Romania invades Bulgaria, Japan drops a diplomatic bombshell

Day 751, 14:30 • Published in USA Australia • by Aeros
SUMMARY

Romanian forces launched an invasion of Bulgaria today, striking at three regions. This war serves no principle strategic region other then to test Romania’s strength against Hungary. In Asia, Japan is demanding that Phoenix vacate Chinese territory (with the exception of Heilongjiang) or else they will let the United States through Kyushu. In India, Indian and Iranian forces have clashed on the battlefield for the first time. Finally, debate has been launched in the Brolliance about a potential transfer of the US State of Delaware to Canadian control.


BULGARIA

What is going on in Bulgaria is commonly known in eRepublik as a “lulz war”. Basically, it’s an invasion that serves no direct strategic purpose other then to provide entertainment for the parties involved. In this case, those parties are Hungary and Romania (not sure if Bulgaria is enjoying it). Bulgaria already possessed a Hungarian MPP, so this war is at present a 1 v 1 fight between Romania and Hungary. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, as it will be a good trial run to test the strength of one of the leading EDEN powers against the leading Phoenix power. With more MPP’s activating in Bulgaria, its unlikely that Romania will be successful in completely taking over Bulgaria, but to be honest I doubt that is their intention anyhow. Bulgaria offers no strategic benefit for Romania in terms of positioning, nor does it have any resources worth having. Phoenix will most likely try to spin this as an EDEN war of Imperialism, but that word gets thrown around so much these day’s I doubt anyone really knows what it means anymore. As official policy, this war is not even an EDEN operation. It is an action undertaken by Romania via their right of Independent Action. To that end, no organized military forces in EDEN (like the US Army) will be supporting the operation, though individual citizens can naturally participate in the war if they wish.


JAPAN

For 3 months the USA attempted negotiations with Japan over the Kyushu province, which as most now know serves as the principle gateway between Asia and North America. Embittered over Indonesia’s similar use of the region, Japan refused the US overtures repeatedly. These refusals coupled with America’s intense desire to get to China resulted in the war declaration a few day’s ago and the subsequent Battle of Kyushu. When the US attacked, there was some initial confusion of American intentions in the Allied camp, with many claiming the invasion was aimed at Japan itself. Consequently, many citizens of the United States and other Allied countries refused to participate or even fought for Japan. Phoenix of course had no such illusions, though they hyped them repeatedly in their news and propaganda. Realizing correctly that the American gambit was a move on the economic heartland of Hungary and Iran located in occupied China, Phoenix mobilized a slightly more powerful force then the Americans. As consequence, they were able to force a victory, even after EDEN tanked the wall more the -800,000 points. Most in the USA (myself included) ultimately decided that this defeat sealed China and India’s fate, and the Self Righteous Nation of Japan would continue to stubbornly protect the occupation zones in their “Ally” China.

Of course, sometimes the best thing you can do for someone who is not paying attention to what’s going on around them is to give them a hard knock on the head. Post battle debate in Japan has begun to question the morality of their position; though I’m sure the cries of outrage from their supposed Ally China also had a great deal to do with things as well. Japan has recently issued an ultimatum to the Phoenix Alliance that states they would immediately let the USA into Kyushu should they try to punish China in any way for its help in the American effort. Japan then demanded that Indonesia and Iran sign a contract with China by Sunday that would mandate their withdrawal from Chinese territory.

This act pretty much shows President Dokomo is the consummate politician and diplomat. The American defeat in Kyushu has understandably infuriated their neighbors to the East and West, one of whom is ostensibly Allied with Japan. By demanding Iran and Indonesia leave China (but not Hungary), the ultimatum will not be dismissed out of hand by Phoenix, since Hungary is the most important country in an Alliance that very much has a hierarchy (unlike EDEN I should point out). Indonesia certainly will not like having to give up its Chinese territory, as it would weaken their position in what they consider their sphere of interest. Even so, they may be willing to do it if the Hungarians twist their arm. The last thing the Hungarians want is the US in striking range of Heilongjiang, and trading three worthless Chinese regions would be considered a fair trade. The deal breaker would be the Iranian occupied Liaoning. Trying to get Iran to give up territory in eRepublik is like trying to get The Ring from Gollum. They will never willingly give up the “Precious”. At least, they never have in recent memory. I will be curious to see how the Hungarians manage to strong arm the Iranians. If the Iranians stone wall, Hungary will be left in a serious bind, because Japan could then decide to let the USA through Kyushu because they refused the ultimatum. To prevent this, Hungary would have to boot Iran from Phoenix and try to make Iran give it up by force. The other option they could go for would be to just accept Iran’s refusal and decide to try and fight it out with the Americans.

