German-German Diplomacy

[Kaiser Martens]

After private messages between both Governments, the creation of embassies was quickly agreed as the first step to improve relations between both countries, to try and undo the conflictive history between the two zones.

An Embassy was assigned at Berlin, from an old unoccupied - recovered - house that had recently come into posession by the Government. The paperwork is complete and all that is now needed is the arrival of the personel and the flag which is to be raised on the pole there.

There will be a brief innauguration ceremony where the Chancellor will be present. Also, a cultural exchange project was announced, and for once, it seemed that everyone within the Althing had received this particular piece of news with optimism, save for the single Isolationist Seat of course.

The fortified gate opens. A gate similar to the one which the HRE had blown up. The previously broken fortified line is still there in the south, but its northern sister line remain meters away, however, it is nowhere as heavily guarded as before.

A welcome sign was available. Tourism and Business Visas were also now possible, no longer Northern Germany was closed off to all Southerners.

[Lynneth]

As the embassy for the GDR was opened in the North, the Southerners opened one near the Palace of the Republic for their northern neighbours. With the bureaucracy in the GDR being far less restricting than on many other countries, the paperwork was done quickly and thus only the flag and the diplomats were needed.

The ceremony would be similar as in the north, though in addition to the Chairman (instead of the Chancellor, and using one of the robots he used to talk with leaders in other countries), Westerwelle would attend, as well.

Meanwhile, in the North, Martin Saltz would be the official ambassador to move into the embassy, together with his staff.

The cultura exchange project was approved by the Chairman and soon, its existence was broadcast in the news.

On the broder, the troops had begun to withdraw (mostly), with only 100,000 instead of 250,000 men remaining there. A considerable change, though security always was important, of course.

Tourist and Business Visas had been available to northern people all along - at least from the viewpoint of the GDR - so that there not much would change. They'd need to go through the same regulations as any other non-GDR citizen.

OOC: Tell me if I missed something.

[Kaiser Martens]

OOC: All good here

IC: In the end, the amount of troops stationed at the border would be roughly the same that were stationed in the rest of the borders, save for the Easternmost Neighbors which had very minimal guard due to the treaty between both countries.

People would start to visit each other. There would be different Historical and Artistic exhibitions, showing both the similarities and differences between two countries, and overall promoting good understanding. At the German Embassy, the German Ambassador - Gunther Uwesson Stenskiöld, began with a few questions once that the ceremonial formalities were done,

"We are very curious about your system. To us it seems to be rather mysterious due to the isolationist and defamatory policies of the old Government. Tell us, what is the trick here, how do you make it all work so well? Our economy needs refreshing, and we were thinking that we should take the southern example. Either way, the proponents of Rational Communism in Northern Germany are the second force, if one does not count the Democratics which have failed to unite. The current Government believes that practicality should come before ideology, and what is best for both lands is to try to drift closer over time, or at the very least never to infight again."

Edited January 13, 2010 by Kaiser Martens

[Lynneth]

"Our system is a mixture of several others, and many parts intermingle with others. Rational Communism is not just an economic model, neither is it an ideology or just a set of policies.

For starters, every citizen has a device with which he can pay without using hard cash. This device also enables them to vote in elections or access the Internet from where they stand thanks to a basic free connection that every citizen has - we see internet-access as fundamental right, as it enables the people to inform themselves, strengthening the principle of "Freedom of Information". This is partially a result of our education policy. You see, we teach our children to think logically and rationally. Not always, mind you, because that would lead to other extremes I don't want to elaborate right now, but you can probably think of what an emotionless society would be capable of doing. Anyways, this strengthening of thinking logically generally - not always - helps prepare them to so something with their life, and to become productive members of society. It also leads to them actually informing themselves about the politics and politicians of the nation, so that they may vote not based on what is promised, or on the propagandacampaign during an election - which is limited, anyways. The campaign, I mean - but rather on whether the man they want to vote for is actually competent.

We encourage a society of merit. Working well, regardless of your job, gets you respect and may enable you to climb the ladder of success. Especially in politics, this is important, so that no idiots and liars are elected.

Economically, we are neither radically laissez-faire, nor completely state-controlling. A corporation based in the GDR will have 40% of its assets state-controlled for a period that is a minimum of 5 years and can extend for decades, depending on how well the corporation cooperates with the state. If they are a problem, up to 80% of their assets can be seized so that the problem-makers can be gotten rid of. If they cooperate well and obey the laws, more and more of their assets will be returned to them. Corporations such as Artemis have full control over all their assets, so they can do what they want - within the law. Corporations based in other nations will only have the branches based in the GDR controlled in this fashion, to ensure they obey our laws, and because we treat everyone the same.

