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In our last article we explored Atlantis’ claims that their war in eFrance is about liberation for eSwitzerland. Indeed the text of the Atlantis Agreement does lay the ground work for such assistance to smaller newly independent nations: Article V.3 of the Agreement states “If a nation that is not a member of ATLANTIS has war declared upon it, a majority vote of 2/3 of the alliance is needed to provide military and/or economic aid to the victim.”

This caused our editor to think about what other independence struggles in the eWorld might take inspiration from such action, and whether there was appetite among the big coalitions for further such liberation activity. There are several sovereign nations which have fallen, and remain, under the firm hand of larger powers including members of both PEACE and ATLANTIS alliances. So do these nations struggling for liberation find any hope from the recent war? Do the grand alliances intend to support any more liberation struggles? With the strength of the new Fight for Freedom module, do the oppressed nations even want outside help? To consider this further we’ll turn our attention to three: eSlovakia, eIsrael and eAustralia.

eSlovakia
In April 13 2008 the Czech Republic annexed eSlovakia during the Slovakia-Czech Republic War. Barely 2 months later eSlovak regions were changing hands again as the Hungary-Czech Republic War saw them annexed to eHungary. Not 2 months after that the eSolvakian regions were again under contest - divided between eHungary and eRomania. Following a spirited resistance movement, Slovakians finally won independence for Central Slovakia in November 2008. However the other 3 regions of eSlovakia remains in eHungarian and eRomanian hands.

With eRomania a large Atlantis ally and eHungary barely hanging on to its own territories (most of which are occupied by eRomania), the chance of a big alliance stepping into to aide the small eSlovak Republic appear dim. A mood reflected by Ohio, eSlovak President: “We have fought a long time to recover Slovakia, so we do not want to be greedy. For now, both Romania and Hungary may keep their parts of Slovakia.”

But according to Adam Zahovay, President of eHungary this pessimism is premature: “Those 2 regions are included in a peace treaty that will be signed soon….when the Romanian President wants it [it] will…[return] the [other] region of Slovakia.”

So it seems for the eSlovaks, at least, peaceful routes to a solution are far from exhausted and they are not, at least for now, calling on any external military assistance.

eAustralia
Since April eAustralia has been under occupation. War commenced on 13th April and by 18th April the last independent eAustralian state of eTasmania had fallen to the Indonesian troops. With eIndonesian invasion came eIndonesian immigration – a kind of ethnic cleansing by stealth, not uncommon IRL. A large proportion of the population emigrated – many to reside with the government in exile in eBelfast, eUK. Others stayed on to try and agitate peacefully for independence from within, forming the Australia Independence Movement (AIM) but failing to win even one seat in Congress.

Since November, an independence war has seen eAustralian fighters liberate New South Wales and Victoria. For now, the e-Australians seem content to consolidate these gains and have signed a treaty with eIndonesia. In this treaty eAustralia agree to forego the option to join any Alliance and promise to join eIndonesia in suppressing any further Fights For Freedom within the eAustralian territories still under occupation. In return, they get the promise of another territory in 30 days time and the promise of further negotiations after that with the ‘possibility’ of further territory recovery.

Interestingly there is one potential loophole in the text of the agreement – eAustralia is obliged to have MPPs with eUK AND eIndonesia. In the context of the wars between Atlantis and Peace, this places eAustralia in a potentially difficult position: if eUK and eIndonesia come directly to blows. That said, given that the war module currently demands that warring countries share bordering territories, such a conflict is highly unlikely.

So whilst on the face of it there may be great scope to support eAustralia with sympathisers in several of the great nations of the Atlantis coalition, there is neither the prospect of Atlantis coming to the aid of the eAustralians nor indications that the eAustralians even want such help.

eIsrael
Perhaps one of the saddest moments of eRepublik history has been the story of eIsrael. eIsrael was invaded by eTurkey and conquered on April 16, 2008 during the Turkey-Israel War. So far not so bad – this happened to many countries in April. However what followed brought eRepublik the closest it has been to genocide. According to the (disputed) Wiki history of the ‘Jewish Genocide’, shortly after the Turkish invasion “…up to fifty-five displaced Israeli citizens succumbed to the Turkish genocide attempts…Turkish markets were emptied of goods during the genocide, keeping the poorest citizens from being able to sustain themselves. As the Israelis had no Turkish lira (TRY), they were the poorest citizens and therefore were killed as they ran out of food and were unable to leave the country.”

In August there was hope that President Phaedrus Lidox and the Ambrotos Byzantium Kratos Party of Turkey would grant independence for the Israeli provinces, there was also a full and public apology for the genocide. However President Phaedrus’ rapid demise at the hands of the Admin Court cut short this initiative. There had been hope that V1 would bring independence for Israel, but again this appears not to have happened. With the recent takeover of eGreece by eTurkey it looks as if that there is as yet little mood in eTurkey to turn back from its imperialist ambitions.

President Iverus of eTurkey declined to answer questions for this article, however the leader of the Jewish Unity Party, Badaboom, did kindly agree to answer questions and his view of things was optimistic: “…[as] At the last month…we were going [through] a diplomatic negotiating about eIsrael's independence. At the last week a contract was made, a contract both sides agree on…eTurkey's goverment had posted an article referendum that ask eTurkey's citizens what they think of this subject”. The referendum closed at a dead tie – so the citizens of eTurkey wait on the President to make the final decision. When questioned about whether he would welcome Atlantis support, Badaboom did not see much scope for this. President of eUSA, Ben Dover, answered this question in pragmatic style: “…Liberating Israel and Greece is impossible for the US. We have no borders with them, and would need to go through a decent number of countries just to get to their home land.”

The contract for independence of eIsrael can be viewed here: http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-neml-israil-referandumu-707238/1. From reading this, it appears that eIsrael will be paying a heavy price for self-determination – they need to buy independence for two regions (total 250 gold) and they have to recognise eTurkey sovereignty over the rest of their lands. Nonetheless with potential allies too far off to assist and the costs of armed struggle high and unpredictable – one can understand the attraction of peaceful means of independence no matter how high the cost.

Conclusion
So it appears that despite the headlines of this current war in eFrance, neither the grand alliances nor the occupied countries see much scope in further externally supported liberation fights – at least in respect of eSlovakia, eIsrael, and eAustralia. The barriers are both financial and practical – until the war modules are changed to allow fights that support wars in territories without shared borders.

For now, it seems that the greatest hope for citizens of the occupied countries comes not from the large alliances but from a mix of spirited fights for freedom and hard negotiating with the occupying nations.



FK





Notes:
1. The writer would like to thank Mr Prime Minister Dishmcds, Mr President Badaboom, Mr President Ohio, Mr President Adam Zahovay, Mr Party President Badaboom, and Mr President Zaney for their participation in preparation of this article. President of eTurkey was also contacted, but declined to comment.

2. If you like this article – please subscribe to this newspaper and receive notification as soon as articles are published. Contributions from other citizens are always welcome (although they may be edited!) - if you would like to contribute, please message to the editor via eRepublik message system, or send an email to fk.franz.kafka@gmail.com.