The Economist ~ Don’t believe the hype
Spite313
Dear friends,
I’m just writing quickly to talk about politics and how it can be as potent a weapon as any amount of guns or tanking. We’ve seen recently a rise in defeats for ONE, and this has led in turn to a wave of propaganda in the media.
Let me explain something- this game is cyclical and at times we will lose battles. At the minute we are winning 3-4 and losing 3-4. This is a fairly balanced stage in the game- it just feels bad because until recently ONE was winning everything. But the side effect of these defeats is a rise in dissent and propaganda to encourage it.
EDEN knows that they can’t win long term in a direct war with a superpower like Poland or Serbia, so they changed their tactics. Firstly they used RWs and distractions to pull troops all over the ONE Empire, then they began the process off attacking and picking off small countries with multiple NEs. Firstly the UK and now Sweden are facing this treatment. But make no mistake, this is not because of anything the UK or Sweden has done- this is a political war to try and sap the spirits of ONE members and cause dissent.
I am inspired to write this article by a recent interview with the Finnish president. In this interview the Finnish CP argues that the reason Sweden is being conquered is in protest to the war with Norway, or perhaps a disagreement with Sweden’s leaders. In fact he goes further to say that by deposing the leaders we have now we would somehow secure peace.
Firstly, this is nonsense. Finland has shared a border with Sweden since long ago, and could have invaded at any time. You think it is coincidence that the war breaks out between Finland and Sweden the same time that so many other countries declare NE? Or coincidentally at the time that Romania and Finland argue over ownership of Estonian regions? This was a pre-planned move from EDEN HQ to take Sweden out. It was nothing to do with anything the current government has done, and wouldn’t have happened without military support from Russia and the other TEDEN countries via MPP.
Secondly, ask yourself why Sweden has been at war with Denmark and Norway. Yes there were political reasons, but also because Sweden needs an NE for bonus and also to keep its people happy. The country would be an extremely boring place with no war.
I want to explain why this article and millions more like it have and will be published in eRepublik.
When a country loses a battle, or a series of battles, many citizens look for someone to blame. This is especially true if, like many countries in erep, you are used to winning all the time. The most common people to blame are the CP, military chiefs, and the alliance. You see it all the time in every country- Terra or EDEN. The simple fact is that you can’t win all the time, and more it is not FUN to win all the time. How many countries in Terra or EDEN have never been wiped? How many countries would choose endless peace in exchange for endless security? The answer to both is not very many.
When this tension appears between the citizens and the CP, it is like a goldmine for the opponent. With a few sympathetic words and a reinforcement of blame, you can really mess up a country. Citizens give up, they stop fighting, they squabble amongst themselves. Some units and individuals even go over to the enemy side if it is really good propaganda. What is really dangerous is when people stop thinking objectively. You expect enemy alliances and countries to want to split you up from your government, but they can’t split you up from your sense of reason, only you can do that.
By all means question the decisions your leaders make, and question your alliance too for that matter. Not every decision made by your CP or your alliance HQ will be perfect- but remember that losing battles or regions does not mean you have bad leaders, it just means you aren’t as strong as the enemy are. And there is no shame in losing if you fight your hardest, in the knowledge that you will regain your regions in time.
So to sum up:
Sweden has been attacked from multiple directions, and we face a tough month ahead of us. It is not because of the government, it is because doing so is a good tactical move. They are attempting to pick off a smaller ONE country and hopefully get citizens to blame the loss on the CP and on the alliance. People should stick together, get behind the government and fight hard. Remember, you can remove the CP on January 5th if you want, but you can’t elect the enemy out of your country
😛
My advice is to listen closely to your MoD, join the Swedish citizen army, and wait for instructions. Together you easily have enough men to win in RWs and give EDEN hell
😛In my home country of the UK, we lose battles every day, but we are still fighting and still causing TEDEN big problems- far more than a small country like the UK is worth. Stick together and not only will Sweden survive, we will cost the enemy blood and gold for every inch of Swedish land they take.