Everyone is equal before the law. Everyone has the right to practise his religion - as long as he doesn't do hatespeeches, and does it silently. Our people have many rights that other nations may not consider human rights, but we do what is necessary to make humanity more responsible, so that it will take care of itself and of the world better.

Of course I've only told you a fraction of our laws, policies, etc, but I hope it's enough so that you get a good picture of it. We are Rational. We are Meritocratic. We are Technocratic. We are so many other things. Our ideology is only called Rational Communism because I wanted to see how many people would despise it despite all its merits. It is not real communism, merely based on it, democratic movements, Ubersteinianism and many other things, to create this incredibly successful and powerful blend that you see here in the German Democratic Republic."

- Lynneth Sarkara

[Kaiser Martens]

He nods and listens.

"Well that is both a relief and a dissapointment both at once, I suppose. A relief because it is very similar to our system anyway, but a dissapointment because it's the formula which we have kept using for a long time, save for the democratic and technocratic aspects, but don't seem to yield another result. Our differences are that we prefer people not to become so reliant or dependant on technology so much, I suppose that in that sense we're somewhat "Naturist" or even Greenish. Yet everybody has access to the Internet, uncensored of course. The Parliament will soon discuss the introduction of censorship, we hope and are working to make this initiative fail. The economy is similar, however, ours is closed to the exterior. We do not have free trade with any nation, and foreign companies aren't allowed to establish here. This was caused, as you surely know, to prevent Germany from being economically sabotaged in the event of a war - a blockade would not harm us, and things such as stocks don't seem to do much against us. But this all implies growing less, we know. This issue has been discussed several times without much productivity. I guess that due to the fact that Northern Germany had been one of the most hated nations on the world, we were sometimes paranoid but sometimes right in not wanting foreigners to touch our economy."

"You probably shouldn't have named yourselves Rational Communists. You're more like a democratic variant of Martencism from what I can tell. But Martencism's opposition to democracy is to be expected, as it surged from the ashes of the most tyrannical democratic governments...again, you surely know this already. Either way I guess that using Communism as part of the name is a good way to filter out those who are not Rational, and will simply oppose you due to being "Red", just as others oppose us due to the Lastname of our Chancellor."

"This will all be swiftly communicated to Berlin, and then to the People. Tell me, sincerely, what do you think could be improved or modified in Germany, that is, in Northern Germany?"

[Lynneth]

"An isolationist economy can be useful for smaller nations, but for larger nations, with millions or tens of millions of inhabitants, isolation is only detrimental. It may make you less dependant on trade, stocks and the like, but the advantages of these things far outweight the possibility of getting blockaded by a few nations during war, which won't be permanent, anyways. Most nations in the world have capitalist roots in their economic policies and thus will gladly trade with anyone having the money to buy their goods. Of course, with you having been isolationist for as long as our nation has existed - from Bavaria to the GDR - it would be prudent to open only slowly to the world economy, over the course of a year (OOC: RL-month or so) or two.

We do not practise censorship anywhere except in the most extreme of all cases, such as the genocidal National Socialists, who started a civil war, as you may remember.

Regarding technology and democracy, they are pillars of Rational Communism. Only a true democracy, as practised by us - though we could improve still - without parties and such is able to see to the needs of its people as well as needed. Autocratic governments may have the advantage that they don't have to listen to everything its people want, but that's a disadvantage, as well. In history, there are more than enough examples of nations overthrowing autocratic rulers, be it peacefully or with violence. Rational Communism advocates peaceful means, of course.

Technology is just as important, because only it enables us to do as well as today. Without our technological prowess, we wouldn't be able to let the people vote as easily. We wouldn't be the cleanest nation on the planet, and the only one solely powered by Fusion power. We wouldn't be the ones building the Launch Loop in South America, and only technology enabled Canada to build the Space Elevator in Africa. We use science and technology to improve the quality of life of our people. We use it to let them live more easily and better. We do this to ensure a better Tomorrow."

"There are probably numerous facets that distance us more from Martencism, but as said before, Rational Communism is a mixture of numerous ideologies, policies and economic views. It is only natural that it would look similar to several other views.

Regarding our name...Yes, it was mostly to weed those out that oppose people just for being 'Red', to remove those who are ignorant from the list of potential allies.

