There's two very surprising things that have been aired to the public in Brehon's thread. First, and the main point of discussion within that thread, is that alliances now think it acceptable to refuse a no-punitive-terms peace agreement, and think that they have the right to a white peace on their own terms and at their convenience.
The second, which I'd like to explore briefly here, is that the NPO has offered such a termless peace in the first place. There are two important precedents which
Yes, it's that special day again, fireworks going off all around Seria – the 5th of November. Harmlin Day. The anniversary of the signing of the MDP between The Grämlins and the Mostly Harmless Alliance, five years ago now, and also of the signing of the Härmlin Accords a year later.
The bond may have been broken and our two alliances not as close as they once were, and those who can truly call themselves Harmlins gradually fading into inactivity or disappearing entirely, but it is still an imp
Another year passed since the day that ended the illusion of a stable and friendly Green, and another year of success and relevance for Viridia. The main event of the past year was the signing of Pandora's Box – the new central bloc of its area of the treaty web, and thrusting Viridia into the spotlight.
Entering such a large and mixed bloc, in the top tier of world politics, had a predictable effect of attracting detractors, from the other power clusters. And, also predictably, the bloc made e
It's Grämlins, people. Or, if you can't find how to type ä, Graemlins or Gremlins. Not Gramlins.
And yes I know I'm not there any more but it still annoys me.
(If you were wondering what triggered this, it's the Karma reflection thread in OWF. Feanor.)
Firstly, the Viridian war on Polar, which expanded due to the entry on both sides of several allies. The CB for our war is clear, laid out by Impero in our DoW thread and honestly I am surprised so many people seem to think it is weak. There are logs there of a foreign official discussing potential target alliances with a spy and telling him he should spy on VE, which he then did and reported back to the leader in question.
I am in Viridian government and have been fully in support of Impero's
2010 was bookended by wars that almost blew up: at the end, NEW's botched raid on the disbanded Dark Fist (protected from escalation by the policy of their allies), and at the beginning, the TPF war, initiated over claims of a black-ops plant alliance (Zero Hour) during Karma (Athens's DoW contains the contemporary declaration of CB), which was prevented from escalating by the unwillingness of TPF's allies and their coalition to actually declare real wars, as summed up by this declaration from c
It's war time again, and that means the inevitable attempts by both sides to paint themselves as the holy defenders beating back the barbarian aggressor hordes. That makes it a good time to look at aggression and defence in an objective fashion.
First, let's make clear that there two different concepts here. There is the concept of aggression versus defence, and the concept of a justified or unjustified war ('valid CB' or 'invalid CB'). In this case, Ragnarok's CB is cast iron: a government off
This year, for the first time, sees the Viridian flags flying over the Serian parliament not just for the significance of this one day, but as a permanent fixture. That's something that looked particularly unlikely three years ago when the flag was lowered, seemingly for the last time, over the whole alliance.
In this modern era, full of rhetoric and worries about whether the 'old Hegemony' or the forces of Karma and Supergrievances will become the 'new Hegemony', and overblown predictions abou
This week, one year on from a time at which the Karma war was still raging on at least some fronts, the last act of that war was played out, as the surrender terms placed on the NPO finally expired with their last reparation payments.
At around ten months, that makes those terms some of the longest in history (though the GPA had to put up with indefinite terms and were released after a similar period), and as was well publicised, the reparations were the largest ever. Pacifica managed to avoid
When I left you back in November, it was a hard decision, to leave the alliance I had been a part of since I got into politics, and one which provided me with a lot of good times. I wondered whether I was too hasty, whether I should stay still longer and try to hold the alliance on the course we had been on prior to that.
Recently you have shown everyone that no, you really are that nuts, and you have comprehensively trashed everything that made Grämlins, well, Grämlins, as well as being a majo
With the current alliance being in the news at the moment for all the wrong reasons, it seems a good time to see where the 'Grämlins diaspora' – long time members who left because they felt the alliance wasn't what it had been – have gone, and what they have done.
Obviously other members have also left and who I consider to be on this list is entirely subjective!
The exodus began with the creation of Kronos, with Ender Land, White Majik, Dankbud, Tryptamine and Heracles the Great striking out
We've now been in a global war for over two months. Just how much stuff has been destroyed?
Overall
Size of the top 80 on 16th January: 13.9k members, 375m NS, 66.0m infra, 19.3m tech, 86.4k nukes
Size of the top 80 on 23rd March: 12.8k members, 269m NS, 46.2m infra, 15.3m tech, 62.0k nukes
Bearing in mind that some alliances dropped out of the top 80 and were replaced by those with lower losses, and that some alliances outside the top 80 will have lost significant amounts of strength too, t
As we stand here today, the TOP/IRON-C&G front of the Bi-Polar War has been raging for a month and a half (the entirety of February, 12 days of March and 3 of January), and for almost all of that time has been a one sided destruction of the pre-emptive attackers. Peace negotiations are taking place, but so far the only terms offered by the winners are quite outrageous, and the rhetoric from C&G is not conciliatory – for example they have called the TOP/IRON counter-offer 'insulting' and
From the Ministry of Foreign Affars.
