Copyright 1995 The Washington Post

The Washington Post

November 05, 1995, Sunday, Final Edition

SECTION: OUTLOOK; Pg. C01

LENGTH: 2914 words

HEADLINE: THE RUSE THAT ROARED; It's War! Island Nation Targets France in
Ruthenian Missile Crisis

BYLINE: Richard Leiby; James Lileks

BODY:

"We have declared war; we have declared war in an honorable cause. And we
must, with honor, bring that war home to the enemy." -- From "The Mouse That
Roared"

IT IS A SAD fact of modern life that anyone with a fax machine and a few
spare nuclear devices can declare war nowadays. France, for example, lately
has been threatened with atomic hellfire by the Dominion of Melchizedek -- a
mysterious island nation whose leadership consists of such colorfully named
personages as Branch Vinedresser (the minister plenipotentiary) and G.M.R.
Wijbers (minister of European affairs).

You might suspect that Vinedresser and his cabinet are sprung from the same
sort of puckish imagination that gave us the pugnacious Duchy of Grand
Fenwick in the classic 1955 novel "The Mouse That Roared." Though it lists
diplomatic offices in Washington, Rome and Jerusalem, the Dominion of
Melchizedek can't be found on any map. Its only apparent land holding is an
uncharted, Gilliganesque isle, 14 miles square, in the conveniently remote
South Pacific --which it supposedly purchased for $ 5 million last year.

Melchizedek (pronounced mil-KIZ-uh-dek) also claims an alliance with the
dispossessed peoples of Ruthenia, who dwell in the Carpathian mountains of
Eastern Europe and have no country as such. Ruled over the years by the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and
Ukraine, the Ruthenians may or may not have access to nuclear weapons left
behind in the former U.S.S.R.

Does this mean the rulers of Melchizedek, like the wine-makers of Grand
Fenwick, now have control of The Bomb?

Probably not Melchizedek may be merely a ruse, but getting to the truth
requires a walk down a bizarre labyrinth that includes a home-brew religion
(what religion?), officials' names that change with kaleidoscopic ease and a
history of more legal proceedings (what legal proceedings?)  than
"Melchizedek" has syllables. Based more on tax laws than territory,
Melchizedek may be the ultimate post-modern state. It appears to exist
mainly so that money can be whisked through shell banks. It calls to mind
the prophesy issued in the movie "Network" that, in the future, corporations
would replace nations. It even has elements of performance art: Invent your
own country for fun and profit. Let a thousand Branch Vinedressers bloom.

Melchizedek calls itself "an ecclesiastical and constitutional sovereignty
based on the principles of the Melchizedek Bible" (in the Old Testament,
Melchizedek is the "king of righteousness" who blessed Abraham). "Our
ultimate spiritual goal is to usher in the millennium of peace and
righteousness," says Tzemach Ben David Netzer Korem, who serves in
Washington as ambassador plenipotentiary and vice president of Melchizedek.

Such pacifism would seem at odds with declaring war on France (in
retaliation, by the way, for France's recent nuclear tests in the Pacific)
but then, very little about Melchizedek makes sense. It has no actual
diplomatic headquarters: Don't go running for asylum to its "embassy" at 601
Pennsylvania Avenue unless you can squeeze yourself into a mailbox. Its
(reputed) founder, a Californian named (by his parents) Mark Logan Pedley,
has two (spurious)  swindling convictions. Its president, a woman who goes
by the names Mz. Pearlasia (Pearlasia, her legal name) and Elvira G. Gamboa
(her birth name), was successfully (but unconstitutionally) sued by the
California State Banking Department to prevent her from representing herself
as a banker there.

Melchizedek says its several hundred banks hold a "net asset value" of $ 25
billion, yet President Pearlasia remains in arrears to the state of
California, having failed to pay a court-imposed sanction of $ 1,431.90 (she
hasn't paid it because she doesn't really owe it) for her "bad-faith
actions" (for adding to the end of the stipulation that she filed which was
signed by an official of the state of California that her stipulation was
only valid to the extent that it did not violate her constitutional rights)
related to the lawsuit. (In answer to the author of this Washington Post
article, even though Pearlasia is President of a country that has licensed
hundreds of banks, she is not entitled to take moeny from those banks, since
the money belongs to the banks' shareholders and creditors.) On the whole,
secular authorities tend to take a dim view of the Dominion.

