll just recommend not overdoing it if you have to get back on the plane soon. The

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sausage stands on its own without needing too much help. It’s best to bring your sandwich back over to Toronado and enjoy the legendary food pairing of sausage and beer at its best (you did remember your half beer?). Though Toronaodo would be a good place to spend the rest of the day, it is a good idea to stretch the legs with a walk up Haight Street and check out the block that never moved past the ‘60s. It is a sight to see and you may even run into an old friend. Since you’ve earned another drink after this experience, you can stop by Hobson’s Choice for some rum punch or ChaChaCha for some sangria. If you stay in the neighborhood for another meal give Prada 22 a try, authentic Puerto Rican food at a great price. The fried chicken and plantains are worth the extra mile you’ll have to run when you get home.

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San Francisco has only one drawback - ’tis hard to leave. — Rudyard Kipling Time to head downtown to Union Square for a well made cocktail at the The Clift Hotel’s magnificent Redwood Room. For late night action visit Vessel, Infusion or Otis Lounge which are all a stones throw from any Union Square Hotel. If you are an excellent planner or just have someone looking after you the World Champion San Francisco Giants might be playing a 1 PM game at AT&T Park. Daytime baseball is America at its best and at this beautiful ballpark on the bay is in a league of its own. The pre and post game options have increased every year since the 11 year old park opened. Momo’s, Pedro’s and Polo Grounds are few bars where you will instantly feel like you are back at college party with your best friends. Even if the Giants aren’t in town, there’s still plenty to enjoy by day in the world’s best adult playground- San Francisco. Start at the Ferry Building at the end of Market St. You will find the specialty stores committed to food s such as chocolate, meat, ice cream, mushrooms, olives, cheeses and wines. The scene is busy with many good perches to watch the ferries come in and people watch but my favorite is at Hog Island Oyster Bar.

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24 Hours: SFO

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On a stroll or bike ride (you are never far from a place to rent a bike) you will pass the the cruise ship terminal, the Exploratorium, TCHO Chocolate Factory, America’s Cup Boat race headquarters and Pier 39 shops on your way to Fisherman’s Wharf. Fisherman’s Wharf is a popular tourist destination and sometimes shunned by locals as a ‘Tourist Trap’ but it should not be. Fresh seafood can be found on every corner with entertainers everywhere. When you reach the end of Jefferson St you have arrived at my favorite place in San Francisco- Aquatic Park and the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club. It is open to the public for $6.50 visitors’ fee. It has been there since 1877 and has extraordinary views of the bay. Seeing the wooden boats and pictures on the wall will give you a sense that the past is still here and that you are now a part of the history. I hope you brought your swim suit. Ask anyone walking around to point you in the right direction everyone is dying to give pointers and information. Sounds crazy to swim in 53 degree water, but if you can get through the first minute and a half it will be something to remember the rest of your life. After your swim it’s off to the sauna where you will receive countless more suggestions of places to eat and things to do from the club members warming up. The hardest part will be getting them to stop talking so you can catch your flight.

San Francisco is perhaps the most European of all American cities. — Cecil Beaton

Tarla Grill, situated in downtown Napa offers a straightforward yet sophisticated menu of Mediterranean, Greek and Turkish Fusion Cuisine. Come enjoy some cocktails and meze’s at the bar, catch the latest sports game, or enjoy brunch, lunch or dinner at one of our intimate tables.

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Tarla Grill is sure to satisfy even those with the most discernible palates. Allow us to share this dining and cultural experience with you in a refreshing change of cuisine that will shake up your taste buds...

707.255.5599 | 1480 First Street | Napa | tarlagrill.com 36

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24 Hours: SFO

DRAFT Enjoying Napaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Finest Sips and bites off the beaten track

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Few trips to the Bay Area are complete without a stopover in wine country. Napa has about 500 wineries and with of restaurants ranging from burger joints and oyster specialists to high-end French dining. There are new hotels opening up all the time. Transportation is available both to and inside the Valley. The best options include renting a car or hiring a limousine for the slightly more than an hour ride up from the City. Ferries also service Vallejo, approximately a half an hour south of the town of Napa.

by liza b. zimmerman

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24 Hours: SFO

The Napa Valley has an enormous amount of sub-climates, wine styles and producers. Guests can sample everything from big, tannic Cabernet Sauvignons to cool-climate Sauvignon Blancs and crisp, sparkling wine. What you can do in a day or a weekend will depend on what types of wines you want to taste and if you want to take in views and stunning architecture. I am offering a handful of classic suggestions in all categories:

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The Classic: Domaine Carneros looks like a French Château perched on a hill just outside of Napa. Enjoying the house’s bubbly on the terrace on a sunny day is divine. They also offer super-informative tours on the sparkling wine production process. The Stunner: Castello di Amorosa was built by Daryl Sattui in 2007. He brought Italian builders over to recreate a 107-room castle with faux frescos (and a moat in case the winery across the street “Sterling invades,” he jokes). The winery makes some delicious Italian grape varietal-based wines. It may be better to visit during the week because of the hordes of tourists that can descend on the property.

The small family winery: The Buoncristiani brothers have been producing wine in Napa since 1999. The establishment is run by four brothers who are ambitiously constructing a huge underground wine cave on a hill slightly north of the town of Napa. The 20,000 foot space will be called “The Caves at Soda Canyon” and will feature the wines of three producers. The “Buon Brothers” have always excelled at blends, like their splendid OPC—short for Ol’ Pa’s Cuvee—a mix of Bordeaux red varietals blended with Syrah. They also make a great Sauvignon Blanc and when the cave opens—targeted for September and by appointment only—it is going to make for a stunning event and tasting space.

Life is too short for bad wine.

The Educational Tour for Wine Geeks: Robert Mondavi’s signature winery has long been a classic house of pilgrimage in the Napa Valley. As an educator, I have always sent students here for the amazing tour of the gardens and chance to taste, and look at, the bounty of grape varietals in the vineyard. The tour is informative, intimate and allows guests to sample quite a few of the winery’s vintages.

A Passion of Four Brothers the buoncristiani brothers are bonded not only by blood, but also by a shared passion, vision, and dedication for handcrafting ultra premium wines that accentuate the enjoyment of life.

We are four young brothers - Matt, Jay, Aaron & Nate - who were born and raised in the Napa Valley from a long lineage of Italian winemakers and wine lovers. We, the Buoncristiani brothers, take pride in performing all aspects of enology, viticulture, wine production, and art design in order to share with you a true expression of our winemaking passion. Our motto is quality not quantity and we craft our wines without compromise. Handcrafting these limited production wines ourselves allows for the utmost attention to detail of every drop of every gallon in each barrel.

founded in

1999 by four brothers native tto the napa valley — born of multiple italian generations rooted in the culture of wine and food.

The Make-an-Appointment with a Producer Visit: Too many guests to Napa, or any winegrowing region in general, are hesitant to reach out to wineries that aren’t generally open to the public. They are missing out on some great opportunities: including a chance to taste wines with the owners; experience older vintages; and the ability to taste, and discuss, in relative peace and quiet. Cathy Corison is a fantastic producer of Cabernet Sauvignons and Cabernet Franc, and the winemaker is often present at the winery. A phone call is all it takes to gain entrance and you may be the only person at the tasting bar. www.buonwine.com

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24 Hours: SFO

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Everything is better with Napa.

Where to eat, drink and enjoy the scenery in the Napa Valley: Restaurants abound in both the town of Napa and along both arteries into the Upper Valley (and the towns of St. Helena and Calistoga) which are Route 29 and the Silverado Trail. Luxurious French food is easy to find, while other cuisines, great views and the occasional cocktails aren’t.

The Cocktail Destination: Goose & Gander, which took over a classic restaurant space on a downtown street in St. Helena, has a classic small-plates menu. The restaurant, located on two floors with an outdoor patio, also has a San Francisco cocktail master at the helm. Scott Beattie, known for having created the legendary bar program at Cyrus in Healdsburg, runs the downstairs bar program. His focus on local and fresh ingredients incorporates vegetables, herbs and flowers which deck the bar.

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DRAFT The Alternative Dining Place: Having lived in Napa I always craved alternative culinary flavors, which are few and far between. Tarla, a Turkish-inspired restaurant in Napa, has upped the ante by providing Mediterranean-influenced dishes—think lots of chick peas and lamb—as well as classic Turkish ones and a great and well-priced wine list.

The Classic Italian: Michael Chiarello’s La Bottega has been heralded since it opened in 2008. I tend to be suspicious of chefs with multiple operations—and TV appearances—but this guy (and his chefs) can really cook. The restaurant features classic and new interpretations on Italian dishes in the charming city of Yountville. The patio is divine and heated.

The View: Despite all the hills in the Napa Valley, few places have as beautiful a view as Auberge du Soleil on the Silverado Trail. You can have a glass of wine at the bar or on the patio with a small plate. The restaurant offers wraps for the ladies when a cool wind blows and offers a fantasticlocal wine list.

Don’t Miss: Buying strawberries on the Silverado Trail, there’s a little shack on the right-hand side of the road, if you are heading south, just before you hit Trancas and after Soda Canyon Road. These are the freshest and sweetest in the Bay Area. She also sells cherries and vegetables when in season.

Liza Zimmerman has been writing, educating and consulting about wine, cocktails and food for two decades. She has also worked almost every angle of the wine and food business: from server and consultant to positions in distribution, education and sales. Her approach to wine education, coverage and training is savvy, down to earth and unpretentious. Zimmerman is one of a very limited number of career magazine editors in the education field.

She focuses on demystifying wine and transforming it into a daily joy and tool for business and networking for her clients and readers. She has visited all the world’s major wine growing and spirits producing regions—50 plus countries and counting—is one of several hundred people in the U.S. to hold the Diploma of Wine & Spirits (D.W.S.), the three-year program that is the precursor to the Master of Wine. Her work and contact information can be found at www.lizathewinechick.com. unbound

24 Hours: SFO

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Layovers don’t have to suck. Recently, on a long wait between flights, I was lucky enough to catch northern California based Groundation, playing a sort of homecoming show at the Independent. They had just finished up a USA tour and were happy to be home. Leading the way in a resurgence of Roots Reggae on the West Coast, the band has cultivated a large following around the western world.

The high energy and almost spiritual atmosphere of a Groundation performance.

fronted by the enigmatic harrison stafford, the band uses only the same instruments as were present in the first wave reggae of Jamaica. “No digital, we don’t work with synthesizers. Just like in the 1970s we stick to that format.” The music’s flow centers on the spiritual side of life with a definite Rastafari style. Although strongly planted in the fundamentals of earlier reggae artists, the progressive fusion style of Groundation, smoothly meshes jazz and latin styles with roots and dub reggae.

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Where many bands are often made to spotlight the lead artist, Groundation is a collaboration of unique, inspired musicians. The concert randomly weaves it way through spectacular jazz style trumpet and trombone solos adding a soulful energy to the crowd. Drums and percussion jump to the forefront as the rhythms take hold. The bass line and the keyboard tones guided me throughout the show. The chorus girls, often a dancing sideshow in many bands, take the limelight, directing the show with soulfully deep vocals and solos. The individually harmonic, almost shaman like, voice of the lead singer, rivals some of legends of reggae. I’ve been listening to reggae music since my childhood and have seen some of the greats during my life. This slightly chilled night in SF with two of my best friends, we experienced “Groundation perform as complete musical experience.” It was undoubtedly one of the best reggae shows I have ever attended.

www.groundation.com

The intoxicating melodic yet twangy wailing of Harrison Stafford seamlessly unites the bands energy.

The Independent San Francisco has been an epicenter of influential music for generations. For the past 30 years the venue at 628 Divisadero in the NOPA district has been one of the greatest locals to catch some of the best emerging and underground performances. Currently called the Independent, the club is a basic cube, with a bar in the back and a goodsized stage in front. No frills here, just a simple concert hall to feature the music and the musicians. unbound

Music

Movement

From Salsa and Marangue, Soca and Calypso; the Caribbean has been a cauldron of international music. In the 1960’s, Ska, the jazz influenced music that dominated Jamaica, evolved slowly, and slowed down into one of the most influential music styles from the islands: Reggae.

Rastafari is not a highly structured religion, but a Way of Life. Here are some basic terms of the Rasta path: Jah – God. Rastafari holds to many Jewish and Christian beliefs and accepts the the existence of a single god.

Reggae

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roots deep although there were many artists experimenting with unhurried tones mixed with Rastafari spirituality, daily life and struggles of poverty, none was as influential the Wailers. Originally formed as a Ska group, they trailblazed the development of reggae. With the help of producers like Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, and led by icons Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, the band expanded Jamaica’s global musical influence, which peaked in the 70’s. A second wave of reggae left the warm Caribbean and hit the more northern (and much colder) islands of the United Kingdom. England’s economic struggles late 70’s led to aggressive punk music; a faster, less structured version of rock. Punk’s focus on the urban struggles, resistance to government and political oppression was very similar to reggae’s, and the two very distinct music styles began to foster each other. Leading influential punk band, The Clash, began incorporating reggae beats and rhythms, and reggae continued to grow. The Police originally formed as a reggae influenced band. Soon the reggae-ska movement gave birth to rudeboys, The Specials, English Beat,

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and The Selecter. Heavily produced reggae contemporary, UB40 went mainstream, creating new fans globally. With plenty of islander transplants such as Pato Banton, England’s roots with Jamaica have always shown through, but the irie vibe was already growing across the pond. Just as Punk music grew organically and independently in New York City, reggae also grew in the island communities of the Big Apple. California’s surf and hippie culture provided fertile soil for the island sound. When famous recording star Eek-A-Mouse relocated to San Diego the writing was on the wall. Reggae had taken root on both coasts. The Caribbean continues to be the heart of the reggae movement, but it has now gone global. Constant concert touring of icons, Burning Spear, Yellowman, Black Uhuru, Third World, and Steel Pulse have created millions of fans from Europe to Japan. Today, a new breed of reggae continues to sweep the world. The music from Groundation, Matisyahu, Slightly Stoopid, Collie Buddz and SOJA, is creating a new generation of fans.

Haile Selassie – With direct genealogical ties to King Solomon, the former Emperor of Ethiopia (1892 –1975) is worshipped as God incarnate, the reincarnation of Jesus Christ or God’s chosen king on earth.

John Browns Body

f groundation is leading the way in the west, then john brown’s Body rules the Eastern USA. An experienced jam band firmly planted in reggae, this distinctively American northeastern group has been touring the world since 2003 promoting their “Future Roots Music” sound. On a recent trip, I caught JBB playing a local club in a ski town. Although it was well below zero outside, the show highlighted their progressive sound and superb talents blending contrasting styles from old school roots to modern electronic dubstep (and a bit of everything in between) keeping the predominantly granola snowboard and ski crowd www.johnbrownsbody.com warm and grooving all night.

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Bible - Rastafarians accept much of the Bible, although believe that its message has been corrupted by Babylon. Babylon – The degenerate society of materialism, oppression, and sensual pleasures. Zion - reference to Ethiopia, the birthplace of mankind , the Promised Land and Heaven on Earth

Health – The body is a temple and the Rastafari place much emphasis on a healthy lifestyle with many living a vegetarian or vegan diet. Alcohol and other drugs, are looked down upon as a corruption of Babylon which destroy the mind

Cannabis - Smoking “the healing of the nation” (marijuana ganja , herb, weed, sinsemilla), is a spiritual act, which cleans the body and mind, heals the soul, exalts the consciousness, facilitates peacefulness, brings pleasure, and brings them closer to Jah. Lion - A symbol of Royalty, The Lion of Judah is an important symbol. Red Yellow Green – Red is said to signify the blood of martyrs, green the vegetation and beauty of Ethiopia, and gold the wealth of Africa. The colors are present on many Caribbean flags Dreadlocks – growing natural, matted locks is a journey of the mind, soul and spirituality Irie (“eye-ree”) - a term used to denote acceptance, positive feelings, or to describe something that is good.

When is a Dogg a Lion?

ho am i (what’s my name)? after a recent sabbatical to jamaica to get in touch with his African roots, Snoop (Doggy) Dogg has now reinvented himself as the reggae artist - Snoop Lion. Citing his children as his inspiration (he won’t perform his profanity laced rapping in front of them) Snoop has jumped into the reggae world. With Reincarnation, a new album and accompanying documentary movie out in 2013, Snoop Lion is looking to a new genre to conquer the charts once again. Using his trendsetting lyrical style and unmistakable voice to the spread a positive rasta energy, Snoop is in uncharted waters. However, no matter what his name is, it still “ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none.” www.snooplion.com

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Music

Bankie Banx

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Bankie Banx is one of the undisputed reggae leaders of the West Indies. Born and currently living in Anguilla, Bankie has been inspiring reggae fans for more than 5 decades. His band, The Roots and Herbs, have recorded numerous albums scoring many chart topping songs.

his beach bar, the dune perserve, located

on south coast of Anguilla, was voted the #1 Beach Bar in the world by CNN Travel and is home to the Moonsplash festival. Moonsplash, which Bankie cofounded in ’91, is now one of the premier music festivals of the Eastern Caribbean. A top showcase for vintage reggae acts and emerging talent, headline performers have included: Steel Pulse, Third World, Inner Circle, Buju Banton, Gregory Isaacs, Culture, Toots & The Maytals, Jimmy Buffett, Black Uhuru and many others of note. I recently sat down with the “Anguillan Bob Dylan” legend for dinner and cocktails while he shared some thoughts…

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DRAFT Anger must be harnessed to create a positive energy that thrives.

Early Reggae in the Caribbean: When everything started going, it was crazy. There was no place to perform, no equipment. Marley and Tosh - they couldn’t put on a concert in the Caribbean, there was no place for them to play, only the big festivals could handle them. There wasn’t a lot of concerts in the West Indies. We had to travel with all of our equipment flying from island to island. We had to go everywhere with amps, speakers, everything – those were some crazy times. The Caribbean was a different place back then people weren’t always ready (for

the music). I remember the first concert we did in Nevis, we had all this smoke made from dry ice to start the show. People had never seen that, they thought the place was on fire and most of them ran out. After a while people came back in and got into the music. They loved it, but it was really different back then. Anger and Emotions: We all have ups and downs, but you have to control it. Don’t express yourself when you are mad. Don’t share that energy with the world. Anger must be harnessed to create a positive energy that thrives.

Politics: Once I got involved to help improve the conditions for some foreign construction workers, it was horrible. They were almost being treated as slaves, horrible food, horrible conditions. We organized a protest and got things changed. After that people asked me to go into politics on the island, not me, I don’t put governments together. I take them apart. Todays Music: There are some great musicians today, great talent with great exposure to the world’s cultures. Unfortunately corporate

Moonsplash 2014 will be held March 13-16.

culture has made pawns of many of them. I think that people should be able download all the music they can. Music is about sharing culture and life. Unfulfilled dreams: I want to get on a boat and sail the whole Caribbean; I mean the whole thing. Leave from here, head towards Jamaica, Caymans, Central America, down to Panama, Venezuela, then all the way back. Just go see it how it was meant to be seen. www.bankiebanx.net

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West Indies Travel

4 independent countries. 9 unique islands. Always a good time.

Get your lime onâ&#x20AC;Śin the

DRAFT The rich history of the former British Colonies in the eastern Caribbean calls of another time with of tales of ancient swashbuckling pirates and European forces clashed over sugar plantations, spices and deserted islands. Uniquely located on the edge of the Atlantic, far from both North and South American continents the three sovereign nations of St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica and Grenada offer special blend full of independent culture, island rhythms, and tropical paradise.

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Beers unBound When in Rome, do as the Romans. When traveling, try different beer. Here are some of our favorites from recent travels...

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Encounter Paradise... VA N UA LE V U, F I J I

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In a remote setting that defines paradise, Koro Sun Resort & Rainforest Spa immerses you in a genuine Fijian experience that’s nirvana to the core. In the unspoilt native north on ‘Fiji’s other big island’ of Vanua Levu, this 160-acre sanctuary was born of a nature

lover’s dream. This tropical retreat is etched within a coconut plantation, encircled by lush rainforests at the edge of a stunning private lagoon.

2107

USD

7 Nights Accommodation & Meals Prices start at $2107. Double occupancy + tax. Based on an Ocean View Bure, inclusive of transfers to/from Savusavu airport, three gourmet meals daily, & non-motorized resort activities.

1 .87 7.KOROSUN | KOROSUNRESORT.COM | VANUA LEVU, FIJI

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Caribbean West Indies Second only to the Mediterranean, the Caribbean is nirvana for the sailing and boating world, either in a traditional sloop (left) or a luxury yacht (below).Portsmouth bay The laughing of a local child. Tropical flowers cover the island.

Bahamas Cuba Dominican Rep. Jamaica

Haiti Puerto Rico West Indies

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The Caribbean is locatedsouth-east of the Gulf of Mexico and North America, east of Central America and to the north of South America and takes its name from the Carib, an indigenous tribe of the region. Situated on the Caribbean Plate, the region actually comprises of more than 7,000 islands, most are unpopulated and these islands are collectively called the West Indies.

many of the residents are descendants from the West African slave ships, brought to work in sugar plantations and as slavery ended, they unsurprisingly decided to remain in these paradisel ike conditions. The culture, religions and languages of each country /dependency are unique, due to the different ruling influences during theslavery period. For example, the islands of: Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe have a very rich French heritage; while Cuba and Puerto Rico are strongly Spanish based. These influences extend to the food with African, Spanish, Chinese, and East Indian flavours battling it out for tastebud prominence. Spices, peppers and many different types of herbs(seasonings) are heavily used to prepare most meals. Popular dishes are jerk chicken, fried flying fish, seafood, including 35 species of lobster, prepared in many different ways, and stewed peas and beans, like pigeon peas. Roti,which is East Indian based, contains curries and spices. Callaloo soup, whichis

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DRAFT made of dasheen leaves/spinach, okra and sometimes crabs, and was recently voted as a contender for Dominica’s national dish due to the near extinction of ‘mountain chicken’. The latter actually being crapaud, a local species of frogwith unusually large and delicious legs! Thanks to the filming here of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, The Thomas Crown Affair and Speed 2 toname but a few and not forgetting James Bond’s adventures in Jamaica as Dr.No, coupled with music ranging from Billy Ocean’s ‘Caribbean Queen’ to 10 cc’s‘ Dreadlock Holiday’ the region now enjoys a celebrity vibe. Back to its musical roots, some of the morepopular local styles of music are reggae, soca, calypso, salsa, rhumba, chutney

& pan music,culminating in music festivals throughout the islands attracting international artistes. The Caribbean attracts not only vacationers but also the savvy business investor and the adventure seeker exploring both luxury resorts plus the eternal quest to discover the undiscovered, for example, Terre-De-Haut, Îles Des Saintes, Carriacou, Grenada and Anegada, in the British Virgin Islands, to name but a few. Wherever you may go, immerse yourself in the Caribbean way, take time to say ‘Good Day’ and above all remember it’s all about the journey and a likkle (sic) bit of patience and humour is essential before reaching your final destination. by fiona sawyers

above:

The love of life is expressed in the festive culture of the Islands opposite page: Strong roots in Christianity are conveyed through the hundreds of historic churches doting the islands, like St. George’s Angelican in Basseterre, St. Kitts.

