"You should only fear God... and me"

 

"You should only fear God... and me"
Cristina Kirchner, President of Argentina 09/07/2012

(Said during a press conference on national TV LINK)


FerFAL

Bribes and Extortions after SHTF

Hi Ferfal,
I was wondering. In many countries where corruption begins to show, it
seems very common that officials and persons of authority expect or
demand bribes. Having never experienced this situation before, can you
tell me what are the (unwritten) rules of these situations. How is it
initiated? By who? How’s the amount set? etc etc.
Many thanks for any insight you can give!
Toby

“Son, do you have the latest Technical Revision of your vehicle?”
The technical revision is a state issued paper that says that your vehicle is in proper working condition. You can lose all day to get that paper, after bribing an employee that will always find something wrong with the car. Either that or you can bribe the guys standing outside the building that sells you the authorization directly.
“No officer, I didn’t do it yet this year.”
The cop was visibly glad I didn’t. That was just what he was expecting. This happened many years ago, when I was a bit “greener.” Today, I wouldn’t get fooled so easily at these control posts and checkpoints.
Most of the time I get close to the car in front of me, try to hide behind it, and speed up a bit as I get close to the post, looking the other way to avoid eye contact. That way I avoid these unpleasant encounters.
The cop said, “Sorry, I’ll have to take your car then.”
I knew what he wanted but I wanted to at least make him say it, so I said, “Sure officer, you do what you have to do.”
“I’m not kidding, I’ll take the vehicle and you’ll have to go get it at the station.” The cop didn’t expect my reply.
“That’s too bad, sir, but if that’s the law then that’s what you have to do I guess.”
The cop had had enough “Son, those plans and blueprints you have in the back of the vehicle? What are they?”
I told him, “Architectural plans.”
“Okay…do you need me to ‘draw’ what’s happening here?” said the nice police officer with a menacing tone of voice.
“No, officer,” I said, and handed him my driver’s license yet again, but this time with twenty bucks folded under it. The officer grabbed the money, gave me back my license, and I left. Given his threat, it was more of a robbery than a bribe.

This is just part of the chapter on Bribes of my book, “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse”.
I wrote it knowing that somewhere, at some point, these sort of things would end up being needed or becoming common occurrence in places where it didn’t used to be that way.
I hope with all my heart that this never becomes common occurrence in USA and other countries where, while corruption to some level does exist, its not as obvious and not part of daily life for most people.
As things degrade though, or maybe when traveling to places where the situation is worse, there may be a time when you’ll just have to do it. Try to bribe your way out of a speeding ticket in USA and you’ll land in jail. Try NOT bribing a cop in Ciudad del Este if he stops you and that will land you in the bottom of the Parana River. When authorities “demand” a bribe as you said, there’s not much you can do.
Regarding your questions, How is it initiated and by who? Generally it’s the figure of authority that will start beating around the bush about you not having this or that paper, usually something that makes little sense. You will rarely be asked directly for a bribe. The most shameless officials may ask for a “voluntary contribution” or something similar, or ask for money directly. But generally they wait and drag things until you offer them money or slip it along with your papers or documents. If you honestly don’t know whats going on or even fail to see if you’re being indirectly demanded money, something like “what can we do about this to solve the problem?” may give you more leads, or “would a contribution help solve this?”.

How’s the amount set? It depends on the “favor”. A cop that stops you in Florencio Varela in Argentina a Saturday night probably  just wants a small “contribution” for pizza, sometimes they ask for “money for pizza” directly, so the equivalent of 20 to 30 USD would do. If crossing a South American border someone gives you a hard time, maybe insinuates that you’re carrying illegal substances (that you don’t have) basically threatening to throw you in jail for the rest of your natural life, then 200 or 500, even  1000 USD may be in order. Heck, how much would you pay for your life? Same for escaping a sieged or restricted area. Buying your way out of Sarajevo in a UN vehicle was reported to cost about 10.000 USD.  As you see, it greatly depends.

My humble suggestions would be:
1)Don’t do it.

2)Do it only when you have no choice, and especially if you know that is what’s expected of you, or less…

3)Ask carefully, just in case you’re missing something, maybe really missing some information you actually needed to have, and you’re getting the wrong signal regarding being demanded a bribe.

4)If you have to do it, offer it in a way that the authority doesn’t feel as if you’re trying to make the bribe obvious to others. You might get in even greater trouble if the official feels threatened in any way.

5)Just leaving the money among the papers or documents is generally a good call. If it had been demanded of you he will just take it, if not the official will just leave the money there and hand you back the money with your documents. “Are you trying to bribe me?” Maybe you got the wrong idea, maybe it was something lost to you in translation, in this case you can claim that the money was simply there with your paperwork, which is believable given that you generally do have money along with your documents and papers, especially when traveling.

Really, it is tricky business and I at least try to avoid it as much as possible. Having lived in a 3^rd world country most of my life and traveling to even worse bordering countries, it’s a situation I’ve been in and I’ll do my best to never be in it ever again.

