Hello From The USA!

Day 711, 17:14 • Published in Australia USA • by George Barker

First, the mandatory picture of a hot Aussie babe:

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Next, I'd like to say howdy to our friends down under from the US. I know some of you are a little peeved at us for our perceived "arrogance;" I'll get to that later. First, though, I want to tell you what we think of you guys: we are happy as hell to have you as allies, and happy as hell you are going to get a chance to play this game to its fullest -- fight in wars, make alliances of your own free will rather than follow the dictates of Indonesia, enjoy the fruits of your excellent resources, develop and expand your citizen base: in short, be FREE. That's what you are now, and while I can't promise what will happen in the future, I can promise you this: the US and EDEN will do our utmost to make sure you stay that way.

OK, so let's address the problems. Some of you are mad at EDEN and the US for our "arrogance" in handing WA over to you. If you understood the position we were in just a couple of months ago, you would realize arrogance had nothing to do with it. A couple of months ago, the US was down to one region, Florida, and everyone was expecting us to be wiped off the map. The Indonesians, who are usually so careful to present a cheerful and modest face to the world -- particularly to you folks, whose regions helped make all their conquests possible -- were gloating, bragging about their position in California and their "vacation homes" in Hawaii, generally behaving in an arrogant fashion that many of you would associate with us Americans rather than the Indonesians. We were able, with some luck, some skill, and the indispensable help of our EDEN allies, to turn the tables on them, and eventually recapture all our regions. Partially as a result of this, Indonesia began collapsing -- their population dropped by a third, from around 3,000 to around 2,000, friction developed within PEACE, Russia demanded WSR -- the richest region in the game -- back, Indonesia, after some foot dragging (sound familiar?), agreed, leaving Karnataka and WA as their most valuable regions. Seeing our opportunity to further marginalize our former occupiers, we struck, and removed WA from them, giving it back to you in the process. Some of you feel put out by this, most seem thrilled and relieved, but I hope everyone realizes we did it because we felt we had to -- the experience of being reduced to one region taught us we have to play the game with some ruthlessness if we are to survive. I assure you, "arrogance" had nothing to do with it; from our perspective it's a matter of survival, the opportunity to grievously wound a country and alliance that would like to destroy us, and has come close to doing so in the past.

That isn't to say that we ignored you in our calculus. We hoped and trusted you would appreciate getting WA back in the process, and in fact, EDEN was in constant communication with your PM, informing him of what we were about, and getting Oz's input on our actions. This was not, in short, a unilateral move by EDEN to shove something unwanted onto the Australian people, far from it. It was intended to be what I hope every fair-minded person will eventually come to see it as: us recognizing that Australia and EDEN/USA had a mutual interest in removing Indonesia from WA, having the opportunity to do it, and taking advantage of that opportunity, with the full knowledge of your government.

That's about as well as I can explain our actions; Aeros does a much more thorough job of explaining it here, if you weant to read more.

Well, that's the past. The important thing on the minds of many of you, though, is the future: what can you expect from this alliance? Can we protect you from Indonesia?

Q5 wimminz break:

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If you want to know what you can expect from us, instead of listening to me, ask some of the citizens of other countries. Ask some of the Greeks, or the Israelis, or the Croats, or the Canadians, or the Spanish, or the North Koreans, or the Theocrats. These are all countries that we have helped, some of them after they have sacrificed everything to help us, some others because, as was the case with Australia, we had mutual interests, and from those interests a lasting relationship was forged. We spent thousands of gold to free Greece and get their iron out of the hands of Turkey, and in the process made a friend that has stuck by us through the worst times imaginable, that has fought like tigers for us, that we have protected against PTOs, and that has grown from a country of 100 active citizens to a country of over a thousand, and one that packs quite a wallop in battle at that. Canada, offered a shameful deal to turn traitor against us, chose to fight instead. They lost all their regions, and we saw it as our duty to restore those regions, which we di😛 even when our own states were being conquered, our military was fighting with EDEN's to free Canada and Spain, another country that had been wiped from the map, from foreign control. And we, as an alliance, succeede😛 Spain and Canada are now entirely whole and thriving; Spain's population has doubled; Canada's has gone up by 20%. We Americans have our share of faults, but we also have our strengths: a sense of loyalty and responsibility to our friends is high on our list of strengths, and I think we have demonstrated that in this game; moreover, you have more than just us to rely on, but the entirety of EDEN as an alliance, and EDEN has shown it, too, knows how to stick by its friends, such as Canada, and Spain, and the US, and now, Australia.

The last question you probably have is the most interesting: can we protect you from Indonesia? The answer is, I think so. They are, simply, not what they once were. They have around 2,000 active citizens from a high of around 3,000 before the war started. They've lost the centerpiece of their empire, WSR, and their longest-held jewel, WA. Moreover, they themselves seem to have acknowledged they are no longer a first-class power when they surrendered WSR to Russia, relinquished their holdings in China and fortified Karnataka. They have, like a turtle, gone into a shell, and PEACE is focusing more and more of its resources on Serbia and Russia, its fastest growing powerful countries. I don't mean to imply by this that Indonesia is not a threat, because they still have a good income stream from Karnataka, and an excellent cadre of tanks to fight with. They can, properly funded, put up a lot of damage, perhaps more than my country can in a single battle. But your security doesn't rest upon my country alone. It rests on the prowess of countries like Romania, and Poland, and Greece, and Croatia, and Canada, and Sweden, and above all now, on the prowess of your own citizens, who will -- very soon -- get a chance to develop their fighting skills in wars that mean something, rather than in training wars. And real wars are -- take my word for it or ask any of the many Australians who came to fight for us during WWIII -- a lot more fun than training wars, and have the potential to attract and keep the interest of new players, and thus grow your population and make you stronger.

Well, that's a whole lot of reading, so I'll quit now. I do, though, want to congratulate you on gaining all your regions back. My hopes for you are that, as a free nation, you will prosper in ways that you could not when you were under the thumb of Indonesia, that your population will grow, your economy will thrive, and your citizens will gain rank, and with it, confidence in their abilities, as they fight in more battles -- and again, battles are coming -- that are of consequence. I hope to see those citizens on the battlefield, and look forward to fighting with them in the days ahead, and watch their country grow into something it never could have become while it was subservient to Indonesia. Just as we had a shared interest in removing WA from Indonesia's grip when we were "neutral" towards each other, as allies, we now have a shared interest in seeing Australia thrive and become more powerful, because together, we can do a lot more than either of us could do alone.