Deliberations on St Helena

[king of cochin]

To:
Peter van Haesten,
Transvaal Republic

Greetings,
In order to discuss the status of St. Helena we are hoping that you would agree to a meeting with our former Ambassador to Transvaal Varadarajan AG who is currently in Johannesburg. Mr. Varadarajan is a plenipotentiary representative of the Kingdom of Cochin and with years of experience working as the Chief Consul of the Cochin Embassy in Transvaal is well informed to deliberate on Cochin's behalf.

Yours Sincerely,

HH Kerala Varma,
The King of Cochin

[Manetheren]

[size="3"][font="Courier New"]
Kerala Varma,

Annetjie van Matteus, Council of the National Front of Transvaal, will attend a meeting with Mr. Varadarajan in Johannesburg on behalf of the provisional government of the Republic of Transvaal to discuss territorial and national security issues that were raised in the trilateral meetings in Johannesburg earlier.

Peter van Haesten
Chairman, National Front of Transvaal

[/font][/size]

Hours later, a black sedan pulled up in front of the former Gauteng Provincial Legislature building. Annetjie van Matteus stepped out and entered a meeting room, shaking hands with Varadarajan.

[king of cochin]

"Thank you Ms. van Matteus for this meeting. As we had said at the trilateral conference our principal goal is to ensure the continuing operations of NAS St. Helena. Sovereign control over St. Helena is not a demand from us, but we are also not averse to it. We have been completely happy operating the NAS St. Helena as part of Transvaal sovereign territory and later under Arctican sovereignty. We are willing to operate under the new Transvaal government so long as no new restrictions are placed," Varadarajan said.

[Manetheren]

"As our position was stated then, the continued operations of your naval air station on St. Helena island will not be a problem for us. Sovereignty is not up for negotiation. There will be no new restrictions placed on airbase operations, except those desired by the local government, which must go through national authorities first anyway. If that ever becomes an issue, all parties will be notified."

"Due to the extreme war damages suffered by our nation, including nuclear attacks on Bloemfontein and Pretoria, only miles from here, our economy is suffering. The National Front therefore wishes to renegotiate the compensation of use of territory. We will be open to the signing of a long term lease."

"Furthermore, I know it may seem rather abrupt and inappropriate to ask for assistance after telling you we desire more money for the continued use of you naval air station. But we are in dire need of cleanup crews for dealing with the nuclear devastation, as well as humanitarian assistance for the refugees. This is a good opportunity for continued Cochin investment in the Transvaler economy."

[king of cochin]

"Helping out one's neighbors and allies, is there any greater cause? We would be very grateful to be able to help Transvaal in its times of strife. We thank you for continuing to accord us the privilege of using the NAS St. Helena and of course we are amenable for a revision of the compensation for an extension of the lease.

As regards the nuclear devastation and the subsequent refugee problem, while we have been hearing reports from this region we deemed it best to wait until things settled between yourself and Arctica. After all it is not wise to meddle in issues out of one's own regions. With peaceful settlement finally accomplished we are much honored to be able to help rebuild Transvaal to its former glory. We shall dispatch our aid teams as soon as possible. Compared to the urgency of the relief situation the signing of the lease for St. Helena could wait.

The Kingdom is currently on a strategic program to improve our diplomatic relationship with stable and strong nations all over the world and hence we hope that the renegotiation of St Helena and our forthcoming aid initiatives would pave the way forward to a greater strategic relationship between our nations. An alliance like that must of course wait until your rebuilding is complete, but please know that Cochin stands by to help you. The continuing lease of St Helena is a natural path for greater economic cooperation between our nations as the material supplies for the base could be bought from the Transvaal economy for starters. We are interested in a long term economic partnership with Transvaal, which we hope you would find amenable."

[Manetheren]

"Any help that can be sent would be appreciated. I'm sure you can sympathize with the incredible suffering the people of Transvaal have endured over the past months. Close regional economic and political ties with Cochin are certainly something we will work towards. While our ability to reciprocate will be dependent on the rate of our economic recovery, future relations will be beneficial for both of our nations."

"As for the price of the lease, we will charge 81 million rand this year, with a drop in price down to 17 million rand for the next five years. Following that, the price will be adjusted for inflation with a maximum of 15%."

