The Rejected Times -- Issue XIV

[Unibot]

Issue XIV, February 11, 2014

Editor's Note

Please enjoy this latest edition of your favorite newspaper. Just a few corrections to note from Issue XIII: The East Pacific was eligible under the Extraordinary Circumstances Act before signing the UDL-TEP treaty, not after. Moreover, Feuer Ritter selected Kknight as Chief of Staff, not Halcones -- and Bob Moran was promoted to Colonel not Captain. Damn those "C" ranks, they always get us confused.

>> International News

TEP Joins Defenderdom!

COMMENTARY | UNIBOT



The East Pacific has passed and ratified “The Defender Act”, 7-1, to become a defender region for the first time in its long, storied history. On February 08, Bachtendekuppen officially removed the “neutral” regional tag and added the new “defender” tag – making The East Pacific, the largest defender region in all of NationStates.

Bachtendekuppen, delegate of The East Pacific was originally skeptical of the proposal, telling the Magisterium that he wanted to ensure that The East Pacific remained open and free for all members regardless of their creed. Eventually, the Puffin delegate pledged to not veto the bill and told reporters, “we as a region believe this is a logical next step to take” – he especially praised the depth of discussion and debate on the issue and the consensus that was raised in the Magisterium.

He also expressed his belief that The East Pacific’s values of “respect and friendship, acceptance and tolerance” would still be honoured regardless of whether The East Pacific was neutral or defender.

The Magisterium was no less thrilled with the passing of The Defender Act.

Magister Nalt told The Rejected Times that he believed the move was a “good step” and that it would give The East Pacific “lots of opportunities to grow”.

“I'm very excited to see what we are able to accomplish!” says Nalt, waving a chartreuse flag proudly with the other supporters.

Magister Aelitia says that given EPSA’s “effective leadership and bolstering numbers”, he is very excited to see its coming missions – the future is “undeniably bright” for The East Pacific, according to Aelitia. He also told The Rejected Times that he believes that The Defender Act will change how the region makes decisions and judgements, but not substantially change the defining aspects of The East Pacific.

“TEP will be more sensitive to defender missions,” says Aelitia, “and will have new relationships beginning to blossom or continue to better with our allies and friends”.

Aelitia may just be right! Just recently, The United Defenders League presented the Shield of Ballotonia to The East Pacific as a diplomatic gift – welcoming them to defenderdom.

“We wanted to share with you one of our heroes because defenderdom has always shared its heroes,” Chief Mahaj told The East Pacific, “and we here at The United Defenders League have no doubt that in no time of all, heroes will rise in The East Pacific and you too will share them with the world”.

The diplomatic gift was well received in The East Pacific with Bachtendekuppen extending his warmest regards, while the Provost plotted a gift for The United Defenders League in return (a “cupcaek” was a popular suggestion). Meanwhile, shortly after the passing of The Defender Act, Xoriet was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, with the explicit idea in mind that she would largely be organizing The East Pacific’s defender missions. Thankfully, The Rejected Times managed to reach her for comment.

“I am thrilled with the opportunity to be actively involved in leading the defender activities within EPSA,” says Xoriet.

When asked about her time spent rising the ranks of the EPSA, Xoriet was humble and very grateful.

“I am able to do so now because my superior officers have trust in my commitment to both TEP and defenderism,” says the new Lieutenant. “Earning each individual rank over the course of the three months since I first joined has made my participation in EPSA all the more rewarding, but the increasing trust that came with each promotion is even more important to me”.

It should also be said, that not only is The East Pacific, the largest defender region in NationStates, it is also the first feeder to become a defender region in over half a decade! Perhaps this is a sign of a trend – a return to the days where defending values were better received interregionally, with more and more major regions defending against invasions across NationStates. What can be said with certainty is that this change is a landmark decision for The East Pacific – a positive change that has its members excited for their region’s dynamic future.

__________________________________________________________________

Controversy surrounding VF's pointed "attack recruitment ads"
Ads call Sinker GCRs, "noninclusive"

COMMENTARY | LIBETARIAN REPUBLICS

The sinkers, once again, are being attacked for their non inclusiveness.

Versutian Federation, a region relatively known for their participation in the Zombie Apocalypse, created an ambitious recruitment campaign against three sinkers (Lazarus, Balder, and Osiris), telegramming every individual nation to join their active region and slandering the sinkers for hosting elitist, exclusive governments.

The recruitment ad cause an outrage amongst the Sinkers community, calling for retaliation. "We will send them a recruitment telegram back in retaliation, I assure you.", says King NES, assuring the community of Balder.

Later, a combined allied effort led by the Jomsvikings of Balder targeted a Versutian Federation embassy in Warzone Asia in response.

However, others are questioning the diplomatic power and significance of the Versutian Federation.

"Who are they again?", questioned Josh Sebastian. Within the dark realms of Gameplay, Versutian Federation are relative unknowns.

