Hey everyone, Jody here, just letting you know that this is a recent favorite episode of this day.

We're running a couple of these to give ourselves a little bit of a break as we plot out the new year's

worth of episodes. We will be back very soon with new episodes, but for now enjoy and see you soon.

Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia, my name is Jody Avergan.

Let me just say right off the bat that this is a listener suggestion.

This comes to us from Joseph and we love listener suggestions, but as I get into this please remember

Joseph is responsible for the words that we are all about to say and what I'm about to

read because this gets very weird very quick so day, June 3rd, 1993, Andre Kalingba, the president of the Central African

Republic, wrote a letter formally acknowledging, quote, an ecclesiastical sovereignty by the name of the Dominion of Melkiseedek.

This was a big deal for the Dominion of Melkisek.

This was formal recognition by a real state, the Central African Republic,

of what is safe to say their very fake micronation. It was a micronation, the Dominion of

Melkizidek, and it was founded by one very ambitious and very unscrupulous

American to basically I think commit bank fraud and it would lead to a long and bizarre game of

cat and mouse with authorities in the SEC,

but also raise all sorts of questions about statehood and recognition and

sovereignty and what is a religion, what are scams and yada yada yada.

So Nicole and Kelly, are you confused yet I actually have a beautiful

mind style layout here that connects all the pieces

all the no keys of it yes I, I mean, this is, you know, ultimately a scam, but it ties into all sorts of deeper political

questions.

That of course is Nicole Hammer of Columbia and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wesley.

...