[king of cochin]

[quote name='Emperor Mudd' timestamp='1300219401' post='2665736']
"Any help that can be sent would be appreciated. I'm sure you can sympathize with the incredible suffering the people of Transvaal have endured over the past months. Close regional economic and political ties with Cochin are certainly something we will work towards. While our ability to reciprocate will be dependent on the rate of our economic recovery, future relations will be beneficial for both of our nations."

"As for the price of the lease, we will charge 81 million rand this year, with a drop in price down to 17 million rand for the next five years. Following that, the price will be adjusted for inflation with a maximum of 15%."
[/quote]

Those rates are acceptable to us. We would soon start our aid initiatives with focus on radiation cleanup, emergency reconstruction and civilian relief at first and Cochin governmental subsidy for Cochin industries assisting in the infrastructural redevelopment of Transvaal.

[king of cochin]

[u][b]Private to Transvaal Republic[/b][/u]

Greetings,

We thank you for permitting us continued operation of Naval Air Station St Helena and and permitting us to help out in the rebuilding of your nation. Perhaps now is the time to initiate steps to build formal diplomatic relations between our nations. We have a proposal that would seek to greatly increase political, economic and military cooperation between our nations.

Yours Sincerely,

HH Kerala Varma,
The King of Cochin

[Manetheren]

"We would be pleased to hear this proposal"

Peter van Haesten
Chairman, National Front of Transvaal

[king of cochin]

[quote name='Emperor Mudd' timestamp='1301359866' post='2679509']
"We would be pleased to hear this proposal"

Peter van Haesten
Chairman, National Front of Transvaal
[/quote]

[u][b]Private to Transvaal Republic[/b][/u]

In light of the friendship that has blossomed between our nations, the Kingdom of Cochin proposes a formal alliance between our nations. While it is true that Cochin played a part in the dismemberment and destruction of the old Tahoan Empire and while we recognize the the present Transvaaler Government has amongst its core Tahoan exiles who may not be completely amicable towards Cochin, we would like to make only this excuse, we support our allies. Greater Pacifica has always been a worthy ally and we believe that Transvaal Republic could be a worthy ally. The diplomatic relationships that were nurtured through the initial deliberations on St. Helena and later found fruition through numerous avenues of development and aid whereby we were permitted to assist Transvaal could perhaps cemented into an alliance which could take both our nations into higher realms of strength and prosperity.

We propose that our nations start a Mutual Defense and Optional Aggression Pact, a pact under whose aegis an umbilical cord would forever connect the destinies of our two nations. We have common allies, we have more or less common shared policies. By signing such an agreement we would be truly affirming our strategic relationships.

We hope Transvaal Republic finds merit in our proposal. We eagerly await your response.

- HH Kerala Varma,
The King of Cochin

[Manetheren]

*** Republic of Transvaal Diplomatic Communication ***

To Kerala Varma,

Let me first begin by making it clear that the war waged by Greater Pacifica and the Kingdom of Cochin was entirely unethical, illegitimate and will permanently stain the history of both Pacifica and Cochin. Let me also make it clear that the war waged against Tahoe by the aggressive Pacific Allies did not destroy Tahoe. The Tahoe Republic had been rotting on the inside for years, one only needs to look at the dramatic political polarization, political violence and breakdown of government institutions, coupled with a total lack of trust in the government by the populace. The Pacific War only catalyzed the long standing domestic instabilities and led to widespread violence, revolution and utter despair. The more than one million Tahoans who fled, mostly to Germany and Transvaal can no longer call themselves Tahoan due to the shame in the dark days that led to the end of our former homeland.

That all said, Tahoe is dead and will never return. I am the Chairman of the National Front of Transvaal, leader of provisional government and wholly Transvaler now. All citizens of Transvaal, no matter their national origin, feel the same way.

On to business. A critical failing of the government of the first Republic of Transvaal, under the Staatspresident, was its isolationist foreign policy. However, a highly interventionist policy will not be taking its place. Transvaal knows its place in the world is precarious and foreign adventures will only exacerbate domestic instability at home: a key factor in the destruction of Tahoe. I would like to agree to a treaty with the Kingdom of Cochin, but before I answer, there are facts you should know.

