Katie Ananina on Resilience and Being Self-Sovereign

Written by Alexandra Moxin

This episode features Katie the Russian a competitive sailor, proponent of self-sovereignty, flag theory, opting-out, and fellow member of the Bitcoin Toxic Ladies. We cover the right of the individual to be self-sovereign, guns and self-defense and cultivating a culture of strength and resilience. Katie introduces her new app Kvell available for preview and shares the story of her early start in competitive sailing.

We discuss finding your tribe and censorship free alternative media platforms such as Flote and Rumble. Anarchapulco, open source data and the dangers of blindly believing in authority without having the ability to question sources. In closing, Katie encourages you to find your confidence and believe in your ability and learn to do your own research. Sage advice.

Reach Katie on twitter at Katie the Russian for expert guidance on flag theory, self-defense, resilience and self-sovereignty. You can preview the Kvell app and find out more about it here.

Show Links

• Katie on Twitter


• Plan B Passport


• Kvell


• Kvell app preview


• Toxic Ladies


• The Bitcoiners Who Live ‘Permanently Not There’, by Daniel Kuhn, August 19, 2020. Coindesk


• From Russia with Bitcoin - Katie Ananina #136, by Gary Leland


• Katie on Medium


• Bitcoin Kindergarten Live Q&A Ep isode 3 w/ Katie Ananina. Recorded 5/14/2020


• Bitcoin Rapid Fire with Katie Ananina - Bitcoin, Anarchy, Flag Theory, Selling Islands and Being a Badass, Oct, 2020


• The Bitcoin Matrix with Katie the Russian: The Bitcoin Nomad on Flag Theory & 4D Chess, Nov 20, 2020


• The Bitcoin Matrix: A Very Bitcoin Thanksgiving, Nov 25, 2020


• Flote


• Anarchapulco

Transcript

timing points by otter.ai, edited by Alexandra

Alexandra933 0:07

Joining me today is Katie Ananina. Welcome, Katie.

Katie 0:25

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Alexandra933 0:36

One of the reasons for the show existing is to talk about the concept of self sovereignty and empowerment. Your Twitter bio says Bitcoin, sailing, music, self sovereignty, flag theory, opting-out and voyager. Can you explain what self sovereignty is to you?

Katie 0:53

Through my lifestyle, all the experiences that I had somehow led me to this concept of self sovereignty. For me, self sovereignty is self reliance. So ideally, when there’s nobody between you and all the necessities you have in life, such as safety, food, water. When, as a default, in tough situations or decision making, you turn to yourself instead of looking for answers outside and relying on other people’s opinion or their decision making.

Alexandra933 1:27

So for people that aren’t familiar with your background, can you talk about what you’ve done over the last few years and what brought you into the space?

Katie 1:34

Definitely. I was born and raised in Russia, I moved to the United States at the age of 21 and started life from scratch. I learned a new language and learned new disciplines. So because I was born and raised in Russia I saw so much hyperinflation throughout my lifetime.

I found Bitcoin to be fascinating, just because this is a separation of state and money, where they can’t manipulate our economy anymore. We can actually have this sovereign money in our hands with radical ownership; its not a seizable asset. It was really aligned with what I believed in and all my experiences that led me to that. So I’ve fallen down through the rabbit hole pretty quick.

Because I was an immigrant who went through the hardest immigration process on Earth, in my opinion, through this process, I realized that there are so many loopholes in the system. There are so many legal ways to take advantage of your jurisdictions that you’re part of through your residency or through your citizenship. I started looking into this concept of flag theory and opened a company called Plan B Passport where I help people acquire a second passport.

Alexandra933 2:53

Before we dig into Plan B Passport, let’s talk a little bit about what flag theory is, especially, for people who aren’t familiar with that concept.

Katie 2:59

Flag theory is when you limit your dependency on any one particular state. I would say the antonym, the absolute opposite of self sovereignty, is dependency, and if you’re fully dependent on any one particular state, you will never achieve self sovereignty. Flag theory is the way to limit your dependency on any one particular state and take advantage of a jurisdiction that better suits your business, your goals in life, or the lifestyle your family wants to have.