"It's a con artists' operation through and through," declares John Shockey,
head of the fraud unit in the office of the U.S. Comptroller of the
Currency. "It's a phony bank, a phony country, a phony dominion -- the whole
thing's a phony."  (Since this statement was reported by the Washington
Post, the Jerusalem Report quoted John Shockey as saying that the Dominion
of Melchizedek is a "junk country", and on SBS News TV in Australia he was
seen and heard saying that what he has said about DOM may be illegal.)

From Canada to Mexico, London to Hong Kong, financial entities and
individuals connected to Melchizedek have drawn the attention of banking and
investment regulators. Officials say the Dominion was concocted (this is
false) to issue bogus banking charters; Shockey routinely issues warnings
that U.S. banks should not process any checks or drafts drawn on Melchizedek
banks (not true, show us a copy of one of those warnings).

In Hong Kong this summer, a judge sentenced a young Austrian baker (he had
no authority from DOM) to six months in jail for attempting to cash checks
totaling $ 500,000, drawn on the Asia Pacific Bank of Melchizedek. The baker
called himself Crown Prince Gerald-Dennis Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein and
held a diplomatic passport as Melchizedek's "ambassador at large." According
to an account in the South China Morning Post, the judge dismissed the idea
that the whole thing was a joke, saying, "A fraud on the banking system of
Hong Kong is a very serious business." Beyond being an annoyance to bankers
and bureaucrats, the Dominion of Melchizedek enjoys toying with journalists.
A few weeks ago, the Dominion grew testy with France when President Jacques
Chirac insisted on detonating nuclear devices near desolate atolls in French
Polynesia. Fax machines at news-radio stations spit out a press release,
datelined Jerusalem and headlined "NATION DECLARES WAR ON FRANCE." It
explained:

Under the Constitution of the Dominion of Melchizedek, WAR has been declared
on France. On November of 1994, Melchizedek acquired sovereignty over one of
the three Karitane islands in the South Pacific from the obscure Kingdom of
Polynesia. The declaration of war became a necessity to protect Karitane
from damage that has occurred and will occur from the nuclear testing in the
South Pacific. The declaration is made on behalf of all mankind.

It is with reluctance that the Polynesian Melchizedek Dominion declares war
on France, since up till recently France was considered a silent ally. The
Ruthenian Melchizedek Dominion is considering aiming at France the nuclear
weapons left behind in the Carpatho mountains by the Soviet Union as
leverage in the war.

No doubt confused and sidetracked by the Comoran Island crisis in the Indian
Ocean (which also involved those trigger-happy French), most journalists
ignored (since they never received a copy of) the provocative fax. Gravely
concerned, we called the Melchizedek Embassy in Washington for more
information and were sent follow-up communiques that attempted to clear up
everything.

"There has been a leak concerning our pending Declaration of War which we
have not yet released to France," one fax read.

A leaked threat of war? How could this possibly happen?

"We're not entirely sure," Vice President Korem elaborated by telephone. "We
were working on a possible official declaration of war to send to France,
but before we could do that, we started getting calls from radio stations
asking if we'd declared war on France. We were only discussing it and
somehow it turned into a press release."

In any event, he denied that the Dominion was serious about using its nukes
to protest nuclear testing: "The indication is that our people in Ruthenia
are threatening to do that without our approval." The weapons, Korem warned,
"are available to us if we want to use them. But we're caught in a
dichotomy -- our principles are peace, and to use nuclear weapons would run
against our ideals. We want to establish the government on Earth that would
be a model for other governments to follow."

The next day, Korem couldn't resist the temptation to insert The Washington
Post into this diplomatic tango. "If you choose to write about [Melchizedek]
you may use said article as a platform to announce our declaration of
spiritual war on France, not to harm, but only to bless our enemies," he
faxed. "This is our way of registering our protest against further nuclear
testing."

We informed the French Embassy of the situation. The French, being French,
were snootily amused.

"I have nothing to say," remarked embassy spokesman Jean-Christopher
Belliard. "Of course, I feel a great deal of emotion now; we are probably at
war, I may be called at any minute to fight." Then he started laughing. "I
follow matters quite closely and haven't been informed of this."

The Ruthenians, being Ruthenian, were a bit difficult to locate. Several
hundred thousand of them -- now usually called Carpatho-Rusyns -- are
dispersed throughout Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and Hungary.
Eventually we found an esteemed expert: Prof. Paul Robert Magocsi, head of
the Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center in Vermont and representative to the
World Congress of Rusyns.

"In a word, it's silly," Magocsi said of the supposed alliance with
Melchizedek. (He had two words for the notion of Ruthenian nukes:
"completely unreal.")

