[CP] NoTie Checking In

Day 3,122, 10:49 • Published in Netherlands Netherlands • by Het Catshuis

(N.B: This is the first article by a President in 60 (!) days)

Dear readers,

I want to thank the citizens of the eNetherlands for their support in electing me once again as Country President of the eNetherlands. We've had an ugly month behind us, in which two sides clinched over sometimes irrelevant, sometimes relevant issues. What was forgotten, though, was the very important in-game event that was going on. A shame, because we ended up with a very bad result. The only optimistic thing I could say is that we never had the luxury of having a lot of resources so in that context nothing much changes. We saw a lot of (negative) energy last month, but sadly it did not translate into in-game activity. The recent CP Elections were a dud, in which several big parties didn't even participate, nor support anyone. It is due to this circumstance that I ended up being Country President, even though it wasn't necessarily my wish to become CP once again. In fact, I intended to tone-down my activity as the last month really wasn't good for my motivation.


But enough with the pessimism. A new month and a new term it is. And there's a lot to deal with. The last month have shown cracks into our political system. People slowly tend to agree that the system we've had for years is no longer sufficient for our society, that has had so many changes in its long existence. It even got to the point that two major parties disavowed the current system due to the ugly actions that were being taken in this system the last month. However, a new found positivism has been found in all of us, even GPN and ReL. A movement is rising, one that will reform the country into a fair and egalitarian society. In which additive positions like the Chairman of Congress no longer dictate the population as opposed to Congressmen, in which Congress access is no longer shunned for a large part of the Congress due to 'inactivity' as opposed to parties getting their fair share based on in-game elections, in which positions like the commander of the DAF are not determined by capability, but by political tricks (thank god the Dictatorship ended up in the right hands - Trannsvaal is our new Dictator and I have the fullest confidence that he will serve our country well).

And it doesn't stop there. In-game there will be a lot of interesting (or not so) changes coming up. The complete resource reshuffle will take place over the coming weeks and with it many mechanics will be changed. There will be a Dictatorship Fee to pay for having a Dictator, people can now place their companies in foreign countries, Taxes now include Combat Orders and (CC) medals, an entire new industry is coming up in which we can influence the battle field (airplanes). It will require us to think about how we are going to adapt to these changes and what our opportunities are. Perhaps our Dictatorship is no longer necessary once it shows it costs a lot to upkeep (perhaps exponentially?), perhaps we can finally welcome back all our expats like Heikanu or Dave Brinkman that were forced to carry foreign nationalities to give our people profitable work in industries elsewhere, perhaps we need to invest in the new Airplane Industry. If not this month, it will definitely get interesting over the next coming months. Let's just hope that our society hasn't gone down in cynicism by then.

A minor note is also required for the changing Foreign Affairs. Already before the event there were subtle changes in the global alliances. Our current alliance Orion has suffered the most, as Iran and Peru have switched over to Asteria. However, one has to realize that Asteria is currently the alliance Orion is allied with and that in that context not much is lost. However, Asteria too has lost some influence and new factions are looming (e.g. Adriatica led by Croatia), but time will tell if they are able to change the geopolitics.


Just when I thought I could leave.

Now on to the new Government. It shouldn't come as a surprise that there are few people that are willing or active enough to serve in your Government. However, surprisingly it went relatively easy this month to find a Government. It's a mix of new and old people, a combination that I always like the best. Auggustus will be my Vice President. Despite being seen as just another old player coming back and claiming anything, Auggustus has shown ambitions in re-energizing our eCountry. He has come up with interesting new ideas and in one case one that is working in practice, namely the communication channel for our country on Discord - where many people who we won't see on IRC or the forums often are socializing. Last month he has pushed hard for the reforming of our system and it's voices like these we should listen to. The rest of the Government will probably not be anything controversial or anything interesting; it just works. Shawtyl0w and AndreasIssaakson will work on the Ministry of Defense, per usual. Same goes for Trannsvaal and Gwom on the Ministry of Finances and Ministry of Coaching.

However, I have decided to introduce two completely new persons to the team. On the one hand I have invited Feddolt to serve as Minister of Home Affairs. He has been active as Chairman of Congress before, and is interested in keeping the eNetherlands running. Henri II will be my Minister of Foreign Affairs. One of the most active recent players, based on the numerous articles written by him, he has shown ambition in running one of the heaviest Ministries. As we sadly do lack players with a lot of FA experience I can only applaud such initiatives. As Country President I will naturally stand beside him with regards to Foreign Affairs. And keep the last for the best: I have invited Jordic to serve as advisor in my Government. He has been my right-hand all through 2015 and it was with him we saw our greatest events of the past, like the wars that we fought over our independence and the entry of our country to our alliance Orion.

Kind regards,

NoTie112