[Swe] President of Sweden answers

Day 547, 20:21 • Published in Sweden Sweden • by Kalle Holm

As it seems many appear to have a lot of questions and/or presumptions regarding Sweden due to the Germany war, I’ve written this article in order to give You a better understanding of partly the war, partly Sweden itself. In this article I’ve tried to take with and answer as many common questions/misunderstandings I’ve seen while searching the world’s news.
As it truly is a long article, over 2250 words, you will have a register where you can pick and choose between what you want to read about.

Register of the article’s containt:
1. Sweden betrayed Atlantis by attacking Germany
2. What are the logical reasons for this war?
3. Background and explanations
4. Sweden’s timing is horrible!
5. Sweden has destroyed Atlantis
6. Sweden intends to invade UK after Germany
7. Sweden’s principles

1. Sweden betrayed Atlantis by attacking Germany
No, we did not betray Atlantis as Germany was not and is not a member of Atlantis at the time. Germany had 1 month trial period in Atlantis, I know that. That period expired 4/24. Since then no voting has been made to decide whether or not they should become members.
It's just the same as if you'd get a trial period on, for example, World of Warcraft. After the trial period you cannot play anymore, if you do not take measures (pay) to get a new play period. It's just the same with Germany. So no, Sweden has not betrayed Atlantis.

2. What are the logical reasons for this war?
1. Sweden's population, who have been declining for months due to boredom, will rise again as the game become more exciting for all players, no matter how much time they spend on the game. This will make Sweden stronger, and by that, also its allies.

2. Sweden will get further borders to hostile nations, which will strengthen Sweden’s and by that also its allies, position.

3. Background and explanations (Continuation of section 2 as well)
3. Germany brought this upon themselves. Sweden has, before this war, done one (1) hostile move against Germany. That was in May 2008. And even then we forced admin to give them half Germany back. 2 months later Germany had conquered Poland, and the Poles had taken over politically. Both the Poles and the Germans BEGGED Sweden to conquer it all, which we did, spending thousands of gold on it. In November we liberated them, as planned and agreed. All we demanded was Schleswig-Holstein (SH). In January Germany allied with PEACE to conquer SH and a number of still Sweden-controlled regions, temporary owned by Sweden to participate in the Atlantis operation 'Operation French Toast'. After that followed 5 months of negotiations, and Sweden was MORE than generous and kind several times, but every offer was declined by Germany. They counter-offered us SH for 5000 gold.
You must understand why my people are upset. There is no way a sovereign nation could EVER endure such ruthlessness, such arrogance and such lack of gratefulness. Sweden has always tried to help and be friendly towards Germany since June 2008, that’s 11 months if you don’t know, eRepublik has existed for 18 months. You do the math.
At last we lost our will to negotiate with Germany. We’d negotiated for 5 months. They’d declined all of our offers, which we’d spent endless hours on refining and adapting to fit both parties. But no, they declined. At last Sweden, who very much dislikes to be disrespected and played with, had to set down its foot.
At this time we had voted yes for Germany entering Atlantis on the trial period in good hope that this would repair our so tarnished relations. I have to be honest; Sweden did not take up the contact with Germany to try to negotiate again, we had internal problems that drew our attention, and Germany ended up in the shadows. But, none the less, Germany did not even attempted to re-open negotiations. Their wish was to ignore the Swedish conflict and hope that Atlantis would make it all go away.
In Sweden at the same time, the people muttered about how badly the Government had treated the Germany conflict, showed their dissatisfaction and raised their voices. I, who always had been one of the strong voices for Germany in Sweden’s congress (working for their coexistence in Sweden during the “occupation”, arguing and working for their liberation in November and after January, leading the negotiations with Germany), had run out of steam to protect and preserve Germany, and was quite pissed off at them myself, decided to listen to the people’s voice and represent them in my candidacy as president.
I succeeded; I became president of Sweden with open support from all major parties (except those bloody commies). When I came into Atlantis I instantly tried to get a voting on whether or not Germany should get a full membership in Atlantis, as their trial time had elapsed. Atlantis’ Supreme General, Shadowuks, blankly refused to put up the voting, though several members asked him to. He ignorantly said that Sweden and Germany can solve this diplomatic, as if we hadn’t tried our best for 5 months already. But, Sweden accepted his demands and opened up the negotiations once again.
At a point it was going quite well, Germany and Sweden seemed to have reached an agreement that would suit both parties. This was when I received intelligence regarding words from Germany’s negotiation leader. I won’t say his name. Let me quote what I got to hear, just as we seemed to have reached an agreement:
“As for X, I find it more likely than not that Sweden is actually going to get a bloody nose and after a few weeks retreats in ignominy, like the hopelessly declining power that they are. This is their last chance to make a big splash. Let them. I shall enjoy watching them fritter away their last gold.

If our proposal is accepted and X attack Y, we should sit on the sidelines and observe how things unfold. Then we can jump in on an opportune moment and get a piece of the action.”
Disappointed, enraged, ashamed and firmly Sweden pulled out of negotiations and stated that Sweden would leave Atlantis if Germany ever joined Atlantis. Diplomacy was over.