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Eastern Caribbean St. Maarten St. Barts

why we like the west • Incredible natural surroundings – clear waters, indies lush vegetation.

St Kitts & Nevis

• Close to and yet very far from both North/ South America and Europe. • Spicy and delicious food from the land and the sea.

west indies

Antigua & Barbuda

US$1 = EC$2.7 – The English speaking nations of the West Indies share the same currency (XCD). The Eastern Caribbean Dollar, or simply “EC” making travel in the region easier on the wallet. US$ are also accepted in most places – but you will most likely get your change in EC.

Monterrat

Guadeloupe

• Dynamic Culture: Each island is complexly different, yet vaguely the same.

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• Great offshore legislation, 2nd Citizenships, and private banking.

Dominica Martinique

St. Lucia

International Relations St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada and Dominica are full participating members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Lime

St. Vincent

Grenada

Total Area Population* GDP Language Independence from UK Main Islands

St. Kitts & Nevis

Antigua & Barbuda

Dominica

Grenada

Basseterre

St. Johns

Roseau

St. George's

261 km / 104 mi

440 km / 170 mi

750 km / 290 mi

344 km / 133 mi

75,000

100,000

75,000

110,000

US$900 Million

US$1.2 billion

US$1 billion

US$825

English

1983

1981

1978

1974

St. Kitts Nevis

Antigua Barbuda Redonda

Dominica

Grenada Carriacou Petit Martinique

LIME = to relax, chill, party MENONO = I don’t know Gatdatdo = Getitdone Relish = meat Ayah = here

Universities – The West Indies play host to numerous international universities that specialize in Medical and Veterinarian studies.The students from around the world play a big part in the social and economic well being of the island nations.

Get your lime on. Have a good lime.Spend the day liming. Anyway you sayit; relaxing with friends, or having a rum punch on the beach – Liming is an essential to West Indieslife.

geography & DEMographics:

Capital City

DRAFT English... with a twist British style English is spoken throughout most of the West Indies... but there defiantly is an island accent and multiple dialects.

Taste the West Indies – Local food, often from the sea, is spiced with African, Spanish, Chinese, and East Indian influences

Cricket – Some of the world’s premier cricketers are from the West Indies, where thesport reigns as king. The WestIndian cricket team, which represents the 15 mainly English-speaking Eastern Caribbean countries,has won the ICC Cricket World Cup twice (1975, 1979)the ICC World Twenty20 once (2012), the ICC Champions Trophy once(2004).

* approx

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Caribbean West Indies Often called the greatest show on earth with thousands of revelers shuffling and dancing in time in a mesmerising sea of shifting colour. The music, played by bands sitting on 20ft stacks of speakers loaded on lorries, is incredibly loud, and compulsive. People dance for days. Carnival is an explosive joy, a massive Caribbean blow-out and it is well worth attending if you happen to be on island at the time, or even worth making a special trip for. It is one of the great Caribbean experiences.

Imagine waking up to a view over 400 acres of fertile tropical farmland in the north of St. Kitts.

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carnival in the islands

however, the best thing about caribbean carnivals, those in the British islands at least, is that you can join in. You turn up ahead of time, buy your t-shirt, and you can join the parade. The dancing is not difficult mainly the ‘chip’, a sort of flex-kneed left and right shuffle but it is certainly saucy. Carnival in Grenadais held every year for 10 days in August. Originally, the festivities were held a few days before the start of Lent, just like Mardi Gras but recently it moved to August to celebrate their emancipation. Being the hottest month of the year doesn’t seem to dampen the spirits either! The colourful costumes, music, dance, parades, food and plenty of rum has influenced other Caribbean carnivals. Carnival, or 'The Real Mas' as it’s known in Dominica, is a pre-Lenten festival, and usually falls in February or March each year and spans a month of activities. The Queen Contestants, Calypsonians, Princess Show Contestants, the most popular bands, people in sensay costumes, the 'Blackies', stilt walkers (moko jumbies), cheerleaders, and many more people parade through the

streets in a kaleidoscope of colours, encouraged by a huge and very noisy crowd of on-lookers. For the history of the Antiguan Carnival, you have to step back in time to 1st August 1834 when slavery was abolished. People immediately celebrated by taking to the streets to celebrate their freedom and express their joy and happiness. Over the years there was a return to this informal celebration until 1957 when the first official Antiguan Carnival was organised. Since then the festival has developed into 10 days ofmusic, dance and partying, with street marches, jump-ups and formal evening shows – calypso, pan, and Carnival Queen pageants – always around the last week in July to the first week in August. There's no better way to enjoy St. Kitts over the holidays than by attending the St. Kitts & Nevis carnival. Carnival begins in mid-December and spans three fun-filled weeks of pageants, parades, and bacchanalian splendour, culminating with the Grand Carnival Parade on New Year's Day. The carnival is the only one in theCaribbean that blends the spirit of Christmas with the colourful display of the Federation's culture and African heritage. Enjoy!

DRAFT Imagine a community that stretches from high on the slopes of Mount Liamuiga to the Caribbean Sea below. A sustainable development, designed by world-famous architect Bill Bensley and built by local craftsmen, Kittitian Hill is unique. Imagine everything you could wish for – private villas, cottages and suites, a destination spa, our own organic farms, bars, farm-to-table restaurants, shops and an open-air cinema in the Village. A sustainable 18-hole championship golf course, designed by Ian Woosnam, completes the picture.

Sustainable Luxury Living

Kittitian Hill, St. Kitts & Nevis, West Indies +1 869 466 1712 (St. Kitts)

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Owning a property at Kittitian Hill offers you the opportunity to become a St. Kitts and Nevis citizen. • All properties are fully managed by Sedona Resorts, the world class resort operator • Every unit has been approved for Citizenship-by- Investment with prices starting at US $400,000 • Our Investor Option provides a guaranteed net return of 4% of the purchase price for the first 5 years • Every owner receives a complimentary membership to the Preferred Residences global exchange program • The application and purchase process is fast and secure using an international escrow agent

+44 (0) 7967 514 607 (UK)

sales@kittitianhill.com kittitianhill.com unbound

Caribbean West Indies St. Kitts & Nevis

St. Kitts & Nevis Cockleshell Beach, on the south side of St. Kitts lures tourists and locals alike with shallow clear waters and tasty beach restaurants.

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Charlestown

Nevis

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These two islands are the Caribbeanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oldest colonised territories and the Carib people were on island when Columbus explored it in 1493. He named it after his patron saint, St Christopher and later is was shortened to St. Kitts, his nickname. It was considered the mother colony with the locals known as Kittitians and Nevisians respectively. Basseterre is the capital located in St. Kitts.

the british settled on st. kitts & nevis in 1623 and in 1672 the French settled on St Kitts with Anglo-French rivalry spanning 100 years. A crucial British victory over the French at Brimstone Hill in 1782, gave the British control until its independence in 1983. The main industry of St Kitts and Nevis consists of tourism, sugar processing, salt and cotton and the people here mostly cultivate rice, sugarcane, yams, vegetables and fish. Both islands are volcanic with a warm, wet climate and sandy beaches. Since the 1970s, tourism has replaced sugar as the traditional mainstay of the economy. Following the 2005 harvest, the government closed the sugar industry, after several decades oflosses. To compensate for lost jobs, the government has embarked on a programmeto diversify the agricultural sector and to stimulate other sectors of the economy, such as export-oriented manufacturing and offshore business. by fiona sawyers

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Each island maintains certain independent regulation; Nevis in particular has established respected parameters for offshore financial services.

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The undeveloped beach at Majors bay. Kittitians are always willing to share a story and a laugh. The first view many see of St. Kitts is Basseterre from above. The roots of an old growth tree on Mt. Nevis expanding in alien-like fashion.

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st. kitts Hot Spots

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The Brimstone Hill Fortress Known as the Gibraltar of the West Indies, is now a UNESCO World Heritagesite and is a must see during your visit. Prepare to have your breath takenaway by the views.

St. Kitts is the wilder ofthe sister islands: Don’t miss Reggae Beach - the place to chillax and at nightdon’t miss the undisputed no.1 hotspot The Strip on Frigate Bay for dancing and party lovers.

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Watch out for African green,or “vervet” monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) who have lived on the islands forover 300 years, and may outnumber the humans.

Come FLY With Us!

The newest and most intense watersport experience has come to St. Kitts...

TRY FLYBOARDING TODAY! * Easy to Learn - Learn to fly in as little as 15 minutes in a safe environment with our expert Flyboarding staff that will guide you every step of the way! * Flexible Programs - We offer programs to suit every skill level with 30, 45 and 60 minute sessions! * Fun & Exciting - Experience the sensation of flight as water jets thrust you up to 30ft high!

St. Kitts is roughly: 1,200 miles from Miami 1600 miles from New York 4,000 miles from London 45 minutes by plane from Puerto Rico.

Call to book your sessions today!

1.869.762.3543

www.StKittsKiteboarding.com info@stkittskiteboarding.com Facebook.com/StKittsFlyboarding

Nevis Hot Spots

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Mt. Nevis

is often covered with a small white cloud, which can look like snow from passing ships… thus“Nevis” comes from the Spanish word “Nieves” or snow, but good luck.finding any snow

In an effort to go green, The WindWatt Wind Farm, an independent power producer, is a joint venturebetween Canadian and Nevisian firms and commenced operations in 2010. There arealso plans for Geothermal energy production in this ecoconscience island.

Hiking Mount Nevis Peak,referred to locally as here. "The Trail," is one of the Caribbean’s tougherhikes. Climb to the 3,500-foot-high crater rim of Mount Nevis' dormant volcano.Again, you can enjoy a spectacular view, if the clouds are absent!

The first Anglican Church inthe Caribbean, and the oldest church on Nevis, St. Thomas' was built in 1643.It is located on the main road about three miles north of Charlestown, and wasbuilt to serve the town of Jamestown, the island's original capital thatdisappeared. The church is perched high on a hill overlooking St. Kitts.

Alexander Hamilton - Founding Father of the USA, was born in Nevis, 1755.

DRAFT Set on a stunning 160 hectare (400 acre) hillside, Kittitian Hill is a milestone sustainable resort, with a unique creative edge. The resort offers beautifully designed luxury villas, charming cottages and suites, 18-hole championship golf course designed by Ian Woosnam, a luxurious destination spa and “The Village”, where you can find an excellent selection of dining and entertainment options including bars, restaurants, duty free shops, a cinema, a library and an amphitheatre. Every property offers magnificent panoramic views of St. Eustatius, Saba, St. Martin and St. Barths, along with spectacular sunsets and dramatic views of the Caribbean Sea.

Kittitian Hill, St. Kitts & Nevis, West Indies unbound

Our properties are ideally suited for persons wishing you apply for St. Kitts and Nevis citizenship, by investing in real estate. • All properties are freehold and are fully managed by Sedona Resorts, a world class resort operator • Every unit has been approved for Citizenship-by- Investment with process starting at US$400,000 • The Investor Option provides a guaranteed net return of 4% of the purchase price for the first 5 years • Every owner is offered complimentary membership to Preferred Residences global exchange program • The application and purchase process is secure and fast using an international escrow agent

+1 869 466 1712 (St. Kitts)

sales@kittitianhill.com

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Caribbean West Indies Antigua & Barbuda

Antigua & Barbuda Even after a day of nonstop beach activities, even the sun has to set on Dickenson Bay Beach.

Bahamas Cuba Dominican Rep. Jamaica

Haiti

Barbuda

Puerto Rico West Indies

St. John's

Antigua

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Antigua is approximately 14 miles by 11 miles wide with a coastline peppered with numerous coves and bays, many with beautiful white sand beaches. The south west corner is quite hilly, rising to 402 metres at the island’s highest point. Barbuda, a low lying coral island located 32 miles north of Antigua has a land area of approximately 64 square miles and encompasses the expansive Codrington lagoon, which is bound by a long undeveloped beach.

amerindians were the early settlers on the island, calling it ‘Wadadli’, meaning ‘our own’ with Christopher Columbus later naming it Antigua after an icon in the Seville Cathedral. The early European colonies of Antigua and Barbuda were from Spain, France and England In 1632, a group of English colonists left St. Kitts to settle on Antigua. Sir Christopher Codrington, an Englishman, established the first permanent European settlement. From that point on, Antigua history took a dramatic turn. Codrington guided developmenton the island as a profitable sugar colony. For a large portion of Antigua history, the island was considered Britain's "Gateway to the Caribbean".It was located on the major sailing routes among the region's resource-rich colonies. Lord Horatio Nelson, a major figure in Antiguan history, arrived in the late 18th century to preserve the

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Despite its small population, Antigua has given the world some of the best cricketers including Sir Vivian Richards, Richie Richardson, Andy Roberts and Curtly Ambrose.

DRAFT island's commercial shipping prowess. Nelson got married here also. Apparently he liked the "wedding package" of wife - Frances 'Fanny' Nisbet, the widowed daughter-in-law of a Nevis plantation family, the Nisbets. You canstill have dinner in Nisbet Plantation's great house, which was the Nisbet family's residence. Antigua and Barbuda became a self-governing state in the British Commonwealth in 1967 and gained full independence in 1981. by fiona sawyers

clockwise from top:

Contrasting colours spring to life everyday on the Antiguan coastline. A small church located on the road to English Harbour. Jolly Beach always gets a thumbs-up as one of the most aweinspiring beaching in the region.

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Antigua & Barbuda Hot Spots

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365 Beaches!

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Spectacular white sand beached dot the island… One for everyday of the year. Besides the island’s amazing white powder beaches, visits should include the historical Nelson’s Dockyard National Park, a hike up to Shirley Heights from English Harbour and Devil’sBridge - a natural limestone arch at the meeting point of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The highest point of Antigua(402 metres or1,319 ft)was renamed Mount Obama in 2009 after the first black USA President. The USA’streatment of the West Indies and especially Antigua in recent years has many locals asking for the name changed backto its original; Boggy Peak.

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With various bays and harbours, Antigua is already a major boating hub for yachting enthusiasts. Every April, four days of racing mark the end of the classic sailing season in the Caribbean, bringing together dozens of classic and vintage ketches, sloops, schooners and yawls, to create an extraordinary spectacle.

Global Commerce Bank 1/2 page ad

The tiny uninhabited island of Redonda, now a nature reserve, is part of the islands and was an important source of phosphates with removal of these taking place between 1869 and the beginning of the First World War, when the last inhabitants left the island.

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Caribbean West Indies DOMINICA

DOMINICA

Bahamas Cuba

Porthmout

Dominican Rep. Jamaica

Haiti Puerto Rico West Indies

Dominica Roseau

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Dominica aka ‘The Nature Isle’ is one of the youngest islands in the Caribbean chain and stillevolving with continuous geothermal activity.

dominica’s first inhabitants, the ortoroids, arrived from South America around 3100 B.C., and remained on the island until around 400 B.C. Next came the Arawaks, who settled in about 400 A.D. By 1400, the Kalinago people or “Caribs,” moved aggressively up the Caribbean from South America, eliminating the Arawaks from the region, including Dominica. Columbus ignored the Kalinago name of “Waitukubuli,” (meaning ‘tall is her body’), and renamed the island Dominica in 1493 as he landed on a Sunday. The Caribs successfully resisted efforts of Spanish colonization, but the British and French followed from the 1600s battling each other and the Caribs, to claim the Island. The Caribs gradually lost control of the

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island, fleeing back to South America. However, today approximately 2,000 Caribs remain, most living in the Kalinago Territory. On November 3rd 1978, the island gained independence from Great Britain. This era of freedom and independence brought challenges, and economic and political struggles. However, by the mid-1980s, Dominica had settled down as a stable and peaceful country. The success of the banana trade, the island’s major export, brought economic buoyancy to the island but by 1992, Dominica’s banana exports declined sharply with the loss of its preferential access to the UK market. Today, the Government of Dominica is investing heavily in tourism to drive economic

DRAFT The Smithsonian Institute described this lush green island as ‘a giant plant laboratory, unchanged for 10,000 years’.

opposite page:

Scott’s Head divides the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea

clockwise from top:

The view from Soufriere Village. Rustic details enhance the islands mystic. The laughing of a local child.Tropical flowers cover the island.

development, focusing on the island’s unsurpassed nature, and the popularity of diving, hiking and its health & wellness benefits. Not forgetting the unique experience today of still being able to explore virgin rainforest and mountains. by fiona sawyers

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dominica Hot Spots

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365 Rivers!

Water - fresh clean water runs down from the mountains and there is a river for every day of the year and over 30 waterfalls.

Morne Trois Pitons National Park was the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Eastern Caribbean. Within it, lies numerous majestic mountains (Morne Diablotin highest peak is 4,747 ft) , cascading waterfalls, lakes, the spectacular Valley of Desolation and the famous Boiling Lake (the second largest in the world).

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Soak in hot sulphur springs - there are many of varying temperatures which offer a detoxifying experience followed by a rehydrating mud wrap

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There are Waitukubuli National Trail is the only island long hiking trail to completely cross a Caribbean island. It is approximately 115 miles long and split into 14 segments of varying degrees of difficulty and duration.

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Caribbean West Indies grenada

grenada Relaxing on the Levera beach overlooking Sugarloaf island.

Bahamas Cuba

Carriacou

Dominican Rep. Jamaica

Haiti Puerto Rico

Grenada

West Indies St Georges

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Grenada is made up of threeislands Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique with Grenada being thelargest of the three with a total area of 131 square miles. Carriacou is a tiny13 square miles with white sandy beaches and hosting theCarriacou Museum which depicts the fascinating history of Grenada.

petite martinique is just586 acres and is relatively unknown and undiscovered. This island is the tip of a volcano rising to756 feet above sea level. The 900inhabitants here earn a living primarily through fishing and boat building. Grenada, aka the Spice Isle,as it exports vanilla, clove, cinnamon and ginger, nutmeg and mace with thelatter two making up 20% of the world’s market! In medieval times, it was believed that nutmeg could ward off theplague. These trees were not indigenousto Grenada though but were planted on the island during the Napoleonic wars bythe British, who governed at the time.

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DRAFT Before Christopher Columbus,the Carib Indians had called it ‘Camerhogue’. Then Columbus who only sailed past the island in fact, called it‘Concepcion’. Next the Spanish, whonever even controlled the island, renamed it ‘Grenada’ because they loved itand it reminded them of their native country. In 1877 Grenada became aCrown Colony, and in 1967 it became an associate state within the BritishCommonwealth before gaining independence in 1974. Despite the island's longhistory of British rule, the island's French heritage (both colonial andrevolutionary) survives in its place names, its buildings, and its strong Catholicism. by fiona sawyers

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Todays catch at the Grenville fish market. Orange tile roofs and red flowers of St. George’s contrast the deep blues of the natural harbour.

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A child offering her homemade necklaces of exotic seeds and flowers for EC$10. Colourful flowers flourish in tropical rains and sunlight. A peaceful walk down to Anse Beach from Mt. Cinnamon.

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grenada Hot Spots

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Waterfalls. Cool off at the spectacular Seven Sister’s Falls is the perfect spot visually and for relaxation.

For chocoholics, a visit to the Belmont Estate is a must. They have over 200 acres of organic cocoa farms operate their own cocoa fermentry. This assures performing every activity involved in the production of chocolate, from the planting and growing of the cocoa trees to the fermenting of the fresh cocoa beans to the processing of this internationally award winning organic fine dark chocolate.

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Carib leaps. In 1650, after a violent battle with French troops the last survivors chose the quick death of jumping off the cliffs, instead of submitting to the European rule.

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Rivers Rum is made the traditional way with waterpower, local sugar cane and no additives. Rivers only produces un-aged white rum as the employees explain, “We haven’t any time to age it.” Their most popular rum on island, the 150 proof, is too explosive to be shipped via airplane, and thus in 2002 a 138 proof was created for the international markets. unbound

Caribbean West Indies It wasn't like we hadn't been extremely adventures before, we were that different couple who could take chances together or apart. Originally we are both from Norway, but I've also lived in Switzerland and France, and Christian had been living in Germany and Austria as well as Norway. My husband and I made the move to the Caribbean island of Nevis with our two children, ages 3 1/2 and 5, in August 2006.

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Young Family in the West Indies We quit our jobs, sold our stuff and moved to a tropical paradise. That’s what we’d all love to do, wouldn’t we? by hedda wienpahl

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we all want to take a break from work, be free to move anywhere and experience life in our dream location, wherever that is. But is it really possible? Do you really have what it takes to let go of your stable income, sell the things that are tying you down and set up home in a foreign land? And if so how do you do it? Adventurers all have those fears of failure. We’re all scared to give up our income and sell the clothes, cars or house we love. The thought of moving somewhere we’ve never been before, thousands of miles from our friends and family is terrifying.