Transvaal does not presently have the ability to project military force throughout the world. Furthermore, we do not desire that ability. The military of Transvaal is a defense force, for keeping domestic peace and taking an active stance in neighboring nations. In the event of an attack on Cochin, our ability to do more than interdict sea lanes in the South Atlantic would be the most useful contribution we could make. We cannot promise massive air and sea transportation of troops and material around the world. Second, our economy is growing back stronger than ever and according to some projections will become one of the largest in the world and certainly in Africa. This is in no small part due to massive contributions by Cochinese investments and the economic ties between our nations continues to grow stronger than ever. This is good and should certainly be promoted in the future. However, as I illustrated, I have grave concerns over our ability to contribute as an equal partner in a military treaty. This would need to be addressed.

General Peter van Haesten
Chairman, National Front of Transvaal

[king of cochin]

To General Peter van Haesten,

We have no qualms about the ethicality of the war waged on the Tahoe Republic by Cochin. It was a war of aggression and we joined in the war to support our ally. The Kingdom of Cochin places primacy of value in the safety of its citizens and alliances with other nations is a necessary tool for safeguarding our defenses. While honoring alliances our prerogative is always towards an ally first. We can not afford to hold our policies to be subject to ethics honoring which would only serve our ties of alliance. We do not wish to be fair weather allies. As you may recall even while striving to destroy the Tahoe power in Hawaiian Islands, Cochin has shown nothing but the utmost respect to the gallant soldiers of Tahoe. In fact the Ewa Beach memorial in Oahu Island enlists the names of the Tahoan soldiers alongside those of the Cochin and Greater Pacifican dead. It was not something that was done frivolously, it was done as a tribute to the valiant nature of the Tahoan soldier.

Yes Tahoe is no more and now Transvaal exists, strong and vibrant and capable of attaining and surpassing the might of the old Tahoan Republic. While no excuse can remove the memory of the Pacific War, we hope that our nations can start anew.

As regards the policies followed by Transvaal we wholeheartedly respect them. In the event a war breaks out threatening the sovereignty of Cochin the very fact of Transvaal interdicting the sea lanes in South Atlantic would be a worthy assistance validating our alliance. We understand that you may not be able to deploy any troops to defend our territories and if ever such a need become genuine we shall assist you in the said deployments, if that is the capability exists with us.

General van Haesten, many are the nations in the world that promise a mountain and deliver not even a small mole. Then there are the nations that promise only whatever they find themselves able to deliver. We respect only the second kind. We respect Transvaal Republic for their absolute honesty in their abilities, it is in fact a quality we believe is shared in both our nations. We do not promise what we cannot deliver. This has been the reason why for ages we have limited ourselves to be an Indian Ocean power and have not committed our aid to the farther reaches of the world. However today we are trying to become a global power, not to become a hegemon but to be able to secure our commercial interests and make our counsel be available globally. Towards such an end an alliance with Transvaal would be inviolable. You suggest that an alliance between our nations would be unequal. You speak the truth, but the balance tilts more in your favor as we would be accruing more advantages than what you seek from us.

Our policies towards global power projection envisions a network of global power bases which can serve to project our power in various regions. We are hoping that under the aegis of this alliance Transvaal Republic would permit us to conduct certain expansion programs related to NAS St. Helena. We wish to expand the territorial reached of St. Helena by scientific dredging. In time we wish to expand St. Helena to be a well equipped Army, Air Force and Naval Base which would serve to be an efficient platform for power projection into South Atlantic. South Atlantic is the path to North Atlantic where yet more alliances are being crafted as part of our policies.

We are hoping that Transvaal would consider our aims to be worthy and not contradictory to Transvaal's own policies and thus find the proposed alliance to be mutually beneficial,

HH Kerala Varma,
The King of Cochin

[Manetheren]

King Kerala Varma,

I have considered your proposals and after long discussions with the former National Front and with the new Parliament, have decided to agree to a mutual defense and optional aggression pact. The political and economic futures of our two nations are already intertwined and it will be better for both our peoples for a direct alliance to exist between our two nations.

We would be pleased to assist with the development of St. Helena into a powerful joint base, which will help the expanding Transvaal military power in both the air and sea, the two most potent of the military branches for Transvaal, which faces very few enemies in Africa.

Signed,

Peter van Haesten
Staatspresident

[king of cochin]

President van Haesten,

We thank you for accepting our proposal. May we present the following draft treaty for your consideration?


[quote][b]Article I - Mutual Defense and Optional Aggression[/b]

The Kingdom of Cochin and Transvaal Republic hereby enters into a Mutual Defense Pact whereby any offensive warfare upon one nation is automatically considered as an offensive act against the other with either nation having to come to the defense of the other militarily, economically and politically.

