An interview with TT Lighter [former Serb MoFA]

Day 2,213, 04:15 • Published in Portugal Slovenia • by Ice Killa

A man who strives for changes, a man with guts. Profound tactician and a Great individual. TT Lighter seemed to remove the curtain and finally reveal to the Serb population what is really going on in TWO. I wouldn't be wrong when saying his look on the current situation is ahead of his time, TWO is dead, yet it still lives. Read the interview and see what he has to say for himself.

Could you introduce yourself? What does your name represent and how did you find this game?
I'm one of the eSerbian babies who started playing eRepublik in the well-known baby-booms in may-july 2009. created by our famous player Lipec. At first I was just a journalist, but as the time passed I first started my e-political party and after it collapsed my unit Tesla Troopers. Now I see myself as an alternative to the current govt.

Why do you consider yourself as an alternative? What makes you different?
First of all it's the way of seeing internal politics, the way of playing this game along with my teammates. I prefer a friendly communication style no matter if I'm only a citizen or a CP. I don't change my tone of speech, and I speak honestly. The second difference is responsibility which people in the current government never had. Too many affairs and too many lies.

How would you describe yourself?
Honest, stubborn and vengeful.

Previous month you had the position of foreign minister in Serbia. One could easily say the month where the majority of important stuff happened; from inner tensions escalating to the brink of making TWO fall apart, personal offenses by Polish officials and continous antiTWO Spanish behaviour. How would you comment on all that?
We actually had a great cooperation and a nice level of common trust with Poland, until Prophet's article where he mentioned he had to apologize for the MPP with China to Serbian representatives which is just a lie. To be worse he added that Poland won't obey Belgrade, as we ever asked them about that. That article partly opened my eyes, and the NAP with USA which came few days later was just a proof that Poland doesn't give a damn about interests of TWO and their "allies".

Is it fair to assume Spain has been doing what it wants simply because it suits Poland? Poland's lack of response seems to be a sign to Spaniards - we can do what we want.
I have to be honest and say that I had a good cooperation with Spanish representatives back in my half-term in july. I think their MPPs on two sides were a sign of loyalty to their old friends, but that kind of diplomacy, as the time passed, caused internal divisions in TWO. That could be predicted, and the main reason for this bad position of Spain in the alliance is their extremely poor diplomacy.

And sure, it is a fact that Polands strong position, built up by great diplomacy skills as well as military power, is a good backup for the Spaniards. I could even say that they are encouraged by the Polish representatives to make TWO unstable and to provoke Serbian reaction on their moves.

I'll be a bit provocative. Isn't Poland's "strong position" the result of Serb pasiveness? Not in the last month, but in general, you seem to be far too concerned what Poland will do while it should be vice versa.
Well, in Serbia you have two options when it comes to external affairs. One is extremely proPoland, or proProphet I can say, and the other one doesn't really like to be part of intrigues. We prefer diplomacy of constant talkings and providing help to our allies, trying to understand their issues and to consider their interests as well as ours. Maybe that is passive compared to all that backscene and public propaganda by Spoland, but it is our way. We think Serbia is respected by true allies for our effort in the past two months.

Let's assume we cannot expect any major changes this month due to proPoland governments in both Slovenia and Serbia, but next month changes might happen. Those seeking explanations will most likely get to power, can TWO fall?
TWO will fall apart sooner or later. Yes, it would be nicer if it happened like with CoT - with some style. But, the longer Serbia stays aside fake allies, the weaker will be our position among true friends. That is why I wrote that MoFA article, to inform the Serbian public about what's happening. The articles weren't some rage quit or idk what...

Seeing Spoland has cemented its position by signing NAP with USA, who can Serbia turn to? Replacing Spoland's power seems to be crucial on the long term to preserve Serbian dominance.
I personally don't care so much about power and dominance, as about true allies and alliances built on common trust. Thats why i proposed forming of some kind of a mini-alliance with Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia in it, so that these thre countries can protect their interests together and talk about further alliances with other countries. I see Greece, Argentina and Romania as true friends and hope that China might be that some day too.

