***MoD Analysis: Stay in EDEN or join CoT? The Choice is Yours

Day 1,839, 03:33 • Published in Ireland Ireland • by Death and Taxes


Ladies, gentlemen.

This article has one purpose, it is here to inform and educate you, the citizens of this country what I, the current Minister Of Defence thinks about the pros and cons of us leaving EDEN and to join the Circle of Trust alliance.

As you may know, I intend to leave this country on December 6th if my request for citizenship is accepted. The country in question is Australia. I have spent a lot of time and influence over the last few weeks in support of Oz and expect to spend the next few months doing same while trying to ensure that she retains her rightful sovereignty against the bullying tactics of Chile and CoT.

There is one thing that would make me stay in Ireland, and that would only be if we changed alliances. There is of course a huge irony in this as the only viable alliance we can shift to would be CoT. But this is where you need to understand my perspective. I want to leave Ireland because while it may have one of the best communities around, from a military perspective it's incredibly boring. I can guarantee you, that if we stay in EDEN this boredom will remain for a long, long time.

As MoD however, I am not here to influence your decision by rhyme or reason, I am here simply to present the facts. Only by being informed of said facts will you, the citizen, be in a position to make a judgement. You are going to be in a situation shortly of making a decision by referendum about what alliance you would prefer to be in. Your government have decided that this decision should be as fair as possible, and so we are not going to give you a simply 'stay in EDEN, yes or no' we are going to give you a genuine choice.


OK, so let's examine each alliance and see what we gain from staying in both:



EDEN: here are the current countries in EDEN, along with some notes....

Albania
Argentina (evil hegemonic power)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
China
Croatia (has MU’s that PTO other countries)
Greece
Israel (a lot better than they used to be)
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Romania (the PTO’ers of choice)
Taiwan (evil hegemonic power - just ask Japan)
Turkey (former land of multis)
Ukraine

That's a nice list of people who we would consider as being good friends and allies that we would go the extra distance for. But there are also a few unpleasant extras that are happy to subjugate their weaker neighbours, or PTO them, or just act like assholes.



Now let's look at CoT:

Belgium
Bulgaria
Chile (evil hegemonic power - just ask Australia)
Japan
Indonesia (land of multibots)
Mexico
New Zealand (also known as New Zerbland)
Paraguay
Peru
Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) (when have we never fought against FYROM?)
Republic of Moldova
South Korea
Switzerland

OK, EDEN wins this one, there's far less countries in CoT that you could see yourself busting a gut for. There isn't a lot of hegemonic powers, but there is still a strong presence of PTO'ers and multibots.

Next up, outside influences:



You will all be aware that CoT through FYROM and Bulgaria thought it would be a real fun idea to attack Greece and subjugate her. Well, it didn't quite work that way, Greece, with the assistance Of EDEN gave them an absolute hiding. Unfortunately this didn't last too long. Shortly after this ignominious defeat, by some strange coincidence, both Serbia and Poland declared NE on Greece. Well, as we say, game over.


So what does this actually mean? Well, simply put, in any situation where CoT and ONE/TWO have a common geographical border they can bring enough influence to defeat EDEN easily.

Now normally, we could rely on our own outside allies such as Canada, USA and Brazil to even up the two sides. But this isn't possible anymore. You see, Brazil has decided to throw in its lot against EDEN. Even now, while miserably failing to defeat RoC in open combat, it has dragged in its Brolliance friend USA into the same fight, who have themselves declared war against RoC. In addition, Chile and the UK are in the process of confirming an MPP with Brazil.

But don’t take my word for it, read up on the POTUS article from last night here:

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-potus-quick-update-2167600/1/20

It doesn't need a brain surgeon to see where this is heading. Shortly, CoT + all those ex-ONE countries like Serbia and Poland, and now Brazil and the USA, are aligned wholly and completely against EDEN.



Next up, local influences:



As a country we, in our natural state have the following neighbours:

Canada
UK
USA

By staying in EDEN we are intrinsically safe. We have an MPP with the USA, we are on very friendly terms with Canada and we have a NAP with the UK. Seems OK? Well, long term no. I have no doubt that we will MPP Canada as funds allow, but the MPP with the USA is no longer relevant for them. Furthermore, the UK are as bored as we are, as long as Talon or Iain Keers are around, we're OK, but that is not guaranteed.

Should the UK decide to attack us, nothing can help us. As seen with Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, BiH, France, Germany, Norway, Albania and now Greece, EDEN is powerless to assist us, and Canada is reluctant to help based on their fear of Poland.

By moving to CoT, the chairs get changed somewhat. While we retain a NAP with the UK, we now have MPP's in common, about 5 at present. So this threat is now removed permanently. As for the USA, well that situation remains the same but can be easily remedied by an MPP with Brazil.



Which leaves Canada. Let me be clear. Canada is a good friend of ours - under current management. Canada have rejected swapping over to CoT, so if we join we will be set on a collision course. Make no mistake about it, at some stage in the future we will be at war with Canada, and whether we get support from CoT or ex-ONE countries like the UK, the result will be the same, we will end up wiping Canada, because either Canada has no alliances that can help them, or else they will ally themselves to EDEN, and as we sadly know, that just isn't good enough.

The future:

The future for EDEN is grim. They seem to have made no impetus in adding to their alliance over the last few months, indeed, the addition of Turkey seems to have undermined the alliance completely as the fallout resulted in the formation of CoT.

Furthermore, EDEN have comprehensively failed to come up with a viable plan in how to deal with the pink menace that is Poland. As a consequence of this inaction, the entire EDEN and pro-EDEN forces in Western Europe have been completely wiped out, resulting in complete apathy from both the countries and the citizens.

Worse still, EDEN appear to have totally failed in their diplomatic duties by ensuring that the USA and Brazil remain at worst neutral, and at best favourably disposed towards us. There is little damagehood available out there for EDEN to seek.

For CoT the future is great. There are adding countries to the alliance as we speak. Not the most morally appealing ones it has to be said, but alliances are like omelettes, can't be made without breaking eggs.

So CoT can look forward to increasing their membership, and in addition, they can always count on the support of Poland/Serbia/Hungary, and at a later date, Brasil and the USA.

What's not to like?



Social:

I can only speak directly for EDEN, but the impression I get from our alliance is that they are tired and jaded. This is what we tend to see from organisations that have been around for a long time and need fresh blood.

I can't speak for CoT, but everything I hear seems to indicate that there is a great energy involved in the alliance, with mutual respect and a definite goal where all members are considered equal. This, a complete contrast with EDEN, where the impression has always been one of unequals.

Let's wrap this up:

Forget about the heart, just think about the head. In any logical, rational decision, Ireland would choose CoT for an alliance. We would do this because it guarantees us a just war, it freshens things up enormously as we talk to new people, new countries, and make new friends.

It ensures above all that we will end up and what looks like the winning side in this particular history of eRepublik, and as a consequence, ensures the well-being and future of this country.

But we're Irish, we never think with our heads, we think with our hearts. What we know is that by leaving EDEN, we will be leaving our many good friends and our alliance in the cesspool.

So what are we? Are we a practical, pragmatic country that makes the hard decisions to ensure our prosperity? Or are we an emotional, independent and righteous nation, that sticks with our allies through thick or thin?

I guess this is similar to your love life. Do you want be loyal and boring or do you want to be slightly dirty while having some fun?

In the coming days you, the citizens will make that choice, please bear in mind that to join CoT you will need a 66% +1 majority.

I have said my piece, I have, as MoD served my country by informing you to the best of my ability. I wish my country and citizens well.

Malbekh

Minister of Defence