If and when one signatory launches an offensive war against a third nation, the other signatory has the option to come to the aid of the signatory however it is not mandatory. In case the signatory has treaty obligations with the third nation upon whom war is launched, they shall have the option to remain neutral while in no way aiding or abetting any act of hostility against the fellow signatory.


[b]Article II - Non Aggression and Intelligence Sharing[/b]

The two nations agree to respect sovereignties of one another and shall not aid or abet any act deemed hostile to the interests of one another. The two nations shall also share intelligence relevant to the national security of one another.


[b]Article III - Free Trade Agreement[/b]

The two nations also promise to increase mutual trade and commerce with the purposes of greatly improving mutual trade and prosperity.


[b]Article IV - Cancellation[/b]

This treaty requires four weeks (48 RL hours) of notice for cancellation.


Sd,

[/quote]

[Manetheren]

This treaty is acceptable.

Signed for the Republic of Transvaal

Peter van Haesten
Staatspresident

Annetjie van Matteus
Prime Minister

Ratified by the Volksraad

[king of cochin]

[quote][color="#FF0000"][size="4"][center][u][b]COCHIN TRANSVAAL ALLIANCE PACT[/b][/u][/center][/size][/color]

[b]Article I - Mutual Defense and Optional Aggression[/b]

The Kingdom of Cochin and Transvaal Republic hereby enters into a Mutual Defense Pact whereby any offensive warfare upon one nation is automatically considered as an offensive act against the other with either nation having to come to the defense of the other militarily, economically and politically.

If and when one signatory launches an offensive war against a third nation, the other signatory has the option to come to the aid of the signatory however it is not mandatory. In case the signatory has treaty obligations with the third nation upon whom war is launched, they shall have the option to remain neutral while in no way aiding or abetting any act of hostility against the fellow signatory.


[b]Article II - Non Aggression and Intelligence Sharing[/b]

The two nations agree to respect sovereignties of one another and shall not aid or abet any act deemed hostile to the interests of one another. The two nations shall also share intelligence relevant to the national security of one another.


[b]Article III - Free Trade Agreement[/b]

The two nations also promise to increase mutual trade and commerce with the purposes of greatly improving mutual trade and prosperity.


[b]Article IV - Cancellation[/b]

This treaty requires four weeks (48 RL hours) of notice for cancellation.


Signed for the Republic of Transvaal

Peter van Haesten
Staatspresident

Annetjie van Matteus
Prime Minister

Ratified by the Volksraad



Signed for the Kingdom of Cochin


His Highness Kerala Varma,
The King of Cochin[/quote]

[king of cochin]

With the signing of the Cochin - Transvaal Alliance Pact, Royal Cochin Defense Forces initiated steps for the expansion of the Naval Air Station St. Helena on the island of St. Helena in South Atlantic Ocean. A massive construction project has been initiated, in scale and complexity comparable to the establishment of Makanrushi military base. Several square kilometers of soil would be dredged out from the numerous sea mounts dotting St. Helena to enlarge the perimeter of the NAS St. Helena. With the expertise in Massive Offshore Bases Quarter Master Command would also create vast areas of artificial terrain using several Offshore Base Modules customized for permanent rigging. Several scores of these Offshore Modules would be strung up to form the support base structures and port structures for the expanded NAS St. Helena. At the end of this three year project, RCNB St. Helena and Forward Air Base St. Helena would be a premier strategic base in Atlantic Ocean.

[king of cochin]

Several months into the start of accelerated work, the expansion of RCNB St. Helena is showing tangible shape. Several more dredging and base structural works are pending but the progress is satisfactory. The full fledged operation of the Mobile Offshore Base 1 anchored off the coast of St. Helena if offsetting the loss of NAS St. Helena due to the construction works. The adhoc pontoon bridges for refueling stations built during the time of South West Africa War is serving its purpose providing an additional logistical connectivity to the island proper from the MOB.

[king of cochin]

With the dredging work completed, the compacting and strengthening work is now proceeding in the expansion of the RCNB St. Helena. With the major work completed the GSF101 has now started full operations from the base with the 901st Battalion of the Global Strike Force engaged in training exercises primarily with the MOB1 Mobile offshore base north of St Helena.