I'd like to focus on TWO as an organization, as an alliance. Why do you think the alliance is so ineffective and, pretty much, dead? What made it fail?
It is simple actually. The countries have different interests. No common interests = no cooperation = no common trust

But if it is so simple, why does the alliance still exist?
I mentioned that in my MoFA article. Some countries aren't ready to abandon the alliance only because they don't see a nice future outside of TWO. That is why they are trying to accuse Serbia and Slovenia for everything and to pull our allies with them. I'm speaking about Spoland of course.

Why did Serbia kneel to Spoland pressure and decided to sign NAP with USA - or at least that's what the rumours say? In other words that means you are abandoning all other nonsignatories making USA focus entirely on them. The agreement does not favour TWO or Serbia in any way.
That is a question for our current government and the man in charge there - Strider. We all know about his connections with Prophet, it's not some big secret.


Many are wondering, what is your stance on Slovenian actions regarding Spain - did Serbian government support them during your tenure while being Serbian MoFA?
Actually that was quite an awkward situation. Spain's actions weren't announced to the alliance and the HQ, so the reaction of the Slovenian CP (signing MPP with Portugal) was kinda provoked, but maybe too excessive. However, as a Serbian official I think it is my duty to protect Slovenian interest before Spain's, not only considering all bad moves and provocations Spain made towards Serbia, but also our brotherhood with Slovenia.

And the Portuguese crisis? It seemed Spanish move at the beginning of November was solely targeted to break CUA-TWO relations. Trying to show TWO people CUA is fighting "against us".
Considering that Spain already owned the resource of aluminium, in Canada, and that it was their only excuse to attack Portugal without announcement - I'm pretty sure you're absolutely right.

At the end of the month Serbia signed an agreement with Slovenia where the latter would keep Tuscany until 10. 12., the agreement was "changed" the day after the Serbian CP won the elections. How would you explain such a move? Needless I mention some regions require "reseting", so they had a valid reason to extend the war with Italy.
I was upset about that for three reasons. First, it lowers the credibility and the worth of Serbian promises. Second, it wasn't fair towards one of our closest allies,. Third, it shows how big noobs our "strategists" are, considering the need for reseting those bonuses you mentioned.

What about the NE on Bosnia?
It's influence of nationalists who have not even 1% of a gamers' spirit. It's just complete nonsense in this moment. Not only considering the determination bonuses but also moving BiH capital to UAE and providing them more resources.

Could you give us an insight on Romania-Hungary affair?
It's a hot topic for a Serbian representative. It's not very comfortable to see Romanian MUs hitting vs Hungary 'cause they are angry on their own MoD, or Hungarian government hitting against Romania for prevail in Russia. I think both sides have more benefits than loses from their agreement, and therefore it would be good to both of them to stick to it. Serbia is for sure a bigger ally to Hungary, and it would be hypocrisy even to Romanian players if I said different. On the other hand we are completely satisfied with our cooperation with Romania in the last two months and our relations are going upward.

You said you entered this game as a journalist? What made you stop writing on active basis?
I lost the inspiration as the game changed... I saw it's becoming useless to say anything about something that decay more and more, so I lost interest and lef the game even for 10 months. I'm back now and play active, but the inspiration for regular writing about in-game topics never returned.

What would you change when you look at your past actions? Or even better, has your personality changed in any way making you more mature in decision making?
In the last two months maybe I would be much less honest while talking to some people, nothing else. And looking back on the earlier period, sure that I've changed a lot in this 4 years. We all did.

Can you draw any parallels eRepublik - real life? Learning from the game itself, exploiting the gained knowledge to your benefit?
I've learned a lot about people, but I don't really like to compare it to RL. You can get some basic knowledge here, but it's not real life.

Anything else you'd like to add for the readers?
Play this game for fun, be a team player and a good representative of your country. And, don't allow that it becomes an obligation to you, as it did again to me... 😃

I thank TT Lighter for taking his time and answering the set questions!

Best regards,
Ice Killa aka Howly