Join the new world

A few people were concerned when I stated in my last article that we may never truly meet good allies out there in the world. Based on what I have seen out of this region, and the eWorld atmosphere, I stand by this sentiment.

The Philippines has searched for allies on multiple occasions. Sol was the biggest venture, which eventually helped dissolve the previous bonds of the Asian allies with strife, especially with Australia. Let us not forget the PEACE and PACMAN eras, however, as well.

But let us look our regional neighbors and international ‘allies’ of the past before we pass full judgement.

Malaysia
During the Sol era, Malaysia and the Philippines were practically inseperable. Our Presidents were in constant communication--the Philippine President was extremely welcome into the Malaysian government, and often was present during each of their cabinet meetings and secret rooms to help plan the Sol Wargames [or Southeast-Asian War Games, as they were known Pre-Sol] and Anti-Take-Over Operations. On multiple occasions the Philippines stepped into help Malaysia fight Indonesia by taking land at critical moments to protect initiative, and Malaysia held onto territories of ours to pull PTOers off the ballot. Without their presence, we could have fallen to the 888chan PTO in March of 2010. After the era of Nagyzee in Malaysia fell, the country descended into chaos, with a large Serbian PTO that eventually ended in Operation Tuk-Tuk by the United States Military to free it, and the relationship with the Philippines faded into the background.

In an effort to bring it back around, PACMAN was launched after the SEA Union [A plan to merge Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore into one supercountry] idea was shot down, but eventually fell apart due to the unorganized nature of Malaysia’s political climate now present. The previous era of sacrifice and cooperation had ended, and we have parted our separate ways.


The original SEA logo.

Singapore
Also very politically close during the Sol era, Singapore was the epitome of democratic-centered ideals (which eventually drowned Sol in procedural red tape, but that is another story for another time). Singaporean citizens supported SolDiers in a way that not many other nations did, including even the Philippines.


The original SolDiers banner, which I presented when we came up with the idea.

Months later, Singapore came out staunchly against the SEA Union plan, and bogged down the PACMAN alliance process, demanding concrete numbers that were impossible to provide, such as funding costs for troops, despite repeatedly stating over and over again that the troops would produce their own goods, so that their net cost was 0. The only thing we ever asked for was SGD to run soldier communes, and the soldiers to actually run a Singaporean branch of PACMAN. Obviously, this never happened. They later won two defensive wars against Malaysia, and still hold onto Peninsular Malaysia. To say that relations have broken down between us and them is to say the very least. It should also be noted that Jelly9473 conducted a ‘lulz war’ that was coordinated with their government against Singapore, however, the populace was never properly informed (it was to increase activity) that it was, in fact, for this purpose and not overly serious, which I still regard as a long-term mistake.

China and the United States
Back during V1, you could retreat regions, which allowed for ‘land swaps’, or pre-arranged changes in the ownership of regions. Since the United States was doing its best to free Indonesia-Hungarian-Serbian-Iranian occupied China at the time, but was allied with them through MPPs, they could not travel through Chinese territory to attack their enemies, since that would involve having to be at war with them. We offered a solution--the Philippines would act as a middle-man, at war with both China and the United States, which would allow us to attack Chinese territories, them retreat them to us, and then have the United States attack that same territory, now held by us, and we would retreat it to them. It was due to this ability that the United States was given a vast amount of mobility through Asia, leading to the freedom of both China and India from foreign occupation at the time. It was due to this that Indonesia eventually attacked us to prevent us from giving her enemies the tools to destroy her, wiping us. US President PigInZen came in and rescued us, and Slothen and Angelini earned their first Resistance War medals freeing us from occupation.


The Philippines on February 14th, 2010 in the midst of landswaps.

This stands out as an example of the best relationships we ever had with our allies. We each conducted ourselves with honor and integrity, put risk on the line, and came out strongly for each other. Of course, after the land-swapping functionality was removed, the Philippine’s usefulness quickly diminished, and the relationship faltered. In fact, China’s President recently declared us as their Natural Enemy without any previous alert, and frustrated many of our citizens with the lack of communication, especially regarding the priority of military battles, and what RWs were allowed to be won.


The Philippines on March 7th, 2010, or 3 weeks after the first photo.

Indonesia?
Back in the day, Indonesia was always to be feared. We were scared stiff of them, and we still are to some extent, but for the past few months they have been exceedingly kind to us, or about as kind as Indonesia has the capacity for. When they wished for Mindanao to secure Iron when the new resources came out, they laid it plain that they did not want to take out the entire nation, and paid for an expensive war for land-swapping it to themselves peacefully. They asked ahead of time for Visayas to get into Colombia after our war with them ended, and our relationship grew a bit closer as we treated each-other with mutual respect. Even now we have agreed to not swap China through us again, and they will surrender their hold on Mindanao in favor of Colombian iron.

Indonesia has significant real-life problems with Malaysia, and our close relationship with them in the past months provided an extremely large hurdle to extending the relationship out further with Indonesia, however, Malaysia has fallen out of our radar, so to speak, and the opportunity to get along better with Indonesia are also there.

However, it is important to recognize that there is a disconnect between the leaders and the populace in Indonesia. The populace is focused on conquest, of long-ago allies and an ever-expanding empire, that remembers the tales of when Indonesia spread across every continent known to the game. I can think of few others that can say that they have accomplished this, but it is a harsh reality that Indonesia is not the world-breaking power it once was. The elite recognize this, and try to bring reality to those that refuse to see it, but sometimes they are drowned out. It is unfortunate that they can sometimes be unstable, but if they are able to divert their energy from China and the US into other affairs and lead to working together, we could see them becoming more important to us.

Taiwan
During January we reached out to Taiwan, and they responded relatively positively, even showing light interest in PACMAN. They eventually applied for PANAM, however, and the language barrier was significant, so we have never acted as one in the real world and on paper, though actions speak louder than the label you wear. For several days the entire Taiwanese military was in the Philippines, fighting off Colombia, which proved to be pivotal to our victory. They eventually had to leave to secure their war with South Korea, but they were there when we needed their help. I would greatly recommend the current administration to reach out more on this front.

The Moral of the Story
In the past, we have met good allies, and not-so-good (see: Sol), however, most of our relationships with all of our neighbors have changed these past few months, for better or for worse. It is a shame that we have to be a highway for our neighbors to tread over to beat each other with sticks on each side, but, alas, this is what the game has given us.

But what makes a good ally, anyway?

1. Consistency. You have to know that they will be there for you, and back you up when you are about to do something risky.

2. Respect. If you go to your ally and explain something you would like to accomplish, and they believe it is a bad decision, you should know to trust that they have your best interests in mind and respect their opinion. If they feel strongly about it, maybe it is time to rethink the plan.

3. Communication. This is where countries always, always falter. You have to be in constant communication with everyone that could possibly help you achieve your goals. I firmly believe that it is not unreasonable to invite a foreign ally’s President into a secure room with your cabinet on a regular basis to discuss military, foreign, and even domestic affairs. There is this attitude of secrecy that seems to follow elected officials around that is unjustified. Quite simply, the more heads on a problem, the better.

4. Trust. You have to be able to depend on each other, and know that they will be there for you, even when you make a mistake.

Here is hoping we can find that again someday, and be the same for another.