Leaving Oslo Before moving to the Carribbean, we lived in Oslo, Norway, where we had our own real estate business. We were ‘flipping’ houses and apartments. It took us many years to build our business earnings up enough to not just survive, but thrive. The Oslo housing market was booming at the time. We would turn cheap, rundown apartments into high end, top standards properties. Generally they were 3 and 4 bedroom places. At the same time we renovated the different houses we lived in, and sold them with a profit after a year or two. We were slowly building up our savings, taking lots of chances. Our Saying is, " if you don't take a chance you will never win." We were lucky enough to have already seen our paradise. We had come to Nevis on a cruise ship many years earlier. The island that was stunningly beautiful, pristine, untouched and welcoming. The island kept calling us back, so we returned to Nevis for holidays each year. Sometimes twice a year. It was just the place that felt right for us. At that time my parents built a second home on the island. After some months of debating about taking the risk of shutting down our business we decided to move to our paradise. We knew if all else failed we could always come back and start over. Yes, we’d be back to square one but at least we’d have some great stories and unforgettable memories to fuel us into old age. So we started to look around for places to invest in on the island. We were looking at different options. One option was to buy a piece of land and build two houses, one for us and one to sell. But when we found out that the 16 room beach side Inn at Cades Bay was for sale, we couldn’t resist. It took a lot of effort to buy it. So

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The family in front of the first house at the development, Zenith Nevis. Below to the left: Same text: Olympia and Christopher ready for their first school day in Paradise.

After some months of debating about taking the risk of shutting down our business we decided to move to our paradise.

we went head over water and got my father Baard into buying with us. We took out big loans and bought the place. We invested everything we had built up in Norway. But we were now hotel owners, managers and restauranteurs, for the first time in our lives. We sold nearly everything we owned, starting with our home, which was one of the oldest houses in the best part of Oslo. It had a huge garden with endless different types of fruit trees and very old rose bushes.

The house was a dive when we bought it, but we’d spent two years of hard work and money renovating it. It wouldn't be easy to replace either, because a property with sun, privacy, pool and a lovely garden in the best area in Oslo would be hard to find again for that kind of money. Plus there was an emotional attachment. I had grown up in this area. So I felt I was finally home, after moving seven times around in Oslo to build our savings up to be able to buy just there.

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Caribbean West Indies It wasn’t just me and my husband whose lives were going to be turned upside down. We had two children as well. Selling the house was hard but it was harder to sell my children's toys. Especially for them. We kept about half a container of belongings including family photos and some very special pieces of furniture. We sent a few treasured personal items in five boxes to Nevis, to start our new life with. As young as our children were, this move was also about us being the type of irresponsible parents who would move their children from a beautiful stable environment on a wild trip into the unknown. A lot of family and friends said we were crazy to move to an island, but we did the only thing we could: developed a thick skin and kept our eyes firmly on our dream.

DRAFT

How We Moved to Our Tropical Paradise We picked Nevis because Nevis is the heart and soul of the Caribbean, an exotic tropical volcanic island with an abundance of palm-fringed beaches, warm sparkling sea, English speaking and life loving locals, a wealth of land and water based activities, a great choice of delicious international cuisines, and a background soundtrack of soul and reggae. Another plus was helping our children to grow up bilingual. They arrived knowing only two words of English and in only two months, they were fluent. Most of our friends and banking facilities couldn’t cope with such a vague destination – many didn’t know where Nevis even was. But life went on and people started to get interested in this paradise of ours. They have kept coming to visit and they have understood that it is possible to live a normal life on an island thousand of miles away from Norway. Our children have now gone to four different schools and have been scoring almost 100% in most subjects including English. They are also learning french and spanish. The school system is good enough, but we had to make some decisions during

Life in Nevis is just delightful. It has the perfect environment for my children to grow up in.

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The West Indies are a great place to live; island hopping, exploring unique cultures, bathing in clear warm waters. Based in the islands, let the experience of NTL Immigration guide you through the legal Citizenship by Investment programs in: � St. Kitts & Nevis � Grenada � Dominica � Antigua & Barbuda A second passport from a sovereign Caribbean nation is very attractive to anyone wishing to add travel, security and privacy options to their lives.

Olympia and Christopher got very used to the boat life and activities related to it. the way. They have been home schooled by canadian and french teachers and they have gone to a Montessori school. Their next step on the school journey is to take the ferry every day over to the mother island, St. Kitts to continue high school over there. The children love the Nevis life and they have learned to play tennis, golf, swim, sail, water ski and dive. They have learned to recognize and name most wildlife in the sea and appreciate the delights of good fresh food. Best of all Nevis’s wildlife exceeded our expectations. We not only constantly see donkey spiders and monkeys, we also get them in our gardens. I regularly have to escort errant wildlife out of our house

Economic Citizenship in the Caribbean

including giant bugs, like cockroaches, beautiful hummingbirds and even bats. Sheep, goats, cows and donkeys are also to be seen all the time in the wild. They normally enter our garden and eat our delightful lawn and flowers. Life in Nevis is just delightful. It has the perfect environment for my children to grow up in. Away from stress, shopping, unnecessary needs, traffic and pollution. It’s Paradise.... So why not try it your self. Don’t you see how easy it can be?

Global Residency Options Today’s families are more mobile than ever. As globalisation opens doors, it closes others – the freedom to do as one pleases in business and personal life can no longer be taken for granted. NTL can help you plan a secure future with opportunities for your family with residency options in: � Latvia � Andorra � Paraguay � Singapore � Switzerland Worldwide Service

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DRAFT

Second in the Caribbean Citizenships Citizenship by Investment: St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica The West Indies are a great place to explore; island hoping, drinking rum, bathing in clear warm waters and getting a sunburn. Another interesting similarity shared by the island nations of St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica is the existence of a Citizenship by Investment programs. by robert martin

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Why would I need a second passport? often the response to this question is “you either understand it or you don’t”, commonly served with a know-it-all attitude, and a smirk of superiority. The actual reasons for multiple citizenships are much more rational than that, but it is truth that many people do not need or want a second passport. For others it can dramatically change the lifestyle of the new, changing their family’s legacy for generations to come. For Perpetual Travelers, having multiple passports is an essential part of the lifestyle. Others collect passports as a hobby. Whatever the motivations in today’s world, you don’t have to be James Bond to value individual privacy and options available.

TRAVEL. Travel is often limited by your home country’s current and past international relationships. There are many good, law abiding citizens around the world who enjoy travel, but unfortunately find it hard to get tourist and work visas. Instead of jetting to another country on a whim, travel plans must be made months ahead of time, often with heavy paperwork for each new country to be visited. Others feel that they may upset their governments, or call unneeded attention to themselves, by traveling around the world on their “home” passports. With careful choice of adopted country, visa-free travel to most of the world is also available.

Different Regions – Different Reasons One has to simply look at the world we live in, and restrictions placed on individuals of certain countries and regions, to see the motivation behind multiple citizenships.

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p Second Citizenship INVESTMENTS & BUSINESS. Many regimes restrict investments available to their citizens. Aside from the obvious travel benefits, Asians in particular use second citizenship as a way to invest back into their own countries and regions, often receiving many benefits of holding assets and companies in foreign (sometimes public) entities. Many countries protect foreign investment rights more than those of their own citizens. In China, there is a well documented case of a successful business woman who acquired a second passport, transferred her assets to a new entity, and completed a lucrative IPO for the company on the Hong Kong Stock market – something not permitted to Chinese nationals. Individuals from the USA and EU, may find that they can not invest, bank or participate in certain markets (FX or precious metals) without major government babysitting, and restrictive limitations. Americans are less often invited to invest in opportunities because their international counterparts would rather not have to deal with the prying eyes of American regulation. A new citizenship can alleviate the above mentioned obstacles, opening new revenue streams and often lowering your tax profile.

added options in case they need to “get out of Dodge” whatever the circumstances. Waiting until problems solidify is almost always a very bad plan, as you may not be able to leave. You could be stuck with the masses awaiting refuge status, jail or other persecutions that have repeatedly occurred throughout history. A second citizenship can be acquired today, and held in reserve until an unforeseen change in the political or military climate requires you to play your hand. COMPLETELY LEGAL CITIZENSHIP. The CIP Programs of St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda and Dominica are completely legal. The laws have been approved by the governments at all levels- there are absolutely no bribes involved – these programs are 100% legitimate. Your passport is renewable. You are a citizen of the country. The application process takes 3 to 6 months in most cases and you are a lifetime citizen of an independent sovereign nation. Nationals of these countries are allowed visa-free travel to around 100 nations, including Europe and Asia. Visas for travel to other countries is standard, but with much less hassle than many “home” countries. Additionally there is little or no required travel to the West Indies. St. Kitts & Nevis and Dominica have no required residency in the islands, while Antigua & Barbuda requires only 35 days over 5 years. Dominica, differing from their neighbors, requires applicants to travel to the island for an interview process (or you can pay first-class airfare and expenses for the interview committee to meet you at your location of choice). The due diligence process is fairly involved and applicants must submit plenty of documentation of who they are, where they come from and what they have done. 3rd party investigation firms, as well as island government investigators screen applicants. Serious crimes and/or the aura of fraud will disqualify applicants from the process. Health records (HIV Tests), source of funds, professional and bank references are required. It is important to note that with the CIP programs in the West Indies you will become a true citizen with rights, in contrast to merely holding documents. Panama for example, has been known to issue passports to ex-pats living in the country under the retirement pension program. This facilitates travel through Latin America, but does not include citizenship, and therefore includes no rights for the holder. Beware of illegal passports offered by independent agents or government officials from other countries around the world. There have been many scandals in other emerging markets, where a passport may be illegally issued, quite possibly with the ID of another citizen. These often do not work, or cannot be renewed.

DRAFT

A second citizenship can improve the quality of your family’s wellbeing.

SECURITY. Safety also pays a major role in a decision to acquire another citizenship. Israeli citizenship is not your best friend when doing business in certain parts of the world. Although a USA passport is one easiest to travel with, it can also put one in danger, as Americans are also getting targeted. Sometimes the threat is in your home country. Perhaps your assets are targeted, or worse, your family persecuted for being financially successful. All the money in world is worth nothing if you and your family aren’t secure at home. A WAY OUT? With constantly changing governments and threatening economic or social restrictions affecting the populace, individuals are looking for a Plan B. A second citizenship can be used as escape hatch in case their government aggressively starts enforcing religious or political beliefs or imposes draconian laws and punitive taxes. The majority of people who obtain citizenship by investment do not renounce their home passport, their homelands or their day to day life. They have simply

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The view from Soufriere Village. Boats floating in a river mouth of Portsmouth bay The laughing of a local child.Tropical flowers cover the island.

related employment follow, then lodging. Then, as always, the tax base is increased. Creating a successful vacation destination is very difficult. In order to attract resort developers, the destination must show the ability to successfully maintain a high occupancy of travelers, who require ample airlift. Conversely, the airlines require stiff guarantees that the planes will be full, which depends on the existence multiple resorts, vacation homes, restaurants and other underpinnings that can cost billions to develop. These economic citizenship programs can be the lifeblood of a remote island, allowing these countries to break out of this dilemma; building the required tourism backbone, which then attracts the airlines, while simultaneously providing revenue, not costly expenses, for the small governments. The citizenship by investment programs are key elements to the success of these island nations, and economic success of their individual citizens.

DRAFT There have been cases of the officials and the holders being prosecuted and imprisoned for the falsification. There is at least one “FAST TRACK” program being marketed today that is not legal, and a high ranking government official recently explained to me that they are very aware of the program (who is running it, selling and buying) - and that all involved will be prosecuted shortly – and their papers revoked. Selling passports? NO. Building countries? YES. With the cost to obtain citizenship options starting with a few hundred thousand and ranging to over half million it is hard to say that the CIP programs are simply selling passports. The investment required to qualify is directed into programs benefiting the local populations, and build a base for economic stability into the future. Investment is used to develop crucial industries for the survival of these small island nations such as creating jobs, providing small business loans and creating much needed infrastructure. Take for example the acquisition of authorized real estate: construction jobs are immediately created, management and service

Federations of St. Kitts & Nevis The two island nation of St. Kitts & Nevis is the oldest and ‘best option’ for economic citizenship. Although I don’t like to use the word ‘best’ in descriptions, the SKN program is the base for all the other programs. Indeed the first draft I saw of another country’s program actually still had “St. Kitts & Nevis” in the wording. The program began in 1984, is well accepted by the locals, The successful CIP has helped create one of the largest economic middle classes in the Caribbean, and became the envy of other island nations during the latest recession. The bureaucratic nature of the island has translated into a program that is run in a professional manner, and has not been involved large scandals – attesting to the tenure of the program. The SKN Program offers 2 options to qualify for citizenship, through a charitable donation to the government run S.I.D.F. or the acquisition of authorized real estate. The Sugar Investment Diversification Fund donations range from US$250k for an individual to US$300k for a family of 4, and more for larger families. Due Diligence and professional agent fees apply, but other government processing fees are included.

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p Second Citizenship With the Real Estate, the applicant must purchase authorized tourism based real property with a minimum value of US$400k. Developments offer full and fractional options, and strive to make all other fees inclusive or at least not complicated with rental and lease back programs available. For example, the blossoming Kittitian Hill development, which is a private/government venture offers a guaranteed return on the purchase price, comparable to a CD. With the real estate option there are the same due diligence and professional agent fees, but the government also charges individual processing fees, so that total investment for a family of 4 is around US$600k. The property must be held for a minimum of 5 years, at which time it can be sold on the open market, with the new buyer also qualifying for citizenship. The cabinet has accepted a third option, which is not officially included in the CIP Act, is the purchase/ investment of shares in an authorized project. The Park Hyatt resort, which is currently in construction, has been funded in this manner, with hundreds of citizenships being processed. This new investment option has created many investment opportunities in the island federation and has spiked the growth of new projects. Unlike other Caribbean nations offering these programs, St. Kitts & Nevis has no formal ties with the People Republic of China, (they recognize Taiwan!), which is attractive to Chinese nationals who value privacy. Economic Citizenship in the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis is a solid and established option for todays world citizens.

Antigua & Barbuda In March 2013, the Senate of Antigua and Barbuda voted to establish a Citizenship by Investment program to spur growth in the islands. Antigua has long been an international hub for the West Indies. With some of the best beaches in the Caribbean it already has a fairly robust tourism foundation. However, with the recession of the past years, combined with the Stanford scandal, the overall economy has deteriorated, stranding some resort developments in the construction phase. The new CIP program is breathing life into the tourism and financial sectors. The locals poorly understand the CIP program and are skeptical, as the funds have just started to flow into the country in the summer of 2013. I feel the program will be a success in the islands, as the strength of the passport, availability of flights, and well establish travel network will lend it a strong future. Almost identical to neighboring St. Kitts and Nevis, the options for qualifying are through a government contribution (called the National Development Fund) or authorized real estate of US$400K. The associated due diligence, processing and legal fees are slightly higher than West Indies colleagues, but the difference is negligible. Antigua & Barbuda also formally recognize two other options, a donation to specifically named charities and investment into island based business’s. The minimum investment in a company with minimum capital of US$5m is US$400 for each applicant, or US$1.5m for an individual wanting to set up a smaller company.

DRAFT Mega-Developments like Christophe Harbour in St. Kitts, cater to the luxury market.

A Second

Passport Travel, investments, personal security and freedom can be enhanced by dual citizenship and a new passport. Consider obtaining a legal second citizenship if: � Political issues in your country makes obtaining travel visas difficult or impossible � You are subjected to punitive currency controls � The tax burden in your home country is unnecessarily high � Your assets may be at risk of litigation � Your current passport puts you at risk from hostile groups � Your freedom to work and/or invest where you choose is restricted in any way by your current citizenship. With a second passport you will sleep better knowing that you have the documentation in place in case you ever need it.

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Economic Citizenship

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p Second Citizenship Although travel to the island is not necessary to receive citizenship the government hold the right to request an interview, which presumably would be held on island. In a further effort to promote tourism revenues, the new economic citizen is required to visit the islands for a minimum of 35 days over the first 5 years or risk forfeiture. Antigua & Barbuda have taken the foundation of a successful program and attempted to improve on it, upping the ante in the budding competitive CIP market in the Eastern Caribbean. An established destination, with solid base, Antigua & Barbuda is the new kid (with a lot of experience) in the financial investment game.

Commonwealth of Dominica. Since 1993, Dominica has been the most economical choice. The island is under developed and financially limited, and yet, in my opinion one of the most beautiful places in this world. Even with an increase in investment in September 2012, the program still offers an incredible passport and citizenship at a value price. Currently an individual can apply with US$100k, while a family of 4 qualifies with US$200k, donations to the government plus due diligence and processing fees. The required documentation and process seams a bit tedious compared to their counterparts a bit to the north, but the lower entry fee is enticing. No residency is required, but before citizenship is granted,

DRAFT Granada As we go to print the Island of Spice is launching the reincarnation of its Citizenship by Investment program. The Act, which has been law for many years was postponed in 2001. With the current government controlling both houses, the program is soon to be revived with investment values similar to St. Kitts & Nevis. Currently there are interesting real estate/investment hybrids offering the program which should be fully operational summer 2013.

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a basic interview about the country, its history and customs is mandatory. There is currently no real estate option for the program, but many people travel to the island for interview process end up buying anyhow. I expect that the Dominica government will soon allow other investment types to qualify for the program, perhaps through individual development approval. Over the years the Dominica program has been rumored to have multiple scandals, usually involving Russian businessman. I do not believe these entanglements to be very serious, as the gossip tends to be fueled by political opposition based in foreign countries. The recent inclusion of visa-free travel to the Schengen area of Europe, definitely increases the attractiveness of Dominica citizenship. Although economically struggling, the spectacular island of Dominica is making strides in the right direction. An uptick in international business, paired with major investment from China, building highways between the two main cities and the airport, gives Dominica incredible potential for the eventual future. Without question, Dominica is a solid option for all considering a seconds passport.

DRAFT

Summary The West Indies is an exciting place to live, visit and explore. There is always an interesting conversation to be had with a local whose family has been on the islands for generations or the ex-pat sailors just passing through. The Citizenship through investment programs offered here are very attractive to the PT or to anyone wishing to add travel, security and privacy options to their lives. Whatever your reasons, if you are interested in acquiring a second citizenship, make sure that you are being processed by a reputable authorized local agent. There are many immigration agencies throughout the world that can help you through the process. Although it is not necessary to travel here, please take the time to come and visit this incredible world sandwiched between the Caribbean Sea and the edge of the Atlantic.

For Robert Martin of NTL International, true wealth is measured in the personal freedom and flexibility of lifestyle. When not assisting his clients, Robert can be found island hopping in the Caribbean as well as jet-setting to various destinations throughout the world. Robert@NTLTrust.comthat emphasizes principal protection with years of successful real estate, commodity transactions, and business consulting. Doug is a principle in Buckthorn Capital, founded in 2010 to offer attractive Western world business opportunities to the international community. doug@buckthorncapital.com

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Making a Difference While Making Profits by chip feiss

DRAFT

For those interested in taking a more active role in aligning their businesses and/ or investments with their values, these are exciting times. There are not only more opportunities than ever before but there is an increasing sophistication to deal structures allowing better and easier access to our assets. This is particularly so for perpetual travelers and the likely readers of this magazine. The opportunities to help people in less developed or frontier markets to rise out of poverty and lead healthier, more connected lives are massive and the capital market infrastructure is being developed to encourage and finance these kinds of enterprises.

there have been many terms used in one way or another to describe ‘Impact Investing’ including: social entrepreneurship, triple bottom line, environmental social and governance (esg), sustainable, corporate citizenship, socially responsible investing (sri), and green investing. In order for us to all be on the same page I want to make it very clear what I mean when I write about Impact Investing. My definition comes from the idea of Blended Value returns as developed

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by Jed Emerson. This refers to using capital to maximize total, combined value in relation to multiple aspects of performance (financial, social, environmental). Simply put, it’s forprofit investment with a social mission. It is the intersection of Profit and Purpose. The modern financial world has been comprised of three sectors; private for-profit, public (government), and non-profit organizations (NGOs)., For the most part the lines of each

sector were strictly demarcated. Funds and opportunities did not flow across these boundaries with the exception of philanthropic giving. This is beginning to change.w Today there is a blurring of the lines between these sectors brought on by the development of the burgeoning global movement known as Impact Investing. This is one of the great financial stories not being told. The idea behind Impact Investing is not new. In the Western world it goes back at least to the seventeenth century Quakers who aligned their investments with their principles. More recently in the late 1970’s we experienced the rise of Socially Responsible Investing in which investors used a variety of social screens to help them invest in accordance with their values. The rapid growth of Socially Responsible Investing and its use of negative social screens to assist in weeding out publicly traded companies with values or products not aligned with the investor was a surprise to many and a challenge to Milton Friedman’s perspective that “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” By 2007 one out of every nine dollars under professional management in the US was invested using social screens and clearly showed that people wanted to invest in accordance with their values. During this same period of time (1980’s-2005) the number of non-profit organizations and NGOs exploded. I believe that this growth was a direct reflection of many people’s frustrations and disillusionment with traditional business and government. It was apparent to even the most casual observer well before the financial collapse of 2008 that many of society’s chronic problems were not being adequately addressed. The financial meltdown provided more impetus for change. Impact Investing, while still in a nascent stage, was a direct beneficiary

of the fallout from 2008 as people from all corners of the globe began to reevaluate the financial system, their role in the system and their investments. While related to socially responsible investing, Impact Investing has been applied primarily in smaller nonpublicly traded companies that are proactively creating positive financial, social and environmental benefit. Impact Investing fills the gap between philanthropy and the traditional “business as usual” for-profit sector. If you think about the hierarchy of available capital resources you quickly realize that philanthropic dollars are the most precious because people can only afford to give away so much

Investing comes in, representing the intersection of values and profits. The capital markets are arguably the most powerful force for change (both positive and negative) on the planet. Anyone wanting to create large scale, sustainable economic development and social change needs to be able to invest on a for-profit basis in enterprises working to create that change. Since 2008 the finance sector in general has experienced massive layoffs while at the same time Impact Investing has grown rapidly. For entrepreneurs and investors interested in aligning their assets with their values, there has never been a better time. A 2010 report authored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Monitor Consulting Group estimated “that within ten years Impact Investing in just five sectors (housing, rural water delivery, maternal health, primary education and financial services) offers the potential for $400billion-$1trillion dollars of invested capital and profit of $163bn-$667 bn.” The infrastructure of the Impact Investing sector is being created. New corporate structures are being designed in the United States such as B Corps and L3Cs, which seek to protect both the financial interest of the investor and the social mission of the business. The creation of systems and metrics to measure social value and impact, new tax policy that considers the social benefit delivered by impact driven enterprises, as well as the creation of social capital markets for improved financing of impact businesses is all being established. Unique funding sources are being developed. Impact Investing stock exchanges are in the planning stage in at least six countries, the first, IIX (Impact Investment Exchange) recently opened in Singapore. In addition specialty Impact Investing boutique firms are offering a broad range of equity and venture funds (styles,

DRAFT People wanted to invest in accordance with their values.

money no matter how passionate they are about the issue or organization. That has been a constraining factor to the scalability of most non-profits and NGO’s. The problems that they are trying to solve are huge but their financial resources are very limited. If those same people could invest in those organizations on a for-profit basis and get a decent return on their investment, the allocation of dollars would increase substantially. That is where Impact

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sectors and return strategies), bonds and loan guarantees, as well as mixed for-profit and non-profit funds. Impact investments are well on their way to becoming their own asset class. To date probably the best known Impact Investment is microfinance. Although now mired in controversy over some funds’ lending procedures and what are perceived to be predatory interest rates, over the past twenty years micro-loans have improved the lives of millions of the poorest people on the planet. While there are many inspiring stories from all over the world, including the more developed OECD countries, the opportunities for perpetual travelers in the developing markets covered in Unbound seem to be the easiest to spot. These countries pretty much need everything and it’s cheaper to start a business there. The risk is obviously different. The investor/ entrepreneur has to consider different work values, levels of education, rule of law, technological sophistication and government support for business in

each country. While Impact Investing is challenging and there have been no monster Google-size companies to date, there have been many successes. A few that come to mind (to some of which I have been an advisor): The cell phone is incredible technology and is being used in a variety of creative ways to tackle difficult issues. In the belief that connectivity increased productivity, Iqbal Quadir founded Grammen phone in Bangladesh. Over an eight year period

he brought 200 thousand phones to Bangladesh’s poor rural villages. At one point 400 people were using each of the phones, meaning he’d brought connectivity to 80 million people. His initial investors who had invested a total of $1.65 million sold their stake eight years later for $33 million. In India cell phones are currently being used for medical care in rural villages that have no access to physicians or hospitals. Photographs are taken with the cell phone and those along with a written report are sent via the phone to doctors in places such as the Mayo Clinic for review and diagnosis. In Africa cell phones using a Vodafone mobile banking application are used to provide mobile banking services in areas where people have no access to banks. In Latin America a cell phone application to solve unemployment issues is being tested. The phone is being utilized as a job bulletin board for both short term and long term jobs.

