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Several hours after departing Esther Marchese International Airport in Columbia, President Buëlga's private plane landed in Errion Vega.
"You'd better get going," remarked a Vegan waiting by the plane, "the meeting has already started." Buëlga and her security detail followed the man to the correct building, and the President rushed to the conference room before quietly opening in the door in case someone was speaking; nobody was, though she quickly found five sets of eyes upon her as the five other representatives looked to see who had entered. One of them, apparently Archduke Andreas Seifert of Geisenfried judging by the nameplate in front of him, looked slightly relieved; Buëlga guessed that he himself had arrived only moments earlier.
"Karla Buëlga, president of Bedistan. I hope I'm not too late for the party?" |
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Ari Elisar raised an eyebrow quietly. "One would hope that if we were having a party, there would be more booze."
Sitting back in his chair, he looked around the room. "The S.D.L. is growing in power at what appears to be a freakishly fast rate. There could be a good number of reasons for this happening, but if we try to narrow it down to things that are reasonable, they don't have anything better to do other than partner up, their irrational fear of Starblaydia is getting the best of them, or something involving a bunch of evil brain-controlling aliens bent on regional domination. That aside, the real question is, how exactly do we manage this third alliance without siding with either the ironically-named Strategic Defense League or the Purple Crush, and becoming just another pawn?"
"As well, we have to make sure our name is up to par." |
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"Agreed about the name," Albinanda replied. "By the way, I'm Albinanda Serodini, the new Agustinate of Foreign and Diplomatic Affairs down in Timiocato. Glad to meet all of you, of course."
She took a breath, swallowed some water and continued. "Our major problem right now is, on top of what our good Casaran colleague mentioned, geography. The SDL has an, albeit unintentional, geographic advantage over any other possible alliances or compacts in the region. The sheer fact that most of the SDL's nations are located along the South-Central corridor, with the exclusion of the Lamonians, is a lucky feat for them. But if you look closely at the map, we ourselves could have an advantage."
She pointed to a map of the region on the wall. "If you please, notice that Pacitalia, Milchama, Hypocria, Andossa Se Mitrin Vega and Casari lie not in the centre of the region but around its edges. That very fact alone allows us the ability to surround and contain any threats. And with a strong Bedistani presence in the centre of the region, our power would threaten if not match the power projection of the new SDL."
"I must say I am truly uncomfortable with the fact that so many countries are ready to just join up with the SDL, for, shall we say, craps and giggles. As Signore Elisar said, such a unification of goals and aims creates an unbalanced power scheme in the region." Her eyes met with all her colleagues sitting at the table. "And as we know, everything in the universe has two sides. Yin and yang, black and white... and a power cram followed by a power vacuum. The SDL feeding off the SAAS carcass with nothing in its path to slow that growth."
"Most of the new recruits to the region have absolutely no good reason to be joining that alliance. They simply, and foolishly, think that the SDL is the champion alliance in the region, and suffice to say Pacitalian intelligence, including recent satellite sweeps suggest that these nations have no substantial military capability to back up their words. To put it another way, they really just want the glory if it comes to war. Because a war means a certain SDL victory. Starblaydia against half the region? No contest whatsoever."
"So again, I ask, why join the SDL if one is not going to contribute in the manner of which they are expected? Certainly, the SAAS is a sinking ship, and yes, the SDL is unofficially, very unofficially, the defender of democracy and freedom in the region, but what happened to stability and prosperity? We must not only take an active role in keeping the peace here in Atlantian Oceania, but I feel we must encourage other non-aligned states in the region to join our side, to send the other two alliances a message - AO was stable until the two sides deliberately began provoking each other. We must send that message that such actions are unacceptable. And we must do so together, whether with words, or God forbid, with a show of force."
She sat back, having said her bit for the time being, and looked around for the next person to speak.
This post has been edited by Pacitalia on Jun 8 2006, 06:26 PM |
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The best place on earth. |
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"Valid points. The more I think about it and the more we discuss, the more I realize that the Strategic Alliance of Autocratic States is almost as dead as Tiberius is. This Lady Viannor who now leads Starblaydia is just an intimidating figure as Tiberius, but unlike him, she seems to think that she can do it alone, while Tiberius was at least sane enough to recognize that he couldn't do that."
"When Krytenia left, no one in the SAAS said a word, and that silence told the rest of Atlantian Oceania that the Strategic Defense League was now top dog, as evidenced by the handful of nations who suddenly switched from neutrality into applying for the SDL. In the end, while Viannor's enough of a loose cannon for us to make sure to keep an eye on her and Starblaydia, we're really here to try and keep the balance in our region by opposing the ever-growing SDL. To make an alliance to replace the dying second rather than a third. And to do that, we must make something decisive happen here before it is too late and the SDL has everything. That's my two cents, for now."
"As for a name, may I suggest the Strategic Coalition of Sovereign Nations, or SCSN, for short?"
This post has been edited by Geisenfried on Jun 8 2006, 08:06 PM |
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"Nah sounds to much like the SDL. Don't like that name at all." Moshe Rabin quickly jumped in to give his two cents on the issue.
"As for what our Pacitalian friend said, sorry I don't remember your name, right now we are in a period of transition for AO. Two of the most important leaders in AO have just died and the SDL's size has increased and we are all sitting here at a meeting talking about something that just two months ago seemed like a dead idea. What we need right now is some kind of action to halt the SDL. Getting Bedistan involved in this conference was a start but we need to do more to get more nations."