Could any of you truly blame us for not being willing to have Germany as our brother in arms, a friend you’d have to rely on to stay safe yourself. Picture yourself in our situation. Would you have tolerated all shit Sweden ever received from Germany?
No, I think not. Not when it really comes down to it. It’s easy to sit and say “I wouldn’t have done that! I would have done this and that!”, but when you really are in the situation, you’ll find that it was not a possibility, not ever.
I’d like to ask everyone who says that Sweden (or me) acts like “a childish, spoilt boy” to really take this into consideration before you really judge us. Please do that, or don’t say anything at all, I kindly beg you.

4. Sweden’s timing is horrible!
This I can agree to. Last week Atlantis took a devastating hit while it lost all of the battles for the crucial regions to PEACE GC. I understand that you think that we should focus fully on fighting PEACE GC rather than fighting ourselves through the Germany-Sweden war. I understand that point, I really do.
But, I personally find it useless to fight against cheaters. The battle of WSR, ESR, Podolia and all there was, was all lost due to cheating. Atlantis stronghold, Romania, was ripped apart by cheaters, and in my humble opinion: Why should we try to fight them during these circumstances? If there is no chance of winning, if there is no game, then why should we fight?
No, I personally won’t fight PEACE until the exploits have been fully fixed, for now and forever, and the guilty have been banned along with all cheat belongings removed. As this is, well, let’s just say, “a big project”, I find it OK to focus on other things meantime. For Sweden’s sake that would be to for once and for all take care of Germany, due to reasons you find described in section 3.
Apparently, my congress thinks like me, since they’ve agreed on dealing with Germany now. So, for all Sweden care, this is a perfect time to take care of domestic matters, until we can proceed with the global wars as they should be fought: without cheats; faire and square.

5. Sweden has destroyed Atlantis
I find this assertion to be both annoying and pathetic. Sweden is called responsible of the collapse of Atlantis. This for starting war against Germany, making the members pick a side. First of all I’d like to make one thing very clear: Atlantis’ moral took a huge hit after the losses last week, affecting nearly all active playing citizens of the New World. Romania officially surrendered as they refuse to fight cheaters. The moral is weakened even more. The members of Atlantis becomes worried about their safety, and they try to find someone to blame, someone to unleash their aggressions on, a psychological defense mechanism called displacement (you unconsciously take out your anger on someone who didn’t cause the anger). Romania has been blamed for causing the dissolution of Atlantis by surrender. I believe that is wrong. I wouldn’t want to play a game where you constantly fight against unbeatable cheaters. Sweden has been blamed for causing the dissolution of Atlantis by putting pressure on the members to pick a side.
First of all, all Sweden ever demanded was that you remained neutral, if you were uncertain what to do. We never sai😛 “It’s friendship with us or them, chose!” We sai😛 “We will punish Germany for their deeds against us now, please let us do this and stay out of our way.”
Secondly, I believe that an alliance should contain of friends, friends who are willing to fight for each other to the last drop of blood, no matter what. A true friend wouldn’t have to chose side, it’d be done automatically, without any questions. A true alliance can resist all the pressure in the world without stumble. Here Atlantis was put under a little pressure, and it all started to fall apart instantly, showing the real unity of the alliance, how weak the alliance really was.
If an alliance can’t stand the pressure and live up to these criterions, it is doomed to collapse sooner or later. Atlantis has experienced how weak its foundations are. But we haven’t collapsed yet. There is still time to repair this, to fix this. If we fix this now we’ll walk out stronger than ever, we’ll be The Dream Team with infinite unity. It is not to late just yet. The last you should do is to let the frustration that’s smoldering inside of us all out on your friend. You can either calm down and let the fire of aggression die by itself, either channel the aggression towards our enemies with renewed power, or you will see that our great alliance fall apart, due to frustrations caused by the cheaters that destroy this game so badly for all of us.

6. Sweden intends to invade UK after Germany
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this is a false statement. Despite that we Swedes are Pure Awesome, we do have limits. Facing an opponent almost 4 times as many as us is just a liiiiittle too much, even for the strongest, most brutal Viking.
Sweden considers UK a good ally and friend. We’ve never been too close, but we’ve never had any hostilities between our two nations either. When needed, Sweden and UK has always been able to cooperate and discuss as equals to solve the problem we’re facing, may it be PEACE GC or who’s having the first beer after kicking the just stated’s ass. To be honest I’ve actually come to like UK’s president, after spending many hours chatting with each other, discussing the current situation.
So to conclude it all; Sweden will not invade UK. You can relax now, there will be no bloodthirsty, mad berserk Vikings roaming London’s streets in the nearest future. You may have to guard your president a little extra, or she might be kidnapped by a Viking ship while swimming over the Thames in haste, on her run from angry congressmen.

7. Sweden’s principles
Sweden is a nation who plays honest, by the rules and is always open in their opinion or intentions. We respect our friends, our enemies and every neutral country – if they respect us. Sweden is in general very tolerant, though we will not accept any offence without retaliation. If a nation takes disregard or insolence Sweden, we will remember it and avenge when possible, be it next week or a year in time. The same goes for everybody who respects and assists Sweden; we will repay you when possible.
We are very aware of the game mechanics, and we know how to best utilize them after each and every situation. Because of this there’s no coincidence that Sweden has eRepublik’s most efficient army.
Sweden is either a great, well-desirable ally who full-hearted supports its friends to the very end, either a respected, ruthless enemy who with tactics, strength and cunning takes down its opponent.

Thank you for reading
Kalle Holm
President of Sweden