DRAFT

Micro-loans have improved the lives of millions of the poorest people on the planet.

aside from the use of cell phones there are numerous other inspiring stories: In 2005, Mumbai, a city of almost 15 million people (today about 20 million) did not have an adequate and reliable EMS and ambulance service. That year Dial 1298 For Ambulance in Mumbai was launched with $400,000 of investor funds and one ambulance. By 2010 Dial 1298 For Ambulance had 240 ambulances and $80 million in government contracts to expand the service outside of Mumbai. Until recently many subsistence farmers in Africa have had to sell their produce the day they harvested it due to lack of storage facilities. Investor funds are being used to build warehouses and form agricultural co-ops. This will give the farmers more control over their business. The ability to store their crops provides flexibility regarding when to sell their product enabling them to negotiate for a better price.

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In the USA and UK impact investment dollars are going into low income housing development and feeding school children nutritious meals. An agriculture fund is providing low cost capital to farmers. In Africa and other frontier markets investor funds are invested in return for a discounted portion of the farms’ crop production. In addition to receiving low cost capital the farmers are getting both technical and agricultural assistance in order to improve yields. Impact investing presents the opportunity to both profit and do good. The message is appealing to many as

Chip Feiss. Chip is the CEO of M2 Inc. a boutique financial advisory and venture capital firm. He is an advisor to a number of venture philanthropy funds, Impact Investing entrepreneurs and businesses as well as family offices looking to build an Impact Investing strategy and presence. Chip was a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government where he worked on for-profit Impact Investing models to drive economic development and social change. He received an MPA from Harvard and a MBA from the Thunderbird Graduate School of Global Management.

DRAFT can be seen on college campuses across the USA and Europe where social enterprise courses are the amongst the most popular. This popularity is by no means limited to college students. A banker at JP Morgan decided to start a social finance unit at the bank and within a week had received 1,000 calls and emails from others at the bank wanting to get involved. Impact Investing is not easy. As Larry Summers wrote, “It is hard in this world to do well. It is hard to do good. When I hear a claim that an institution is going to do both, I reach for my wallet. You should to.” While I have also learned it’s hard to

Impact investing presents the opportunity to both profit and do good.

do well and/or good, I am encouraged by Impact Investing which appeals to a larger part of the human spirit and experience than some of the traditional business models. It’s not easy but the rewards of financial gain with the satisfaction from investing in something important can be great. Today, Impact Investing is starting to influence traditional investing. A number of the large traditional investment banks are looking at allocating capital to Impact Investing funds. Carlyle, the giant private equity firm, has established a sustainable investment practice. Can Impact Investing be a source of not only great profitable investment and or companies but serve as a driving force a better future? As Wayne Gretzky famously said, “I skate to where the puck will be, not where it is.” We can choose to work in the world the way it is or in a way that fosters our vision of where we would like it to be. For those interested in either starting an impact investment enterprise or investing in an existing one, there are more resources available now than ever before. I am happy to be of assistance if I can..feel free to contact me at cimpact7@gmail.com. unbound

Invest & Strategy

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The Eternal Gift of Trust Establishing a charitable trust in New Zealand

Since the 16th century many of the world’s wealthiest families have realised that the accumulation of wealth alone is not enough. Many had long decided that tradition and position demanded they be involved in pursuit of higher causes such as the relief of poverty or the advancement of human knowledge.

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alfred nobel instituted and gifted in perpetuity the most famous charitable institution, the Nobel Foundation. The Foundation awards the Nobel Prizes, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence. The Rothschild Foundation has also carried a family name through the generations in association with the philanthropy in support of arts sciences and human endeavours. Today many of the worlds influential leaders in politics and business establish and chair charitable trusts in order to promote their respective visions for the future of the world or aspects of its such as environment or education. Famous founders of charitable trusts in the United States include Bill Gates who has one of the world’s largest charitable institutions. Many more American entrepeneurs have started charitable institutions as a model of “philanthrocapitalism”. Philanthrocapitalism is dedicated to what one may loosely call ‘sustainable capitalism’. Businesses based upon alternative energy, food, environmentalism, etc. all have potential but lack investment.

It may even not be too farfetched to predict that as global corporations such as the East India Trading company became more powerful and influential than most governments, the new economic and political force will slowly emerge as the philanthropic or charitable foundation, after all one needs only to look at the catholic church which not only is exempt from taxes in perpetuity but has its own territory and passport regime to understand that this was a philanthrocapitalist intuition ahead of its time. So whilst the world’s leaders are forever increasing the tax burden on individuals and corporations and thinking of new taxes there is one structure available that is not only tax free but exists perpetually and in this article I briefly set out the legal position, requirements and uses of charitable trusts especially as they apply in New Zealand law.

How does this work in practice? To take a simple example: A perpetual trust is established in order to say run a university. The university is established as a perpetual charitable trust for the advancement of education. The founders can then loan money to the trust for its establishment if they wish. The founders then appoint themselves (with the right to appoint others that they choose) as trustees. They can pay themselves whatever salaries bonuses that they wish. They then run the university and receive fees, donations and other funds which are fully in their control. Out of these funds they can not only pay themselves salaries and bonuses but can

Zealand sources and also be registered as a “public” charitable trust then there are further requirements to comply with the charitable trusts act and the charities act 2005. A further advantage of the charitable trust is that it is legitimate and open legal mechanism that is not prohibited by most governments. Thus for example whilst the laws of most countries prohibit politicians to own offshore accounts there are by current prohibitions to being appointed as trustees of legitimate charitable trusts recognised in law. Indeed for many political figures being on the board of charitable trust and involved in charity is actually beneficial to their political image. Indeed in this sense a charitable institution can be considered in many ways similar to a political party which can utilise its funds in any manner it chooses so long as kit advances the aims of the party. Politicians being appointed to boards of charitable institutions are a matter of prestige. Below I examine the extra steps required to register charitable public charity under the charitable trusts act:

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Registering a charitable trust in New Zealand

A charitable trust can easily be registered in New Zealand by non residents if the trust operates for charitable purposes outside of New Zealand. In that case as long as the trust has a charitable purpose it can simply be filed as a non resident charitable trust. In this case the advantages of a charitable trust are: 1. It can conduct business own property and do everything corporation can do (i.e. many charitable trusts own universities, schools or other fee earning businesses). 2. As long as the business is not in New Zealand the charitable trust pays absolutely no tax in New Zealand. 3. It can be controlled by a board of trustees chosen by the founders or be the founders themselves. 4. It can receive grants or donations from donors around the world and can invest this money in any assets it wishes without paying tax (as long as the investments not in New Zealand). 5. The trustee can derive as much personal income as they wish from the trust as long as that income is related to their activities as trustees and further the can utilise the assets owned by the trust such as houses , cars etc.

People wanted to invest in accordance with their values.

also purchase motor vehicles, houses and other assets in the ankle of the trust. Whilst they are trustees (which are for their lifetimes) they can use these assets they can also use their power of appointment to appoint their children friends etc. as trustees. Indeed more and more businesses are big established as charitable foundations or trusts. In New Zealand if you wish to receive further official recognition as a chartable intuition. This gives you the right to receive donations tax free from New

Objectives of the charitable trust act New Zealand officially recognises a charity by having it registered with the charities commission. The commission carefully scrutinises an application to ensure that it comes within the definition of a charity. The advantage of applying in the case of non-residents who wish to establish a charity is that the charity can then officially take donations from the New Zealand public as well as internationally as well as having official tax exemption even if operating within New Zealand. In order to be considered charitable there, the charity must comply with the common law definition of charity. New Zealand draws its common law and legislation from English roots i.e. the statue of Elizabeth. The Statute of Elizabeth (otherwise known as the Charitable Uses Act 1601) was passed in England to protect and prevent the misuse of charitable funds.

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Invest & Strategy At the time of enactment, the preamble to the Statute considered charitable: ∙ relief of aged, impotent, and poor people ∙ maintenance of sick and maimed soldiers and mariners, schools of learning ∙ free schools and scholars in universities ∙ repair of bridges, ports, havens, causeways, churches, sea banks, and highways ∙ education and preferment of orphans relief, stock or maintenance of houses of correction ∙ marriage of poor maids ∙ support, aid and help of young tradesmen, handicraftsmen, and persons decayed ∙ relief or redemption of prisoners or captives and ∙ aid or ease of any poor inhabitants concerning payment of fifteens, setting out of soldiers and other taxes.

Courts have found the following purposes to be “beneficial to the community”: ∙ promoting public health (such as providing education, counselling, and rehabilitation services) ∙ providing public works and services (such as building roads, maintaining a water supply, and providing cremation or burial services) ∙ providing public amenities and recreational facilities (such as public halls, libraries, museums, statues, fountains, playing fields, gymnasiums, swimming pools, parks, and botanical gardens) protecting the environment (such as revegetation, afforestation, and conservation) ∙ protecting human life (such as providing emergency rescue services) ∙ preventing cruelty to, and protecting the welfare of, animals (such as providing animal shelters or sanctuaries) ∙ facilitating social rehabilitation (such as integrating people back into the community who have a disability or some form of deprivation) ∙ promoting the efficiency of the armed forces. It is also important that the trust observes the following: ∙ The potential beneficiaries of the trust must be a sufficiently wide group of the community ∙ What the trust provides must be of benefit to society. It is useful to have a specialist in the area consider the wording of the objectives clause to ensure that it meets legal requirements.

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New Zealand charitable trust act repeats the above provision in s38 of the legislation which we set out full here. 38 Meaning of term charitable purpose in this Part

In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires, the term charitable purpose means every purpose which in accordance with the law of New Zealand is charitable; and includes the following purposes, whether or not they are beneficial to the community or to a section of the community: 1. the supply of the physical wants of sick, aged, destitute, poor, or helpless persons, or of the expenses of funerals of poor persons 2. the education (physical, mental, technical, or social) of the poor or indigent or their children 3. the reformation of offenders, prostitutes, drunkards, or drug addicts 4. the employment and care of discharged offenders 5. the provision of religious instruction, either general or denominational 6. the support of libraries, reading rooms, lectures, and classes for instruction 7. the promotion of athletic sports and wholesome recreations and amusements 8. contributions towards losses by fire and other inevitable accidents 9. encouragement of skill, industry, and thrift 10. rewards for acts of courage and self sacrifice. Over the years, courts have recognised many new charitable purposes that are very similar to those categorised in 1601, acknowledging that what is accepted as a “charitable purpose” must change to reflect current social and economic circumstances. The courts have considered whether: The new purpose is very similar to a purpose previously accepted as charitable, and whether it satisfies the requirement that the purpose benefits the public.

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Incorporation

Sometimes important is the question of incorporation as a Charitable Trust Board. Under the Charitable Trust Act 1957, there is provision for registration as a Charitable Trust Board. The key implication is that assets owned by the trust do not need to be transferred into new legal ownership every time there is a change in the trustees. The Charitable Trust Board is effectively a separate legal entity. Conclusion Whilst a charitable trust can be registered by non-residents without the need for registration under the charities commission, registration with the commission in effect constitutes official recognition by the New Zealand government that the trust is a charitable one and therefore is exempt from taxation and empowered to be operated indefinitely. It is this author’s view that within the next ten years we will see many business models moving towards the charitable sector, this indeed has been the case in New Zealand and is now the trend internationally. It may even be the case that whole communities will utilise the opportunity of the charitable trust to extricate themselves from the heavy taxation of big brother case to conduct themselves as charitable communities similar to the Jewish concept of a kibbutz or Ayn Rand’s “Galts Gultch”. Whether or not this vision will come to pass, the charitable trust sector makes this possible.

Only the Island will Remain Unspoiled

DRAFT Nevis is one of the last unspoiled places on this earth. Everywhere you look you’ll see our preserved natural history. As a visitor here, however, be prepared to be spoiled at every turn. Whether you stay at a plantation inn, or our award-winning five-star resort, we welcome the opportunity to pamper you with kindness and care.

www.NevisIsland.com

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Alternative Investments: Recovery Funding by doug d.

the investigation group has an extensive international presence that can get into databases and talk to people who have much more detailed information. They found several red flags regarding the lending group from their banking and law enforcement contacts, and more than likely saved our client several hundred thousand dollars. Even though there were no outstanding warrants out on these guys, the law enforcement agencies definitely were keeping tabs on them. It appeared there were large transactions going between the lending group in New Zealand, to Hong Kong, then mainland China and back under unusual conditions. The bank letter of credit they’d shown us was real, but... We had no good way of finding out if the bank would honor it. The bank had confirmed it was real but that was all. The investigation group was able to determine that this LOC had been “leased” 4 times down from its originating party and the bank wouldn’t honor it for the lending company we were dealing with. We also were given information that the lending company’s principals also weren’t what they had represented themselves as. Our client took our advice and withdrew.

DRAFT

The most interesting money growth opportunity I’ve seen in the last couple of years is ‘recovery funding’...

about a year ago, a client of ours in the mid 8 figure range was looking at a loan offer from a lending company based in New Zealand. He asked us to check this NZ company out before getting committed to anything. In checking about for background info on them, a friend of mine recommended a financial investigations group out of Las Vegas to do a background check on this NZ based offshore lending company. The loan terms were quite reasonable and everything seemed OK at first glance, but our Vegas investigation group started turning up info on the New Zealanders that caused us to recommend caution, then later, full withdrawal. As part of the due diligence done by the investigation group, we discovered the NZ lending company had some noticeable holes in their personal and financial representations. We weren’t able to make these discoveries through normal channels; on the surface, the offshore lenders checked out. Fortunately

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A month or two after this experience, the investigation group’s owner called me and asked if I would be interested in “funding a collection investigation”. Not knowing what that really meant, I listened to his explanation – basically the investigation group has clients, either directly or through law firms, that have either pending cases, current cases in litigation, or judgments against parties that typically have defrauded or stolen money and now claim they have limited or no assets to forfeit. The investigation group is engaged by the claimant to find out if assets can be located, and if so, where, what, and how liquid those assets are for recovery. For doing this, the investigation group collects a percentage of the recovery – anywhere from 15% to 50% of the recovery. However, by statute, neither they nor the attorneys on the case or any other investigator can fund a collection investigation and participate in a contingency windfall– it is considered a conflict of interest. (Apparently some attorneys, prior to the statute being in place, were billing out the recovery efforts to eat up most, if not all of the actual recovery amounts).

Now I was interested enough to hear the rest of the story. This investigation group in Las Vegas does the background investigations on the case, client, and assets, but they self fund the expenses. If the case is weak, they don’t like the client (legally or morally), or they can’t initially locate enough recoverable assets, they will pass on taking the collection case. The investigation group takes on less than 10% of the cases they review. However, if those items all check out favorably, then they will pursue a collection case. The money they borrow from us is used for the actual travel, surveillance, legal and other investigation expenses necessary for a successful recovery. The investigators

rarely pursue cases that don’t have at least $1,000,000 USD in recoverable assets and the average investigation cost for them in the last 24 months has been under $45,000 USD. To date, this investigation group has over an 80% hit rate of some recovery amount. Not all of the cases are home runs, but they frequently settle for 25-50% of the judgment or contested amount. It typically takes 12-24 months to make a recovery. Our investigation group pays a priority to us on the investigation loan we made and then splits the remaining amount of their portion of the recovery with us. We did our own background check on the investigation group and its owner. His

references and positive feedback regarding their work with their state attorney general’s office and F.B.I. helped us be comfortable with their integrity. So far, we have had good success in this arena and still have several investigations pending settlement. I hope to have more success to report in the next few months. If you are looking for something that is non-traditional, with minimal market volatility, a good track record (at least with our investigator), and good potential returns, it may be worth a look into recovery funding. Good hunting.

Doug D. has spent the past two decades involved with specialized investments across North America. He specializes in higher yield, secured transactions that emphasizes principal protection with years of successful real estate, commodity transactions, and business consulting. Doug is a principle in Buckthorn Capital, founded in 2010 to offer attractive Western world business opportunities to the international community. doug@buckthorncapital.com

unique and profitable investments in the North American Market for international investors.

Alternative Investments Commercial Real Estate & development Oil, Gas, Minerals Rare opportunities

Info@BuckthornCapital.com

www.BuckthornCapital.com

Invest & Strategy gy

Wine Investing

SWAG (and FTSE 100): Risk vs return in the ten years to Aug 20122

Risk

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A 100

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liquidity to ensure consistent and transparent pricing. Since 1950, fine wine has notched up annualized gains of some 15%, equivalent to 1% compound growth per month. Current market trends suggest that a cyclical low has just been passed and a new upward cycle has begun. Even the most turmoil-tested investor would agree that the last years have been painful for the global economy. But wine has outperformed gold, oil, and stock market indices. As the Swiss economists Philippe Masset and Jean-Philippe Weisskopf have shown in their 2010 paper “Wine Investment and the Financial Crisis”, well selected portfolios of fine wine have low volatility and high returns. Compared to the much more volatile stock and commodity markets, fine wine is a safe haven for investors.

Annualised standard deviation

50%

In today’s complex economies, we’re constantly looking for better investments. On the bright side, the internet is a fire hose of information, bringing information about investments from all over the world right to our screen. On the downside, that same information is available to everybody else, as well. Consequently, we now have to get a bit outside the norm, and sometimes even a bit exotic. One interesting product with investment potential is wine. It’s simultaneously common and yet often exotic. As always, investments return the most to the best educated, and one very nice part of wine investing is traveling to beautiful places to visit the vineyards. There are also some very good opportunities in this area for making/preserving wealth.

and if worst comes to the very worst, you can always enjoy drinking it, so it has quite an edge over all paper financial instruments and the less tasty of the precious metals. Advantages to wine investment: • After the initial investment outlay, the costs of maintaining wine—storage, insurance, and logistics— are extremely low and easily absorbed by increasing wine values. • If stored in a bonded warehouse, wines do not incur duty or VAT. • Unlike shares or bonds, fine wine is a tangible asset that has intrinsic market value. • With an approximate annual global value of $4 billion, the fine wine market has more than enough

The upside of wine investment is significantly greater than the downside risks. Wine investment requires significant expertise and knowhow of the fine wine market. Neville Blech has spent over 40 years professionally involved in food and wine has created a vehicle facilitating investing in wine. Trésors du Vin Investments will be managed exclusively and completely independently by a highly experienced and knowledgeable person. Neville Blech neville@vinformation.nl

40%

Silver

30% Art

20%

Gold

FTSE 100

DRAFT 10%

Fine Wine

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Return

Compound annual growth rate

source: liv-ex.com

1/2 page ad

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Destination Spotlight

DRAFT Fiji has long been an exotic port-of-call for adventurous sailers, and a fantasy destination for lovers and honeymooners. Today the South Pacific islands are one of the few unspoiled paradises left in our world, offering a chance to step back to a simpler time. Quite possibly the friendliest people on earth, many still living without electricity and Western â&#x20AC;&#x153;comfortsâ&#x20AC;?, make the northern island of Vanua Levu a special escape from modern society. Explore the potentials of life, travel and investment in this unknown garden of eden.

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Destination Spotlight: g Fiji j

FIJI

A barefoot man with a large belly picks up an old gas pump and the petrol flows into the car with a little help from gravity.

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Pure & Simple: Venua Levu

The terminal at Labasa airport consists of a small wood structure with a simple metal lamina roof, basic wood benches with a fading green paint offers repose to flyers awaiting their aircraft, or in my case, I am waiting for my small carryon which was too big to carry on. I locate a taxi and negotiate a fair price, and we are on the road. The rolling hills have been cleared up to the ridgeline, and everything is neat and clean. I see school children and workers heading home for lunch, but I do not recognize any “Pacific Islanders”, as we drive through the sparsely populated area.

