as for Defence . . .

I agree that we need to think about defence.

How about a place where air forces refuse to fly most of the year, where armies would dread to step foot, and where no indigenous peoples would wish to stop us from moving in?

Besides all this, there are untapped natural resources (though extraction is expensive enough that interest is low at present), more fresh water than you could ever use, no native contagious diseases or dangerous animals, and lots and lots of open spaces.

With plenty of natural defenses and opportunity for "defence in depth", a small professional military backed up with militia could defend against much larger foes.

Sound too good to be true?

There is such a place, if we are man enough to make it happen (and if there are enough of us to make it feasible).