Alexandra933 3:34

We’re living in some interesting times with some really draconian lockdown measures. It seems to be quite uneven around the world although there seems to be, right now, more of an uptick in harsh lockdown measures. What can people do?

Katie 3:49

So yeah, lockdowns keep happening all over the world in different jurisdictions. One thing that flag theory would give you is the ability to travel. You pretty much cannot fly to Europe right now, if you don’t have European residency. Let’s say you have to fly to a country that has a visa free entrance for citizens of St. Kitts, but doesn’t have visa free entrance for Americans, that will be another way. So it gives you the ability to go to a jurisdiction that doesn’t have a crazy lockdown and lets you live free.

Alexandra933 4:22

What kind of services do you offer with Plan B?

Katie 4:24

The first step would be understanding your current state, your goals, needs in life, and trying to figure out what your long term plan is. Then, it’s a very custom tailored process. We strategize together, what would be the best jurisdiction, and what would be the best program. Either it’s citizenship by investment through the nation or through acquiring real estate in the jurisdiction. Then we do all the paperwork for you so you don’t have to care about that.

Alexandra933 4:29

I’m sure that there might be some people listening and thinking: okay, I don’t know if I want to go as extreme as moving countries or is this on the up and up? I think people are used to being domiciled in one particular country, so for some people, this might be a new concept. What are some of the things that you can speak to?

Katie 5:11

Very few clients who acquired tax haven Caribbean island passports actually go and live there. My company is called Plan B passport exactly for that reason. You want to have your plan B, you don’t necessarily need it right now, but you always have this door open if others are getting closed. Pretty much all aspects of our life require extra steps to achieve self sovereignty.

There is self-sufficient housing, you have your own source of water, you can start growing food, you have septic and electricity from renewable sources. This is something I’m striving for. There’s freedom of travel, learning about other ways to travel, rather than through censorship points, or points of failure, such as airports. I’m a professional sailor, so I got that one covered, too.

Then we go into self defense. There is literally nobody else in the world who cares about your health more than you do. You can always try to call the police to save you but it might be too late. Why wouldn’t you try to rely on yourself as your first source of safety, and learn some self defense skills, and start to carry guns? It’s super interesting.

Alexandra933 6:30

I think most of this audience will be based in the States, so there’s an understanding of why bearing arms is a responsibility, but also an inherent right. I live in Canada, where we’ve had a lot of that taken away, unfortunately.

I lived in the US when I was very young and was raised around, not gun culture, but my father was in the military so we always had guns nearby. He had a big shotgun case and he shot skeet when he was overseas. For me, guns aren’t intimidating but for a lot of people, especially a global audience, people think: why do you still need guns? It’s the 21st century, it’s so barbaric.

Can we go into why the right to bear arms and protecting yourself should be seen more as an inherent right, and really what it protects you from?

Katie 7:15

Carrying guns is absolutely your responsibility and self sovereignty does require a lot of responsibility in all aspects. We keep outsourcing our decision making, our safety, our protection, to third parties. So now our interests are constantly being represented by people who don’t know us, don’t care about us, don’t know our needs or goals. How can we expect to have the life we desire if we can even make choices to start moving in the right direction?

Same with carrying guns. Who else is more interested in my safety and my protection than me? If you get in trouble, you won’t have time to call anybody, you have to act right now. If you’re responsible and learn how to handle a gun, in which situation you can’t do that, or in which situation you can just kick the dude in the face and run. You should learn all that and protect yourself.

Alexandra933 8:14

I believe a lot of the people listening to and watching the show will understand. I think we’ve been conditioned as society to think ‘don’t worry, the authorities will protect you’. Now we’re seeing such dramatic breakdown in all levels of society, even though there’s that facade of ‘don’t worry, we’ve got it all under control’.

We’re seeing time and time again, the more authority you willingly ceed, the more dangerous place you end up being in. Sometimes that happens really quickly and sometimes it happens gradually, and you don’t really notice, it becomes more of a long-term conditioning.