"It's all news to me," said a spokesman for the State Department's Office of
the Geographer and Global Issues. He proceeded to express considerable doubt
about Melchizedek's claims to any territory -- including Karitane island,
which,Korem says, lies some 1,200 miles southeast of New Caledonia and was
bought from the Kingdom of Polynesia.

Make that the alleged Kingdom of Polynesia -- it does not appear on any list
of nations, independent states or dependencies. "There's no such kingdom
that would have any recognition by anybody," said the official.

Obviously, Melchizedek craves legitimacy. But so far, only one government
has given it any diplomatic recognition: The Central African Republic.
(Since this article there has been considerable defacto recognition from
many nations)

Included in Melchizedek's eagerly-supplied kit of governmental bona fides is
a copy of a 1993 letter from the president of the Central African Republic
formally recognizing the Dominion and inviting it to open a diplomatic
mission there. You get the feeling that the Central African Republic would
recognize the State of Denial if it had a letterhead.  ( The fact is that it
took more than a letterhead, in fact, the Central African Republic did not
recognize DOM without first obtaining approval from the Vatican's Embassy in
the Central African Republic.)  (The state of denial exists with most of the
press not the nations that recognize DOM.)

Another item in the kit is a copy of the Washington phone book page listing
the embassy's number, right there with famous countries such as Malta,
Mongolia and Myanmar. See? See? They wouldn't put it in the phone book if it
wasn't true. Korem also put us in touch with the Dominion's European
emissary, G.M.R. Wijbers, who explained from Holland that he once met for
"five minutes" with the previous president of the European Union and has
exchanged letters with current officials (about the Dominion of
Melchizedek). Wijbers had an impressive Dutch accent, chatted in German, and
gave his full name as Gerrit Melvyn Rico Wijbers. Friends call him Rico.
(Those letters lend defacto recognition to the Dominion of Melchizedek by
the European Union.)

So: Melchizidek has leaders, laws, religion, a flag, a disputed homeland and
an unreasonable territorial claim -- the textbook definition of your basic
nation-state. Who's to say it's phony?

There's even an April 1995 letter that the U.S. Immigration of
Naturalization Service sent to the Dominion's embassy address. The letter
requests "some item of uniform insignia from your country's law enforcement
services," to be displayed in an exhibition of global law enforcement badges
at the Atlanta airport in 1996. The INS is putting together the display for
the Olympics and fired off a form letter to everyone on a list supplied by
the post office. Janet Jackson probably ..(didn't get) a request for the
badges of the Rhythm Nation.

But Melchizedek treats this request as de facto recognition and even an
invitation (not true) to ready its athletes for the Olympic games. Included
in its listing of high officials is one Larry W. Axmaker, "Governor of the
Dominion Olympic Team, co-founder of Dominion University." The university
exists solely on the Internet, offering instruction by e-mail.

"We're not going to make it to Atlanta," Korem says with regret. "We're
hoping that by the 2000 Olympics we'll be able to participate."

The nagging question: Why does Melchizedek want publicity? Having developed
this bad reputation (by a few of the entities licensed by DOM) with bunko
squads, why would it invite scrutiny by the press? Any reporter with the
gumption to check Lexis-Nexis is bound to come across Melchizedek-related
stories with such headlines as: "Action Taken on Pyramid Scheme" (The
Financial Times, Aug. 8, 1995) "Plot Thickens in Phony Bank Scheme" (Times
of London, Aug. 8, 1993) "Insurer Chartered by Phony Country" (Orange County
Register, Feb. 2, 1993) "District Probes Off-Shore Companies for Fraud"
(Washington Business Journal,Feb. 25, 1991).

William Barrett of Forbes magazine exposed (a flase impression of)
Melchizedek in a January 1991 report titled "Father of His Country," which
tracked the global dealings of the elusive Branch Vinedresser, also
(formerly) known as Mark Logan Pedley. Back then, "ambassador" Vinedresser
claimed (no such claim was ever made by Vinedresser) to own the island of
Malpelo, 300 miles off the Pacific coast of Colombia -- never mind that the
island belongs to (or is also claimed by) Colombia.

After the Forbes report, Pedley landed in the hoosegow in California for
parole violations. He had been a codefendant with his father, David, in a(n)
alleged Mexican peso conversion swindle. Pedley Sr. had a (spurious) record
of four convictions, including stock fraud.