Iain
flashback to the 80s
😛
Comments
ianmaxxxxx
kewl
nao you should marry me
sweden oinc oinc
voted
o7
Nice article Keers.
Thank you Iain, you have no idea how good it feels to read this with everything going on in Sweden right now. I've been trying to explain but the opposition in Sweden has chosen to take Finland and Flitshits word and I have to accept that.
I am now being Impeached and it kinda feels good, especially now when I read this. Thank you for taking time to sum things up in Sweden even though you're busy with work in ONE HQ and in the UK.
I've tried to explain it - in the same way you did actually, but I am being shitstormed because some think this is a good time to win voters over.
o7
>this is a political war to try and sap the spirits of ONE members and cause dissent.
Exactly what ONE has been doing for months. I don't see the problem here, and it should've happened long before.
the ONE who fights, might loose.
the ONE who doesn't fight, has already lost.
o/
ONE propaganda.
Don't believe the hype.
Although it's for Sweden, this article has got MACEDONIA written all over it. We have been trough this blaming the CP and paramilitary units fighting for Macedonia's enemies.
Good work pointing things out to some players.
Shout and vote.
Thanks for accepting iran even hungarians didnt want them and now turks hit against us and nobody for us great SG is great
Swedish propaganda!!!
Don't believe the hype.
This has really motivated me and kept my positiveness level to the top.
Thanks for this article and thanks for your support.
I'm glad you admit that UK and Sweden are worthless.
Propaganda is something that used to be done a long time ago, by publishing articles in which the author took the time and bother to write some stuff about either making fun of the enemy (also known as 'trolling' and those were the best articles) or about telling 'cool stories, bro' that if well done, they can be very suggestive for turds/eejits/noobs and mentally-challenged people.
Also, 'we can't always win!' meme and etc, etc....
O7
Hurren durren, borken borken sven?
Nice reading
o7
Keers for eGOD!!! :😃D
UK and Sweden aren't worthless. Like I said ONE is losing battles. Poland, Spain, Sweden, Spain, UK, Iran, MKD... the list goes on. Everyone is having a tough time and it's a difficult time to be a ONE citizen. But if we only stuck together in the good times, we wouldn't be an alliance. My point is that people like Thatcher with Terra avatars posting that we don't care about Sweden or whatever are just enemies trying to exploit losses into political disunity- it achieves nothing but our own demise.
Ernst- you are spamming me constantly over this, but you know as well as me that Turkey was offered membership a half dozen times- most recently last month. They always declined. Iran has always been proONE, and I don't know where you got the idea that a good alliance is one that sells out its allies to whoever has the highest damage. If the price for USA joining ONE was Sweden or the UK wiped I guess you would sell those countries for their membership too? There comes a point where it becomes blackmail- do what we want or we'll join EDEN. That isn't the kind of agreement alliances should be built on. I know it's tough without the damage, but it's better than having our policy dictated to us by selfish people who only care about their own country. I have spent all my life fighting for Hungary, I am sad to see you being so silly about it.
о7
Ernst : no body would tell you disable, or blind or deaf if you dont talk and write !
keep it in your mind
next time i may report you because of breaking an erepublik law 🙂
Didn't UK and Sweden start to get "picked on" after Serbia and ONE were knocked off their perch? The UK mauling didn't start until Poland starting running away from Canada. Likewise with Sweden.
Turkey is pissed because ONE accept iran, and ONE accepted iran because serbs want to troll them, now serbs fight in irrelevant battles while we suck.AT wrote you the Cassandra letter he predicted everything.
And Iran was about to join EDEN two weeks ago remember anti-ONE?
vote and subscribe from venezuela... good article
"Finland has shared a border with Sweden since long ago, and could have invaded at any time. "
Let's not forget how young most of the finnish population is atm. We just got our BB and our babies are propably not strong enough to match swedish tanks. That's a fact - and a good reason why Finland decided to attack now when Russia attacked you.