Katie 8:43

Absolutely. We make less decisions, we start losing our critical thinking skills, judgment of character, we don’t need it all anymore. We keep relying on authorities of some kind and it’s not easy to get it back. You rely on somebody and then the person who you rely on has you under control.

The more power you give them, the less power you have as an individual. It’s also a mental thing when you can’t trust yourself anymore. You get used to relying on somebody else, and you don’t feel like you’re capable of making decisions or you’re capable of figuring out your own life. That’s pretty sad to see. We were born as individuals to take care of ourselves so stop relying on other people.

Alexandra933 9:33

I wholeheartedly agree. For people who are maybe feeling a bit lost and not really sure where to start, or maybe they have trusted in their governments and authorities and all of the things they’ve been told they can count on; if they’re feeling they can no longer trust those, or are seeing doubt, where can somebody start slowly start building themselves back up? What would you recommend?

Katie 9:55

The first step is you should get more responsible with your life and take more power. Once you have this point in your head and you’ve mentally prepared to take those steps, it’s a lot of research. It’s always trying to question authority, trying to question everything, every decision you make, every decision they try to make for you.

Start doing your research, follow incentives, because that always leads you to the truth. Try to be very self aware and aware of others. Try to understand them better in terms of their mental health, the way they try to manipulate people. You should really learn how to not be manipulated, and try to catch it right away, because that’s another way they get power if you let them without knowing.

I’m starting to get deep into mental health questions. I’m currently building a mobile app that brings together physical and mental health because I believe in this connection between hormone profile and anxiety, micronutrient sufficiency and depression. I also believe that the only way to be healthy is to take a sovereign approach to your health. Nobody knows your body better than you do. Nobody knows what feels good, or what doesn’t for you, so take this comprehensive sovereign approach to your health.

Alexandra933 11:22

Where are you at with the development of the app? Can people look for it on App Stores soon?

Katie 11:28

We released the beta testing for friends and family. The website is kvell.app, which means to feel good, to be happy and to feel proud.

Alexandra933 11:38

I think that’s a really good initiative. When people think about strength they immediately think: go workout in the gym, go for a run or take some martial arts, but they don’t necessarily think about inner strength. I think some of the Eastern disciplines of martial arts will teach that a little bit, but I think that there’s a holistic integration between mind and body. It’s really all one organism.

We’ve been taught this false dichotomy that it’s mind / body, versus, it’s really the one whole unit.

What you eat, what you listen to, the environment that you’re in; it all has an effect depending on what you take in. It’s not just making yourself physically strong but it’s also making yourself resilient.

Katie 12:19

You mentioned discipline; I believe discipline is the answer to a lot of things. We believe that discipline is control but I believe it’s the other way around; discipline is power, strength and freedom. We have this motto in our company:

Disciplined thoughts, disciplined actions, disciplined people.

Which means if you are a disciplined person, there is nobody else who will have to tell you what to do, when to do it. We don’t have working hours. Deliver what you promise, and you will have no authorities ever. There is no hierarchy in our company because everybody is disciplined, and everybody really believes in this discipline equals freedom concept.

Alexandra933 13:00

That’s a novel concept; imagine if the world actually treated adults as adults, right? I really applaud you on doing that for your company and your staff and I imagine they appreciate those benefits. Let’s talk about sailing and how you got into it because that’s an unusual thing for people to be into these days.

Katie 13:19

Yeah, absolutely. Epecially from a girl from Siberia; there’s no ocean, or even sea close by. My parents gave me a snowboard for my ninth birthday and we hired an instructor for five hours. He said: you’re really good with sports, I’m opening a sailing school this summer, please join. The same year I joined I got onto my state team, a year and a half later, I got onto a Russian national team. Since I was 11, I was traveling all around the world on my own.

That’s what gave me discipline and self reliance. When you have to jump on a train at 11 years old for two days, then take a taxi to go to another airport and then take a flight to Greece… if you can do it at 11 years old you’re probably going to be just fine with self reliance later on in life. My parents gave me more freedom than I could have asked for, so that’s how I grew up, and it played a big role.

