[CP] Years of Abundance

Day 5,158, 07:40 • Published in Netherlands Netherlands • by Het Catshuis

Dear citizens,

I started campaigning for Country President with the article 'Disaster Year'. The year 2021 certainly hadn't been kind to our country until that moment. Humiliated by the countries of Croatia, Slovenia and Chile and internally ripped-apart by their few sympathizers there was not much joy to play in the eNetherlands.

At the same time, determination kept growing in our core regions. With the impulses of the Halloween, Anniversary and Christmas events it was time to reap the rewards of our non-negotiable stance of independence and allegiances. In a last-ditch effort to either intimidate us back into line, or just to bully us by taking our production capital, Croatia took our core regions - and then just left when we stood firm and ignored any demands. Now they have embarked on bringing the same fate to countries such as Peru, South Africa, Lithuania and Latvia.

Considering the likelihood that we're not completely safe yet, we have left no time to waste to be better prepared for future dangers. We quickly racked up our numbers of Training Wars with both old and new partners and have settled our cores with our friends. Food production has been restored in our capital of Amsterdam. Weekly epics - notably D4 epics - have been restored so our people can power-up quickly in combination with the events of the past weeks. We have never before seen so many people simultaneously rank up and with each passing week it will become harder and harder to keep us under the thumb again.

In other words, everything seems to be going well. Yet a paradigm of 'change' seems to be continuously thrown around as part of political campaigns. Let us be careful that change is not a euphemism for acting out of fear or ill-intent. The way we are, including the bad events of this year, have crafted the current activity and it is too precious to be lost. Nothing is gained by throwing away years of relationships and turning us into an idle place where there is nothing to be fought over anymore - we are not powering up for nothing.

Nevertheless, there is one thing that is worth the consideration. Much has been said and argued over our alliance of Hydra. Ever since the ban-wave of March 2020, Hydra as an independent entity has become less and less relevant and more so an extension of Asteria. Therefore it is time to accept the reality and leave Hydra behind, so we can orient ourselves towards our friends and allies in Asteria without anything pulling us behind. With a heavy heart, we therefore announce our departure from Hydra. A vibrant and quickly-growing country such as the eNetherlands needs an equally growing perspective.

Indeed, let there be no mistake: The eNetherlands has learned in the past year all too well who its friends and enemies truly are. We have been barraged and ravaged by the likes of Croatia, whilst countries such as Bulgaria, Serbia and Lithuania fought them off our lands multiple times. There are debts to pay, both to the ones that helped us and those that seek to destroy us. And they will be paid in due time, this time when we are fully prepared, ranked up and stronger than ever before.