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[UKGOV] MoFA: TWO and our Stalwart Allies



Greetings

Welcome to the latest MoFA article! Today you have the pleasure of my (Talon) company for a trip down memory lane and an article detailing our friendship with our allies in TWO. I’ll try to make it candid and helpful while remaining fairly interesting, and let us see if we can’t ensnare a few trolls in the comments below too!


Now, this is actually an enormously broad subject and I could easily write an article on each of our allies, discussing our bilateral relations, mutual history and the like. Equally, I could discuss the alliance itself as an entity, or even the players that make it tick month on month.


In the interests of brevity and to keep your interest, dear reader, I will limit myself today to this: A nice overview of the alliance itself; details of our oldest and most stalwart allies, and some comments from my personal history with the alliance- a UK perspective, if you will, within those two main sections.





The eponymous TWO logo, designed by the UK’s own Tom Fletcher. The concept of TWO as an alliance is not a new one. The core six countries that founded TWO have been allies for years ingame, and have come through thick, thin and CTRL largely intact.

TWO was founded by a dedicated group of friends that have or had an enormous amount of influence on their home country. An alliance needs two main things in order to ensure success: Damage on the battlefield and a strong political caste supporting it. We’ve seen an erosion of that second aspect in recent weeks and have all been on the receiving end of the results of that transformation.


There was an election for the HQ last night that saw the return of some political heavyweights to the arena, and with the current crop of presidents that provides a great opportunity for the month ahead to be a prosperous one.


It’s worth saying at this point that I’m not particularly talking about the elected HQ when I discuss the politicians of an alliance. They certainly have their place in the orderly running of an alliance, but the true stability and prosperity of an alliance lay in the relationships between powerful figures within each country.


Sometimes, as we’ve seen recently, opposition factions win elections and refuse to work with the friends of their political opponents, causing a lot of friction. By and large as an alliance we’ve avoided this in the past, and things are looking much more positive going forwards too.

I’ve said it before, there are two things you never want to let people see you make: Alliances and sausages. If you don’t know the details they’re often a pleasant experience, but if you look too closely you may not like what you see!



It’s worth me giving you the results of that election here:


Secretary General (Leader)- Iain Keers (UK)

Supreme Commander (Military)- AntrikosA (GR)

Secretary of Foreign Affairs- Shiranui94 (HUN)


Me after the election



As you can see, we yet again have a British SG in Iain, a veteran in the alliance sphere and someone more than capable of helping each country in TWO to prosper.


The premise of the alliance is pretty much exactly what you’d expect; mutual defence, mutual attack. We do rather well at that, mostly, and a lot of the UK’s damage comes from those selfsame allies when we ask for it. So that’s my brief overview done. Any questions, please do ask in the comments!






Now, onto some of our major allies.

We have good bilateral relations with each of these countries in some way or another, but undoubtedly our strongest support comes from Poland. A military powerhouse not quite on the same level as Serbia, but blessed with sound leadership, a favourable position on the map and some weak neighbours for resources, Poland is certainly worthy of its position as an erepublik superpower.

Poland relies on French and German regions for bonuses, making them a natural ally of ours in the modern geopolitical climate. They have come to our aid on countless occasions and even wrote us into their treaty with France, pledging to come again to our aid should France ever choose to invade. To be fair France are not the threat they once were, but I’m sure you as I greatly appreciate the friendship we share with Poland.


This relationship with Poland brings us to another core TWO member, Spain. Together, the two are Spoland; one of the unshakable partnerships present in the game. Perhaps not as close now as they once were, nevertheless the two are a formidable force and stronger together than apart. We have less in the way of bilateral relations with Spain, but there are some powerful connections there.


Spain currently occupies Canada, another long term enemy of ours and one that has invaded and helped to wipe us in the past. Their current wipe at the hands of Spain is largely due to their own opportunism in trying to hit us when we were occupied, and again we should thank Spain for their intervention on our behalf!




I suddenly had a horrible thought that we didn't have these allies. Thank flower we do!



The second unshakable pairing within TWO is SerHun. Serbia are the strongest country in the world, without question. Unfortunately for them, they also have poorly resourced original regions, strong enemies close by, and they need to occupy several countries to maintain their bonuses. This means that they are often a target for reprisals by our enemies.


That said, when Serbia is strong, TWO is strong, and it’s no coincidence that when they prosper, so do the rest of us. No country is more crazy on the battlefield, more willing to send millions and millions in influence on the battlefield to help its allies, and they are very much at the forefront of our success in recent months.


Hungary were the first superpower. In days gone by we cooperated with them to invade USA in the first great invasion, and we have been solid allies ever since. One of the most consistent and professional countries in the game, Hungary seems to get it right pretty much every month. Always there on the battlefield, using sound strategy, they are a fantastic friend to have. And like the UK they produce more than their fair share of alliance leaders.


Finally we have Slovenia and Greece. Two very different countries with two very different stories, and yet valued members of TWO. Slovenia are much like the UK; not a military powerhouse but a regional power. With a fairly low population they like us they have had to rely on others to secure their status, though to say that they are without the means to defend themselves or contribute would be entirely incorrect- they have this means in abundance.


Greece is the most recent addition to TWO and are a very powerful nation in their own right. Renowned for their strong tanks and military discipline, Greece have proven themselves more than worthy of their inclusion countless times over, and it is a privilege to work with them. While our ties do not hearken back into history with Greece, this gives us an opportunity to develop a new friendship, which all countries must do from time to time as the geopolitics of the game change.


So that’s our TWO allies summarised for you, along with the alliance itself!

Feel free to use the comments to discuss the content here.






Cheers
Talon Karrde and Jamesw

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the eUK




People insist on an attractive picture to vote articles these days, so here's one of my arse in Jamesw's face. If that isn't attractive, nothing is!