I was on single handed boats, so I’m on my own, there’s nobody around and my life is in my hands. It gives you this empowerment and understanding that there’s nobody to save you, you should really learn how to get back home. The way I grew up played a big role in my self sovereign journey; I had no choice other than growing up as a self sovereign individual.

Alexandra933 14:50

I think the last couple of generations have been quite sheltered and there’s been a kind of helicopter parenting. Now, in just 12 months - not even, we’re in an entirely different world, even schools are closed. There’s money printing going around the world.

There’s this whole concept of what is real and solid and I think a lot of people are really struggling with that. The ability for people that are maybe self employed, who haven’t been able to open their business because of lockdowns, shutdowns or wild ordinances taking a lot of people’s individual freedoms away.

It’s a really interesting time that we’re living in right now.

Katie 15:27

It’s pretty crazy. Sometimes when I reflect on the whole situation that’s going on, it used to make me angry, because I know what I need to do to not fall into that. I’m still concerned because not all people know the tools to escape the tyranny. It is pretty crazy and sad to see what the leading authorities to do with our freedoms with our lives. It’s sad.

Alexandra933 15:55

We’ve been so conditioned that’s acceptable, that’s okay, and that’s how things should be.

Katie 16:00

Yesterday, I tweeted: imagine if we were allowed to make decisions like when to sanitize our hands, and how many people to invite for Thanksgiving? Crazy, it’s too much power for an individual, call scientists. Those are decisions that I will never need anybody to tell me how many people I can or cannot invite for my Thanksgiving dinner.

We’re a family and, as a family, we can calculate risks and make decisions for ourselves. I don’t need authority that doesn’t know anything about my family, about our health condition, health background, or immunity to tell me if I can or cannot invite my uncle for my dinner. This is crazy. This is insane.

Alexandra933 16:44

I remember seeing that tweet, it’s a good one. I’ll be curious to see how we walk back from this because it almost seems, I don’t believe so, like there are so many people that are just accepting this as the new normal. That frightens me because there’s nothing normal about what’s going on.

The level of overreach in the name of safety: it’s either done through war, or it’s done through fear, any attempts of control of a populace. It’s a really scary situation. I’m thankful that there are a number of people in the world that have just had enough, they’re taking a stand, a non-violent stand and showing that there’s a different and better way.

Katie 17:17

I always say that there is no government control, there are people who allow this control to happen, so if we want to get back to our free lives, it’s only on us. The government is not gonna come back and say: oh, guys, do you want more freedom? No, they’re comfortable with the control they have, so to get the freedom back, we’ll have to say: no, we’re not okay with that.

We know what we want and you guys have to give it to us. It’s even crazy to tell them that they have to give it to us, we have it on default, and then they take it away. We just have to take it back. So just question authority, let them know that you’re not okay with their many absolutely unlogical laws and live the life that you want to live without asking for permission.

Alexandra933 17:59

It seems like a simple solution. You’re right. I think a lot of people are just so distracted with the fear and wondering what’s happening next, that they just think: okay, this person, they’re not actively trying to harm me, so maybe I can listen to them. They seem to know what they’re talking about. They’re in a position of authority.

I think a lot of society maybe looks at it this way. But now with all the hypocrisy of rules for thee and not for me, I think people are starting to open their eyes and see: there’s maybe a problem here.

Katie 18:21

Yeah, definitely. Blindly believing is definitely our problem. Question everything. Try to understand why, where it’s coming from, what’s the incentive? Question the logic of it too. Do your own research, do your own math on calculating your health risks, do your own research on understanding what is the situation on the ground in another country. We believe media that is constantly lying to us. It’s been proven to lie so why do we still watch it and believe it? Perhaps we should question it too.

Alexandra933 18:52

100%. We have to remember too, media is owned by giant multinational corporations. All you need to do is just look at the books, it’s not a secret, it’s not a conspiracy. The fact that so many times people question authority, and they’re kind of tamped down as conspiracy theorists, that in itself is a pretty dangerous line of thinking.

You don’t want to be the person with the tinfoil hat sitting in the corner. Just the act of questioning; when that becomes a thing that is forbidden, I mean, that’s a terrible state to be in.

