A NRB look at; Russian - Swedish War - March 2012
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by Kristoph Woldskji
Hello good fellow citizens of eNorway and foreign spectators!
Just to declare this before you read this article; this article nor newspaper does not represent the eNorwegian goverment, just my personal view of situations, as a young eNorwegian.
Since we met last time, then it seems like eEurope is going boom, bigtime!
War is brewing, with it's share of internal conflicts and conseqences for the "Big Three" and the rest of the eWorld.
Russian – Swedish War
A possible conflict between TERRA aligned Russia and ONE aligned Sweden have been speculated for some time, and also affects us eNorwegians more directly.
In the light of the recent evens where Norway first was attacked by Russia in the north eleven days ago.
Then later there was signed a lease-contract of Norwegian regions, between the two mentioned countries, after loads of negotiations; which can be read here under "[CP] Press Release #1 - Russian NE vote - a deal has been made.
It comments amongst others the possible (emphasis on possible) use of Norway as a springboard to attack Sweden.
Russian NE of Norway pre lease-contract
Since this happened; then the Russians have had a change in presidency due to a call for an impeachment vote.
Russian Impeachment
Then out of the blue two days ago, a Swedish congressman decides to calls for a vote on Russia as Natural Enemy (hereby NE), some speculations involves bribery of parts of the Swedish congress to make the threat look real towards Russia.
And following as a response to this, the Russians responds by calling for a NE vote of Sweden.
The Swedes votes down their NE vote, the Russians does not with theirs, which results in another Swedish NE vote. This time it went straight through.
First Swedish NE
Russian NE
Second Swedish NE
Last night both Russia and EDEN aligned Ireland launched their first attacks on Sweden, conquering Bohus (RU) and Scania (IRE). No new attacks have been reported at the point written, but we are waiting in excitement on the further development in the conflict.
The Norwegian goverment by president Endymionis have released a press-statement that the russian declaration of war is consented, but not without doubts. Statement availible here.
My 5 cents on the war;
Although still in my infancy, I can't see this affecting me so directly as I thought immidately.
Resources are the same as they have been since the Norwegian – Russian lease started.
So the only question will be if they are still militarily capable of possibly wiping us in front of the coming congress-election, if the war with Sweden persists for a longer period of time.
I wish the Swedish people the best of luck in the war, having grown up on the border to Sweden IRL, have therefore having an almost just as good relationship to them as Norway. 🙂
As for eNorway, then we've probably suffered a blow to our reputation with our neighbour Sweden.
We have been used a puppet, though it was fairly transparant that this would happen eventually; because of the lease-contract with Russia, they (Russia) didn't need much incent to attack.
But then again; our relationship have been plagued with indifferences og problems historically.
Amongst others being longtime members of enemy alliances and more recently with the not easily forgotten Swedish-assisted "serbian"-PTO-takeover at the end of last year.
But hey, it's a game built around military and political conquest!
Someones gotta win and someones gotta lose, and usually it's us in the smaller E-nations that draw the shortest straws in the race for greatness...
Conclusion;
Speculation about both Sweden's first NE vote and Russia's motives with the following NE and attacks have been many; Resources, assisting PTO's, glory, pride, alliance-business and the list goes on...
The war is still fresh; and we'll just have to keep a look out for what the future brings.
Goodbye for now, thanks for your attention!
As always, watch the eNorwegian electionsite for updated information during electionday;
http://elections.erepublik.no/
Also visit our forums;
http://erepublik.no/
And for the young and fresh eNorwegians;
http://kickstart.erepublik.no/
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Comments
Good stuff!
Balansert og informativt. Skulle nesten trodd det var en oldtimer som skrev dette.
Imponert. Veldig bra skrevet. Angående Sverige er det synd at det måtte gå slik. Jeg liker de fleste svenskene jeg har pratet med på irc veldig godt. Dessverre er realiteten at vi er i forskjellige allianser.
There is a fair share of Swedish trolls who will blame Norway for not preventing this. Obviously that is plain stupidity. The balance of this game is not controlled by Norway, but the bullies of the stronger nations and alliances. Again, Russia strikes completely oblivious when it comes to diplomacy. Then again, it might just as well have been planned all along.