And what could be improved...Most likely a lot. You should do it slowly, steadily, so that traditionalists will not complain as much, but quickly enough for progressives to not complain. Any advances need to be done carefully so that no group can claim it's the victims of too much modernization, or too little of the same. You may remember that I was autocratic in the early days of Saboria. Back then, I did that to prepare the people for Rational Communism. You should do it similarly. And if you do it right, then you can continue to rule even as elections are introduced, because people like the work you've done. Essentially, it can be pictured as a gigantic chess board, with hundreds and thousands of pieces that need to be arranged just right so that you win. Some will need to be sacrificed, others will be 'queened', and made more powerful. Of course, you decide the direction into which you go.

We in the GDR will continue as we have always done. We will keep to our motto, 'Unity in Diversity. Strength through Difference.', putting our differences aside and working together for a common goal, that being the continued existence of Mankind, be it here on Earth, or up in the Stars."

[Kaiser Martens]

"Oh we do have policies, and have had for a while, enacted to seek technological development. Before the HRE war, a large Infrastructural and Technological investment which had been held back within our warchest had been released. Since the war stopped, it didn't get destroyed. Since then we continued to look for Technology Sources, but applied the majority of it to Military. Now that things are more stable, we will begin to apply these new Military Technologies to the Civilian Side."

"Still, we have to be careful, we cannot mirror the policies of your Land with lower Tech Levels. I have here brought some market-related requests, we'd like to open our market to certain products from your Land. For the time being, low technology items - If we let your high tech items in, the entirety of our technological industry would be broken overnight, heh"

"I think that over time as we continue to improve relations, some sort of pact may be desireable. Oh and, we do have Democracy already. Just a somewhat immature one, but that will be fixed in time. That is our goal, at least."

[Lynneth]

"I do hope that these new civilian technologies will be useful to better the lives of your people.

Now, regarding opening your market somewhat to ours, that can of course be arranged. I'll of course make sure that your internal markets won't be broken, and that a healthy competition will be there.

Regarding your democracy, I'm quite sure it'll mature over time, perhaps even into one such as ours. It would be nice to see, at least.

About a pact...What did you think of?"

[Kaiser Martens]

"Yes. We agree that it would be. The Martencists need to be taught that it is not that Democracy in itself is the problem, but rather its past proponents and those who only would use it as a method to seize power. But this had been taboo for years. Hmm. Oh, have you heard the news about the war in Iberia? What do you make of it? I think it'll be over quite quickly. For a pact, maybe we could begin with some sort defensive pact, perhaps optional as to allow for full sovereignty."

[Lynneth]

"Show them how the GDR works. That's democracy at its finest. Our nation works like a clockwork, precisely and efficiently. Not only the economy, but also the politics.

And yes, I've heard about the war in the Iberian Peninsula. The GDR will be neutral, mostly because I don't feel like going to war these days. And it's not like we have a real obligation to any of the involved parties through treaties. Anyways.

A defense pact - be it optional or mutual - would certainly tighten the relations between our two countries. I'd certainly approve of such a thing."

[Kaiser Martens]

"I think we'll let our allies go through our land to get to the conflict, but will abstain from DoWing ourselves...simply because it is already overkill as is, and not fully our business anyway. Now that our Citizens are able to watch how things work in the South, the myth of the Evil Commies will be dispelled, and then they'll begin to understand and desire a similar economic and technological system. If you have or can make a draft for the treaty, I'll have it taken to Berlin right away for the Althing and Chancellor to decide. It's expected to pass."

[Lynneth]

"I do hope that your people will learn to not see the people of the GDR as evil communists.

Now, the treaty..."

[center][b]Preamble[/b]

Deutschland and the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, henceforth referred to as Germany and GDR respectively, hereby enter into a pact of defense.

[u]Article I.[/u]
Non Aggression
The undersigned nations hereby agree to non-aggression. They thus agree not to engage in any acts that could be to the detriment to the other signatory. This includes, but is not limited to, military actions, covert operations, and propaganda campaigns.

[u]Article II.[/u]
Trade
Germany and the GDR hereby agree to limited trade between their nations. Specified goods traded between the two nations are exempt from tariffs. This clause may be upgraded into full 'free trade' if both signatories agree. 

[u]Article III.[/u]
Optional Defense 
Should either signatory come under attack, the other has the option, but is not required, to come to their defense militarily. Should the other choose to remain neutral, they may also choose to supply financial aid.