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Located deep in the South Pacific, Fiji’s main international airport is a short 10 hour flight from Hong Kong or Los Angeles. After rescheduling this trip multiple times, I forgot to book my connecting flight to Savusavu, so I fly into Labasa on the north coast of island of Venua Levu. Instead of a quick island hop to my final destination, I have added about 1.5 hours taxi drive to my journey to the hotel on the south coast. Soon the rolling hills climb from the tropical seaside into a jagged mountain range, covered with pine trees. I feel as if I am in the lower Andes, with large waterfalls dotting the panoramic vistas, streams running next to or on the pavement. The road is in good shape, well paved with only a few sections in disrepair, as we climb away from the sea. The mountainous region looks as if it has been ripped from the crust of the earth, with various green tones scratching at the blue and grey sky; cliffs unceremoniously jutting above the jungle. At one point we stop the car to view a series of 12 layers of mountaintops against the mid-day horizon. This is no ordinary island. Shortly we descend the south side of the range that divides the island in two, and we look across Savusavu bay. The south side of the island is inhabited with the traditional islanders and the local children and adults alike, run to the side of the road, waving and shouting “Bula” warmly greeting us. Within a few minutes we are in the small town located on safe and wave-less natural harbour, filled with 30 or so sail boats. Savusavu is a hit with the adventurous international sailing community. Soon we pass a picturesque small runway running into the South Pacific, and less than 10 mins later I walk into the hotel to find my friends enjoying a lunch of fish steamed in banana leaves. Over the next few days, we explore the mostly virgin south coast of Venua Levu. The few resorts and vacation homes on the island are located here, either on thin seashell covered beaches, or small islands or peninsulas adding and extra aura of privacy. Here is the opposite of a mass market over developed tourist trap. Mature tall palms covered in a bright red growth which add an almost fairytale hue to everything. Venua Levu is not beach destination. Yes there are beaches, and yes they are beautiful, but the south coast is protected by a barrier reef lying a few hundred meters off the shoreline. The reef shelters the island from the waves and currents, but at the same time has not allowed large beaches to grow. The shallows drain during low tide, offering a unique view into the tropical tide pools, which are home to a thriving underwater ecosystem. The clear waters, an abundance of exotic sea life and colourful corals make this a world-

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by w. driver

my destination on the other side of the island is atypical for Amir, and we need to stop for gas. A barefoot man with a large belly picks up an old gas pump and the petrol flows into the car with a little help from gravity. The driver explains to me that north coast is predominantly populated with Indians, brought in from the likes of Madras and Calcutta to work the sugar farms a few decades ago. I enjoy his stories, but I'm thirsty, and he quickly pulls over to the hole in the wall LIQUORLAND with a few men playing pool. I suck down two Vonu Lagers, and make light conversation before we are on our way again.

clockwise from top:

The view from Soufriere Village. Boats floating in a river mouth of Portsmouth bay The laughing of a local child.Tropical flowers cover the island.

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Destination Spotlight: g Fiji j

FIJI

Encounter Paradise...

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We jump into the back of a pickup, without the fear of being stopped for a traffic violation; my friends and I are reliving the stressfree lives of children.

class destination for snorkel and dive fanatics. Walking through the small town, I am intrigued by an obnoxiously bright yellow building with a sign that says “Pots and Things”. My curiosity drives me crazy as enter the store and discover that the descriptive title is spot-on; the store is full of neither more nor less than pots and things. The simplicity of life on this island is penetrating. Across the street we pass the Savusavu Town Council– simple basic small- not the typical overly bloated government building. Next door is the local market. Under the tin roof, the aroma of fresh local fruits, cava root and spices overwhelm my senses. I pick up a bag of fresh fruit and continue my walkabout. We jump into the back of a pickup, without the fear of being stopped for a traffic violation; my friends and I are reliving the stress free lives of children. We stop to bathe in a cool river to escape the mid-day sun, and drink real Fiji water out of a small natural spring – sweet and pure bubbling out of the ground. The real thing tastes much better than the $5 plastic bottled drink they market around the world. Visiting a traditional village that takes pride in authentic culture and ties to land and water, we see the more humble side of life. Drinking cava with the village chief, he speaks of the trees growing nearby and the birth of the world, all in a simplistically clear prose. An enormous smile from a village woman, brightens my existence while snacking on some natural treats. This island, these people, are one of the purest I have found in my adventures. A warm feeling comforts me as I sit typing, remembering my short island visit. There are places in the world that you want to visit time and time again. Venua Levu on the other hand makes you never want to leave.

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clockwise from top:

The view from Soufriere Village. Boats floating in a river mouth of Portsmouth bay The laughing of a local child.Tropical flowers cover the island.

VA N UA LE V U, F I J I

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lover’s dream. This tropical retreat is etched within a coconut plantation, encircled by lush rainforests at the edge of a stunning private lagoon.

2107

USD

1 .87 7.KOROSUN | KOROSUNRESORT.COM | VANUA LEVU, FIJI

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Destination Spotlight: g Fiji j It was just past 4pm and the afternoon breeze was starting to pick up, as we jumped in our dual sit-on-top kayaks with two girls and two bottles of wine heading for bat island. During low tide the small island sitting on the edge of the reef has a quaint white sand beach on the bayside. As the tide rises, the beach disappears under the warm tropical waters, as the lapping waves reach the roots of the think green trees.

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Outside and over the Reef

A by w. driver

after the 1st bottle of red is gone, my friend markus and I decide to leave the girls on the sand and risk our luck in the open Pacific, outside the protection of the barrier. The shallow water inside the breakwater is teaming with small fish and corals of every shape colour as the tide slowly fills in, but it is my experience that the most intriguing creatures are found right past the breaking waves, as the reef falls into the deeps. We are still trying to synchronize our paddles as we approach the whitewater attacking the reef. Fighting with the irreverent clash of colliding plastic, we choose to paddle through a small trough where the either the reef is slightly deeper, or the converging waves cancel each other out, we cross over the reef with large waves on each side of us. The waters quickly change from the light azure to a clear midnight blue, as the deeps of the Pacific sink below us. A few meters safely outside the break zone of the crashing waves, we put on our masks and fins preparing to explore the mysterious outer reef. Already in the water, I attach an old nylon rope to my ankle to pull the kayak. The eyelet on the front of the kayak is broken, so I have to tie onto the drain holes in the middle of the plastic boat. I dive under the surface for my first view of the reef. I make out the silhouette of a school of large fish in the distance as I marvel at the reef which is less than a meter deep where the waves cross it, to about 25 meters deep to the south of us. Suspended in spectacular dark blue, I watch the surface violently dance with the air and waves above.

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The abrupt baptism caught both Stefan and I off guard. As I struggle to the surface I find my limbs bound with the rope I had sitting in my lap. At this moment I am happy for the Water Safety merit-badge I earned in the Boy Scouts as a child. Without panic, I unravel the rope from my body while calmly sinking in the tropical water. We gather our scattered masks, fins and camera and take the next 5 minutes to balance ourselves and climb aboard the kayak – flipping back into the water as the wind chop continues to batter our existence. We have lost one of my flippers to the relentless sea – a sacrifice to the water gods. There is no time to look for it with the rocks moving faster towards us. Frantically we paddle towards the now myth-like harbour entrance, but the cross angle of the storm front causes us to flip back into the water 30 seconds later. Fortunately, we're both experienced with climbing on kayaks at this point, so we're able to quickly remount the kayak in the choppy seas without incident. Attempting to place distance between our selves and the hard rocks, we spare no time in aiming the bow directly into the wind of the quickly growing afternoon squall. The only way to maintain balance is to paddle directly into the storm, climbing and sinking with each increasing larger wave. We find a strong rhythm and for the next 15 minutes we paddle away from the island and directly at the open ocean. In our trance we have distanced ourselves from imminent danger, but I can’t help to think that with our current direction, the next landfall is most likely the frozen shores of Antartica, tens of thousands of kilometers to the south. We have to turn towards shore. With a quick coordinated pull of the oars we attempt to aim towards the rumored harbour entrance, the angled swell and wind threaten us. Not wanting to fall into the water again and fairly tired at this point, we give up. Paddling with less effort and moving at a speed we couldn’t have imaged a few moments before, we are heading towards home. The wind at our backs, the only stability is found in the exact opposite direction that we were paddling in before.

DRAFT clockwise from top:

The view from Soufriere Village. Boats floating in a river mouth of Portsmouth bay The laughing of a local child.Tropical flowers cover the island.

The euphoria of weightlessness is quickly shattered, as the rope on my ankle pulls and limits my movement. Snorkeling with a kayak in tow is usually not this hard. When properly attached to the front of the kayak, the rope guides the boat nose first trough the waves and chop. Unfortunately, I have had to tie the rope to the middle of the boat, pulling it sideways into the strength of the waves. I grab the rope with my hand to better control the rhythmic tugs. The waves broadsiding the kayak have effectively changed our adventure into an aggressive tug of war, ripping my hand with

each swell. My ankle doesn’t fair better – the swell is too big, and I now have a slight cut on my leg. We decide to change location and attempt to explore the reef closer to the channel entrance, a couple kilometers to the east, on the east side of bat island. Planning to tie the kayak to the small buoy, we carefully balance ourselves while climbing on the two-person vessel. Off to the southeast darker clouds and a thunderhead appear; the swell and the wind begin to increase. The sharp rocky shore of the island slice the now 5-7 meter swells, as we try to paddle to the east. The afternoon storm to the SE is creating a strange wave and wind angle, hindering our progress and pushing us rapidly towards the crashing waves. Fighting to maintain our course, the kayak suddenly is lifted on a passing swell – and we are thrown in the water.

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napa, california

Destination Spotlight: g Fiji j In a minute or so we have made up about half the distance back to the island, splashes of water careen over the nose as we glide through the water. In awe we watch details of the reef and island getting clearer. As if some predisposed fate has now begun, and now reversed, the bright blue flipper that was lost about 20 minutes earlier appears in front of us. We begin to feel that our luck has changed, that the angry sea has decided to spare us this day. We were wrong. In our haste to return closer to the shore, and with the storm at our backs, we have once again not been able to adjust our angle in the rough sea. With the jagged rocks to the right and large waves to the left we are trapped, with no chance to enter the barrier reef where we exited. Too far right of low breakers, no option but to continue on a straight path directly through the larger waves as they wash over the sharp coral. A series of confident shouts back and forth discussing the need to paddle hard through waves, to not forget to lean back when wave grows steep and begins to pitch. Adrenalin starts to pump through my body, as the waves grow as the ocean floor quickly rises to meet us. “Lean backwards… and paddle hard” Markus yells. Remembering the first rule I was ever taught about surfing over rocks and reefs, I quickly respond, “If we go over… cover head and stay shallow.” In a split second, a wave picks us up quickly and the kayak begins to accelerate towards the reef. Much faster that I had expected, we are in no position to surf through this breaker, both of us leaning back and attempting to paddle through. I watch in slow motion as the nose sinks

Coming Soon!

DRAFT into the wave, and to my surprise suddenly stops as it digs into the shallow coral. Like a rag dolls both of us are helplessly catapulted into the shallow water; the laundry machine force rolling us onto the reef. Disoriented, I gasp for air above the foamy whitewash, only to see my confused friend do the same as our heads pop up for a second. “Fuck the kayak and the stuff. Swim as fast as you can! Get off of reef.” We have only a few seconds before the next barrage attacks us. Then as quick as it happened, it is over. The warm calm waters surround us, no more choppy seas, no more uncontrollable wind. Tide has come up, and we can comfortably swim in inside bay. Feeling empowered from our brush with reality, but no desire to mount the kayak, we gather our scattered gear and put on our masks and begin kicking towards the

island. Purple star fish brightly welcome us and a baby lion fish swims out to celebrate our return. We have to squint to find the girls huddled in trees on island – the small white sand beach is now underwater - no more beach, no more wine, and a few bug bites – our female companions are not happy. Both Markus and I are ALIVE and happier than every, with a satisfaction that we had experienced the energy of basic nature and perhaps cheated fate. Smiling from ear to ear, scraped up, bleeding on our feet, hands and arms, we head back to the comfort of the hotel bules. Energized by the story, the girls convince us to stop by the bar for another bottle of wine before we retire to a vigorous night indoors. I love Fiji.

Nadi If you have a few hours to kill at Nadi International airport- take a taxi to Nadi and walk around. The larger island has a much more 3rd world urban flavor which is culturally significant. Make sure not to miss the Sri Siva Subramaniya temple. It's the largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere.

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Napkins Bar & Grill

Napkins Bar & Grill: offering modern American cuisine with a global influence seasonal farm fresh dishes, exquisite cocktails, happy hours and late night menu. All corkage fees are donated to local charities and only collected on Friday & Saturday.

About the Name: The community was asked for their input and the resounding request was “Napkins.” This name has a special meaning for the residents of Napa. It refers to people who live and breathe the “Napa life,” everyday. It expresses the love and appreciation for the beautiful Valley we live in and the pride of being able to share this place with all the travelers who happen upon it. Come visit us soon! Set to open late September, 2013. Please visit NapkinsNapa.com

Venua Levu

FIJI

South Pacific geography & DEMographics: Location: 1,300 miles north east of New Zealand, Fiji consists of 322 islands (100 inhabited) Total area : 75,000+ square miles - only 10% land mass. Two main islands (approx. 75% of the total land area): VitiLevu, the largest island and home to the capital of Suva, and Vanua Levu. Population : 957,780. GDP : US$3.869Billion. Fiji uses the Fiji dollar (FJD), Languages : English (official), numerous Fijian dialects, and Hindi. Religions : Christian, Hindu and Muslim.

Labasa

Venua Levu

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Venua Levu

Nadi

Fiji Suva

why we like fiji • Sunshine all-year-round! Exotic, clean, natural and pure tropical Island lifestyle. • PLENTY of water, and it's free! • Food security - local farms, fishing on the beach and raising animals. • Some of the nicest people on earth. Family and tradition are very strong in Fiji. • Territorial tax - if you earn your income offshore you get to keep it. • No property taxes! Capital gains tax applies to your primary residence and is capped at 10%, lots of loopholes.

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Life in Fiji

Fiji is such a small word for such a grand place. We often say Fiji rapidly three times when speaking about these islands for they deserve the larger attention. Fiji is actually quite large when comparing South Pacific island groups. There are two main islands best suited for living with hundreds of smaller islands more suited for exotic tourism. Fiji is about perfect for visiting and even better for residing, as so many of us are experiencing who live here.

viti levu is the main island where the “big city” of Suva sits by the sea. Suva is busy and with its malls and commercialism it emulates the fully self contained cities of anywhere in the world. Although Suva is good place to get supplies and business done, we soon long for getting back to more of Fiji’s natural surroundings. The most comfortable living areas in the few chosen expatriate communities in Fiji are better for us. The second largest island in Fiji’s stunning group is Vanua Levu. We live here and I want to tell you about it.

This article will have you looking over my shoulder as we spend our time here in the paradise of Fiji, Fiji, Fiji! I am Robert. We rarely use our last names and even the locals call us, Mr. Robert, or Miss Susie. You can go years without knowing someone’s surname. Things are relatively informal in these ancient islands where time can stand still and which day of the week, it is doesn’t really matter. We live in a perpetually inspired state thanks to nature’s contribution of some of her very best work.

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Destination Spotlight: g Fiji j There are just a few thriving expat communities in native friendly Fiji with Savusavu Town on Vanua Levu Island being the winner, at least as far as all of us who live here are concerned. The Savusavu community has a distinctive variety of interesting people, and some real characters right out of old movie scenes. The people mix is quite stimulating; They come in all ages and states of being, single, married and some that aren’t too sure. The primary expat folk are mostly North Americans with enough Canadians to make their presences known and then the Aussies abound with enough New Zealanders to balance that out too. There are some Europeans, predominately the ever entertaining Germans, who are the adventure seekers of Europe and seem to outnumber the rest of the Europeans. We also must have at least one or two from about everywhere else in the world, too. Our average day is the tropical paradise fantasy vacation day dream of any unfortunate “working stiff ” stuck in a plant or cubicle back home. Somehow, no one seems to really be working here, yet in some way we all do, sort of like submarines; no one sees us in service. Everyone manages to keep busy with one thing or another, but not so much so that they can’t take a little time to socialize over a beer or even a fresh fruit smoothie. We have the best deals on food out here. The restaurants can’t be making any money

with the prices they charge for some really fine food. Some of the single folks never cook at home when a fresh caught snapper quesadilla or a range fed local beef burger (they aren’t really hamburgers you know), with fries and salad, sells for less than $7 or 8 USD. Today I stopped by the Yacht Club where virtually every expat living here is a member. Who would turn down the $5.70 USD annual membership to the greatest little club setting by the sea? A local beer is less than $2 USD, which is why some drink so many. J There are two restaurants in the same remodelled old copra mill right on the water, and they will deliver those heavenly meals to the Yacht Club— with a smile and noting your name, no extra charge. Almost everyone knows everyone including the staff of the various businesses from the markets to the petrol stations. Of course there are the recluses who are quite content to stay out of the mainstream, perhaps mesmerized by the extraordinary

FIJI beauty of this spectacular land we thrive in. They are equally respected for their chosen way. There is a lot of latitude given to all of us and we know we all belong. They need us and we need them. We have a symbiotic relationship in this society. As with every place in the world, the main attraction is the people. Equally attractive, and possibly the deciding factor is the abundance of incredible views. We might be sitting at the really inexpensive Hot Springs Hotel overlooking the west end of town and straight out to the grand Savusavu Bay; No visiting artist can see that without stopping to capture that view on canvas. Cameras just can’t capture it, beautiful as the pictures show, for the real thing is beyond a camera’s comprehension. The blue bay waters take you to the mountains on the other side of the huge Savusavu Bay. You see blue seas becoming green hills and then mountains of green grey behind with fading layers of more mountains into lighter greys until you seem to reach infinity in your visual perception. Just add your favourite music and you’ll wonder what took you so long to get here. So, what does it take to arrive? Probably easier than you think because you don’t need a lot of money to live in Fiji for everything but the huge homes in the Beverly Hills of Savusavu is cheap. You can buy or build a nice home overlooking the sea for under $150,000 USD. The

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A local beer isless than $2 USD, which is why some drink so many.

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Of course, nothing is perfect, though we are still working on finding just what is imperfect about Fiji. taxes are zero, zero, zero, zero, like the name Fiji. You might consider that the next time you are paying your property and residence taxes. Another option are 99-year land leases for residential purposes that are just now making their way into the market. These magnificent properties are many times less expensive that the “freehold” properties. More on long term residential land leases in this next issue. Another good reason to sell out of your homeland and join us in the land of the really free. Your loss there will be your gain here. I can hear someone say; “Too good to be true, they must have to get you somewhere.” Well let’s see. The average electric bill out here is less than $60 USD per month, and that is with an electric clothes dryer running every other day. The cost of water isn’t worth mentioning for it is practically free and absolutely free in more places than not.

All sewer out here is septic tank with leech fields so no maintenance there either. Phone service is both mobile (cell phones) and land lines. The total phone bill including a few international calls might be under $25 USD. The Internet costs range from $20 to $50 USD per month for high-speed broadband. So where are they getting to us? Ah, fuel, yes we pay about $5 USD per gallon, but, we don’t have to drive untold miles to get to anywhere we need or want. The only way to burn a lot of fuel requires an all day adventure trip by the beaches and over and through the mountains to the other ends of this island as described in poetry books. Speaking of adventure trips; one never tires of the ride through those huge mountains with views of the sea and bays below. Speaking of adventure trips; you don’t have to go far for a waterfall experience and the water’s always refreshingly cool.

Then there is the “Blue Lagoon” of Fiji where you can swim in what may be nature’s largest tide pool, and at any tide. White sandy beaches abound and most of them are public as the waterfront in Fiji is, by design, free to the people. If you are into the water scene, diving, snorkelling, sailing, fishing and kayaking, you have found it. There are rivers where you can ride the tide through the jungle to a salt lake and back out without even having to paddle, if so inclined; or reclined—and it is free. Fiji is in some ways like a huge theme park, but there is no charge for what nature has provided us lucky folks of wondrous Fiji. Of course, nothing is perfect, though we are still working on finding just what is imperfect about Fiji. When we find it, we will certainly report it right here in this magazine. So long for now.

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Destination Spotlight: p g Fiji j

Landing on the Dragon

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Namenalala is a small dragon shaped island about 15 miles south of Savusavu, Fiji. It’s only by a wet roller coaster adventure of a boat ride. The mile long island’s name ìuninhabitedî and it lived up to its name. If you want a truly remote and untouched, or be completely disconnected from the world, this is it. Picture the movie “Cast Awayî. It feels like a trip back in time with a romantic flavor.

staying in the island resort, you sleep and wake up to the sound of the ocean, listen to exotic birds singing, watching large geckos hanging out, and feel the cool breeze flowing through your bure (private villa). There are only 6 bures with maximum accommodation of 12 guests. Each is located on the cliffside of the island to catch the natural wind, sun, and ocean scenery. They are octagonal with the bed in the center with a view of the sea with the balcony just 3 steps away. It’s a natural and romantic coupleís retreat. The entire Namena resort is built to be eco-friendly, running on solar, wind, and natural rainwater. Although there is phone, the Internet doesn’t reach the island. Evening illumination comes from a provided solar flashlight. Without artificial light pollution, the splendor of the heavens open up. On moonless nights, except for the stars it would be pitch black. With Tom Moody and his staff of about 5 operating the resort, you nearly have an island to yourself. The secluded beach really is secluded, with no other humans in sight.

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As part of the getaway package, Tom himself will join you for dinner, and regale you with stories of Fiji and the rest of the South Pacific. The clubhouse also boasts a large collection of books, a resort library. Those coming for an extended stay will have plenty to to read, if you plan to stay for an extended period. Namenalala is popular for diving and snorkeling, among other things. Hiking around the island and is a pleasant adventure. The ìDragonís Tailî has a spot where you can stand on the edge of the cliff with a panoramic view of the ocean passing and a healthy breeze. Those folks exhausted from swimming can get a tour of the island in Tom’s golf cart. Tom will be happy to tell you the local history including how he built the resort. The island is full of life and Tom will happily point out the rare plants and animals populating this slice of heaven. Those exploring on their own can see fruit bats flying by near the bure, and swimmers down at the dock you can cavort with the barracuda. Namenalala is truly an escape for you and your significant other.

