A Legalistic View on the Techraid War
Entry posted by Bob Janova
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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?
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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.
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PC declare on NpO. This is a direct activation of their MDP.
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RoK do not declare on NpO. Legalistically, this appears to be a violation of the defence clause of this treaty, which does not contain any exceptions or stipulations for suspension.
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FOK declare on NpO. The chaining clause in the FOK-PC treaty is strangely worded, stating that the defence clause 'does not apply if either of the two friends is attacked because of a war launched offensively by that signatory', as opposed to the usual form of 'does not apply if a friend enters the war due to treaty obligations'. However, PC has not been attacked at all at present (no DoWs have been issued against them). So the conclusion is that FOK was not obligated to make this declaration, but had any alliance declared on PC, they then would be.
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Stickmen declare on Polar (Mostly ... the target is not explicit). iFOK are obliged by their MADP with FOK, although the entry is still aggressive. Stickmen is a non-chaining MDP, as stated in the second part of Article 5:
This phrase does not appear in any public announcement that we found and was presumably added later for clarity. Thus Stickmen are definitely not obliged to enter by treaty.The signatories further agree that should any signatory become involved in an offensive conflict, they may request assistance from the remaining signatories. Assistance in this case is not mandatory, but is strongly encouraged. -
NSO declare on FOK. The NSO-NpO treaty mandates defence in the case of 'an act of aggression' (as long as Polar didn't enter through treaties or blocs, which it did not). The definition of aggression is a difficult one given the wording of the FOK-PC treaty in the above point. Our determination would be that under normal circumstances, escalating a war by choice would count as an aggressive act, and as this was not a coalition war until FOK declared, the treaty would normally activate. However, in the Polar DoW, Grub (speaking for Polaris) appeared to waive their defensive commitments.
It is not clear whether 'this matter' includes chained-in allies who were not obliged. Our view is that it does not, for similar reasons to the argument about 'aggression'. Thus, NSO are obliged to defend Polar from attackers beyond the immediately implicated ones which did not declare during an existing coalition war.For those concerned, we will require NO assistance from our allies in dealing with this matter. If this matter is to escalate that will be by your choosing alone. I understand that a treaty partner of \m/ will choose to defend, we will await your deployment, also alone. -
STA declare on iFOK/FCO. By similar arguments, and the nature of their treaty, STA are also obliged to assist Polar with these attacks, assuming that Polar requested their assistance.
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AZTEC declare on FOK. NV is obliged to defend NpO for similar reasons to NSO and STA. AZTEC is a full MADP, therefore all of these alliances are obliged to enter the war.
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R&R declare on NSO, citing the LEO treaty. is an MDP, stating 'If a signatory makes an aggressive attack the other signatories can choose not to ride with the other signatories only if there's a pretty darn good reason not to', and mandating defence in the case of a 'direct attack'. Because in our determination NSO are obliged to assist against FOK, that would not count as a 'direct attack' and therefore this entry is aggressive and optional.
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GOD declare on NSO. GOD do not cite any treaty for this entrance. One may assume that the Superfriends bloc, shared with R&R, is the reason for their entrance. SF is a MADP if the bloc has agreed to the war and voted on it over the previous 48 hours, or an MDP otherwise. Over 48 hours passed since the Polar declaration before this one, so without clarification from a member of SF we cannot be sure if this is an enforced bloc activation or a discretionary entry.
The implications for the future of this interpretation would be:
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If SF have voted to activate the MADP part of that treaty, then the other Superfriends – Fark, RIA, MA, Ragnarok and CSN would be obliged to enter as part of that coalition, though one can safely assume that Ragnarok is not following the letter of its treaties at this stage.
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Because the attacks on NSO are in response to it activating a treaty, the NSO-IRON MDP becomes non-chaining and thus IRON are not obliged to enter. The Terra-Cotta Pact similarly becomes non-obligatory.
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VE shares a MADP with GOD and is therefore obliged to assist on the \m/ side should it be asked to do.
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