Of course, the Japanese demands bear the hallmarks of a good deal, because it also will leave the Americans in an unhappy situation. Heilongjiang is everything to Phoenix. It is the living heart of the Alliances weapons industry. All those Hungarian Field Marshall’s are not just high strength. They are also high resource gatherers and manufacturers too. Hungarian control of Heilongjiang provides an enormous quantity of cheap Iron to the Phoenix nations . You can therefore understand why EDEN and the USA are so keen to get Hungary out of Heilongjiang. Unfortunately for America, if Phoenix accepts the Japanese demands, it will make the goal all the more complicated, because Japan could then claim the USA is just out for the Iron (since China will be gaining a High Iron from the deal). Naturally, we will argue that it is better for anyone else to have the region, but it will all be pointless semantics that mean nothing in the end. Japan will claim to have held up their Righteous Nation Philosophy and the US will still be stuck on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.


INDIA

One country notably absent from Japan’s declaration is India. Of course, India’s fate is a foregone conclusion, since they have launched an attack on the Iranian occupation zone. The fact that infidels would dare challenge the power and honor of Iran’s superior and ancient culture is an unforgivable offense. Given the chance, Iran will attack India. Fortunately, India is Allied with Canada, Spain and Romania, so Iran might have to do some heavy lifting if they hope to get even with India. The other issue, the Indonesian occupation zone, is a matter of some debate. Had Japan thrown those into the ultimatum, Phoenix would have told Japan to screw off, just like they would have if they had demanded Heilongjiang. Karnataka is the other major source of Iron for Phoenix and is also on the EDEN hit list, but again, cannot be reached unless EDEN can get into Asia. Even more problematic, India’s population is so small, it is unlikely they would be able to handle management of Karnataka anyhow, something Indonesia points out often. The sad truth is that in this case they are correct. But again we can say, better anyone else then Indonesia.


DELAWARE

For this part, I will provide a visual aid to explain just how annoying it is to have so much territory.



What this awesome map (if I do say so myself) shows you is the path the United Kingdom can take into the United States that avoids initiative block from Spain and Canada. Initiative as you should know, is EVERYTHING in eRep. In order to monkey wrench our invasion of Kyushu, the UK started attacking American territory. Once attacked, we lose initiative until the battles close. Without initiative, we cannot attack and must remain in place. To compensate for this, we retreat attacked territory, closing the battles with the UK and then launch our own offensives elsewhere. The downside to this of course, is it gives up territory to the enemy and we also cannot attack the UK again for 24 hours since a retreat counts as a loss to that country. Fortunately, most of our territory is useless, though its quantity makes it impossible to escape initiative lock once the enemy gets into the Midwest without retreating the entire country. Even worse, once inside the heartland, a blocker can move to the two states we cannot under any circumstances retreat. Once the UK attacks California or Florida, our offensive is over. Furthermore, they could cycle the attack to insure that the enemy we are fighting in a different campaign regains initiative and counterattacks.

Fortunately, this little episode in Kyushu has given us a counter to the UK blocking gambit. The state of Delaware borders only France, not the UK. This makes it an ideal blocking position for another Allied country to strike from. And thanks to this campaign, Canada is presently in control of Delaware. With Canada in command of the region, the pathway into the American heartland and our fortress states remains closed, because any effort by the UK to slip into our borders will result in a Canadian attack from their home territory, or the proposed Canadian enclave of Delaware. This in my opinion, is a much better use for a region with no High resources and minimal population.


FINAL ANALYSIS

Hungary and Iran are going to be having “the man talk” over the weekend. Hungary will be very keen not to have Heilongjiang threatened by EDEN. Iran will not want to give up their Precious. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that debate. It might very well end up with the USA getting through Kyushu anyway, if Japan decides Phoenix is not going to vacate China in the manner they want. In Europe, the Romanian-Bulgarian war will be a short contest. It may last for a few day’s but its unlikely Bulgaria will fall as the MPP’s with all the core member of Phoenix assure this. What will come out of this incident however is yet another headache for EDEN when Hungary and Serbia decides its time to bury Croatia again. Bulgaria has basically become a 1v1 fighting position for Hungary against Romania. They can use Bulgaria to trip Romania’s MPP’s and then fight from Hungary in the battle while invading Slavonia and NW Croatia at the same time adding yet more territory for EDEN to cover. All that would be required is for Bulgaria to play ball and attack Romania.