[u]Alternative Article III. [/u]
Mutual Defense
In the event either nation falls under attack, the other nation is required to come to its defence and declare war on the nation that attacked it. A war on one nation is effectively considered a war upon the other. 

[u]Article IV.[/u]
Cancellation
This treaty can be terminated by either signatory at any time, provided that the other nation is made aware of the cancellation 72 hours in advance. This treaty is considered to still be in effect until the 72 hours have passed.[/center]

"You just have to choose between the Optional and the Mutual defense articles. Unless you wish to change something..?"

[Kaiser Martens]

"As efficient as we hoped. We thank you for your time. I will have this sent straight away to the Althing. What the people will end up noticing are both our similar aspects as well as a small amount of differences. All in all it will be a good thing. We will let you know how this goes as soon as we can."

Five days later, the treaty would be passed and ratified by the Althing. Signatures would be added, "Althing Approved" and "Chancellor Martens". Then the treaty would be sent back to the south for them to verify and release. The treaty contained Optional Defense, however, a second version also containing Optional Aggression was sent, and the Southern Germans could approve either treaty, as both had signatures ready.

[Kaiser Martens]

Later, news would arrive.

"Have you seen what happened to France? They were in anarchy...everything they had, destroyed. They had to start again from scratch. Incredibly weakened. We think that it would be, given these circumstances, a good idea to ask them to return Elsass-Lothringen. In their current state, they cannot take care of it...and it's a German zone. We'd take it ourselves, but we'd rather not have an exclave. Besides, we've got sufficient territory. We just want German Nationals to be under some German flag, that is all." (He got deleted and is now 3000 strength)

[Lynneth]

Five days later, the treaty would be passed and ratified by the Althing. Signatures would be added, "Althing Approved" and "Chancellor Martens". Then the treaty would be sent back to the south for them to verify and release. The treaty contained Optional Defense, however, a second version also containing Optional Aggression was sent, and the Southern Germans could approve either treaty, as both had signatures ready.

Only the version with OD clause would be sent back with a signature, a short note attached that "Internationally, it would create unnecessary tensions if we signed an aggression pact, optional or not."

Later, news would arrive.

"Have you seen what happened to France? They were in anarchy...everything they had, destroyed. They had to start again from scratch. Incredibly weakened. We think that it would be, given these circumstances, a good idea to ask them to return Elsass-Lothringen. In their current state, they cannot take care of it...and it's a German zone. We'd take it ourselves, but we'd rather not have an exclave. Besides, we've got sufficient territory. We just want German Nationals to be under some German flag, that is all." (He got deleted and is now 3000 strength)

"Yes, we have indeed seen it. We may approach France about the region, though we currently are quite busy enough with incorporating Switzerland properly."

*Public, for all to see*

German-German friendship

Preamble

Deutschland and the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, henceforth referred to as Germany and GDR respectively, hereby enter into a pact of defense.

Article I.

Non Aggression

The undersigned nations hereby agree to non-aggression. They thus agree not to engage in any acts that could be to the detriment to the other signatory. This includes, but is not limited to, military actions, covert operations, and propaganda campaigns.

Article II.

Trade

Germany and the GDR hereby agree to limited trade between their nations. Specified goods traded between the two nations are exempt from tariffs. This clause may be upgraded into full 'free trade' if both signatories agree.

Article III.

Optional Defense

Should either signatory come under attack, the other has the option, but is not required, to come to their defense militarily. Should the other choose to remain neutral, they may also choose to supply financial aid.

Article IV.

Cancellation

This treaty can be terminated by either signatory at any time, provided that the other nation is made aware of the cancellation 72 hours in advance. This treaty is considered to still be in effect until the 72 hours have passed.

Signed for the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic),

Lynneth Sarkara, Chairman

Signed for Deutschland (Germany),

Dierik Martens, Chancellor

Approved by the Althing

[Kaiser Martens]

"Good point. Well written treaty. I hope that we're able to seize the chance regarding France in that case. I'll leave it all to you, of course. Heh. You think the world may be afraid if we mentioned aggression? In a way, it is a compliment for them to be unnerved by it, even if we plan nothing."

[Subtleknifewielder]

"It is good to see some peace on a continent that seems prone to war. Especially between those that not so long ago considered themselves enemies."

Edited January 15, 2010 by Subtleknifewielder

[Kaiser Martens]

"Indeed. Since then, both changed Governments and Attitudes. Now we can make things work out."