Despite their lack of prominence, the Versutian Federation claims to be more active than all three sinkers. However, the Versutian Federation forum has dwindled with limited activity compared to the political dynamics of the Osiris Fraternal Order, the "party place" of Balder, and the socialist workshop of Lazarus.

"Nobody important," concluded Cassius Cerebella.

__________________________________________________________________
 

Defenders free Federation of Herbshire from Europeia

COMMENTARY | UNIBOT


The sun rises in Herbshire after its successful liberation.

Early today, defenders from UDL, FRA, LLA and RIA scored a major victory against Europeia and Kantrias -- liberating Federation of Herbshire, 13-10. The native delegate, New Cato Corellia, was restored to the delegacy with the help of liberators. The Rejected Times managed to catch Ravania, one of the liberation's organizers and Captain of the UDL, for comment on the celebrated victory.

"Well, I came home, logged in, spotted a Europeian WA nation moving into a region," says Ravania, "saw it was raided, assessed the situation, called for assistance, dug up a trigger and meanwhile cooked dinner for my wife and kids. By the time my oven was heated we had found enough defenders to move in".

Apparently, Ravania's skills in the kitchen did not disappoint.

"Defender-unity is not something we talk about, we just cook it up as we go," joked Ravania.

__________________________________________________________________

NES takes the delegacy

COMMENTARY | LIBETARIAN REPUBLICS

"King of Balder" is now one of many positions that NES has held throughout his NS career. He assumed the delegacy not too long after he was elected as King with the aid of allied imperialist forces withdrawing from their Slavia occupation momentarily.

The King has made immediate changes to how Balder functions. He shifted membership of the Royal Council, Balder's own security body, in order to have a swift consolidation of power in Balder. Next, he has appointed influential individuals to the Cabinet, ready to make their own name carved in Balder: Cormac Stark, who led the movement for the creation of the Osiris Fraternal Order, as Minister of War; Durkadurkiranistan, legendary couper, as head of Interior; Lord Ravenclaw, current Pharaoh of OFO, as Media; and Charles Cerebella, new Kaiser of TNI, as Foreign Affairs. While I have seen cabinets that have had one or two highly influential players, this cabinet represents a conglomeration of various interests that can determine the course and future of Balder.

Earlier this week, Balder's legislative debated the proposal for a dual executive, something that has not been done in any Game-Created Region for quite a while. Whether or not this will be implemented, only time will tell, but as it stands, NES's delegacy may prove to be very pivotal for Balder.

 __________________________________________________________________

“”Repeal “Liberate Nazi Europe”” Passes
SkyDip reveals himself as anonymous Author

COMMENTARY | UNIBOT

In the early days of February, a mysterious poster named “The Dark” drafted and proposed a repeal of “Liberate Nazi Europe” – the motioned was supported by a diverse group of commentators, including Cerian Quilor and myself.

Just shortly before the repeal was proposed, The Rejected Times published a provocative editorial, “Profiting from the War on Nazis” – in it bears many of my thoughts on “Liberate Nazi Europe”. I believed the aggressiveness against Nazism served the interests of several political actors (independents benefited from the anti-fascist targets, whereas invaders and imperialists sought a closer working relationship with independents), while the actual strategy was counterproductive: pursuing Nazis strengthened their resolve and their recruitment efforts.

Cerian Quilor, in his support of the repeal made similar claims, noting the rise of the Right Wing Uprising and providing converging evidence of the population growth of Nazi regions since the passage of “Liberate Nazi Europe”. The Dark’s argument for repealing “Liberate Nazi Europe” shared these ideas and more, by proposing that the controversial proposal had been both counter-productive and an abuse of the WA Liberation category.

In a dramatic vote, “Repeal “Liberate Nazi Europe” passed 6,054 votes to 4,858 – it’s main proponents were 10000 Islands, The East Pacific and The Rejected Realms, the latter two of which had voted against the original “Liberate Nazi Europe”, although unbeknownst to them, their delegates had agreed to vote “for” the liberation at the Anti-Nazi Summit held in Francograd, earlier that year. The main opposition for the proposal came from The West Pacific, The North Pacific and Osiris. Lazarus voted against the repeal out of respect for their comrade-at-arms and former delegate, Feux, who penned “Liberate Nazi Europe”.

After the passage of the landmark repeal, SkyDip revealed that he had been the author of “Repeal “Liberate Nazi Europe”” all along – having used “The Dark” as an alias. In his statement titled, “From the Dark”, SkyDip explained that he wrote the proposal using an alias, fearing backlash in his home region, Europeia, for proposing what may have been perceived by some as a “Nazi-friendly” proposal. SkyDip explained that he pursued the proposal because he had felt the targeted invasions of Nazi regions were counterproductive.

“Active opposition is akin to scratching at a rash,” says SkyDip, “it is only liable to spread and get worse”.

Cormac Stark, however, argued against the arguments presented, suggesting that independent regions needed fascist regions and Anti-Nazism as an opportunity for military activity, otherwise they would be encouraged to turn defender.