Katie 19:20

It’s also pretty good to find your tribe. When you’re not the only person with a tinfoil hat in a corner and you’ve pretty much aligned with your vision and all your conspiracies become: like Duh!, in the community that you’re part of and you’re not feeling crazy anymore. You feel again, you feel this power that there is a community that can support you. You’re not the crazy one, you just saw through. There are more people like you so maybe try to find your tribe.

Alexandra933 19:49

I think as well seeing more alternatives to Twitter and mainstream news and where we go for our information is good. It’s encouraging to see things like Parler and other platforms: Rumble?, and the other video platforms.

Katie 20:03

I heard of Parler, I’m part of Flote. That app, which is similar to Twitter but built by a community of freedom lovers, and there is absolutely no censorship there. You can have a feed that is paid by Bitcoin, so you can only open your feed for some micropayments. There’s absolutely no censorship going on and that’s very important.

I took part in the last couple of conferences called Anarcapulco down in Mexico. I’m actually in Mexico right now. I met a lot of US born and raised freedom lovers, who just try to live outside of the US because they’re afraid of all the authoritarian control that’s going on there. They also try to keep contact with their family.

They’ve been deplatformed from Facebook, from YouTube, from many platforms that have crazy censorship. Not for real things but when you just question authority. When that’s starting to be censored, there is literally no way back.

Two of my friends decided to build their own platform and won’t build it on Amazon servers because it’s a single point of failure. So they tried to build this different Twitter with inbuilt Bitcoin payments for tipping people for good information because incentive always matters. There is no incentive for freedom journalists to put out their information because they’re not paid by a giant corporation, who are trying to win the game, and get the news going about what they want.

So there’s this peer to peer incentive between people who want to know the truth to people who want to give the truth. That’s quite important, too, in my opinion, to have these peer to peer journalism kind of payments. So now the journalists are funded by the community by the truthseekers. It’s still growing, it’s pretty small, but it’s good, I’m enjoying it.

Alexandra933 22:00

it’s encouraging to see more of these things be built. Especially since January really, the push toward the lockdown for a disease that is serious, but who knows? Because you can’t actually find out information, you can’t actually find out how contagious it is, or how virulent the disease is.

Katie 22:17

Back in March, my close friend and I tried to make our own calculation. We tried to find reliable data sets such as, remember this cruise ship where 96% of people were actually tested. Then we looked into, I believe it was Sweden, that also had over 90% of people tested, maybe it was a different country. The tests are not reliable. I wish everything in the world was somewhat open source, the data that we need to make our own calculations, because I’m good at math.

I can make my own calculations and understand what kind of risks I have for my life to travel, or to do the Thanksgiving dinner, and make these decisions. Because it’s all behind closed doors, and we can’t really access this information, understand what it’s actually about and how dangerous it is. We just have to believe again, and I don’t like blindly believing people. Why would I?

Alexandra933 23:14

I don’t think anyone really does. I think we’re starting to see for the first time that just blindly believing in authority; you should always question it. I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve always had that mindset. I’ve tried conforming, and I’ve tried to play the game and be involved, but the minute you can’t question: it’s a slippery slope into a very dangerous place.

Katie 23:35

Absolutely.

Alexandra933 23:35

Wrapping up, is there anything you’d like to leave either a question or, any kind of wisdom you’d like to impart for final closing thoughts?

Katie 23:45

I want all the listeners to get more confident in themselves and believe that they can make the decisions, they can question authority, they are smart enough to calculate their own risk. They are smart enough to make their own decisions. Just go ahead and do your own research and don’t be afraid to be this weird foil hat guy in the corner. Once you know the truth, you’re not going to be afraid of it. So go deeper and do your own research.

Alexandra933 24:13

Thanks Katie for being on. Where can people find you on social media and on the internet?

Katie 24:18

Twitter would be the best way at @KatietheRussian and @katieananina on pretty much all other social media.

Alexandra933 24:30

We’ll put those in the show notes and on the YouTube channel. Thanks again for your time, I really appreciate you taking the time and it’s been great speaking with you!

Katie 24:38

Thanks for inviting me. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai