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Edit: Article published in Brazil http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-pol-tica-internacional-rep-blica-checa-2531525/1/20

'Sup peeps?

Recently, someone from eBrazil asked for an interview with me. He is editing it right now into Portugese and doing some weird narrative thing with it, but I figured I'd just post my raw answers here in English (not Czech though suckas ahhhhh) for anyone who would be interested in that kind of thing. Where else would I have to post them anyway? After the actual article comes out in Brazil, I'll give you guys a link to that.

So here it is:

1.) Would you summarize the important events on the recent history of your eCountry? Feel free to explain in detail the history of any of the events if you want to.

I will talk about my major experiences in this country since it is what I can talk about best. For a more comprehensive explanation of our country's history, there are others who have been here even longer than me. I should be able to provide enough for what would be considered "recent" though.

For around 12 straight months before last Christmas came, Poland had our country fully occupied. I was not involved in Czech politics too much until the time when I became president, which coincided with a huge push by the incumbent senior officials in government to finally muster enough support from our alliance and supporters (the now defunct LETO, Asteria). I like to embellish my accomplishments in office, but really, it was the ongoing negotiations that had made our liberation possible. Argentina ended up occupying Poland and allowed us to take our regions back.

During the resource wars, America had airstriked us and told us it was for our mutual benefit. LETO also disbanded during this event, which America used to take advantage of us. They claimed they were no longer under any obligation to give our regions back for security purposes, saying that if we were eliminated, it would harm them in their fight against the ROOT alliance (also defunct as of April 15).

Things then became more complicated. Hungary came in and started a resistance war in Moravia, lending us and our neighbor Slovakia help. They said it was just to help us out and be good neighbors, as well as keep their region secure. Serbia also lent us assistance during these times. Behind closed doors though, our government suspected that Hungary was planning to install a dictatorship within Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and we saw it happen in Slovakia first.

On Day 2663, things came to a head and Hungarian political takeover forces tried to install a dictator, but through some miraculous turnaround, we got some old friends and sympathizers from all across the world to come help us. It was truly wonderful. Hungarian citizens spoke out against the attack on us and their government had to play the whole incident down as a rogue member acting independently of the government in charge (which I think I believe). Since then, we maintain our sovereignty and it's really quite nice. We are even in the NEBULA alliance with our old friends, so that's quite nice.

2.) What are your current military / political goals as CP [dictator, sic.] and how are you planning to achieve those goals?

Our military and political goals are to just be as helpful as we can to our allies. We have a few relations to renew and some diplomats to woo. As far as I am aware, none of us want to go out warmongering and conquering things for ourselves, even though that might be fun. It's a blessing to have a Congress and healthy internal political situation, so we're good with that for now.

3.) How do you see the economy of your contry? How your market is positioned in the global economy?

Our economy is small. Our population is small. We're not going to go out and make the next hot trend on the market, but that's okay. We've got most of what we need right in our domestic market, and we have enough money to maintain our ties with some strong allies. As for how much money we particularly have, that is not something we talk about 🙂

4.) Do you have any best practice you would like to share? Any education success story? A strategic effort that payed [sic.] off?

Best practices and success stories. Well I would advise players going into politics--or life in general--to be courteous and friendly and give people the benefit of the doubt. Especially on the internet, because if someone turns out to be rather unpleasant, you have a lot more recourse in coping with that and learning to build up good tolerances. I've been playing for six years and I have seen my fair share of political accusations, in party politics, presidential debates, alliance meetings, and multi-lateral talks between countries.

When you go out and take things as these big personal affronts to your character or integrity, or worse, go out and make these exaggerated accusations, it doesn't just make the game less fun. It's inefficient. What do I mean? Well people either tend to see this game as merely a performance of roles, or a genuine expression of their ideas and beliefs (and sometimes a little of both). Generally, these two groups have very different ideas of how to play the game and how okay it is to lie in certain situations and all that, so you get a lot of conflict.

When I was younger, I made a particularly unfounded accusation during my time as a politician in Slovakia and condemned the state's government. It was a very vague accusation of puppeteer-ing and manipulation and it could have been true to some extent, but putting it out there as stupidly as I did was very unhelpful and unconvincing. So what am I to do if I suspect foul play?

If I learn specific treacheries first hand (which is very rare for me), I will lay out those facts and say I disapprove. Sometimes I'll hear some scandalous rumor from someone I generally trust, and it will be very tempting to believe it right there and even circulate that information. The best thing though is to take the words with a grain of salt and see how people respond to these accusations. Until then, I maintain politeness and avoid condescending people, even if I may not like them.

Ultimately, you may not like some people, but if you are working with them or are trying to investigate some truth about them, you have to put effort into being humble and not brushing their words off. You might feel they do not deserve your respect and that it takes too much energy to deal with people like that, but you should always be respectful, and you will get the most information out of it and you are less likely to harbor a foolish resentment. It takes practice though to observe and understand others though. Earlier practice is better.

(Editor's [me] note: If you've read my answer about the MPPs with Slovakia before, feel free to skip this part of the story lol.)
As for my biggest success, I always think back to the time where an MPP with Poland was about to expire in Slovakia, and Hungary was preparing to attack. The government thought the situation was near un-salvageable, since they had no money for a new one, but I was Slovakia's diplomat to the United States and Canada at the time. I pleaded earnestly and very straightforwardly explained our predicament and how we couldn't sign an agreement without significant subsidization.

I wrote an article and published it in their country as well, hoping some people would read it and support Slovakia's fight to maintain independence, and what do you know, it became a huge article over in the USA. The president naturally saw it, and he ended up publicly supporting us. Within 48 hours Slovakia secured MPPs with both Canada and the USA with almost full subsidization for both if I recall correctly. It was a great feeling to have been a part of that. It was great that people were so receptive to my article as well, with people pleasantly surprised with such good English coming out of a diplomat from some state in Central Europe.

Needless to say, Hungary voted down the declaration of war against Slovakia.

5.) What concerns you currently? What are the open matters that currently need to be solved?

My largest concern is sort of a looming one, that this game is too focused on war and people are leaving because of it. In this game, war does not destroy capital or resources, but just redistributes them. If anything, war is needed to bolster an economy, specifically the weapons sector. In real life, people have a trade-off between war and peace, but that isn't really the case in game. It is not enough to make the war have more risk, but there needs to also be a tangible benefit to peacetime on the economy.

6.) How do you see your country's relation with eBrazil? Would you have any intention to change that relationship in any way?

I would say our relationship is professional and cordial. They are in Asteria, who are responsible for much previous help. So they are pretty alright in my book. I do not know if there is much I can do to improve their opinion of us, besides my usual antics of trying to be funny and being friendly and open to any direct communications with me.


Warm regards,