"I also agree with our Geisenfeld delegate that the sooner and more decisive we make our actions the better. The quicker we can do them the more impact they will have and the more likely that we will be able to stabilize the power within the region." |
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"I agree - and with that I have already been in contact with the government in Fmjphoenix to see if they are interested in joining us. In addition, getting Commerce Heights to enter the alliance would allow us to secure that 'perimeter' idea I was talking about." |
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Pacitalia |
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The best place on earth. |
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Posts: 505 |
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“I think we can all agree that the region is sorely in need of a new faction to counterweight the League. I too have been alarmed at the sharp growth in power of the SDL. I’m fully aware of the bad press the SAAS has received in the past but I firmly believe that the upper echelons of the Defence League harbour some of the regions most dangerous warmongers. You only have to look at the Latao crisis. After Starblaydia had effectively removed the danger from Omsec’s regime the SDL descended on the crippled nation like a pack of hyenas. And those same warmongers I’m sure underestimate the remaining power of the SAAS just as some in this very room do.”
“Believe me, I wouldn’t start dancing on the grave of the SAAS just yet. I like to think I have a certain amount of inside knowledge on the alliance and I can tell you that the forces that can be mustered by the likes of Abattoir, Nojika and Xile are nothing short of formidable. And that doesn’t even include Stayblaydia in the equation. Now they have Viannor at the helm they are more dangerous than they ever were under Tiberius. Rest assured, Viannor doesn’t just think she can take on the region, she believes she can take on the region and win.”
This post has been edited by Hypocria on Jun 9 2006, 01:55 AM |
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"Fmjphoenix and Commerce Heights? Having them would be excellent. Perhaps we should contact the Space Union as well."
"As for the SAAS, while the armies they could possibly raise are formidable, if they do nothing, what is the point of such armies? However, if Viannor is as insane as you say she is, then I think the region will be sorely missing Tiberius quite soon, even those who hated him."
"We all seem to recognize the threat of the ever-expanding SDL, the psychosis of Viannor, and the need to do something quickly. So, we ought to iron out the details, discuss the exact ideals this alliance stands for and put them down on paper. Also, where is this alliance going to be headquartered? Here in Errion Vega? In Timiocato? Or maybe some other city? And are there any other suggestions for names, other than mine? Let's get the essentials down for this alliance, as soon as possible."
This post has been edited by Geisenfried on Jun 9 2006, 10:40 AM |
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OOC: May Manhattan Prime attend the conference? |
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"Perhaps to show that we are not just another alliance, and that we are a band of brothers, per se," Serodini said, "we could have offices in every capital of the member states. One in Timiocato, one in Errion Vega, one in Konigseifert... Phonecia, should the Fmjphoenicians join... Hypocrium, Columbia, Alexandria and Tyrellia. I think that's a more powerful political message for the region than just having a headquarters in one city." |
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Pacitalia |
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The best place on earth. |
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Posts: 505 |
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OOC: I wouldn't have issues with it, but it might be a bit of a late arrival at this point. =p
Elisar nodded. "In the same vein, the organization of some kind of multinational military exercises at some point in the near future should be a priority, along with an analysis of the current military needs of the member nations to see where some can improve and where some of our specialties lie. A strengthening of trade relations, including possibly lowering tariffs and other taxes towards imported goods from other members, would also be a great benefit to the alliance."
"Plus, We should leave Strategic out of the name. Strategic is so overused."
This post has been edited by Casari on Jun 9 2006, 05:19 PM |
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Casari |
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Dedicated Scribe |
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"Since Strategic is overused and the rest of it sounds good why not the Coalition of Sovereign Nations. It's peaceful and I think it has all the qualities of a nice alliance name."
"And now let's sum up what we are saying and vote on it or make some decision regarding it,
"First, we have the no one place for headquarters but a bunch of different national offices so as to show that no one nation is part of the alliance. Personally I believe that we need something central so as to relay concerns quickly but I like the idea in thoery."
"Second, we have the multinational military excercises as well as analysis on military strengths and weaknesses. This seems to be a good idea and something along these lines will need to happen sooner or later so the sooner the better."
"Finally, we have the economic ideas such as lowering tariffs and taxes on imported goods with these nations. I don't really care about this stuff as Milchama is pretty self sufficient but I'm sure others do, so that'll be up to a vote."
"Oh yes and the name will need to be discussed and voted on but that will come last."
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OOC: We can just say I was there from the start but said little 
Dr Carl Owens, the Manhattanite Minister for Foreign Relations rose. "Personally I like the name CSN, though I agree that can be the last thing we decide upon.
As to the issue of a central headquarters, we could happily reach a compromise. How about each nation has it's local office, and we elect amongst ourselves a 'central' office to act as a centralised leadership - we could rotate this every so often, so nations could take it in turns to have the 'Presidency'. Just an idea."
OOC: Similar to the EU Presidency, though hopefully more efficient
This post has been edited by Manhattan Prime on Jun 10 2006, 04:42 AM |
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Elisar nodded. "Another idea would be to seperate the different areas of cooperation into the different headquarters. For instance, the Alliance's Military headquarters could be in one location, while the cooperative Space efforts of the alliance could be in another. Of course, the problem might be that we don't have evnough facets to the alliance to actually have these types of headquarters in every nation." |
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Casari |
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Dedicated Scribe |
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Posts: 79 |
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OOC- Power supply on this crappy computer fried. Think it might be working - sort of - for now - at a whole whopping half-speed.  Will be back as soon as possible to catch up on things.
And thanks to Bedi and Geisenfried for coming. Also MP, you are more than welcome. Be back as soon as I can. |
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