The spirit of UK is awsome that is the reason i like them.
in won or lost battles we are still....ONE
Ernst von Jacob
Day 1,493, 13:45
1h 18m ago
Thanks for accepting iran even hungarians didnt want them and now turks hit against us and nobody for us great SG is great
_____________________________________________________________________________
I am nobody?
What a BS you are writing! You are in war with little Norway for months. Who is picking on little countries then?? Your alliance even PTO-ed Norway (kick an enemy while on the floor) and Poland, the very land that should be superpower is keeping small countries as NL, Germany or Belgium occupied for months and you write an article in this tone.
Several months ago your leadership was very dishonest and even sent a mole in EDEN rooms. Me personaly, who always LOVED Sweden will be extrenly happy to see your land occupied for lone time.
God Jul på er – nu är det payback time!
Iain running out of pills makes things bad. Iain using wrong pills makes this article....
U seem mad Ian Queers?
Its only a game bro
chill out plz
making friends ?
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/treasury-robbery--1930069/1/20
All Countries of one must kneel themself for big super power Poland and Serbia!!!
All Countries of one must kneel themself for big super power Poland and Serbia!!!
All Countries of one must kneel themself for big super power Poland and Serbia!!!
and if you dont do taht , they are no more friends with you !
AND THEY GONE PTO YOUR COUNTRY!
and if you dont do taht , they are no more friends with you !
AND THEY GONE PTO YOUR COUNTRY!
lol ONE never attacked a country with multiple NEs
true story
>Quick article
>Writes a mini essay
Good ol' Keers (but great article regardless)
I am quite surprised Iain that you chose to write this article, at least that you are using Sweden as an example. See the president Parsons is not very much liked here by a lot of people and that isn't simply because we are losing some war vs the Finns and the Russians. It just so happens that the invasion was apparently the perfect time to stand up and say something.
Sure some random guys who have no big interest in politics may think that it is Parsons fault that Fin/Rus decided to invade and that this would be the reason for his removal. There are however a lot of other, far more serious, accusations against this CP.
In other words, this article feels a bit out of place at least when you use Sweden as an example. The situation with the CP has hardly anything to do with the invasion itself and more with actions done to both our own nation(reserves depleted etc) and our neighbour whom we only some months ago tried to help get rid of PTOs only to see parsons(o co) help the PTOs take over said country.
Ernst, ill write few article about TR these days, 1st dig around a bit and find out what did TR do behind our back and how did they blackmailed every time we had some conversation, not just betwen ONE-TR but betwen any other country in ONE.. me personally was doing my best to get them in ONE for PAST 6 MONTHS, and every time they declined, well fool me once, fool me twice, but third time ull get screwed.. and trust me it wont finish like this, just go back for a while, and remember what did TR do in near past to ONE, u were there and u know it.. yes im sad cause of many friends that i have in TR, but i wont stand blackmailing from TR that lasts for quite a long time now.. so ur comments wont stand here...
o7
I see Romper and Atea need to call 125 !
Firstly to EDEN guys- I am not complaining about the multiple NEs or about you picking on the "little guy". That's just warfare and it's a good tactic. I'm just telling people not to be fooled and to accept that the "you could have avoided this!" attempt to shift blame for the war onto the defenders is a good propaganda tactic and they should be aware of it.
To the Rompers and Padraigs- if you're just coming to troll I suggest you go play on one of the million silly troll articles instead.
Kain- the current domestic popularity of the CP is irrelevant to my point. A lot of people in EDEN are trying to blame the Swedish gov't for what happened, when in reality it's not their fault any more than the UK invasion is Thomas' fault. People can use lots of reasons to impeach a CP, but them losing at battles is not a good one unless it is through incompetence. Lonestar especially is one of the finest commanders in erep and I have fought against him and with him for over 3 years, and he's always been up there with the best. Blaming him for the current situation is silly.