It is easy for you to call us trolls because we expected more from Norway Tommy. It was also easy for Norway to ask for Swedish support when Russia attacked you some days ago only to allow the same nation to invade Sweden some days later. The ones you say are trolls were actually the ones who impeached the PTO supporting parsons and preached for a united Scandinavia.
Good article anyway Kristoph.
Russia will never ever become a super power in this game, simply because they can't do do diplomacy without resorting to bribes. Puny Sweden could hold fruit and fish in Germany with their consent for 6 months, because we did the right thing and stayed true to our word. We held regions in Lithuania because we fought honestly and did our diplomatic homework.
Modern Russia is, fortunately, not relying on bot masters like they used to do in the past. But the pattern is clear: invade first, talk later. Ally or not, invade first and cut a deal later. UNLESS: the enemy is stronger. Poland? Run. Serbia? Run. Lithuania? Offer some gold. Sweden? Offer some gold. Norway? Offer some gold.
It's a perfectly legitimate strategy in today's eRep, because there is nothing here to stop them. The alliances are imbalanced and the game has stagnated. Russia can backstab EDEN countries as long as they are as small as Norway. Poland can decide not to help Sweden because they didn't willingly give up two core regions without demanding a written and mutually consented deal first. Germany can continue to hold Danish regions because they don't have the strength to fight against constant PTO threats anymore.
In the end, what I'm aiming at here is that there's not much that can be said or done that has not already been said (and done). Your president made a choice that will make many Swedes angry. Our previous president in December made a choice that upset many Norwegians (and Swedes, mind you). So I guess the score board is "Deuce" now and the last straw, the last hope of building something new and escaping this bullying alliance boredom was lost for a indefinite future. It was a valiant struggle and a worthy cause, but you need to realize - Norway - that EDEN doesn't want you to be friends with us, just as much as ONE doesn't want us to be friends with you. And they've had their way.
Ironically enough, what little hope there was of Sweden siding with TEDEN in the future is lost now.
Seriously.... Norway let Russia do anything. You fail to understand that Norway could say no, but Russia would still invade, regardless. Get a clue, for crying out loud. They are acting like bullies, just like Parsons. You would think it took one to know one.
People aren't pissed about the war itself. We know that Russia would have attacked even if Norway had said no(good allies btw). They are pissed that Norway didn't have the guts to say no despite all of our efforts to improve the Nordic relations. It's a matter of principle.
I'm not saying that the choice was simple, Tommy, and I don't envy your president for the situation that he ended up in. This isn't so much his fault as it is TEDENS, for not respecting the will of the Norwegian people and Finland - who, unless I am mistaken, were supposed to rent/loan the regions that Russia simply stole without asking.
We are in different alliances but we are both in alliances that don't really care much about who we are or what we do, since we're too small to make a difference. Bulgaria and Turkey, now there's two countries that are worth discussing about. But Norway? Seriously now, TEDEN doesn't give a flying beep about you. Just like Sweden is a junior player in ONE politics.
I'm not fooled by it. I just think that sometimes you have to say no even though you know that the consequences will be severe. When I had to say no to Poland holding our regions, I made my own people content (not to mention upholding the congress decree that says that all region swaps should be approved by our congress and not just the CP) but I also knew that Poland might turn their backs from us in the future and consider us unworthy of their alliance. They could not see that TEDEN would troll them hard for it and that they could (and actually would) get those regions if they had simply signed a deal about it (no rent or anything, a simple piece of paper with a expiry date).
It's not so different from this situation. No matter what your leaders would say to Russia, they would still invade. Your CP simply made the choice to aim for Russia's good approval instead of that of the Swedish people. This is the simple truth, and I understand the line of reasoning that lead your President to side with Russia on this one.
But let us not be so naive as to think that the everyday Swedish foot soldier will care about the 14 hours he spent on negotiations prior to making his choice nor that Russia will think more highly of Norway in the future. We lost, Tommy. Sad but true.
Bra skrevet!
"We have been used a puppet"
What did you expect from someone who bought Norway ???