[Election] Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

Day 2,176, 19:07 • Published in USA USA • by Gnilraps
A Good Man Is Hard To Find (Mandatory listening)
Day 2176 of the New World
4 November, 2013


Saying that focused attention needs to be placed on "Interior and Education" during the 3 months of relative peace with TWO is a no-brainer.

Fortunately, all of our candidates for PoTUS have caught on to that and though there are a few nuances to each candidates' approach, they are all saying essentially the same thing with respect to Domestic Affairs.

So what will be the defining factor for determining your vote?

I truly hope it will not be "vote along party lines". I challenge you, America, to think this one through. Your candidate may be the best one for the job. Or your candidate may not be. Are you willing to make a decision based on substance?

If so, I'd like to submit that the defining factor for determining your vote should be the ongoing dissolution of Circle of Trust (CoT), the alliance which eUSA has been a part of and which very clearly has lost its contest against TWO.

Now, in case you haven't heard, CoT is officially dead. eUSA is without an alliance.

So I asked each of the five candidates the following question:

In light of the impending dissolution of CoT, how must eUSA respond in the coming 30 days?

Each of the candidates eventually responded, and then each one was offered a follow-up question. I'd like to present their answers.

I think that if you will read carefully, you will see four distinct approaches to the coming month. This is likely the best issue on which to base your vote.

Each candidates answers are being reproduced without editing on my part.



First to respon😛 NewAzazel
In light of the impending dissolution of CoT, how must eUSA respond in the coming 30 days?

If CoT dissolves, we must continue to play our foreign affairs smart. I still hold a bit of love for a lot of the members of CoT, and this possible dissolution does not mean cut ties. We will still have two months of peace at our borders, which gives us time to evaluate options and see things take shape. We need to take things slow and careful and pay attention to all developments.

In short, we must respond by being intelligent and patient. The US has made quick decisions in the past and a lot of them have not gone as planned. We have the time and situation on our side, so we can give all our options proper thought and discussion. In that time, we can continue reaching out to our current allies to make sure we have relationships with or without an alliance. An alliance is good, but bilateral relationships have always been more important in the development of foreign policies. We will also evaluate our stance with neutrals or enemies to see what relationships we can form as a country independent of an alliance. Our friends are important, but so are our adversaries. We can see how the dissolution of CoT affects the relationships on the other side.

I've been involved in foreign affairs a long time, so I know how to play things cool. Alongside my MoFA team, we can handle the coming changes, whether or not that includes a future with CoT. I will watch the developments and respond accordingly, but I'm not going to make hasty and costly decisions.

Follow-up Question: Is there anything our independent MU's can do to make the CP's job easier during this transitional time?

In a month of foreign turbulence, MUs also have been known to retain loyalty to allies since they can form relationships with other countries. This is understood, and I would like to prevent conflict between the executive and independent MUs in this regard. I will seek the input of prominent MUs (EZC, ST6, etc) on their opinions dealing with our foreign policy stance. We've had a lot of alienation in the past, and I want to change this. While it may not be possible to keep everyone happy, I would like to reduce the tension between the government and independent MUs.

All I ask in return is patience, input, and to continue following priorities of assisting our current allies. Should things start to reshape, many people, including MU commanders, will be consulted.


Next to respond was Aramec:
In light of the impending dissolution of CoT, how must eUSA respond in the coming 30 days?

We have a chance to solidify the friendships we want to have, to lead in rebuilding something better than what we left.

In general, that's the theme. We'll be spending the next month searching. I want to look at countries we may have never had a relationship with before, but also return to countries that have always liked us. Croatia is high priority of mine, as are several others. We must be careful, however, because I still wish to keep the NAP in place as much as we can while forging this new alliance.

And I intend to forge a new alliance. It was the ideal path to take. This is now our opportunity to.

Follow-up Question: Linking ourselves to Croatia carries with it a few automatic enemies which are more powerful than both Croatia and eUSA. Do you have any ideas about how to counterbalance what we "lose" in terms of strength by allying ourselves that closely with Croatia?

The risk is understandable, and many would be deterred. But I think even TWO is at a point in the game where they realize it's time to shake things up. Part of the counterbalance will come from seeking out others we may have never tried, and discussing openly and honestly alliances we may have never thought possible.