Sweden, Poland, Spain and the UK will all pay for their betrayal of EDEN.
Keers said about 2 weeks ago: "if I had to choose between the UK losing a battle and a region, and (for example) Poland losing a battle and a region, ofc I would prioritise Poland"
Tonight as the battle for a Polish original region was poised at 50/50, Keers decides to hit for UK when they were 65%+ http://i41.tinypic.com/5mha2b.jpg
cool story bro
😁lold
No Ian, you are wrong. Sweden will be erased thanks to your gvt. Thanks to Lonestar among the others and your CP of course and not thanks to the people like Bic De Will, Misho or Toothpaste (those are first that come to my mind). Lets leave your treasony aside but keep in mind thats the main reason EDEN is more then happy to erase you. You wrote it yourself, your CP helped PTO Norway, you think EDEN will stand aside and watch?
And you ppl should be happy to have some real war, altho I'm not happy when I see some snakes crawling again from under the stones.
@Iain, I guess you missed the part where I said that the impeach of the CP has more to do with other things than Sweden being invaded. He is hated in Scandinavia and have given Sweden a very bad rep the past 1 and a half months. The Swedes doesn't like that and so they decided to stand up and do something about it. One might question why they waited until now but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that they finally did something about it.
I agree with you that EDEN are trying to blame the Swedish government although not for the same reasons as the Swedish people. They can blame all they want. I haven't seen any anti-ONE/pro-TEDEN tendencies(other than from some newborn) from the Swedes and I doubt I will so the meaningless EDEN bullshit will remain just that, meaningless bullshit.
@Atea
Yes, Sweden is the only nation EVER to help a PTO, I mean that has never been done with Croatia or by Croatians.. if you hate PTO snakes so much, feel free to clear up your own yard before you blame others...
@Kain
Our relations with Denmark and Norway have not been bad for the past 1.5 months, they have been bad for the last 6 months. If you may remember, Norway attacked Sweden a while before congress election and President Westerberg tried to mess up the entire Norwegian Congress Election that time as well. These problematic relations goes deep and more way back then probably anyone can say, blaming Parsons for all of it is not correct, sure he (and me as well) have a part in it but the list is long if you can to find more names.
I like how you make out that the UK and Sweden are victims of TEDEN's aggression. Truth is that ONE have destroyed nearly every TEDEN member this year and the invasions are only ways of distracting ONE so that TEDEN can liberate countries like Italy and Germany who've been occupied for months.
Atea: Actually, with Toothpaste in charge, I think we would've been erased even quicker. His attitude is about as imperialistic as they come... just that you've sugarcaned the memory of what was once a prominent player in a dominant country. Other than that, you bring valid points to the discussion. So does Ian. The truth lies somewhere in between.
---
Sweden tried to play a game that we do not master (PTO) and Finland saw an opportunity to strike when Rubotia came over for a cup of Absolut. Don't underestimate the politics involved in these events. It's not just about warfare and who made what influence where.
It's also true that the relations towards Norway and Denmark have been bad much longer than Parsons brief time as president. There's no fire without smoke. But the important thing here isn't ONE, Parsons or what taking Ian's crash course in spotting poorly hidden TEDEN propaganda.
It's about what happens within Scandinavia and how it affects her citizens. I honestly couldn't care less about what ONE thinks about this. Scandinavia has always been ours, Denmark's, Norway's and Finland's turf. We've kept this zone reasonably stable up until 2011. Why people decided to fuck things up and why we all let it deteriorate this far, well... that's a better question.
If you think that Finland's CP made a lie and that they truly have alterior motives with their NE against Sweden, well, then I guess we'll just have to wait and see until we're in a position to call that bluff. But putting them as NE when Rubotia is the ingridient smelling the worst in this soup, that only makes it easier for both Finland and EDEN to shift the blame.