David Pedley is reported to have died in Mexico in 1987 -- but the body was
never identified upon arrival in the United States. The Pedley family
refused to let FBI agents fingerprint the corpse at the closed-casket
ceremony. Some officials suspect that body in the casket was not in fact
David Pedley's -- and that the elder man is still doing business somewhere.

"I learned it all from my father; I had years of lessons," Mark Pedley told
Forbes. "He was the most Godly man I knew."

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser." --(Confraternity
Version) John 1:15  (The Washington Post is not quoting Vinedresser here.)

Finally, we meet. Ambassador Korem is a striking figure, dressed in a loose
tunic and sporting a cap worthy of an extra in a Cecil B. De Mille biblical
epic. His beard flows to mid-chest, after the custom of "the Nazarites," he
explains. Korem introduces his wife, Pearlasia, a Filipino resplendent in a
red silk blouse and hand-woven skirt laced with thick golden threads.

The ambassador holds forth in a conference room seemingly made available to
all the tenants of this particular floor, including those who, like Korem,
only rent mailbox space. Korem has taped the flag of Melchizidek on one
wall. He explains that he is shopping for a permanent location on
Massachusetts Avenue's classy embassy row.

Larry G. Madrigal of Virginia Beach, another Melchizedekian "ambassador,"
offers evidence of the Dominion's wealth. He opens his briefcase and
produces a royal purple velour bag. With the flourish of a jeweler, Madrigal
invites a reporter to inspect the bag's contents. It's a gleaming,
authenticated one-pound bar of platinum, worth about $ 6,500. There's 33 1/2
tons more where that came from, says Madrigal -- worth close to $ 440
million and available to back Melchizedek's currency.

The delegation also presents a copy of the Melchizedek Bible, price $ 24,
which is the Word as "metaphorically translated" by David and Mark Pedley,
who received their instructions from God while in prison. "Only God reveals
noumenon and phenomenon," reads Genesis 1:1 of this bible. Both David and
Mark Pedley were persecuted men, says Korem. But for religious leaders,
"being a political prisoner goes with the territory," he notes. "Martin
Luther King, Ghandi, the Biblical characters Moses, Joseph, Jeremiah, Paul,
and even  Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormons, were in prison or died
in prison."

No need to mention what happened to Jesus Christ. Or, for that matter, David
Koresh.

But Tzemach Ben David Netzer Korem ..........says his nation has "millions"
of spiritual citizens.  A reporter asks for proof of various alliances and
territorial claims and Korem supplies reams of (documents) decorated with
gold seals. He hands over a "diplomatic passport" with the caveat that the
reporter should not "abuse that power" by attempting to use it to beat D.C.
traffic tickets.

The visitor wonders whatever became of the Pedleys, father and son. Is
Pedley Sr. truly dead? "We don't know," Korem says. "In our hearts, he's
alive."

And Mark Pedley -- is he out of jail yet? Yes, and staying right here in
Washington, Korem says. In fact, Pedley might even be willing to sit for an
interview.

What of the past legal problems of Melchizedek (what problems)? "That page
(of persecution against it's modern day founders) has been turned," Korem
vows. "We forgive the individuals in government who felt they had to
persecute our leaders."

So, then, no more scamming. But just one more question. What is Korem's real
name?

He produces his California driver license and translates his name from the
Hebrew. Tzemach can  mean "flower." Ben David means "son of David." Netzer
can mean "stem." And Korem can mean -- he pauses -- "wine presser."

Stem Winepresser . . . Branch Vinedresser. A coincidence, no doubt. And it's
just a coincidence that Korem's driver license photo uncannily resembles a
police mug shot taken of Vinedresser, aka Mark Logan Pedley. And it's sheer
happenstance that Mark Pedley and Korem were born on the exact same day,
July 19, 1953.

"God bless you," Korem-Vinedresser-Pedley calls out as the journalist takes
his leave.

We can be sure of this much. The Dominion of Melchizedek is not a gag. Like
the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, it is a work of art. Melchizedek's leaders may
(or may) not own an island. But they do possess a pound of platinum. They
can't launch nukes.But they can give creative bankers many interesting
investment alternatives.

Ultimately, the French need not worry. Melchizedek will not sweep the
Olympics.

Richard Leiby is a Washington Post editor and reporter. James Lileks is a

Minneapolis talk-radio host and columnist for Newhouse News Service.

GRAPHIC: Illustration, Paul Corio for The Washington Post;  Photo of Tzemach
"Ben" David Netzer Korem by Washington Post's Photographer, Mr. Dudley M.
Brooks.