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Hello citizens,

This is the first update I've done in a long time, so I hope you find it informative.

Since I've been Minister of Foreign Affairs I've been a bit remiss when it comes to informing the hoi polloi about global events as they do or do not effect eCanada. In part that's because, for a while now, events out of our control have to a degree determined things on the foreign affair's front. In the main this started with the AS and invasion of our territories by Albania, a war we couldn't win alone and, after we were abandoned by our alliance, necessitiated seeking out assistance from Serbia, Lithuania and Portugal to help oust the Albanians [and when I say "Albanians" I just mean Lantrip and his Visa]. For the duration of most of this, it didn't require explanation, all the government's energies were visibly going into the operation that eventually booted Albania out. But I'm sure that was self-evident.



Since the termination of the war with Albania however, things have chilled. We've agreed terms on a longterm rental arrangement with first Serbia, and more recently, Romania, an arrangement that secures our borders and pays us over 200k in rent per month. Although there are a few detracters with groundless arguments against this deal, anyone who's played in eCanada over the last 3-4 years and suffered under repeated air strikes and land invasions should be all too aware we're no longer in a position were we can defend ourselves against the threat of invasion by stronger countries. So our present arrangement with RoSe is pretty much priceless. Plus we get paid for it.





Onto the global stage then.

Contrary to my expectations, the alliance set-up has revised itself once again. After the formation of Asteria/Aurius I thought it unlikely this game had legs for another major shift, but – to a degree – we've seen just that with Argie switching sides, forcing the hand of other countries to declare for the opposition too.

It's precisely Argentina's flip that meant Spain came on the radar of Canada, and the radar of our alliance and our sister-alliance, Asteria.

If you uttered a "Meh" when you saw this law go up erepublik.com/en/main/law/Canada/178017 you'd be forgiven. The North Remembers, after all. We remember the long, taxing war we fought against the Spanish wipe a couple years back when they were a TWO nation.

The resistance that fought against the Spanish was comprised not just of eCanadians, but e😜ats from all over the world, many of whom would eventually come to call eCanada home. And its perhaps inaccurate to call it merely a war between Canada and Spain, as Portugal were intimately involved from the beginning, as Spain targeted ourselves, Portugal and Venezuelan regions to cap their economic bonuses. The help we got from Romania, Argentina, Colombia, MEK and other Portuguese MUs that eventuated in Spain ultimately signing a peace treaty and rental deal cannot be easily estimated. Nor ever forgotten.




The New World, however, is changing, other countries [Argentina/Brazil] have committed themselves to a trajectory that more and more relegates any relationship we once had with them to the dustbin. That's a shame, especially in the case of Argentina, who play the game much as we do, with the onus on enjoying themselves (something many countries in this game have long forget, if they ever had that capacity in the first place...).





The presence of RoSe and all signatories commitment to the region rent means we no longer have to play the defensive game we've played for a long time as we anticipated the next air strike or land assault against our cores. Now we possess a very strong foundation, the sovereignty of our nation is assured, as is our democracy, and as we look to the future, we do so with an eye on offensive wars.

Unfortunately however the long years of decline of Erepublik has left eCanada a shadow its former self. eCanada was always the pluckiest middleweight nation in the game, always punching above its weight, always sacrificing itself for allies, or repaying an old enemy with an AS, and maximising our own enjoyment in the process!

The truth is we're no longer setup to really do that. Our population has dwindled to a handful of players. With our alliance CoTD and extensive use of CO we're probably still a match for a few countries that, damagewise, could be considered our senior. But in the long run any protracted war is unsustainable.

So wars, when they come, have to be budgeted for, and we're talking 1M cc [ at least! ] in the bank if we wish to prosecute an aggressive war overseas – that's if we wish to be assured of landing an AS and not crash into the sea somewhere. So if we're not launching NEs and ASs every other week, you'll know why.





As the sitting Minister of Foreign Affairs, with the responsibility of overseeing eCanada's international relations and maintaining the bonds that have stood the test of time, I'd just like to say: However things change, however the membership of alliances get carved up – the North Remembers. Alliances come and go, but old, true allies will always remain old, true allies. We hope our real allies out there feel the same way.





Quick note: In the coming weeks Serbia (and in all likelihood, Romania) will reset determination in our cores. After that we shall sign a series of MPPs in preparation for war – it is Summer Invasion time after all *wink* *wink*