Join the new world

Dear friends,

Just a quick article about my plans for the UK’s foreign affairs. Firstly I’d just like to state that as CP my priority is always the best interests of the UK. Although I have a lot of friendships internationally, a CP has to make decisions on behalf of a community, and in practical terms that means securing borders and protecting our current investments.

Our allies are currently in three groups. Firstly, the fellow members of ONE who are our allies by treaty. We signed into the ONE alliance last year when I was Secretary General of the alliance, and since then we’ve built strong links with all the countries there. Our existing relationships with ex-Phoenix countries Serbia, Macedonia, Hungary, Slovenia and Indonesia have mostly held up and we’ve made new friends in Poland, Sweden and Spain. Secondly with the Circle of Trust and ABC alliance, and finally with our smaller proONE allies.

In the last six months Poland especially has come through as a strong ally. Initially with aVie proposing our membership, then later with the likes of PierreDzoncy, Marvin and of course Basowy promoting Polish-British relations. As a rule Poland have been the first to offer help and as a result of that have won us over as strong and loyal friends.

One of the main shaping factors in British foreign policy over the past year has been the tri-force invasion of the UK and its subsequent period wiped off the map. France, Ireland and Canada showed us that without help from the continent it’s impossible for us to win. With the Irish peace treaty we opened up an avenue of escape, and with France distracted by Poland, we showed Canada that 1v1 they still need to call on their big brother to the South to protect them.


My Canada hat, everyone should get one ❤


Also cannot believe I got "triforce" into an article after 3 years of trying

Our relationships with our neighbours then are unremittingly cool. After the initial treaty signing with Ireland our relationship has cooled to formality, though both sides are still in favour of the agreement. Current discussions about the value of the Anglo-Irish treaty are mixed, but the general consensus is that although the cost of protecting against resistance wars is relatively high, the value of the investment is thus far worth it. Personally I think that food is a fairly inconsequential bonus, but the value of peace is worth the occasional scramble to keep hold of a region or two. One of my main goals for the term is to re-open relations with Ireland and hopefully have some more frank discussions of the kind immediately following the treaty.

France on the other hand is definitely not a country I particularly trust. In the wake of the UK exit from Terra (way back in early 2011) the UK and France agreed on an informal non-aggression pact. The UK as a whole was still pro-French and didn’t want to risk that relationship. Thus although we were wholeheartedly committed to the defence of our allies in ONE, we didn’t partake in any aggressive action against France and they didn’t help Ireland or Canada against us. That all changed at the end of last year when France managed to get out from under the Polish thumb. Suddenly we saw French fighters appearing in battles and fighting hard against the UK. The French government assured us they were just random citizens not official French Army. They went so far as to re-open negotiations for a formal treaty between the UK and France before taking advantage of our war with Canada and Ireland to take our three Southernmost regions for the resources. Now with Poland occupying most of France, they’ve come to the negotiation table again. Forgive me then if I take the empty promises with a pinch of salt.

Canada is always a confusing one. If you asked me what my attitude was toward Canada, it would depend purely on the individual and faction currently occupying the Maple Syrup Throne. Even their pacifistic leaders seem to be fairly homicidal as far as the UK is concerned, and taking advantage of our weakness (usually when we’re distracted on a second front) is their priority. Unless France attack us I doubt they’ll try it on. For the last month or so they’ve kept their distance, and statistically we’re stronger than them these days by about 20%. If they do attack us it’ll be a major alliance hotspot and you can be assured I’ll be ready.

Another avenue that I’m keen to explore is the new Circle of Trust alliance. When Chile first came on the block as a power we offered them the olive-branch, and as such they’ve been on the proONE team since then. Circle of Trust is an alliance which has the same mutual enemies as ONE, and thus is an ally. Bulgaria is an old friend long estranged, and after their less-than-harmonious split with EDEN we’ve since re-established lines of communication. I’ve been in touch with various representatives of Circle of Trust and I’m very interested in opening a more formal relationship with them.


It's like outreach programs, except you don't need a stab vest!

One of the main issues confronting me this term, being honest, will be the ONE problem. I have spoken of our strong relations with various members of the alliance, but not much of the alliance itself. When I ran for SG last year, ONE looked doomed. It was staggering from one crisis to the next, most of its members were wiped (I think at one point 8/9 members were without congress) and it looked like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. But the important thing was that all the countries still wanted to win, and the HQ wanted to make that happen. For the past 4-5 months we’ve had almost no leadership in ONE. Obviously that’s just my opinion, but it seems that any success we have had has been generated by the member governments rather than the HQ.

Lack of strong central figures has meant that too often orders go ignored, and excuses are made for poor decisions. Often nobody wants to make the decisions at all. I’m not leaking anything specific, but any idiot can see that, even just reading the national media of various countries. Go right now and move from one country to the next, I bet you will find that almost no countries have the correct priorities (or even the same priorities). This is an endemic problem with all alliances, but it needs fixing. The UK is heavily invested in ONE as are all of its members. Hopefully under the leadership of Kulgar the alliance will sort out its house and start properly organising members. Otherwise I see no future in ONE.

Anyway I’m going to leave you on that maudlin note. The UK faces potentially some of the most difficult foreign affairs challenges of our times, and this is one of the main reasons I volunteered (or was volunteered) for this position. Of course I will do my best to make sure the rest of government is run properly, but foreign affairs is the main area for the CP and that’s where I’ll be focusing my own attention.

Thanks for reading,

Iain