“Most of these regions are independent and don't think either raiding or defending is wrong,” says Cormac, “but for their own reasons -- often political -- they tend to restrict their raiding and often their defending to regions they have a clear reason to raid or defend, i.e., raiding fascist regions or defending regions being invaded by fascists”.

According to Cormac, Lazarus, The East Pacific and Osiris “spent years trying to make neutrality or independence work and came up empty with each and every attempt”.

This leads Cormac to believe that without an active Nazi threat, something to perpetuate activity in independent regions, Game-Created Regions will eventually reject neutrality and/or independence.

“Every Feeder and Sinker will have rejected neutrality and independence, or at least the variant of the latter that is practiced in GCRs, by the end of this year,” claims Cormac, “It will be because they're tired of military inactivity, and at least 5 out of the 9 will be defender and will probably be FRA member regions”.

Bold claims? Perhaps. But certainly not the biggest claims of the night – that distinction goes to the Jewish Justice League, who somehow managed to alienate most of Gameplay while portraying themselves as holocaust victims. The over-the-top commentators published a piece called “Why Nazis have invaded your region” – in it contained the naming and blaming the delegates who had voted for the contentious repeal, while calling SkyDip, a “nazi sympathizer” and myself, “the most-notorious Nazi enabler in NationStates”. For the Jewish Justice League, the repeal passed with the help of the political machine of the “neo-Nazi community of NationStates”.

The real question that Gameplay faces is how to respond to Nazism in the future? A burgeoning new school of thought, emboldened by this repeal, sees education and disregard as the key to reducing Nazism, while another sizable demographic still finds the solution to be active hostilities and brute force. Meanwhile, naysayers predict that independent militaries may face a drought of activity without the War on Nazis – another major issue that will continue to develop.

__________________________________________________________________

"Commend NewTexas" passes

COMMENTARY | LIBETARIAN REPUBLICS

The ongoing crusade to get NewTexas commend has gone on for the last six months. At last, "Big Tex", as he is affectionately called, was finally commended. The resolution has done a comprehensive job recognizing NewTexas for his work in Texas, the defending cause, and NationStates overall with the beloved NSSuite. 84% of the WA's votes were casted in favor for his commendation -- it's clear that there was a strong consensus that he was to be commended.

However the commendation came with some controversies, nevertheless. The fact that the (already commended) region of Texas symbolizes much of the accomplishment of its founder and the region itself brought doubt to some commentators. Regardless, NewTexas is certainly a worthy individual that has long deserved to be praised and recognized by the hallowed halls of the World Assembly.

The Rejected Times was not able to reach NewTexas for comment, but I'm sure he's enjoying some delicious BBQ as a result of it.

__________________________________________________________________

The Man Who Stayed For Christmas

COMMENTARY | UNIBOT



Captain Ravania entered from the shadows, wielding his make-shift wand -- having followed the mysterious calling from across the galaxy, tolling among the stars. His enemies awaited his presence, dreading the triumphant return of the honoured guardian, for this was the Man Who Stayed for Christmas.

Christmas was a quiet region where its people were honest and innocent, but over the years it had attracted the attention of all sorts of invaders from the farthest reaches of NationStates. It was there that the wayward hero called "home" for he had finally found a place that would always need him to stay around.

It was a calm winter night in January, when the Lone Wolves United strode into Christmas -- attempting to claim the village as their own. Barnable, one of the youngest natives, ran around in circles, screaming at the top of his lungs about the intruders, but the other natives did believe the Boy Who Cried Wolf.

It was then that Ravania appeared, waving his wand at the wolves. But just when they thought he was alone, appeared defenders from TITO, UDL, LLA and FRA --emerging from the bushes, throwing spears and firing arrows at the Lone Wolves United. The hunt was afoot. Not too long after that, Christmas was freed and the natives of Christmas rejoiced. They danced in the snowfall, while their children played and giggled loudly, cheering on their heroes and waving ribbons in the air.

At the top of the village's bell-tower, Ravania appeared -- ringing the bell to those that might hear.

"Christmas is defended!" said the Captain, directed at the invaders above -- a reminder to all those who dare cross the Man Who Stayed for Christmas.

__________________________________________________________________



__________________________________________________________________

>> Editorial Cartoon

[Tweedy]

So it now seems that 10000 Islands, The East Pacific and The Rejected Realms all condone The Nazis and their beliefs! No amount of waffle and pseudo-intellectual theorizing will change that shocking appearance to the outside world!  There is no use arguing that this is a game and not real life, because If the Nazi flag in the form of the swastika is banned by NationStates there is in that banning the acceptance that real life does matter.

[Westwind]

The young do not have the experience to realize the truth of what you say Tweedy.  

 

It's so very sad, history will continue to echo with the rhythm of what successive generations forget.  Over and over again.

[Consular]

One day we'll get NE. I have fond visions of setting that hellhole on fire and dancing in the ruins.

[Eli]

don't forget the hypocrites in the UDL that fully support NE's right to exist.

 

 

that alone makes them repugnant.