Tim May wrote:
I will say that there is no country out there that seems to be beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement, pace the points we discuss so often about drug warriors, freezing of accounts, extradition, etc. Even Yugoslavia has just bowed to U.S. financing pressures (sending Milosevic to the Hague for a show trial).
The cost is higher, though, especially the cost of figuring out what you are doing. You are mostly out from under the footprint. For example, it's much more difficult for the Feds to illegally tap your phone in, say, Russia. Also, it will be harder for them to do their thing without tipping you off. The Feds have to use a certain amount of discretion when operating in other countries. When Ames was meeting his Russian handlers in Colombia, the FBI tried to catch him at it, but blew it because they were there illegally and had to exercise caution. Many countries are getting sensitive to violations of their sovereignty by the U.S., so there may be governments which would not cooperate readily, especially if they like your presence for, say, business reasons. Other countries may also not be locked into the same technophobic paranoid hysteria which seems to be gripping the folks in Washington these days. Somebody sending a lot of encrypted mail may seem pretty harmless in a more relaxed part of the world. While it's too bad that there isn't a single Libertarian government out there, other countries may still have uses. Two risky investments is a better deal than one big investment with the same risk.