Referendum Hydra

Day 4,955, 14:49 • Published in Netherlands Netherlands • by UNL Congress


Start referendum : 4955 14:49

(English below)
Burgers van eNederland,

De regering in samenwerking met het congress heeft besloten om een referendum te houden over onze huidige alliantie (Hydra) en of wij hier wel of niet bij moeten blijven.

In dit referendum mogen Nederlandse ("volwassen") burgers, expatriates en ereburgers stemmen, het referendum loopt ten einde 48 uur na de start. Het referendum is bindend als een meerderheid en het quorum behaalt wordt.

Informatie
Zie de Engelse versie. (bewust niet vertaald om de essentie van hoe het bedoelt is door de mensen te behouden)



Moet Nederland uit Hydra stappen?
De geldige stem opties zijn:
Ja,
Nee,
Neutraal.



Citizens of eNetherlands,

The government in conjunction with congress has decided to hold a referendum about our current alliance (Hydra), and wheter we should stay or leave.

In this referendum dutch ("adult") citizens, expatriates and honorary citizens are allowed to vote, the referendum ends 48 hours after the start. The outcome of this referendum will be binding if a majority and the quorum is reached.


Information:

Information given by the government:

The reason is if we should we leave Hydra and become neutral or stay in Hydra.
Many of our citizens have expressed their wish for NL to become neutral since they don't feel any connection to Hydra anymore.
NL needs to remain united internally and avoid a real civil war. It won't benefit anyone and it will destroy our country.
This also gives us the chance to choose our allies and enemies and opens the possibilities of joining new alliances in the future. It can open the door to new training wars. But it could mean losing some allies and some respect.


Information given by congress:

As proponent of Hydra and more broadly its partner Asteria I would like to chip in to present the case to stay in the alliance. Or at the very minimum to not do a 180 and become friends with those who we have fought for almost a decade.

After the eNetherlands endured a large period of occupation by Poland starting in 2011, our nation lost a lot of its power and became isolated. Shortly thereafter we found friends in nations such as Serbia and Poland and managed to become free of occupation. After a period of rebuilding ourselves and 'showing off' we managed to join the Asteria-affiliated alliance of Orion - that included later members of Hydra, such as Lithuania, as well. With Asteria dominating global affairs, this was a relatively quiet period of the eNetherlands with ups and downs in terms of our presence.

This changed around 2018-2019 when key players returned to the eNetherlands, whilst Asteria was facing one of its darkest hours being defeated over and over by their enemies - the CODE alliance consisting of nations such as Croatia, Slovenia, Chile, Hungary and others. With the new found activity in the Netherlands we decided to step up in defense of our friends and were active in campaigns in Spain and Iran.

Building upon these relations, in combination with Orion taking a more neutral stance, we were eventually invited to Hydra. This alliance was a perfect fit as it included medium-sized nations that punched far above their weight, such as Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia and later, Spain. Since that time we've been supporting Asteria/Hydra in numerous campaigns (especially air) and fought side-by-side with them against CODE, having fought almost every Code country at least once. The Asteria-Hydra family is still expanding ad organizing as can be seen by the increasing number of Asteria nations. It is not, as commonly told, 'dead'.

In return, we had the luxury of the most privileged position the eNetherlands has ever had, besides the current temporary setback. We had a ridiculous number of Training Wars making us fat in gold, ample opportunity to strengthen our tanks, no genuine threat to our independence and of course, the opportunity to achieve two full sets of resource bonuses. We've built long-lasting loyal relationships with many countries on the Asteria-Hydra side, despite the occassional personal problems that are bound to happen in any group of individuals.

With Asteria-Hydra facing trouble after a 'ban wave' earlier this year, there is a temporary setback of the global domination we're used to being faced by CODE. Yet even the slightest infraction on us we've had in years should not be a reason to dispair. There are still successes around the world, be it small. Nations such as Serbia and Romania are still forces to be reckoned with and have recently freed our fellow Hydra members Lithuania and Latvia and have kicked several CODE countries out of the USA.

The negatives of leaving Hydra, especially as the proponents foresee it to happen, is that we lose all diplomatic relations and respect we have so carefully crafted. The simple fact is that 'turncoats' are disliked in this game and countries such as Paraguay, Russia, Brazil and USA are often ridiculed for exactly that (including by the proponents of leaving Hydra). There will be no help if CODE is not so friendly after all, or when we're thrown in the bin when Asteria comes to remove CODE. You simply don't juist build relations with the opposite side easily, especially when being seen as being merely an opportunist. Just as we would find that laughable ourselves.

The 'positive' of leaving Hydra is a (false) sense of security, being dependent on people that have been our enemy for years and that we have no clue about. It may lead to a temporary liberation of i.e. Western Netherlands but thats an unsure prospect, and we certainly would not have any privileges like we used to have, such as a larger number of Training Wars than we currently have. Protection only comes when we abide by the attitudes i.e. Slovenia has regarding foreign nations, in other words taking a more hostile relationship to our friends.

Refusing to bow down to the dictate of CODE to leave Hydra is not an end-game by far. We have ample financial reserves to weather the storm (and not to let it be stolen by occupiers) and a sizeable numbers of areas abroad to relocate to temporarily. In others words, business as usual. Similar members of Asteria/Hydra such as Colombia, Lithuania and Latvia have done equally - Loyalty pays off.

On a final, personal note. In this game personal relations are most important. Our community thrives because we are a diverse community respected because of our attitudes, friendships and stubborness. Leaving in current circumstances is a bound way to lose that in one click - for what gain?



Should the Netherlands leave Hydra?
Valid voting options are:
Yes,
No,
Neutral.




CoC team
odan en Dirk.Benedict