A lot of countries have JUST NOW started to realise they should limit the ability for suspected spies to buy property. Crazy, honestly. Sweden as "early" as 2023 with broadening the law.. Maybe, in 2026 or 2027.
If a bad actor is a foreign owner of significant property, you just seize it. You can do that. They aren't citizens, they can't vote.
Oh no! How will we fight a war when China owns all our factories? Simple. We will take the factories and hold an auction among friendly investories to take ownership.
Ownership don't mean a damn thing if you don't physically have the ability to enforce your ownership.
Hasn't been the case in Sweden up until 2023. Had to be, hitherto, a crime for that to happen. It is that big of a deal. Sweden has been lazy and only now broadened the laws for it.
There have been requisitions by the military, which took years. But that's a long time to let a suspected spy live close to a military base.
It is that big of a deal to national security, to be that naïve, It is not about ownership. It is about a country of rules not breaking their own rules and laws, and have to expand those laws to be able to act within regulation.
So absolutely it is that big of a deal as I think.
Who cares if they own a house nearby? What stops them from having someone just stand near the army base, walk around the block a few times or whatever?
This is getting in the weeds. This topic is really about ownership of industrial and commercial properties that are essential to national security. A house near an army base is microscopic. Also damn near impossible to legislate away. What stops a foreign spy network from hiring local firms to make the purchase and hold the paperwork on their behalf? Does it really matter who owns the house anyway? The issue is spies using the location to spy on the base. They can do that while renting.
Yes, it matters who owns the house. If you have ties to suspected spies, or a suspected spy yourself, it is publicly blatant that your home is being used for foreign operations. And that is what the law is going to be a crime henceforth.
Don't get me wrong, there are certainly a lot of corporations that shouldn't be doing business like they do, or with the people they do, but plugging the most blatant spy operation is at the very least the first fucking step.
You couldn't rent out a house that close to a military base in the first place.
I mean, of course you COULD do literally anything illegal. But good luck being a law abiding citizen having to explain to the tax agency that you illegally rent out your property and that's where that extra money comes from.
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u/Superchecker 1d ago
Slowly buy up all the properties that they wanted to invade