With CoT dissolved, we have a chance to build something truly strong, and I am flexible and willing to see where we go with that. Croatia at this moment is a likely ally, but were better options and friendships be available to present themselves, there would need to be a lot of talk which went on. Croatia is not the be all end all, in other words. It's just a starting point where we might think about.


Next to respon😛 dmjohnston
In light of the impending dissolution of CoT, how must eUSA respond in the coming 30 days?

We need to cement our relationships with the countries we have our best relations with, namely Albania.

We also want to reach out to nations we've tried to connect with before like Spoland. With the fracture of CoT, there is no longer a polar opposite to TWO. It's not as interesting to fight against no one. I expect that some TWO nations will be looking for new ties, and we should work to build relations with them to ensure we are one of the places they look to when that happens.

Follow-up Question: Cementing ourselves to a country whose damage is typically around the 30 or 35th strongest in the world puts us in a relatively weak position militarily at the outset (while admittedly establishing a very strong and permanent "bro" relationship). What can you do to offset the relative "weakness" of having Albania as a #1 ally?

I think that Albania surprised TWO when we helped them stop the Air Strike a couple weeks ago. They weren't expecting us to fight as hard as we did. If we can play up the ability we have to be reliable when we work together, it might help us pull some of the TWO nations that are disheartened with Servia's shenanigans. There's no denying we need top damage to be competitive, and our best bet for that lies with Spoland.

I think we also need to look into reforging our shatter relations with Brozil, which I know Josh has already had some work going on.


Wild Owl was in next:
In light of the impending dissolution of CoT, how must eUSA respond in the coming 30 days?

eUSA's past few foreign policy initiatives haven't really been successes. Whether it was CoT or CTRL, it took us a fair bit of time to acclimatise ourselves to those alliances - and in CTRL's case, it didn't last long. Keeping in view the current foreign policy situation, I think it will be best for the USA to sit back, uphold the NAP with TWO and see how the cards arrange themselves before committing to any of the new power blocs which are likely to form.

Follow-up Question: So it sounds like you are going to take full advantage of the NAP in place and not rush into anything. What can eUSA do to make sure our next alliance will be more successful than what we have seen in our recent past?

We jumped into CoT because we had to, as we foresaw a bipolar world between CoT and TWO, with EDEN's demise. That isn't the case anymore. We have peace for the next 2 months, there is no real hurry to pick a side. We're still a top tier nation with damage, particularly in the European night zones. Basically, we're a country that if it plays its cards straight, will probably be wanted by both sides. Successful handling of diplomacy requires patience, and letting other countries pick their sides first, before truly committing to one of the blocks.


John Largo who does not need a large avatar was in just under the publication buzzer:
In light of the impending dissolution of CoT, how must eUSA respond in the coming 30 days?

The eUSA must stick with long time friends, maintain new friendships, and seek out potential allies. An alliance need not be a formal construct as Plato tries to force on us. We need to know who our friends are and stick with them. That is the most important. Being in an alliance will come with time, but we will be a better fit when we know ourselves and know who supports us when we are on our own.

In short, the eUSA must not respond in the coming days. Overreaction leads to over correction which leads to a whole new set of problems.

To put it another way, Be Cool Brother-man. Good things are in our future if we don't screw it up.

Follow-up Question: Your campaign promise is to have the entire eUSA serve as "cabinet" implying a kind of populist influence in government from the citizenry. In light of that, how will you determine which specific nations we will develop closer allegiances with?

I will hear the opinions of the entire citizenry, and they will be able to make informed opinions because they will have all the information that I have. But that said, I am not offering direct democracy, just offering a chance for the many to play the game at a level the few have. I will not shirk my responsibilities to make the final decisions.

I believe in trust. Long-term friendships will hold much sway as I decide who we will "officially" ally with. But I will keep an open mind and consider all options...well all options but one. eSerbia is out eternal enemy, and I will not entertain any thoughts to the contrary. Everything else is on the table, but again long term loyalty gets bonus points.


As you can see, whereas each candidate has clearly espoused very similar plans on Domestic affairs (as I said, with some slight nuances), in the area of Foreign Affairs there are some significant differences in approach.

I hope you will consider this carefully before you click to vote.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking