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There is a large focus right now on V2 for all the wrong reasons. Instead of piling on to that debate, allow me to revisit the top news story of last week... and the one that will once again be tops next week, or in the very near future: Titanium.



Canada has been split in two very vocal camps, those that propose a singular mechanical strategy and those that prone a more nationalistic approach. As it stands the debate has been muted because President Harland and his team had campaigned on a platform that is against the partitioning of the country in any way. As time passes and the transition comes upon us, the debate cannot but be re-opened.

So what are the main arguments?

For the mechanists they are as follows:
1. There is no added benefits in having multiple high titanium regions.
2. Canada does not have the armed forces necessary to defend such valuable regions.
3. The income generated in the rental of a titanium region would be greater than the income generated by its exploitation.

For the nationalists they are these main points:
4. Canada is indivisible.
5. With such highly valuable regions, we have a greater chance of creating a baby boom.
6. The scarcer the resource, the more likely we are to benefit from it.

These arguments can't all be right and it is not likely that they are all wrong either. So if we take them one by one in isolation, what can we conclude?

1. No added benefit to having multiple high regions.

The way things work right now, you can work for any company as long as you are in the same country... most of the time. There is an exception where you can work for your company when the region it resides in gets occupied by a foreign power. In effect that means there is zero benefits to multiple regions since it doesn’t matter where the companies are located, only that they exploit high resources. So the statement has merit. Where it breaks down is twofold. One, they imply with their tone that Canada should rent extra regions as the normal thing to do. Two, why are they not beating the drum to do the same thing with all our other duplicate high resource regions? The argument is the same across the board, any duplicated resources offer not added benefit.

Internationally you will see that no country has ever rented high regions because it had multiples. Russia is the best example. When it did not control all its regions it was not because they were such generous souls but simply because they were under the thumb of the greatest military powers of the time. The second they put together enough population to threaten that balance of power, they got their regions back. In every case, the countries that are "renting" regions are more likely to be doing so because they have no choice. They are presented with two overlords and have chosen one.

So under this point, renting a region would be an admission that Canada cannot defend it. If it cannot defend it, it means our closest allies will have turned against us and let greed dictate the terms.

2. Canada does not have the military might.

Which brings us to the second point. It is again true, blatantly so, that Canada cannot win in a one on one confrontation against any number of nations that might wish to take regions from us. If Hungary negotiated its way across the ocean once again we could not stop them. If Russia forced the door successfully through the US, we could not stop them. If our Brothers turned their backs on us and took by force what they wanted... we could not stop them.

Luckily for us, Canada does not operate in a vacuum. It is not without allies and never will be. Plus in this case the two regions become a trump card. If we were betrayed, what would stop us from offering a region (rental or free) to the enemies of our enemies to stop them and maintain what was left of our sovereignty? The two regions become a strength rather than a liability even if they do bring war to our doorstep.

Also if all valuable regions were in fact so easy to target there would be no small countries. Medium sized countries like Greece would never have been allowed to rise once again from Turkish occupation. The truth is that a good cause will always bring about allies and there is no nobler cause than the defense of one's homeland.

3. Higher income from rental.

The money issue is a seductive one. Who would not want guaranteed payments in the thousands of gold every month? Payments that could be used at the discretion of any administration if they planned their budgets a certain way. There is no guarantee that companies would open evenly across both regions, therefore the income from both would be unequal. Also you are not going to get hundreds, never mind thousands, of gold from a handful of companies... you need hundreds.

Here we get confronted to the reality of the black market. It does not matter where the regions are situated, nor really who controls them. A systematic use of the black market can neutralize any penalty one has in not possessing a high region of any given resource. Does it make more sense for the US, for example, to pay thousands in rent or to organize a hundred citizens in labour to come here and exploit? There is not likely to be any country that offers a sustainable sum of money long term. And if they do, there are no guarantees since the New World is extremely changing. The cycle of life here is one month.

4. One Canada, all regions.

This is the patriotic argument and it is difficult to argue against. It is the reason we came together as a nation when the invasion of North America took place. It is the reason many of us remain passionate and dedicated.

But if Canada cannot be divided, then is that not true of every other place in the New World? Should that not mean Canada would have a responsibility to defend a Unity message to all? Under those parameters, Delaware would need to be returned to the US. Any country, France is a perfect example, would automatically receive our aid until they were once more whole and unified. We would, for philosophical reasons, oppose any wars of conquest.

We know this will never be the case. We acknowledge that sometimes strategy must trump the heart. Sometimes that calls for temporary sacrifices, sometimes for permanent ones.

5. Baby boom!

This has to be the greatest part of the myth. The conceit that if Canada holds all the trump cards, that we cannot but have a baby boom. The truth is that newly born and newly come citizens have very little knowledge of Canada and so it wouldn’t matter what benefits we had.

Booms are created completely outside the boundaries of the New World for reasons that are only marginally related. Plus newer citizens tend to be the ones exploited. The success of a baby boom relies not so much on the richness or poorness of the host but rather on its capability to instruct, integrate and provide a worthwhile experience. The possession or not of titanium should not even enter the debate.

6. Less means more.

As the New World become more populous and the balances of power shifted and evened out, it become clear that iron (yesterday's titanium) was not the golden egg many thought it would be. If possession of high regions was everything everyone is trying to make it out to be, the top 10 countries in the New World right now would be as follows:
Serbia (or China)
USA
Brazil
Spain
Russia
Hungary (or China again)
Greece
Ukraine
Peru
Argentina (or South Africa for diamonds).

Wait, I hear many of you say... isn’t that pretty much the way things are today? Not quite. Poland has to be considered the most powerful nation in the New World. That they are not is more a function of the leadership they have had until now and their capability to progress in international diplomatic circles. Poland, with but two high resources regions is the country with the most potential by far. The biggest discrepancies are lower on the list. Would you place Greece in the same category as Hungary? Where would Ukraine and Peru stand?

The number one resource will always be human capital. And here is the place where the debate resolves itself. If Canada were to give up a high titanium region, it would be to a country whose population (and potential) far exceeds our own. At that point it becomes purely a question of numbers. Ten thousand workers will produce more titanium cheaper than one thousand. Why has Brazil, with two iron regions, not controlled the world supply of iron? Because they never had the necessary population to do so. This ties in to the black market again. As smaller nations, it is only to our benefit to hold on to every region we can as they will ensure we stay relevant on the world stage, and ensure we do not get out-produced.



Until the black market gets regulated with new rules or international commerce gets an overhaul... Canada must keep their titanium regions.
Until we possess a population that can compete with all others internationally... we must keep those regions.
Unless Canada finds itself isolated and without allies... it must keep its titanium regions.
Unless a nation comes to us with a deal in gold we simply cannot refuse... Canada must stay sovereign.

And be aware... there is no true sense in renting. It would be a permanent settlement broken only with the power of guns. If titanium becomes the panacea we all seem to believe it will be, nobody would willingly part with it once acquired.