There has recently been some confusion about the Serian position regarding the TOP/C&G front in the Techraid War. Some foreign officials are making reference to our position without perhaps fully understanding it.
We believe that this front was opened as part of the ongoing Techraid War, and that it remains part of one conflict. This belief is based on the fact that the war was live on all fronts when TOP and their coalition entered, and that the operat
Of course, the war is not yet over, but it is reasonable at this time to extrapolate the current state of the war to its reasonable conclusion: a crushing defeat for IRON, more pain for Polaris and most of Purple, and a painful and damaging draw between TOP and C&G. (C&G will probably be able to claim a victory in the end, but both sides are going to lose in that encounter.) So what can we say about the likely shape of the political landscape afterwards?
The first and most obvious outco
As the week comes to a close, so does the core conflict that has shaped it. The war is not over, as it has spawned a new front, but the story seems clearer now than it has for many days. So what exactly is the story?
The incident that triggered the chain of events leading up to the war starts with an alliance-wide tech raid on the alliance FoA by Poison Clan, GOONS and \m/. This incident was brought into the public eye by Alterego. Very rapidly, before most of the commentators had even seen the
Brought to you by the Serian Law Society!
We all know that aggression, defence and treaty wording is not what determines alliances' actions during a global war. Friendships and bloodlust characterise the decision making process. But just what is the legal position in this war?
Polar declare on \m/. Clearly this is not obligated by a treaty, nor is it in response to an ongoing war, thus it is offensive.
PC declare on NpO. This is a direct activation of their MDP.
RoK do not declare on
Today marks the annual Grämlin Day celebration in Seria, this year being the third anniversary of Seria's acceptance into that alliance. As with all national holidays, much of the population will be spending the evening in party mood – particularly a holiday in the middle of the gloomy winter months. But this year, the drinking and dancing will be less free than in the past, for two reasons.
The first, and most obvious, is that Seria is no longer a part of the Grämlin alliance. While retaining
The story 2009 is entirely centred around one thing: Karma. At the beginning of 2009, the cornerstone of the Hegemony (Continuum) was beginning to crack, after Grämlins' departure, and the trend continued in January with FOK's departure. After the removal of BLEU and One Vision from the picture during the BLEU war in 2008, Continuum was the headline bloc of the hegemony, and the loss of two of its stronger alliances in a month left its sheen of invulnerability damaged.
The visible state of affa
Eight months ago, during the balmy spring month of April, a war took place to rid the world of a brutal and oppressive world superpower – the Hegemony. Although the war was started by the forces of Hegemony, the great support for Karma was at least in part down to a wish for a fairer, more moral world, free from an overbearing all-powerful cabal of sanctioned alliances. Amid the nuclear fire and destruction of people, property and entire nations, the political sky was cleared and the internation
Three months ago, the world was living with the Continuum/One Vision based hegemony. The seeds of what became Karma had been laid, in response to rumours of an attack on Viridia a week or two before, although with the hindsight of historians those rumours will seem incredible and the defensive planning meetings an over-reaction. The moment of tension seemed to have passed, and most were settling back to a routine of stifled politics and peacetime nation management.
The moment that will be chise
Three years ago today, on 25th May 2006, the New Polar Order was created, rising out of the ashes of a war between the Order and the NAAC to take control of the Blue Team. On that day, the concept of 'The Orders', Pacifica and Polaris marching together, was first established. And today, on its third birthday, Polaris stands for the first time stronger than Pacifica, politically divorced from it and influential across the globe. Happy anniversary, Polaris!
Two years ago today, on 25th May 2007 a
This month sees the end of an era, a period of history which has (with brief interruptions) lasted for over two years: the Pax Pacifica, or hegemonic rule by NPO-led blocs. With Pacifica itself toppled from the no. 1 position, and the meat of the most recent hegemonic power structure deposed and halved in strength, there is little doubt that historians will look back to April and May 2009 as the moment that global politics changed forever. Many authors are already discussing the new era, before
This week has seen the entire world shaken. Radiation levels are the highest ever, casualty counts across the globe are rising as fast as ever, almost ever major alliance is engaged in war, and the impregnable hegemony of the last 18 months is crashing down.
Like many major wars [OOC: in RL too] the catalyst was the mass of treaties held by every alliance, the fuel tension built up under the crushing weight of the web, and the spark a minor war that in normal times would have been complained ab
After a long period of political stability, politics is back in the news – and how. Viridia made the first waves, after a minor diplomatic incident with the International over the aftermath of a forgotten war turned ugly and offended diplomatic sensibilities. Viridia's treaties with IRON, NPO and GGA disappeared at a stroke back at the end of March in a move that surprised analysts worldwide, moving them away from One Vision and into the waiting arms of the Superfriends (particularly GOD). Monos