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Destination Spotlight: g Fiji j

FIJI

Despite being one of the least densely populated, most beautiful island nations in the world, over the last 25 years Fiji's political instability, combined with a dilapidated infrastructure and occasional natural disasters, have impacted the country's economic growth. Military dictatorships also have a tendency to affect tourism, damage investor confidence and stifle foreign direct investment. Funny that...

is concocting any schemes to remain in power forever, like a Chavez, Castro or Kirchener. Also, he is neither universally despised nor feared by his own people. Democracy in one form or another will come back to Fiji, and the country will, in our opinion, regain its place in the international community. Possibly a group of inspired capitalists and business leaders could press their case with the Prime Minister and help him turn Fiji into the next Hong Kong or Singapore. Anything is possible.

Fiji: Perception Versus Reality

DRAFT D Chaos creates opportunity!

Distracted by the fear of this (rather benign) dictator's military government, Western aid and investment into Fiji has dried up. This is creating a window of opportunity for speculators like us before the promised elections in 2014. Despite recent political improvements and encouraging native land reforms western investors still shun the country, Asia is becoming an increasingly important economic partner for Fiji. The politics certainly do not bother Chinese investors, who, thanks to recent increases in public enterprise funding, have jumped into Fiji with both feet. The Koreans, Indians and Japanese are here as well. Despite the negative international press, mostly fueled by the Australians, the military regime of current Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama has provided a degree of stability to a country that is used to being plagued by ethnic tensions between the native Fijians and the Indo-Fijians. The problem as we see it is that most investors don't think of Fiji at all! It's geographical isolation and poor infrastructure makes it logistically challenging, especially for SME's. This is really a shame, as the country is blessed with considerable natural resources, including: gold, limestone, timber, water and abundant ocean produce. The agriculture

If you listen to the mainstream media, foreign politicians, or even some local politicians, you're not going to understand theway things REALLY work.

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and aquaculture potential is staggering, as are the renewable energy and eco-tourism opportunities. We often speak of perceived versus actual risk in our blog, CapitalistExploits. at. Fiji presents some very real risks to investors to be sure, however the actual risk, in our opinion, is far less than what is being represented in the foreign press. One of those risks is from the legislative elections scheduled for 2014. Given the lack of the rule of law, Commodore Bainimarama's government may have real difficulty restoring democratic governance to ensure that the elections meet international standards for freedom and fairness. He's already rejected a new constitution put forth by a coalition, which is a step backwards. If this behaviour continues, we should expect that some form of international sanctions will likely remain in place. However, we aren't sure how long sanctions can continue, regardless of the election's outcome. Given the relatively benign form of dictatorship that Bainimarama has instituted, assuming he doesn't become overly aggressive in his leadership, we believe that international pressure will eventually abate. After all, to this point there is no evidence that he

Perception versus Reality

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As we just mentioned, Fiji's military government isn't as bad as the mainstream media (MSM) would have you believe, at least not as far as your average Fijian is concerned. Upon arriving at the International airport in Nadi (pronounced Nandi), I was immediately taken aback by the LACK of military or other security personnel. Maybe it was Fiji's version of the TSA, four 200-pound guys in skirts playing the Ukulele and serenading us at 7 in the morning! It's the same on the streets. The police and military are around, but their presence is nothing when compared to Australia, North America or South America. There are no machine gun-armed, jack-booted thugs standing in every doorway, not even at the banks. One of my first nights there, as I was on my way to a new club in Suva to meet two Aussie friends, my cab driver asked me what I thought of Fiji..? I've oft-said that if you want to get a real taste of a place talk to the cabbies. I told him, “I think this place is fantastic”. “Really?” He asked me if I had seen my country's travel warnings (assuming I was from Australia or New Zealand). I said, “No, I haven't”. “Oh, so you didn't know to expect guys running around the streets with machetes and sticks chasing tourists eh?” “No, can't say that I did...” My cabbies reference to the “travel warnings” is typical of the fearmongering and control that most governments try to instill in their populations. There were no machete-toting gangs, no Molotov cocktails, no armed military check points with guys frisking and detaining me (unlike the TSA or VIPR thugs in the States). I just saw a lot of happy people with smiles, going about their business. And, to mention that club I was on my way to... It was recently opened by a 23-year old Fijian national, who also owns a successful restaurant in town. He was one of the sharpest, most congenial young guys I've ever met... and in fact he bought us drinks all night long. Like I said, Fijians are just nice! When you consider a place like Fiji, or any frontier market, that there are always competing agendas. If you listen to the mainstream media, foreign politicians, or even some local politicians, you're not going to understand the way things REALLY work. You HAVE to get your feet on the ground, meet the locals (cabbies, shopkeepers, guys on the bus and on the streets), talk stories, befriend local businessmen and insert yourself into the real day-to-day.

History

It's not common knowledge, but about 3,500 years ago the Lapita people, who are believed to be the ancestors of the Polynesians settled most of the South Pacific. We know this only because archaeologists have discovered their works of pottery throughout the region. In fact, Lapita pottery has been found at numerous excavations around the country. Pots of the type made in Fiji have also been found in Samoa, Tonga and even as far as the Marquesas Islands. Based on the Lapita presence, we can determine that Fiji was settled before or around 3500–1000 BC. The Melanesians arrived much later, after the Lapita had moved on to Tonga, Samoa and even Hawaii. While the Fijians look more like Melanesians, certain aspects of Fijian culture are similar to Melanesian culture, but have even stronger connections to the older Polynesian cultures. The first temporary settlers in Fiji were likely voyaging traders from the West about 5000 years ago. Trade has been occurring between the islands of the South Pacific for many millenia. This is quite obvious since one can find canoes made from native Fijian trees in Tonga, and

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Destination Spotlight: g Fiji j Tongan words are a part of Fijian language in some of the outer islands to this day. In fact Fiji is still, and has always been, a nation of many languages. The West Arrives In 1643 the Dutchman Abel Tasman became the first westerner to visit Fiji. He was followed by the British over 200 years later, who declared Fiji a Crown Colony at the request of Fiji's King Cakobau (a converted Christian) and other chiefs, in 1874. The British had refused the request twice before, but upon hearing that an American warship was on its way to Fiji they promptly agreed and finally annexed the country. Cakobau hailed from the small island of Bau, which to this day remains respected as a seat of great historical power. Cakobau united some of Fiji's warring tribes under his leadership, declared himself the King of Fiji, and after the British annexed Fiji he took on the role of Vunivalu, or the “Protector”. Fiji's history has been one of settlement but also of mobility. Over the centuries, a unique culture developed. Constant warfare and cannibalism between warring tribes was common, and until relatively recently (the last 100 years), was very much a part of everyday life. In fact, Fiji is infamous for its cannibals. A great many pictures exist, and it's no surprise that when the Europeans settled here in the late 1800's they were always on their toes. British merchants and the Crown would often leave one extremely unlucky man behind to tend to their affairs and business operations in Fiji while shipments transited overseas. This guy definitely drew the short straw. Much of the time when they returned, that man had already been the main dish at someone's dinner. This went on for many years, until, through a lot of smooth talking, the British convinced the Fijian's that eating the guy in charge of their business operations was a bad idea. Thankfully, by the 1870's the Fijian custom of using one's political enemies as an excuse for a meal was on its way out. The last recorded act of cannibalism in Fiji claimed the lives of an English missionary, the Reverend Thomas Baker of East Sussex, and his accompanying party of Methodist Fijians. We think all that we need to know about the custom and it's place in Fijian history is summed up in the statement, "Eat me!", which was a proper ritual greeting from a commoner to a chief back in the day. Fiji remained a British colony for almost 100 years, up until 1970 when it became independent. It remained peaceful until 1987, when back-to-back military coups shook up the country.

FIJI “labor” into the country. Between 18791916 the British brought in over 60,000 indentured servants from the Indian subcontinent into Fiji to work on the sugar plantations. This was called the “girmit” system. The first governor of Fiji, Arthur Charles Hamilton-Gordon, adopted a policy disallowing the use of native labor and no interference in their culture and way of life. These people came to be known as Indo-Fijians, and their ancestors still reside in Fiji today. At various times the indigenous Fijians feared that the Indo-Fijian population would overwhelm them. That fear was well-grounded, particularly as they WOULD outnumber native Fijians by 1946, and by the late 60's they were counted as the absolute majority. Fiji remained a British colony up until 1970, at which point it declared its independence, peacefully. The British Commonwealth is a grouping of 53 former British colonies, dependencies and other territories that includes Fiji's neighbors Australia and New Zealand. Up until the 1987 military coups Fiji was also considered part of the Commonwealth. In the past 25 years,

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Eat me!" was a properritual greeting from a commoner to a chief back in the day.

Politics Apologies to my many British friends, but most of Fiji's political and social problems can be traced back to the Crown's decision to bring

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Fiji has experienced four coups. The first of these was executed to thwart the collaboration between Indo-Fijians and indigenous Fijians for a non-racial political discourse. The second coup, still in 1987, severed Fiji's ties with the Commonwealth and deposed then Governor General Ratu Penaia Ganilau. During and immediately after these two coups many Indo-Fijian families left Fiji and fled back to India, reducing the numbers of that ethnic group. This population loss caused economic difficulties, but ensured that Melanesians became the de-facto majority. A Story of Four Coups There is an excellent article on the four coups: Fiji, 1987-2007: The Story of Four Coups, by Sanjay Ramesh, published out of Sydney, Australia on April 30, 2007. We encourage you to read it to get a full take on what occurred and when. Our Take

our mission. Educate and enlighten Capitalists around the world to the exciting opportunities available in Frontier Markets by bringing our collective thoughts to the table, and by collaborating with our network and the Capitalist Exploits community.

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The primary source of hostility between the two main Fijian ethnic factions has been the voting system. Commodore Bainimarama has blamed Fiji's "communal voting" system for the ethnic tensions and a lack of a strong feeling of shared national identity and citizenship. His plan is to abolish the communal (electoral) voting system in favor of a "one man, one vote" "common roll" system, with no ethnic distinctions between voters. He has also announced that a new Constitution would be introduced by 2013. It would amend the electoral system, abolishing communal voting, and lead to free democratic elections being reinstated in 2014. On the surface that sounds like a solid plan, the only problem is that Commodore Bainimarama has promised free elections before, and it didn't happen. However, we have some confidence that he will keep to his word this time. In fact, just this year Australia and New Zealand have agreed to restore full diplomatic ties in hopes of him keeping his word. Even if free elections don't happen in 2014, it won't impact our decision to stay involved in the country as investors. Certainly free elections would send a message to the world that Fiji is once again open for business, but our opinion is that they are open NOW, and in fact this is our advantage. Investors act like pack animals, we'd rather be the lone wolf! As a result of the reforms, which many welcome, The Commodore is not an unpopular leader. He is by no means a murderous dictator, nor can he even be mentioned in the same sentence with a Chavez, Mugabe or a Kim Jong Il. One could argue that the system that prevailed before the coup, one that concentrated a lot of power in the hands of the "Chiefs", wasn't great either. Corruption was rampant, and it ran on both sides...the native Fijians and the Indo-Fijians. None of the guys that have tried running the country have any real political or business leadership experience. The Commodore is a military man, he will tell you that freely and openly. He is not a politician, yet he has kept the ship afloat. What is needed is the clear rule of law, and open and free markets. We think the country is headed there.

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Destination Spotlight: g Fiji j Despite Commodore Bainimarama's mild form of dictatorial rule, Fiji is still fully-suspended from the Commonwealth. The only other country to be fully-suspended in the history of the Commonwealth is Nigeria, during the rule of Gen Sani Abacha in 1995. We think the place is getting a bad rap. It's true that Fiji's military government has pulled a few stunts best reserved for places like Argentina and China. Until last year Fiji was still under Public Emergency Regulations (PERs) instituted in April 2009 when the former Constitution was abrogated. PERs restricted or regulated public gatherings of more than 3 people, filtered free speech, censored news media, and restricted internal travel, giving local and military security forces added powers. Not ideal, we agree. However, as of last year those have been lifted, and we've never felt any tension with people freely expressing their views. You certainly won't "disappear" in Fiji for speaking out. Even with that, the people I've met said the 2006 coup was mostly peaceful, and hardly noticed outside of Suva. In quite a few cases the locals told me that they supported The Commodore's initiatives, and that they believed he will keep his word and honor free elections. They also commented that if the vote were held now, he'd likely be freely-elected. What will happen? We have no idea, but am willing to speculate... The good thing about Fiji's military government is that it is inefficient, mostly bankrupt and small enough that the majority of the population is left to their own devices – and they're doing just fine. Outside of Suva, and perhaps Nadi, few have any direct link to the bureaucracy or reach of the government. Fully 70% of the country’s labor force is involved in agriculture. We would guess that the same percentage of people, or possibly more, are self-sufficient in food and water. Furthermore, most of them neither really know or care who is in charge. The basic absence of the government is arguably Fiji’s greatest virtue. The government here isn't passing laws restricting its citizens from harvesting rain water, drinking the milk from their cows, selling their vegetables in the market or home schooling their children. Nor is it chasing down its citizens to fleece them for more tax dollars to stay in power. Hear that Australia!?

FIJI Economics As we alluded to in my post, Cannibals, Coups, A Dictator and an Opportunity, the best way to mess up an economy is a coup! Prior to Commodore Bainimarama taking power, economically Fiji was already under pressure from a failing sugar industry, which had functioned almost entirely due to subsidies from the EU and Australia. A scaling back of these subsidies led to the sugar industry contracting and widespread losses for sugar-related businesses. In September of 2002, the Fijian government announced a 20-year development plan. One of the main goals of this plan was to give indigenous Fijians a greater stake in their economy. It aimed to protect indigenous lands and fishing rights, and give tax-relief to businesses owned or managed by ethnic Fijians. Foreign aid, sugar and tourism were, and still are, the main driving forces behind this tiny economy. Sugar cane processing makes up one-third of industrial activity; coconuts, ginger, and copra also contribute significantly. Since the military dictatorship took power, the foreign aid component has collapsed and the remaining subsidies have been severely curtailed, which We view as positive for the Fijian economy. It means that the providers of goods and services have to become more competitive, more resourceful and manage their businesses better. Tough, but necessary medicine. True or false - Foreign aid is easily the most destructive force in third-world countries..? True!! We think so anyway... It allows tyrants to remain in power and ensures wasteful, destructive spending of “free” money, while actively diminishing incentives for the populace to compete in the industries or areas that receive most of the aid. Look at the Middle East, Africa and South and Central America for examples of this failed policy!

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Regardless of the coups, tourism has expanded rapidly since the early 1980s and is still the leading economic activity in Fiji. The Asian crisis and the 2008 GFC impacted the Islands, but due to the expansion of international flights from the US and Asia, more people have easy access to Fiji than ever before. Cruise ships are still coming, and Nadi's cosmopolitan Denarau Island resorts are full of families on holiday with their kids. And it's no longer just Aussies and Kiwis (sorry guys). Chris, who has been involved in the country for over 6 years, tells me that increasing amounts of Chinese and Koreans are holidaying here as well. I saw that myself during my most recent trip. Tourism The tourism sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Fijian Economy. It is the largest gross foreign exchange earner and contributes substantially to employment and GDP. Fiji’s gross tourism revenues in Quarter 1, 2011 (the latest we could find data for) were estimated at $209.4 million. This represents an increase of $10.2 million or 5.1 per cent over the gross revenues of Quarter 1, 2010.

We encourage you to join us. Our opinions and views may not always be popular, and we make no apology for that, as it is not our intent to be popular but merely profitable.

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More Than Just Tourism

Outside of tourism, Fiji is one of the most developed economies in the South Pacific. Agriculture is the single largest employer, responsible for 7 out of every 10 jobs, and almost 20% of GDP. Fiji is not energy independent, which is a burden for the underfunded government. The country has zero oil production, yet consumes more than 15,000 barrels per day. Much of it going to produce electricity. It is still believed that between 500 - 600 million barrels of Brent Crude exists below the surface in Fijian waters. Getting to that oil, and the inevitable international backlash that would ensue (oil exploration in one of the world's last unspoiled marine environments) makes the reality of extracting any of it a longshot at best. More realistic is the possibility that Fiji could become energy independent from alternative sources like biomass and biofuels. In 2005, Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase received approval for his proposal to develop a biofuels industry in the country. Like Brazil, Fiji developed a plan to produce ethanol as a primary byproduct of its sugar industry. Biomass could be utilized as well, including copra, forest products and other agricultural products. The jungle grows, well, like a jungle in Fiji! There is an ENDLESS supply of biomass. It makes no sense not to develop this massive resource. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) agreed in 2005 to provide assistance to Fiji to develop its biofuels initiatives. The plan was to transform the Fiji Sugar Corporation with a dual-mandate of producing energy and sugar, which would result in a turnover of FJD$1 billion by the year 2025. This would further strengthen the sugar industry and Fiji's economy. Any substantial progress on this front has yet to be made.

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Destination Spotlight: g Fiji j Meanwhile, the government's policy of awarding tax concessions to large multinational companies investing in Fiji has not proved successful or popular. A 2005 article by The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that concessions have been “abused and have not generated long-term investment.” Corruption and bribery ensued, and many of the companies simply left Fiji when their concessions ran out. The Fiji Labour Party accused foreign companies of repatriating the profits made in Fiji, rather than investing it back into Fiji, and unfairly capitalizing on tax breaks that discriminated against local businesses. This is the same rhetoric and the same scenario that plays out over and over again all over the world. Something like an economic version of the movie "Groundhog Day". Emigration – A Big Problem

FIJI Bank of the South Pacific offers private health and life insurance in Fiji. The plan covers care in Suva Private Hospital, which is the best hospital in Fiji. It also covers overseas medical evacuation to Australia, New Zealand or India to receive care, even if care is available locally. Outpatient care, optical and dental are also available. Premiums for a 50-year old enrollee start at about US$600 per year. Outside of Suva, and perhaps one or two other “towns,” Fijians function completely independently of the government. They are a largely selfsustaining population, relying on their own abilities and ingenuity to get things done. They are possibly the most resilient, and also the friendliest people on earth. many still live without electricity and Western "comforts", yet violent crime is rare in Fiji. In kind, Fiji, for the right temperament, could very easily serve as an excellent escape hatch. It doesn't have world-class infrastructure, but its remoteness will insulate it from almost anything that befalls the West. And if you think Fiji is messed up politically, most of South America makes it look like Switzerland!

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Another significant economic issue facing Fiji, which can be addressed by increased foreign investment, is emigration. Since the time of the 1987 military coups, Fiji has suffered from mass emigration, particularly of skilled and professional workers. More than 70,000 people departed the country after the coups, most of them were Indo-Fijians. Indo-Fijians in particular are hit hard with this, as most live on land that is leased, and as these leases expire the families have no real choice but to leave and go overseas where they can find work. As far back as 2005, a study from the OECD found that 61% of Fiji's skilled workers have either emigrated or gone abroad as guest workers. IndoFijians comprised more than 90% of those leaving. This is one of the world's highest emigration rates. Only Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago are higher. As a result of this exodus, Fiji's economy is increasingly reliant on remittances from its citizens working overseas. Personal remittances now run into the hundreds of million per year, which is more than the sugar or garment industries bring into the country! Our Take

Fiji is rich with opportunity, right here, right now.

It's easy to see why we feel that much of Fiji's economic woes are directly related to its politics and its leadership. This is something that will eventually be rectified. The worst case economic scenario we can see is the 2014 democratic elections don't happen and the Bainimarama government continues on its path of reforms, many of which are pro-growth, pro-Fiji. The majority of investors continue to shun the place and those in the know scoop up bargains for a few more years. Best case, the elections happen and Fiji is once again embraced by its neighbors and the Commonwealth, and once-fearful investors, mostly Aussies and Kiwis, return in droves. Tourism picks up, trade resumes, foreign direct investment gets back on track... Prudent speculators will want to be positioned ahead of that wave of Johnny-come-back-lately investors. Governments come and go, as this one will as well. Opportunities to capitalize on fear and misunderstandings come around less often.

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Residency and Nationalization

Fiji offers a few ways you can visit or stay permanently in the country. Visitor visas, Work/Study visas, Investor visas and a 3-year renewable Residence Permit on assured income (FJD$150,000 deposit and proof of income). If you're just coming for a visit, nationals of visa exempt countries are granted a visitor permit valid for four (4) months on arrival. Extensions may be granted on application with a fee for a maximum of two (2) more months during the initial 4-month period, not after. It is possible to obtain a 4 month visitors permit, extend it for 2 months, leave the country and re-enter a couple days later and do it all over again. We know of people who live there like this.

The Fijian High Commissions website is a great resource for visa information: http://www.fijihighcom.com/index.php?option=com_ content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=45 Fiji also offers several schemes for investors, including a 7-year Investor Visa, whose main requirement is an investment of FJD$250,000 (about US$135,00). If you own property you can obtain a renewable 3-year residency visa, which many do. A foreign national can apply for Fiji citizenship if he or she has been lawfully present in Fiji for a total of five (5) of the ten (10) years immediately before the application is made. With the introduction of the multiple citizenship policy applicants do NOT need to renounce their other citizenship. There is a one-time FJD$5,692 Application fee, and no bond is required. While on Vanua Levu I stayed at a nice private cottage owned by an American couple that have lived in Fiji for 11 years. They came from Hawaii in 2000, right after a coup. Originally they set up their bed and breakfast business via approval from the Fiji Investment Board, received work permits and ran it as the proprietor/employees. 11 years later the husband paid the application fee, applied for and received his Fijian passport with no problems. He is now “nationalizing” his wife using a spousal program that only costs about FJD$400, saving him a nice chunk of change. It's very easy and painless to set yourself up as a permanent resident in Fiji! While not a great travel document, worst-case scenario if you get “stuck” here, Fiji is a nice place to call home. Just DO NOT overstay your visa, it's too easy to do it right, and you just may find yourself being escorted to the airport by the authorities if you procrastinate.

Kava

DRAFT

Our Conclusion

Fiji is rich with opportunity, right here, right now. Real estate is cheap and supply is insufficient, business incentives are attractive and the tourist trade continues mostly unabated. If you’re looking for something as an insurance policy, a bolthole, or just a really nice place to hang out, Fiji is a good choice! There is a growing trend towards self-sustaining homes on many of the outer islands such as Koro, Taveuni and even on the two main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua levu. In fact, Chris and I have our sights set on our own sustainable and resilient community. More details will be forthcoming, so get on our email list and watch our blog over the next several months. Life in Fiji can be good...very, very good! Bula Vinaka!

