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Greetings all. This is the second article in the rude insertions series, for those who didn't read the first, you can do so here. Last time, we looked at the rude intrusions in North America, as Andes and their non-affiliated allies invaded Trumpsville. But, in the recent spate of wars, this was only the second salvo. The first, was actually a coordinated Andes assault on Sweden. A country with one region too many and Venezuela both decided to pre-emptively strike Sweden, to divide Pacifica damage. These attacks took place a couple of hours before the rude insertions in the North of America, and served to demoralise and drain Pacifican nations. Thanks to some help from Allied COs, and some heavy tanking (spending lots of gold to fight a lot) from both sides, this war served as a precursor to the huge wars that followed later that day.

Unlike the rude insertions in the Northern American theatre, these insertions were swiftly undone. As both Uruguay and Venezuela operate on modest budgets, with modest military force, ultimately their tanking was no match for the brute force of COs, especially from Poland. Deployments of Pacifican forces saw Venezuela removed without too much sweat, and Uruguay's invasion peter out after a few days too. However, whilst the invasions have long since been forgotten, their importance in the roadmap to the American invasion cannot be underestimated. First and foremost, they served to demoralise Pacifica, and whilst there have been no public recriminations in the wake of the shocking defeats, the damage it has done to Pacifica relations is not yet clear. It is without question that Pacifica were in two minds about these wars. Whilst Poland, Sweden and Finland mobilised troops and matched their enemies in spending, these wars were not a priority for all of pacifica, presumably as they saved damage for the attacks on American soil that would manifest later that day.

When the dust had settled from the two-pronged invasion on Pacifica, the world was blown away once again, as various Asterian nations decided to simultaneously insert themselves into America, and gobble up some delicious resources. However, this was not the only Asterian insertion. Whilst the vast majority of the world were expected Serbia to invade America; they did something that shocked us all - they invaded Hungary.

Whilst there was heavy resistance in the second attack, ultimately, the world knew where this was going. Serbia would wipe Hungary, but, Hungary would escape the attack and maintain a colony in America And 3 days after the initial attack, they did just that. The Hungarian invasion of America, is where things start to get strange.

Whilst the USA had fought against Serbia, (and for Hungary) in that theatre of war, Serbia, Romania and various other Asteria countries fought for the USA, against the Hungarian invasion. This, is where the global war started to get a little odd. Since this point, whilst there are three clear 'sides' in the war, each are fighting against each other in different theatres, and then for each other in others.

Asteria help Pacifica in some wars, whilst at the same time invading and occupying them in others.
Andes main target is undoubtedly Pacifica, but they are in active wars against both Pacifica and Asteria
Pacifica is helping Asteria against Andes, but, fighting against Asteria too.

The trend is difficult to fathom, but, at the same time, predictable too. Andes is the main focus of both Asteria and Pacifica, and whilst the latter two sides have their own differences, it seems that these differences take a sideburner when an Andes victory becomes possible.

Pacifica is the main focus of Andes, but, Asteria will not be looking to release the regions they hold in America, and they will not be forgetting the training war Columbia granted to Greece.

Asteria is the main winner in this war, as they got American regions relatively cheaply, and minus Hungary (vs Serbia) and Greece (vs Bulgaria) for a few days each, no country has really looked to push them on the battlefield; and no country has really been able to win a battle against them.

Ultimately, these events are not unique to the current makeup of international politics. Wars are zero-sum, and whilst alliance memberships are viewed as static and whole, in fact, it is very rare for alliances memberships' to be singing from the same hymn sheet all the time. Thus, whilst things do look chaotic, in fact, the current cycle of wars is simply a manifestation of the reality of international relations in today's eRepublik; alliances are groupings of countries, but they are not hiveminds. At some point though, something has got to give. I think over the coming weeks a consensus will form, and we will see a return to more rigid differentiations between alliances, as whlilst the current chaos may be intruiging to some; ultimately a functioning majority will form, and once that happens, the other blocs must move to counter it, or risk becoming another one of its colonies.

PS yes I am still MoFA
jamesw