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FerFAL

Supermarkets being looted in Spain

Well, its not the term used by them, they call it food expropriation, but what else can you call filling carts with stuff and leaving by force without paying?

When thousands of Argentineans left after the crisis and moved to Spain I’m sure they never thought they would see that again.
To be fair they aren’t taking booze and big screen TVs, but taking what isn’t yours is still under the same principle. Would you do any different if you couldn’t put food on the table and spent months unemployed? In this case Trade Union workers filled carts with basic food staples to be redistributed by an ONG among the needy. This happened in well know socialist cities of Cadiz and Sevilla, which has 32% unemployment.

Just a few years ago many Spaniards would joke saying that thanks to the new immigration wave everyone in Spain could afford to have a “Sudaca” as a maid. Sudaca is a derogatory term similar to wetbacks, commonly used in Spain referring to South Americans. This is pretty sad given that these “sudacas” are children and grandchildren of those same Spaniards that left to SA because of the Spanish Civil war. Now, its obvious that they are suffering many of the miseries their “Sudaca“ brothers went through in the past. Spaniards eating out of garbage bins, many of them senior citizens,  has become a common sight in Spain and in other European countries where they have emigrated to looking for work themselves.

The lesson for today my friends is, never to rejoice in the misery of others. You never know if one day you may suffer that same fate. Many of these images are carbon copies of what many Argentines had gone through and still suffer today.
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FerFAL

Security: Are Small Dogs OK?

Boston Terrier

Ferfal,
I’ve noticed in a number of your posts that you recommend getting guard dogs to help with protection.  It goes without saying that a guard dog must be big, intimidating, and well disciplined, but the question I have for you is about watch dogs.  What do you think about smaller dogs used to alert you when something is wrong?  I own a Boston Terrier, and she has incredible hearing and instincts.  Whenever anything is wrong, she will alert me to it.  Even if she isn’t in the same room, she uses a very distinct bark/snarl that only means one thing: someone is around, and I am not aware of it yet. She will usually get my attention well before the person is even on the front porch. She’s the same way at night too.  While she wouldn’t be able to defend the home or the family, she allows plenty of time to get my side-arm ready (9MM with Gold dot +P) before checking things out.  I always sleep better knowing that it is highly unlikely I will be surprised by an intruder.
The reason I bring up the watch dog is because some people might not have enough land/time/resources to deal with a bigger guard dog.
So what do you think?
I really enjoy the blog.  Thanks for all the great info!
J-

At one point in life I was living in a house with a big yard and had a Jack Russell Terrier as our family dog. My next door neighbor had just moved in and he had this huge Rottweiler. He would walk the dog puffing out his chest, bursting with pride. He apparently didn’t notice that his dog barked at everything and anything, from butterflies, to cars passing by, and also to us, the neighbors, that constantly walked by everyday, basically making it impossible to know if the dog was barking because of a real threat or not.
 One day after the usual “hi” we talked a bit more and of course he just had to talk about his pride and joy, how it would destroy any intruder and how mine was only good for barking and warning. I told him I was fine with that because I only needed the dog to let me know someone was inside, the killing him part would be my job. He didn’t talk to me much after that. Some people are weird that way. Its ok for them to have their dogs attack an intruder but they find it offensive to shot a bad guy themselves.

Indeed, as you describe, some dogs are just great for that. Many years ago I had a  Pekinese with some Dachshund blood in it. That dog was one of the best “alarms” I ever had. It would know from the sound of the engine alone if the car approaching was ours or not and start barking before it even parked.  Great hearing and light sleeper too. The Jack Russell is also a nice compact animal, courageous little fella, but pretty stubborn of character and not for someone that is inexperienced.

As you say, sometimes you just don’t have the space, the time or desire to deal with a bigger dog, and a smaller dog can warn you in advance. In fact, many criminals don’t like to deal with dogs no matter how small they are, for them its an extra problem to deal with. During hard economic times, a smaller dog will be easier on your budget too, requiring less food. They take up less space and can be carried easier if you have to leave in a hurry.

Spike with a bone

The dog that I have now, an English Bull Terrier, it’s a nice compromise between small and medium size dog, yet very strong and to a point intimidating to some people. “Is he good?” or “Does he bite?” seem to be the most common remarks I get and I noticed that people will usually keep their distance when I´m walking it. On the other hand this English Bull Terrier fan basically jumped out of his car and ran towards me when I was walking Spike, he went to the ground and started petting my dog. He was just a few months old back then and this guy obviously liked these kind of dogs a lot.

Big dogs are great, but they take up space and resources and can be problematic to a point, so they are not for everyone. A small dog that warns you in advance, barks and makes bad guys think twice about breaking in? Absolutely, it’s a great idea to have one in the house.
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FerFAL

Cordage: Simple Knots you Just Must Know Part

FerFAL