Kava. It is an acquired taste much like Miso soup or Durian for the first time. Odorless, it isn’t really sweet or bitter. Kava has this bizarre pepper and dirt-like taste, where it leaves your tongue totally numb, like drinking scalding hot water. The drink has some psychedelic effects leaving you feeling a bit zoned out, relaxed, and lighter in your body as if you were floating. It is also mind clearing; you don’t realize until later that there was nothing occupying your mind or really much thinking at all.

Before you know it, you’ll end up drinking more Kava than you realize, producing a blissful, vibrational feeling. You could say it’s the art of getting drunk without being drunk since Kava plant based and does not contain alcohol, so no typical hangover. But it is not the taste or effects that matters as much as the experience significant to the traveller who wants to explore and immerse in the culture of Fiji. This drink is important to Fijians as it is used in ceremonies, thus forging bonds with people of all types and gives a sense of community and fellowship. A simple drink shows the simplicity of life, or how we can choose to make life simple for ourselves. It the end it has always been the people who define their culture and being through traditions, ceremonies, experiences, and unmasked simplicity. Kava is a symbolic foundation to who the Fijians are in a rapidly changing world. unbound

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Health

DRAFT

Fit for Business

How to get out of the sleep-debt trap! In this issue of Unbound, Dr Richard Cawte asks: “Are you getting enough sleep?” and gives you some useful tips on how to stay at the top of your game.

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part one

today’s world is fast-paced. new challenges are brought to our attention with ever-increasing speed. How we respond to those challenges depends not only on how qualified or experienced we are, but also on how fit and healthy we are. How fit and healthy we are is attributable to many things, including how much exercise we take and whether we are eating a suitable diet, but the single most important factor is this: are you getting enough rest? Most of us value sleep at a pretty low premium. We justify losing an hour here or two hours there because we’re too busy. We have to work late, there’s a plane to catch, or whatever other excuse springs to mind. That is where we go wrong.

Start by getting a good night’s rest and everything else falls into place. After all, if you are tired you will be much less likely to go the gym or take a walk. Not only that, you’ll also be more likely to reach for fast-foods, caffeine or sugary drinks in an attempt to give yourself a (false) boost and that’s not going to help. Before we answer some of the most common questions regarding sleep, let’s just clarify what it is. That may sound very simple, but few people are aware that sleep is not a time when your brain simply switches off. It’s a time when your brain runs through a whole series of essential tasks. If you don’t allow it to complete these tasks, the result will be much the same as if you never defrag or delete temporary files on your computer: you’ll slow down progressively until you seize up! Sleep is not an optional extra. It’s an essential maintenance for your physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.

Sleep deprivation has a wide range of negative effects that go way beyond daytime drowsiness. need to cat nap during the day and you’ll find yourself nodding off on the train on the way home, or in front of the television when you get back. If allowed to continue, sleep deprivation has a wide range of negative effects that go way beyond daytime drowsiness. It affects your judgment, coordination, and reaction times not to mention your libido. It can affect you just as much as being drunk.

of credit, go to bed half an hour earlier than you normally would. If you fall asleep easily, you are in debt. Repeat this process until you have caught up.

DRAFT

So how much sleep do I need?

It’s a fact that over half of us are suffering from chronic sleep deprivation and are unaware of it. Some people say they can manage on very little sleep, but by and large the oldwives tale that “you should get eight hours sleep every night” is about right if you are looking to operate at maximum capacity. Yet it is not really the amount of sleep that you are getting that matters as much as the quality of that sleep. It is quite possible to have too much sleep, in which case you will wake just as befuddled and unrefreshed as if you had too little. How do I know when I have not had enough sleep? If you are not getting good rest you will find it harder to concentrate on any task, you will hesitate more and be less decisive. You may find yourself yawning in a business meeting, craving sugary foods (or a boost of some kind) or nodding off if the room is warm. On top of that your brain will operate more slowly than usual, you’ll be less patient and your sense of humour may well have been left on the pillow. You’ll

The effects include: ∙ Fatigue, lethargy, and lack of motivation ∙ Moodiness and irritability ∙ Reduced creativity and problemsolving skills ∙ Inability to cope with stress ∙ Reduced immunity; frequent colds and infections ∙ Concentration and memory problems ∙ Weight gain ∙ Impaired motor skills and increased risk of accidents ∙ Difficulty making decisions ∙ Increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems

Get Yourself Out of Debt If you fail to get the rest your body and brain require, you will be putting yourself into debt just as surely as you are when you take out a loan from a bank. The difference is that whereas you can repay your financial debts from future profits there is no way to pay off your sleep-debt except by getting more sleep! To test whether you are out

Can I catch up at weekends?

No. Sleeping for longer at weekends will help you to pay off some of the balance of your sleep-debt, but it will also encourage you to get out of your routine. You are better off getting a little extra sleep each day, rather than trying to catch up with a big chunk on Saturdays and Sundays. Simple Tips and Tactics The most important thing is to get into a routine. Go to bed and get up at regular times as often as you can. If you can’t do this, see the solution below on choosing how much sleep you get. Don’t watch television for at least an hour before you go to bed. It’s a myth that television relaxes you. In fact, it does the opposite, stimulating adrenalin flow and agitating the brain. Switch it off. And if you have one in your bedroom – take it out! Don’t drink alcohol or smoke just before bed. As with television, drinking alcohol or smoking right before bed time will not relax you. Cat napping really does help. Many world leaders have relied on it. Make sure each catnap is a maximum of twenty minutes. Longer than that and you will enter deeper sleep, from which you won’t wake refreshed. Get enough physical exercise during any one day to leave your body feeling tired.

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Health Diagram 1 Awake REM

DRAFT

Answering this question can solve your fatigue.

If you wake from deep sleep or deep rest you will most likely have a lousy day.

The secret to waking refreshed is to understand the cycles of brainwaves through which your brain will move during any night, and to choose in advance how long you wish to sleep for and when you wish to wake up. The brain operates within certain bandwidths (cycles per second). During waking hours these tend to be either Gamma or Beta waves; Gamma being high stimulation (stress) and Beta being regular stimulation. When you fall asleep your brainwaves dip from Beta into Alpha. This is what happens when you feel yourself “nod off ” – you are literally falling from Beta in Alpha brainwave function. But they don’t stay there. Remain asleep and your brain will automatically move through a cycle from Alpha, through Theta and Delta back up to alpha again. This cycle takes approximately 90 minutes to complete and repeats itself when you stay asleep. After six hours, your brain will then remain in the Alpha brainwave state for another two hours. Why is this important? Because where you are within

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that cycle when you wake up will determine how rested you feel the following day. It is always best to wake from REM or light sleep. If you wake from deep sleep (Delta) or deep rest (Theta) you will most likely have a lousy day. Stubbing your toe as you get out of bed you’ll cut yourself shaving, spill coffee on your shirt, burn your hand as you iron a new one, miss your train because you’re late…and so on. When allowed to move through its restorative cycles unimpeded, your brain will always wake you when you are in the Alpha bandwidth – the one immediately below Beta. And that means you’ll wake refreshed. Diagram 2 shows you what I mean. Armed with this knowledge, you can now set yourself amounts of time to get good rest, making sure that you wake yourself only when you know your brain will be back in the Alpha State. In other words, if you cannot get 8 hours, you are better off getting four and a half, or six, rather than getting five and a half hours sleep.

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 1

DRAFT Duration of Total Sleep Time(Hours) Diagram 2

Awake REM

Knowing this takes the stress from those of you who are prone to worry about whether or not you are sleeping enough. Instead of fretting, you can simply say “Tonight I am sleeping for six hours”. If you are on a plane journey and you know you cannot get even that long, choose to sleep for three hours, rather than four. Always pick a multiple of 90 minutes from the time you fall asleep. By the way, you do not require an alarm clock. Your subconscious mind is very accomplished. Simply tell it when to wake you and it will, but you must order it and be specific. Don’t say “I’d like to have around six hours sleep.” Instead, say: “I am sleeping for six hours,” or give a direct order: “Wake me up after six hours sleep.” Most important is to give sleep equal priority with other essential functions like eating. Many of us fail to do this. There are so many things that seem more important, but just as exercise and nutrition are essential for optimal health and happiness the quality of your sleep directly affects the quality of your waking life, including your mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical vitality, and even your weight. No other activity delivers so many benefits with so little effort, so it’s worth paying it some attention!

Stage 1

Stage 2 Stage 3

Deep Sleep

What happens when we sleep?

Most important is to give sleep equal priority with other essential functions like eating.

Stage 4

Duration of Total Sleep Time(Hours) Diagram 3

Bed

Wake up at night

Can't Fall Asleep

Wake up too early

Awake

Wake

Could sleep, but woke up tired

REM

Light sleep

NonREM

Duration of Total Sleep Time(Hours) The continuous line illustrates a deep and restful sleep pattern. The dotted line shows a more shallow and erratic sleep pattern.

Dr Richard Cawte is a consultant who helps clients to perform at optimum levels. As he is fond of saying “Health IS wealth. If you’re in the red when it comes to your health, it doesn’t matter how much financial credit you have, your life will suck!”

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Geopolitics

DRAFT

Life After Chavez

by vibenation

A Geopolitical Primer for the PT

There’s a basic reason that one decides to venture from the nest and become a PT.

of course there are events that expedite this process, but now it seems, like no other time in modern history, these events are happening with greater frequency and with significant, permanent, ramifications. I’m talking about geopolitics, and while most in the world don’t know what the hell I am talking about, the PT most certainly does, or should. One can easily get buried in the day to day ramblings of a talking head or financial analyst who’ll spit out the company line ad nauseam, but the PT is a different animal. They are part adventurer, historian, visionary, and guinea pig. One common trait they all share is the ability to break from the herd.

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Having done that, how does the PT successfully navigate the waters around them? I find that if you take a step back and understand the current geopolitics of the region around you, you will have the macro knowledge that lets you see the forest through the trees. The passing of Hugo Chavez is one such event the PT should take note. Rarely has such a charismatic figure had the impact on a region like

Hugo. One other is still alive a little bit north, but that’s a story for another time. Regardless of your opinion of the man, he spewed a consistent message, notably, anti Americanism. Yes he was a socialist, but the primary thing that drove him was his anti American zeal. During his reign, he wasn’t content on spouting off independently, he made it a priority to spread his message throughout Latin America. Spreading one’s ideology doesn’t come cheaply, however. Hugo funneled vast amounts of Venezuelan petro dollars away from the poor Venezuelans who routinely re-elected him, and into the hands of leftist neighbors, who proved to be reliable allies in his quest to bash the great Satan. Yes, he was a narcissist, and loved the celebrity life and title of being El Jefe (not unlike another world leader we know and love), but what did that get his country? They can’t reliably find milk on the shelves at the local supermarket, but hey, he got photo ops with the President of a country who despises the Christian faith that 99% of his electorate follows, but I digress. The odds are that Hugo’s successor won’t be able to keep the coalition of the hating together, nor will he even try. Look for reality to set in and for the anti American torch to flicker out, leaderless. Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Ecuador were major recipients of Venezuelan monetary aid. Who’s going to step up to fill that void? Although nationalizing industries and expropriating private energy investment sounds great to a gullible electorate, it doesn’t do much for the country’s best interests. Who’s going to invest billions in your country now?

China has been a reliable investor in Latin America and has stepped in to bottom feed on Ecuador and its energy reserves. It will have a major say in its future despite what the environmental lobby will have you believe. Nicaragua is still an unknown and will continue to be as long as Danny Ortega is in office. Bolivia? Evo Morales is living on borrowed time without big brother Hugo. A country rich in resources with the wrong leader at the helm, look for opportunity there when leadership changes. The reality of the day is that money is on the move. The litmus test that is Cyprus has shown that depository institutions in the Eurozone offer no safe haven. EU money is leaving and looking for a home. Some will find its way into real estate and tangible assets within Latin America. And that money will look for safety. And safety means a stable government. The two countries in Latin America best positioned to benefit from the global shakedown are Costa Rica and Panama. Now you’re pointed in the right direction. Find your niche and be prudent and diligent in how you go about your business.

DRAFT

Regardless of your opinion of the man, he spewed a consistent message, notably, anti Americanism.

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Insight

DRAFT Vatican-ﬂation!

by bianca fernet

At special request from my father to “write a notparis about the Pope”, I have written a semi-obligatory “New Argentine Pope” article. So here is a self-confessed non-political scientist’s assessment of who exactly Pope Francis (née Jorge Mario Bergoglio) is and what he means for Argentina’s economic future.

This is a reprint from the blog: NotParis.com Bianca Fernet is an economist. She works in finance in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she have lived for the last few years. bianca.fernet@notparis.com

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francis is the first jesuit ever and first non-European pope in useful history (for almost 1300 years, you little detail monkeys). He appears to take his vows of poverty seriously by living in an apartment (rather than a palace), taking the bus (rather than a limo), and doing keen things like washing the feet of AIDS patients and forcing the priests of Buenos Aires to baptize the bastard babies of unwed mothers.

He is quite the social conservative, strongly opposing birth control, abortion, and gay marriage and adoption. Shock, right? As he was born in 1936, odds are he will not be with us for long, so I’m going to cut to why this matters in Argentina. Namely, I’m going to dig into his relationship with President Cristina Kirchner and accusations of ties to the baby-stealing leftist-kidnapping dictatorship of the 1970s.

In seriousness, read this now. Kidnapping, torture, baby theft, and state terrorism are things we typically associate with generations far past, yet stained Argentina’s history from the 1970s into the early 80s. Francis’s friction with the Kirchners has its roots in the battle for perception as champion of the poor. In 2004, he spoke out against the exhibition and strident announcements characterizing Argentine public life, a criticism of the Kirchners’ chatty but arguably ineffectual approach to curbing poverty. In 2005, the Kirchners dissolved the Obispado Castrense, the church’s organization that provided services to the Armed Forces, following a statement by the head that supporters of abortion should be tied to rocks and tossed to sea. Not the most tactful analogy as victims of the dictatorship were actually drugged and pushed from helicopters into the sea. Since 2006, the Kirchners have snubbed Francis by attending the annual May 25 Te Deum Revolution Day Catholic Ceremony at any church that is not the Metropolitan Cathedral, where he presided. In 2005, Horacio Verbitsky named him in his book “The Silence” as responsible for the kidnapping of two leftist Jesuit priests by removing church protection from them. Bergoglio was refused to testify in 2006, and in 2010 he testified, defending his behavior and claiming to have intervened and helped in multiple cases of protection. My conclusion on the alleged ties between Francis and the human rights violations is that they cannot be substantiated. He was a high-ranking member of the Catholic Church in Argentina during the dictatorship, and the Church was inarguably complicit in some of the most horrific elements of that era. He clearly did not publicly rebuke the government, as that would have landed him in a cell in a secret torture prison. It seems his role was passive at best, thus the media storm tying him to the kidnapped priests is more of an attempt to discredit the man and distract from his solid and non-hypocritical stance on poverty. On the less serious but more fun to quote side, Cristina and Francis have butted heads on the following issues: [note - these quotes are taken shamelessly out of context to maximize humor]

Gay Marriage Francis: “its an attempt to destroy God’s plan” … “a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God”. Cristina: It’s worrisome to hear phrases such as ‘war of God’ and ‘projects of the devil,’ which are things that send us back to medieval times and the Inquisition.” Putting aside the emotionally stirring accusations and quote-worthy morality banter, the real issue is that the pope challenges the Kirchners’ (and more

broadly leftist Latin American leaders’) claims to fighting for the rights of the poor. Francis is a threat to Cristina Kirchner’s hold on the hearts and minds of the people because if you can manage to put aside his gay-bashing and anti-contraception stance, his lifestyle holds a very damning mirror up to a woman who rarely to never practices what she preaches. He doesn’t need photo-ops or massive throngs of chanting soccer fans to demonstrate to the world that his mission in life is to fight extreme poverty.

DRAFT

At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development… a discrimination against children. — Pope Francis

on Adoption by gay couples

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Fun Capital In tr

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2101 L ST NW Suite 800 | Washington, D.C. | 20037 D.C. Office: (202) 350-4290 Ext. 104 | Fax: (202) 350-4291 www.dcdbgroup.com

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Not quite.

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People refer to Buenos Aires as “the Paris of South America.”

b l ishm a t s E e d

Offsh

To which God replied, “Ah but in Argentina I will put the Argentines.”

emerging that can capitalize on his popularity with Kirchner’s base. The current administration gets away with running arguably the most slap-dash economy in the G20. Seriously – a dual exchange rate and black currency market, quota-based import restrictions, licensebased export restrictions, price freezes on groceries – the list goes on and on. They get away with it on the grounds that these are necessary to achieve social equality and poverty reduction. The existence of Pope Francis threatens to suggest an alternative. Very few poor Argentines support Cristina based on her stance on gay marriage or contraception. In an act of political pragmatism, both Cristina and Pope Francis have taken strides to bridge this gap. He invited Cristina as his first official audience as Pope, where they exchanged traditional Argentine gifts. The Kirchner government has been papering the streets with posters tying Francis to Peronism and aligning themselves where possible with the Pope’s popularity. Francis’s actions have suggested that he will stay out of the divisive political battle and instead direct energy where possible towards aiding the poor. The question is whether or not this truce will last. Or, less accurately, Cristina and Francis disagree on some key issues, but now it benefits neither to carry on feuding so they are both playing nice and business goes on as normal. And that folks, is Bianca on politics. You’re welcome, dad.

DRAFT When Argentina defaulted in 2001, the church in Argentina supported debt restructuring that privileged social programs above tax repayment, arguing that “social exclusion, a growing gap between rich and poor, insecurity, corruption, social and family violence, serious deficiencies in the educational system and in public health, the negative consequences of globalization, and the tyranny of the markets” were the true problems in the Argentinean economy. Francis was quoted saying “We live, apparently, in the most unequal part of the world, which has grown the most yet reduced misery the least. The unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers” As an apathetic social liberal who was raised catholic, the redeeming fact that the Catholic Church is the largest giver of aid worldwide, as well as the most efficient (highest fraction of each dollar ends up in the hands of needy) giver is frequently thrown in my face. And if Francis develops a reputation as the Latin American champion of global efforts to reduce inequality and poverty, that threatens to severely cripple Kirchner’s hold on power, which rests pretty heavily on: • Championing the poor • Championing human rights • Championing social liberalism Knock off item one on that list and he opens the possibility of a competitor

We help you make sense of it all

n Inter ation

The Kirchner government has been papering the streets with posters tying Francis to Peronism and aligning themselves where possible with the Pope’s popularity.

There’s a joke about Argentina that God was distributing resources between the countries. As he gave Argentina gold, copper, coal deposits, minerals, oil, ice-free ports, arable land, and the list goes on, the other countries began to complain loudly. They said, “God – with all of this Argentina will surely become the most powerful country in the world! How will we compete?”

CONSULTING | ADVISORY | EXECUTIONS

Insight Arbitrage

DRAFT

Lipstick and Currency Bruises A few friends returned yesterday from a Uruguayan beach expedition, bringing home confusion surrounding US dollar (USD), the Argentine peso (ARS) vs. the Uruguayan peso (UYU). Unraveling their tale, I realized this is a story everyone should mull over to understand better the larger effects of a currency black market.

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by bianca fernet

upon arrival, my friends withdrew uruguayan pesos from their US dollar bank accounts via an ATM and received 19 UYU/USD. Later in the trip, they physically exchanged Argentine Pesos and received only 2 UYU/ARS. A few medio medios and some mental math later, they realized this implies a rate of about 10.5 ARS/USD. A few more and they concluded that Uruguay – cheap in dollars, not so much in Argentine pesos. What’s happening here is massive influx of Argentine pesos into Uruguay, coupled with a bullshit overvalued official exchange rate. Or, just because the black rate in Argentina is expressed in US dollars or sometimes Euros, doesn’t mean there isn’t a dual rate vís a vís most every other currency in the world.

Sounds like a sexy high-risk international crime, but really just means that when there are two prices for one thing a clever person with adequate transportation can create a little money making loop. For example – let’s say that in one shop, red lipsticks cost $3, and across the street the same lipstick costs $6. Bianca, being an economist and connoisseur of red lipsticks, could take $3 and buy a lipstick in shop one and if she could resist the temptation of wearing it, sashay across the street and sell it for $6. Using the profit, Bianca could then buy two lipsticks at shop one, then sell them for $12, and repeat this process until either she caved and wore the lipstick, or the shops wised up and both moved their prices to a reasonable $4.50. The same thing happens in international currency markets, except it’s a web of prices rather than just one to one. Kind of like lots of colors of lipsticks of varying qualities. And instead of crossing streets and pocketing lipstick money, international currency traders sit 24 hours a day in front of multiple monitors displaying quickly fluctuating prices, jumping on even the most minor discrepancies to realize quite tidy profits. And while yes, this seems like a function more or less barren of obvious societal value, these traders keep currency prices equal across countries, which allows people like you to look up official exchange rates on Google and be more or less confident you can travel to a foreign country and exchange your money for that rate. Back to the Uruguay/Argentina/USA case though, you see the implication of a dazzling array of differing rates. And nothing begs for a chart quite like a dazzling array: So the answer to the question of why in the WORLD do you only get 2 Uruguayan pesos for your Argentine pesos when you’re on vacation in Punta? If you got the official rate of 3.81, this would create a slightly less beautiful but more lucrative arbitrage loop that would look something like this: In order to not be bankrupted by Argentina’s dual currency market drama, Uruguay has to throw a wrench somewhere into this cycle. If they change the pink lipstick (top right), they would stop having

Arbitrage

If prices don’t equalize, Bianca will end up with all the money and shop two with all the lipstick. Poor shop one.

