Liberal Haven: Behind the Scenes

[Unibot]

Liberal Haven: Behind the Scenes

Geomania, leader of SPSF, on the successful liberation - plus a surprise announcement

INTERVIEW | TRR STAFF

Geomania, Minister of the Army in The South Pacific, speaks with The Rejected Times on the latest liberation, Liberal Haven...

For the folks who are coming into this story late, Liberal Haven was liberated from a coalition of right-wing groups by an even broader coalition of unusual collaborators that included defenders and imperialists. You were really the linchpin in this coalition, Geomania, yes? How did this collaboration happen?

Well Christopher Bishop, the head of the UIAF, approached me for a mission. He wanted to liberate Liberal Haven. My interest was immediately piqued because I was interested in liberating the region before the fascist occupiers had password-protected the region.

So I agreed to join the UIAF on the mission. Separately, Dyr approached me about liberating Liberal Haven.

Dyr from the Rejected Realms Army and the Founderless Regions Alliance, yes?

Correct, and the FRA commander for this mission. Dyr had also said that he too was approached by raiders about collaborating to liberate the region. I had assumed that the Christopher Bishop and the UIAF were talking with him.

But they hadn't yet?

That was the case, yes. When I logged on last night at a little before 11:30 PM ET, I discovered that the FRA and the UIAF were conducting preparations for separate missions to deploy in Liberal Haven.

General QuietDad of the South Pacific Special Forces had assumed we would be working with the FRA and instructed SPSF forces to work with the FRA. But I soon realized that the UIAF was not involved in the FRA plan, I conferred with Dyr and Christopher Bishop (the UIAF commander) and they agreed to collaborate.

I'm sorry, that was not a brief description of the situation.

No, thank you, that was great.

I've seen situations where defenders and imperialists have run parallel operations without cooperation. TUKB's liberation in May 2012 comes to mind. What were the fears of parallel missions?

In my opinion, we ran the risk of getting distracted. The purpose of the mission was to reclaim the region for the natives. I feared that there was a chance that each party may have started a competition to try to outclass the other organization.

Were there diplomatic concerns as well though? UIAF is an ally of The South Pacific and RRA and FRA has worked quite a lot with the SPSF. It would be a bit of a tightrope to walk, one would think, yes?

Yes, there were huge concerns. We had an obligation to honor our treaty with The New Inquisition (a member of UIAF) and we have many good friends in the FRA.

So a scenario in which both sides were combating each other would be an unenviable position for The South Pacific.

As Minister of the Army that has to be frustrated, no? In some ways, The South Pacific is trying to staddle the middle between two forces who really dislike and distrust one another. Has this kind of conflict been limiting in the past?

Well, in the very distant past the South Pacific stayed out of the fray of the raider/defender battles. Recently with Southern Bellz as Minister of the Army, we have obviously tried to work with both defenders and raiders and it has been a tough line to walk. Especially when we worked with raiders to attack St Abbaddon as a response to Topid's aggression against the region.

But I believe some defenders like Horse, Milograd, and Dyr have shown some flexibility and I understand why defenders would have a hard time with people working with raiders being a longtime Commander of the RRA.

As some who has overcome this particular situation, what would be your advice to other leaders caught in these dilemmas?

My piece of advice: communication and openness. I was up front with both Dyr and Christopher Bishop and Dyr and Christopher Bishop both showed excellent maturity.

How did you choose who to use for a lead? I believe the lead for the Liberal Haven mission is Milograd from LLA/FRA/RRA/PEF/UDL (what a mouthful...)?

UIAF chose me to be their lead. But switching leads was a dealbreaker for Dyr and FRA. Horse encapsulated the FRA position when he said "Unless defenders lead, nope.jpg", even though I was the lead. But Christopher Bishop agreed to endorse Milograd as long as I was also being endorsed.

What does the future hold for Liberal Haven? How long is the recovery expected? Will the Liberation badge be repealed?

The SPSF is prepared to be in Liberal Haven for the long haul if necessary. Of course that is up to the natives. Ideally, control of the region should be returned to the natives as soon as possible. You would have to ask Milograd about a concrete timetable, however.

And I am hardly a WA expert, but the liberation vote passed handily. I don't foresee a repeal.

Historically, SPSF was very aggressive against Nazism. I know Southern Bellz was a strong advocate for invading Nazi regions. There was a lot of blowback for this, in around March 2014, when "Repeal "Liberate NAZI EUROPE" was passed and people started talking about focusing on liberations and defenses, instead of invading Nazis. Where do you side with this issue and has SPSF kind of 'switched gears' on the "War against Nazis"? Or can we expect more aggressive missions if opportunities arise?

The defender in me loathes to wantonly invade regions, including fascist regions promoting abhorrent beliefs and I would not want to have the SPSF bogged down in a region in an intractable conflict.

I remember a time when it was difficult to attract broad support for a liberation against Nazi regions. It was very easy to find two dozen people on various political fronts to invade against any right-wing group, but oftentimes liberations were run solely by defenders. We'd put out requests, but there wouldn't be many takers. It's really interesting for me to see that this could be changing, especially since March. Thanks so much, Geomania, for sharing with us the "behind the scenes" events of the Liberal Haven liberation.

No problem.

Congratulations. If you'd like to say anything else to our readers, you have the floor. Thanks again.

Unfortunately, my friend Escade has resigned from Vice Delegate of TSP. However, I hope to succeed her and run for Vice Delegate if there are elections.

Wow, good luck Geomania.

Thanks! I think I might need it.

[Fratellnoir]

Unfortunately Unibot neglects to mention the "behind the scene" activity to ensure the conditions were in place for any force to go into Liberal Haven in the first place

[Consular]

He's more interested in spinning Geo as a leading defender in TSP. That should be unsurprising.

 

And yes, your agendas really are that obvious Unibot.

[God-Emperor]

Oh, snap. Shots fired.

[Consular]

It's not firing shots to point out the obvious purpose of an article.

[Westwind]

Yeah, I read the article and didn't see any real 'surprise' inside.

[God-Emperor]

Neither did I, but I don't when I read the Times.

[Westwind]

I keep thinking I should start writing WTF News again.

 

http://www.westpacific.org/forums/index.php?/topic/272-wtf-news-issue-7/

[God-Emperor]

Do it!

[Westwind]

The last one I started writing, but never finished, was about Osiris.  But that's so 2013 now.