The Charm Offensive

Day 2,001, 18:09 • Published in Belgium Belgium • by Konrad Neumann



I did not write an article for a long time. I guess it is a good time to start writing again. I am back in eBE and I am really looking forward in running for congress and getting my feet wet in politics again. I really want to thank Bok for his shout out to me and I really do feel welcomed.

The reason for my return is rather simple. I came back for the people I really care about. I came back for my beloved eHubby Critically. I came back to my eMum and eDad (MaryamQ and Cotarius). I also came back for other eFamily members like Yannis and my eSons Zangetsu-osan, Alexandross, and MCkitkat. I is nice to be back.

eBe changed a lot from its the days of old. eBE is first not neutral. eBE is stronger than the Netherlands. eBE in many ways has taken over the dominate role in terms of the lower countries. Poor governance from the part of the Dutch and smart policies like joining CoT welcoming many expats from other countries did wonders for eBE. For eBE to continue the power shift of the lower countries, the country needs to continue to make wise policies.

I know I am a controversial figure. I do not think HOPE is a fan of my works and policy recommendations and I am not a fan of theirs. Open door policy is foolish and should never be on the table. It is reckless and will bring in trouble makers and PTOers in which a small country like eBE could be fatal. Immigration should be controlled and moderated. I think Babyboom's idea to have a babyboom is far from ideal as well. While their heart is in the right place, booms of any kind (bubbles) are not ideal for it will always pop. I think we should play on our strengths and that is the IRC community. If you look at many expats in eBE today, most of them are former ambassadors, or guest to the IRC. People like Darko, Ecofreak/ Dan Wilshire, Alexandross (maybe Fhaemita not sure) myself, and many others got to know the community via the IRC. I think our IRC is our strongest asset in regards to growth and immigration. It is the IRC where bonds are made and trust established.

Instead of booms and illegal immigrations of HOPE members, I think eBE will grow slowly but consistently via trust promotion on the IRC. This is why CoT/ an alliance is vital. I do not believe eBE should aim to be neutral. We need to engage the world. Welcome and "lure" as much foreign contacts into the eBE IRC as possible. For eBE does not have power nor treasures. While it lacks in hard power, it has charm, compassion, and warmth. This soft power is just as powerful as hard power if wielded correctly. For small and weak countries have little to no voice overall in the international community. eBE should use its charm to secure positions within CoT in inner alliance elections and more importantly, to charm ambassadors and foreign talents to be expats. I believe this is the most realistic method for sustainable and realistic and controllable growth.

Like I said before, the IRC is a great way to build trust and to get to know each other. IRC promotion should be encouraged as it will get more people active in the community but more importantly to know both citizens and foreigners better. This way we can also rid ourselves of cumbersome and at times rationale-less immigration process.

This is for the most part common sense and many of us are doing it already. We are more welcoming and more likely to accept CS of people we know than strangers. We should advertise our IRC like the Dutch. The Dutch wrote many articles like [MoI] Waar is Iedereen? / Where is Everyone? where it promotes the IRC and provides all of the directions needed for newbies to know. Such articles should be posted at least once every month. Overall I predict that most of eBE population growth will be that of foreign expats and less so on natural baby growth, constant posting of such articles will do no harm.

So in many ways the lifeline of eBE is its IRC. We continue to need goodwill ambassadors like Yannis, MaryamQ, Mittlekemuis, Elynea, Bruno, Nohjis, and many other good natured and loving good will ambassadors who represent our only source of power to citizens and foreign guest alike. We need active and experienced and warm leaders like Alexandross and Zangetsu-osan active in alliance matters well. We do not have hard power and therefore we have to use what we got and we have plenty of soft power. There are many potential. eNL and eGermany was the leader of Phoenix for many months. It is not through strength and treasure, but of charm, good coalition building and of good leadership.

Therefore, I recommend that eBE should not consider open border policy. It is reckless and counter-productive. However, we do need immigration for booms are problematic and overall natural baby growth is not really likely produce much. If you look at our community eBe gain more active population via IRC base immigration. eBE has soft power in the form of charm and warmth which caused many people to move to eBE. This charm is a strength and eBE should use this strength to its benefit in immigration as well as foreign policy.