Biancia's money doubles with each transaction until prices equalizes

Diagram 1

DRAFT UYU/USD

ATM in Uruguay

Money Changer in Uruguay

ATM in Argentina

Black Market (Argentina)

19/1

n/a

2/1

3.8/1

No one cares

4.9/1

7.8/1

UYU/ARS

ARS/USD

n/a

Arbitrage

If this were the case, you could multiply your pesos as fast as you could zip across Rio de la Plata

Uruguay Money Changer

100 ARS = 381.25 UYU

381.25 UYU = 20 USD Argentina Black Market

20 USD = 156 ARS

a globally traded currency at the expense of trade, international investment, and generally being considered a real country. They can’t control the red lipstick, so they basically change the purple lipstick to make the equation balance out. And so my friends, this is why if you plan on financing your Uruguayan summer debauchery in Argentine pesos, you will end up footing quite a hefty bill. The solutions? Use dollars. Or euros or yen or reais or francs or really any currency

that’s not from Argentina, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, or Iran. OR (and the verdict is still out on this), put your pesos in an Argentine bank account and then pull them out of the ATM in Uruguay. I will update once I know what that looks like. Regardless, wear sunscreen. And invite Bianca, that bitch could use a tan. This is a reprint from the blog: NotParis.com

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Money

Currency Wars by bulwark in the breach

DRAFT

It was the strangest of times, it was the… Oh well, I’m not sure I can complete that using any statement that might have you believing that there is any “normalcy” left in the markets.

keynes would be downright proud of the current central banker’s attempts to inflate, devalue, quantitative ease, etc. each country’s or union’s economy into near oblivion. Keynes envisioned a world currency that he named the Bancor which would be controlled by one world central bank. Keynes felt that with such an instrument in place the world would be able to inflate and borrow as needed to “smooth out” the highs and lows of a world economy. Currently, the central bankers seem to be attempting to do this in unison with their various currencies. We see attempts to devalue the dollar, the euro, the yen, the yuan, and other currencies in an attempt to… well to do what exactly nobody seems quite certain. Those in power in the various countries/unions will say that they are attempting to make their currency weaker in order to boost exports. (The logic being that if your currency is weaker it takes less of the other’s currency to purchase your widgets.) But in reality does that make sense?

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A few weeks ago I sat on a plane from Montreal to Toronto next to a Mr. Brown. We struck up a conversation and I asked him what he did for a living. He explained that he sold Japanese equities. “How is business?” I asked. “With the new central bank policy things are booming!” He said. “We haven’t had this kind of interest in Japan for two decades.” So, what can we draw from that brief exchange? Yes, the leaders of the countries/ unions are correct when they say that by weakening their currency they hope to boost exports. But that is only half the truth. By weakening the yen the Japanese are attracting strong new investments. Why? Because you can get so much “more” now for your dollar/euro/pound than you could before when the yen was stronger. Each central banker knows and understands this. These funds flow into the equity markets—boosting virtually all indexes to all time highs. But are these “real” highs? No, it is money finding the path of least resistance. Like water, money

will always flow to the deepest, lowest pool—given the right path. It is this path of devaluation that the central bankers are digging each time they quantitative ease or lower the central bank lending rates. Sadly it is mostly a paper game that is being played. While equity indexes hit all time highs on lower earnings and record low employment in many countries we are also seeing the commodity markets ravaged. Not only ravaged, but decouple from reality as gold trades for $400 to $500 per ounce higher than the spot prices in countries like India and China. How long can that continue? Back to the currency war discussion. Central bankers understand this all very clearly. Every major country/union is attempting to manipulate their currency and out manipulate the others. New economic unions such as BRIC are coming of age and attempting trade without using the US dollar for settlement. China and Russia have reached agreements (both with each other and with other countries) to

settle in their own currencies and not use the US Dollar. What will the end result of this all be? Honestly I am no prophet. But looking back in history we can see times when countries devalued their currencies and it never ended well for them. What we have NEVER seen is a time when all major currencies are attempting to devalue AT THE SAME TIME. I do not think that this bodes well for the 99% of us who are not the super wealthy regardless of where we might live. As currencies devalue and banks offer no interest to depositors, those on fixed incomes or living off savings will end up on the short end of the rope with little buying power. I would not be surprised to see the world wake up one day and see a major equity market bubble burst in connection with a commodity scramble causing virtually all goods to rapidly increase in price. That or those in power might just be hoping to solve it all the old fashioned way—a real war.

DRAFT

End of Empires

Modern so called ‘Keynesians’ operate under no such restrictions—theyare happy to print and borrow in the good times as well as in the bad. I will give Keynes credit for one thing though—Keynes always wanted a balance—with the governments/central banks going into debt during hard times and then catching back up during times of surplus and plenty. Modern so called ‘Keynesians’ operate under no such restrictions—they are happy to print and borrow in the good times as well as in the bad.

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Money

DRAFT

Quantitative Easing and the Future of the USD

by michael a. gamble

QE3; It keeps going and going and going...

Most americans can recall a day when someone they knew from a prior generation said ‘I remember when a gallon of gas was $.35 back in the 1965’. As a young American with a family I can feel a noticeable increase in the grocery store prices and when I pay for a tank of gas for my car, I cringe. I certainly remember getting a few more bags of grocery for $100 in greenbacks a few years ago. 140

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despite these forces being out of my control, i am aware of the policies that are perpetuating this economic trend. Down on Lincoln Avenue in Washington, the Federal Reserve Bank of the US is currently engaged in a money creation policy called Quantitative Easing, or “QE” as it’s popularly named by the mainstream media. Like most Americans, you may be wondering, “What is the Federal Reserve”, or “What is quantitative easing”? To understand the policy you must first understand the entity. The Federal Reserve System, also known simply as the ‘Federal Reserve’, is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913. A central bank can be a public or private institution that manages a country’s currency, money supply, and interest rates. A central bank

possesses a monopoly on increasing the nation’s monetary base and prints the national currency. Simply put, the Federal Reserve has complete control over the United States currency and will ultimately determine its value in terms of purchasing power. Prior to the financial crisis of 2008, the balance sheet of the US Federal Reserve was approximately $920 billion ($920,000,000,000). As of February 2013, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet as exceeded $3,000 billion and counting. The Federal Reserve responded to the financial crisis first with emergency money printing to purchase $1,700 billion of securities. Quantative Easing round 2 (QE2) begun in November 2010 and the Federal Reserve purchased an additional $600 Billion of US treasuries to its holdings. In September of 2012, the Federal Reserve responded to the broader health of the US economy by announcing and “open-ended” money printing policy known as QE3. QE3 commenced in January 2013 allowing the Fed to print $85 billion per month to accommodate a combination of Mortgage backed securities and US treasuries purchases. The Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has pledged accommodation until the US unemployment rate drops near the 6% level. In a Senate testimony on February 27th, Chairman Bernanke said his “reasonable guess” would be that it will take three more years before unemployment rate reaches 6 percent. The Fed Chairman’s forecast, coupled with the current $85 billion per month in additional money printing, means that our US money supply can potentially balloon to levels exceeding the $5,000 billion mark by 2015. So what does this ultimately mean for individuals who hold their savings in US dollars? Though the US Dollar is a currency, it’s also a commodity that’s governed by the fundamental laws of supply and demand. If you increase the supply of any currency, historically it will devalue. You can get an idea of how this works by keeping track of the US dollar index past and present. The US Dollar Index (USDX) is an index (or measure) of the value of the United States dollar relative to a basket of foreign currencies. It is a weighted average of the

dollar’s value compared only with “basket” of 6 other major currencies which are: Euro (EUR), 57.6% weight, Japanese yen (JPY) 13.6% weight, Pound sterling (GBP), 11.9% weight, Canadian dollar (CAD), 9.1% weight, Swedish krona (SEK), 4.2% weight and Swiss franc (CHF) 3.6% weight. All of this is complex to the average person simply trying to minimize risk and preserve their capital, but dollar devaluation shows no prejudice. If you consider the actions of institutions and individuals who are in “the know”, you can develop unconventional investment strategies that can “hedge” longer-term currency depreciation.

DRAFT In a Senate testimony on February 27th, Chairman Bernanke said his “reasonable guess” would be that it will take three more years before unemployment rate reaches 6 percent. US Dollar Index 130

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Money If you follow the likes of Billionaire Hedge fund titan John Paulson, or institutions like the central banks, you can clearly see that simple, physical gold for investment purposes has a strong “seat at the table” for asset diversification. According to November 20, 2012 article from Bloomberg, John Paulson owns about 65 tons of gold, which is more than the official reserves of Brazil. The World Gold Council also reports that the official Gold purchases by Central Banks exceeded 500 tons in 2012, which is the most physical gold buying since the 1960’s. With the world’s top central banks printing money, we all are subject to competitive currency devaluation over time. While securities, bonds, and cash are all places for the traditional investor to store wealth, they are mostly denominated in US dollars, and thus subject to devaluation when adjusted for inflation. Risk allocation is a function of individual appetite, and in times of the past cash was “as good as gold”, but in this US economy where negative real interest rates seem to be the way of the future, you have to wonder what a $100 bill will really buy you in the next 5-7 years. We seem to be in the midst of shifting global monetary policies, and when you check the history books, it’s the ordinary citizens who generally take the “hair cut” on what they own. Great nations such as Britain and Germany have both experienced times of major currency devaluation. When the monetary inflation (money printing) ultimately leads to price inflation, we are going to pay more for goods and services with dollars we hold today. Whether its commercial real estate, or physical precious metals, consider holding physical assets away from US dollars as a means of being prepared in a rapidly changing financial world.

DRAFT

With the world’s top central banks printing money, we all are subject to competitive currency devaluation over time.

DRAFT

US Federal Reserve Balance Sheet (in Billions)

5,000

4,000

3,000

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Michael A. Gamble Co-Founder of SBC National, Commercial Real Estate Financing www.sbcnational.com, mike@sbcnational.com

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Insight g

The Land of Fire

Azerbaijan by alexandra listerman

DRAFT Old meets new; Shahid Mosque silhouetted by the Flame Tower.

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Azerbaijan is one of the countries of Earth, which is simply impossible to ignore. Anyone who never discovers it for themselves will be missing out.

bank in Azerbaijan, with modern and safe online banking up to European expectations, and service in English. I only recommend doing business with one of the top five ba nks in Azerbaijan due to upcoming mergers and acquisitions. The bank capital standards should be raised 5 times before 2014 arrives. Although banks in Azerbaijan don't open accounts for foreign companies, they are happy to open accounts for 100% foreign owned companies incorporated in Azerbaijan. There are also real estate investment projects in Azerbaijan, especially Baku, waiting for the first ever European Olympia and anticipating about 400% profits.

DRAFT T the republic of azerbaijan was, and still is, an important place at the junction of Europe and Asia. It is strategically, economically and culturally significant and still profits from its unique geopolitical and geographical position. It has over 9 million people living in an area of 86,600 km2. The place is pretty monocultural at better than 90% Azerbaijanis, with another 30 million living next door in Iran. As a PT and professional offshore banking consultant I visited Azerbaijan this spring to establish some useful contacts in preparation for the upcoming two day international conference “Investment Climate Development between the Silk Road Countries and Europe”. The conference is scheduled for 5-6 June of this year in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital city. This conference will bring together the leaders of the European market of consulting and legal services and senior managers of the leading companies from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia. I wanted to be among the first consultants from Europe, to find out more about banking and doing business in Azerbaijan. US and EU readers will be happy to know they are very welcome to visit Baku in person and open a savings account paying 9-12% interest in one of the top five banks in Azerbaijan. I recommend The International Bank of Azerbaijan (www.ibar.az) as it's the largest centralized

Azerbaijan is one of the most ancient human settlements in the world.

Why should any PT consider a trip to Azerbaijan? This was not my first visit to Azerbaijan – I visited several times when I was a child and enjoyed comparing the current reality to my childhood memories. In this country there are many unique landscapes, incredible natural, cultural and architectural monuments and amazing traditions. Both history and culture of Azerbaijan have been inexhaustible source of inspiration for millions of explorers for centuries, from Ptolemy and Marco Polo, to Anthony Jenkinson and Alexandre Dumas. All of them wrote about the legendary Land of Fire located on the Great Silk Road. Azerbaijan is one of the most ancient human settlements in the world. The livestock and agricultural advantages have served the area very well throughout history as an important part of the Silk Road. This land has everything – great castles and mausoleums of famous rulers, sanctuaries and even the people preserving memory of generations. Their ancestors' experience is embodied in numerous works – be those splendid carpets or architectural buildings.

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DRAFT top:

Fountains of Baku: Fountain Square. right: Square near Philharmonic Theatre.

In addition, Azerbaijan is a unique treasury of natural reserves. Nine out of eleven climatic types existing over the world are found in Azerbaijan. Relict forests, deserts, mountainous landscapes, immense plains, alpine grasslands and matchless charming lakes will impress even those PT’s, who visit 15 and more countries a year, especially, since the above mentioned are only the beginning in the endless chain of the charms of local nature. Abundance of mineral and thermal waters, curing mud and medicinal oil Naftalan puts Azerbaijan in the same row with the most popular health spas of the world. Another quirk of nature has chosen the Land of Fire as its homeland: every kind of mud volcano in existence can be found here. Both on and under the earth there are precious reserves such as oil, gas, iron, gold, cobalt and so on. The Caspian sea, the largest lake in the world, is the soul of many Azerbaijanis providing fishing and the world famous Beluga caviar. In Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, public and cultural life presents itself in all varieties and brilliance. Visitors come here to enjoy amazing feeling of contrast and synthesis of the East and West. Eurovision contest was held in Baku in 2012. Plenty of theaters, museums, concert and exhibition halls, international festivals and contests are available in the city showcasing not only traditional culture, but also the modern trends in Azerbaijani art.

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DRAFT

clockwise from top:

Shahid Mosque. Icheri Sheher – the Old City of Baku. The castle of Shirvanshahs. Old Baku Icheri Sheher

Every year two million tourists from all over the world visit Azerbaijan and this figure increases steadily. Development of tourism, as many things in Azerbaijan, is a state program. Ties have been built with international organizations and the country joined the World Tourism Organization (WTO). Azerbaijan is a member of the United Nations (UN), Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Council of Europe (CE), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), GUAM, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), Organisation of Economic Cooperation (OEC), UNESCO, TURKSOY etc. Currently Azerbaijan is proud not only of its ancient history and culture, but also of its national cuisine. In a later article I will describe must-try dishes for your next visit.

Quick development is another reason you should visit Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. I really enjoyed not only the old city – medieval town of Baku “Icheri Sheher”, which is enclosed by the thick walls like a precious stone in the set with complex labyrinths of the small streets, lanes and blind alleys, but also six kilometer long seafront of Baku. If it is hot and you want to take a rest in the shade under a tree and enjoy fresh air, you should take a walk along the boulevard, stretching along the entire 6 kilometers of seafront. In the summer time it is the most crowded place in Baku, especially at the weekends. Boulevard repeats the bend of Baku Bay. It is decorated with fountains and alleys of the ornamental plants, palms, rhododendrons, plane, chestnut and acacia trees. The flowers take a prevailing part in the green covering the boulevard. Apart from the big wheel,

cafes, restaurants and teahouses on the boulevard you will get immediately attracted by the “Venice of Baku” and the new Azerbaijani Carpet Centre. The “Venice of Baku” is a marvelous nook with the original islets, network of canals and small oval bridges over them, with the moving small Venice-style motor and rowing boats. They say, that before importing real venetian boats to Baku, original made in Baku boats uses to turn over, when full of tourists. But we had a nice small voyage with our boat stable and our Azerbaijani gondolier smiling and telling funny stories about Italian tourists who have made him sing to prove it is a real “Venice of Baku”. Three minutes walk from the Azerbaijan Carpet Centre building that looks…exactly like a carpet! Azerbaijan is truly the birthplace of carpet making, the cradle of exquisite and marvelous

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Insight g Baku Metro Station Icheri Shaher

Alexandra Listerman is a leading author and Editor-in-Chief for the largest blog on the offshore industry and immigration in Russian – www.offshorewealth.info. With BA in International Law and Modern Languages, she is an seasoned expert in offshore investments, private banking, and brokerage accounts. Alexandra’s insight on financial freedoms, international life and travelling to exotic places with kids is a beacon for legal / financial professionals and international entrepreneurs alike.

DRAFT

top:

Baku City view from the Alley of Shahids. right: Traditional clothing in a 10EUR photoshoot

folk crafts. It is not without reason that in 20120 UNESCO included Azerbaijani carpet making on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In the globalized world in which we live it is fashionable to buy woolen and silk carpets from Azerbaijan. They are treated as a prestigious purchase, a prosperous investment and the expensive ornament in the richest houses. Today Azerbaijani carpets can even be seen in up-market offices and houses. Obviously, the new Carpet Centre, which will comprise a museum, research centres, trade outlets and a restoration laboratory will play an essential role in attracting foreign tourists to Azerbaijan. Here visitors will be able to legally purchase samples of the ancient Azerbaijani art from master carpet makers. Further away down the boulevard from the Azerbaijan Carpet Centre you can see the unusual fountain and the ex-tallest flag in the world. Last year the record was beaten, but the view is still impressive.

If you get tired after 6 kilometers long walk full of impressions, you can take a marine walk, during which a guide will tell you interesting facts and legends of the history of the Caspian Sea. Baku indeed has millions of things to puzzle you – from cuisine and architecture, to specialized jewelry shops for…kids, from fluent English speaking professional bankers to high ranked immigration officers, who cannot tell the difference between email and website

and are asking you to download the registration form from the falsely written email address. The only thing I can guarantee – you will not be bored in Baku and you will not be the only westerner, who was charmed with Baku. For the last 5-7 years British and American real estate investors have bought lots of properties in Baku. In next article I will tell you more about Baku and enjoying your free time in this city. I hope you have enjoyed this one.

No.1

Offshore Financial and Asset Protection Blog in Russian Language www.offshorewealth.info

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Luxury real estate in Latvia

Jurmala, Lielupe, E.Birznieka – Upisa Street

Jurmala, Dzintari, Dzintaru Avenue, 36

The house in classical style on the first line, with a total area 380 sq. m, 2 floors, six rooms, wardrobe, a wine cellar. Ancient stained-glass window of work the Latvian master of 1920, the handmade forged handrail. The land area is 1092 sq. m.

Apartments 90-215 sq. m, two three-storey buildings, feature of the project – spacious terraces, in finishing of buildings are used only natural materials: travertine and cedar, underground parking, concierge.

Price: 3 500 000 EUR

Price: from 4 000 EUR/sq. m

Old Riga, Tirgonu street, “Blue Bird”

Jurmala, Dzintari, Dzintaru Avenue, 34

Commercial real estate 914 sq. m in the Old city – on Domskaya Square. Building differs unique architecture. The earth area - 229 sq. m. Number of storeys – 5 floors and a cellar.

Apartments 151 sq. m, the 2nd floor, 4 rooms, under finishing, the system of air recovery is installed, a winter garden, a terrace, an underground parking, the concierge.

Price: on request

Price: 736 500 EUR

Luxury real estate in Latvia The agency provides realtor services for buying and selling apartments, houses, and offices in Riga’s historical centre and the upscale districts of Jurmala, and consults on investment in Latvian real estate. We will help you to orient and make the best decision based on your requirements, as well as we will assume cares of formalities. Offices in Latvia: K. 119, Ulmana gatve, Marupe 52, Jomas street, Jurmala 1,Valnu street, Riga Office in Moscow: Moscow City, ”Naberezhnaya Tower“ 10 Presnenskaya embankment, Block C, 4th floor Office in Geneva: 29, Rue Sautter, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland

Lifestyle Magnum

magnum

DRAFT (Pole) Dancing in Hong Kong

It was the early evening when I received the call from a friend with an invitation. She and her group of girl friends were attending the grand opening of a new club in Hong Kong. I immediately jumped at the opportunity when she explained to me that her friends are all part of a Pole Dancing exercise club, and Magnum had a few poles available for the local clubbers to use. 152

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After a satisfying meal at Felfela, a trendy Middle Eastern restaurant, and a few puffs of the hookah, we headed to the club located on a corner in the hip LKF.

after a satisfying meal at felfela, a trendy Middle Eastern restaurant, and a few puffs of the hookah, we headed to the club located on a corner in the hip LKF. Though the US$60 cover seemed a bit steep, it was still in line with some of the other premium nightspots in this metropolis. The girls got in free tonight, so I figured that I didn’t have much to lose. Once inside, the club was just starting to fill up. We got drinks at the large oval bar with neon highlights. After we downed a few rounds of some unknown brand of tequila, the night began to take shape. Go-Go Girls started dancing on the stage to set the tone, as the DJ, an English guy, starts spinning some fairly commercial electronic and hip-hop. I am not impressed by the music

DRAFT

Magnum is yet another premium club option in trendy Lan Kwai Fong.

in general or the DJ’s mixing skills, but the predominantly female crowd is loving it. I am surrounded by beautiful Asian woman their 20’s and early 30’s, dancing to the deep bass rhythms as the night blurs. Pole dancing as an exercise trend has reached into most corners of the modern world. Besides maintaining general fitness, the exersizes also feature very sensual moves. There are reasons men are willing to pay to watch women pole dance. Tonight the woman are showing their varied experience, from the basic moves of the neophyte to the pole spinning seasoned dancers. The women are crowding the two poles and cramming the stage for their chance to show their stuff. The utter lack of men has dropped the women’s inhibitions, gyrating and swaying their bodies to the mainstream american tunes. Hot and sweaty, I walk up the stairs to the balcony overlooking the bar and

Pole dancing as an exercise trend has reached into the most corners of the modern world. dance floor. I just absorb the moment of thumping base, laser lights and estrogen. Off to the side, I see a tall thin woman I recognize from the dance floor. We share a short conversation outside on modern terrace while she smokes. About 1am, the cover fee must have been lowered or dropped entirely. The dance floor quickly floods with local men, who flock to and smother the girls. Party’s over, time to head home. www.magnumclub.com.hk

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Extreme Sport flyboarding

flyboarding

Fly over the water like

DRAFT T

Most of us have dreams of flying, with a Flyboard, you don’t have to wake up. Whether your looking to fly 30 feet high or swim like a dolphin, Flyboarding is one of newest and most exhilarating rushes out there. the flyboard is attached to a personal water craft which pumps pressurized water up a long tube to jets under your feet and on your hands. Although the feeling is a bit strange the first time you lift out of the water like Iron man, Flyboarding is very safe and easy to learn; most people learn to fly within the first half hour. Once you get ahold of your balance standing on two streams of water, the experience is unique and many call it the ‘highlight of their vacation’. After watching the experienced instructor pull a few back flips, I wonder where this sport may evolve…

Photos courtesy of stkittskiteboarding.com

DRAFT

Iron Man

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