The United Defenders League

[Sovreignry]

Grats to the new Chief.

So first question: Why was the UDL defending NAZI EUROPE tonight? And before you hop on the "individual UDL members" thing, bear in mind two of those "individual UDL members" are Senior Merrymen with one likely to be promoted to Lieutenant, and all three were sitting in your channel at the time.

Welcome to the Chieftaincy. Fun, ain't it?

Let's see, no mention of defending Nazi Europe besides, "Nope, we don't do that." Would seem to make your argument a bunch of bupkis.

[The United Defenders League]

Greetings, members of NationStates!

I am delighted to be giving you this speech, because it means I have won the UDL Conclave election. After 8 weeks of elections, I know I started to worry that it would never end. Nevertheless, it has, and I’m glad I’ve been selected the winner. For those that are wondering how, soon we’ll publish a report, vote by vote, of how things went down in the Conclave.

First off, I’d like to thank a few people. I’d like to thank Solm for being an incredible Chief of the Band during these more than eight weeks, he’s served remarkably. I’d like to thank Ravania, for not giving up the fight to defend even when the UDL around him seemed quiet. I’d also like to thank the members of the UDL Conclave, not just for voting me, but for showing up and participating and caring about the UDL. If thats the legacy that will come out of the Conclave, that you guys will stick with the UDL and make it a better place, then the Conclave just might have been worth it.

I’d like to announce that some of my leadership picks have been determined. Every good guy has his sidekick, Batman and Robin, Abed and Troy, etc., and I’m no exception, which is why I’m delighted that Solm will be serving as my Chief Lieutenant. I’m also glad that Tim will be my Chief of Foreign Affairs, Sovreignry will be my Chief of Public Works and Major Update Head, and Ravania will stay on as Captain and Minor Update Head. I know these guys will do great in their jobs. As for the Lt Corps, I envision some changes and additions in the near future, though I’ll talk more about that when the time comes. There are still plenty of changes left to be made!

On another note, I’ve now seen two Chiefs of the Band serve the UDL, Unibot and Solm, and both have done incredibly. I look forward to following in their footsteps, and will do all that I can to make the UDL succeed. I hope to be able to take the best elements of these two fine leaders, add in my own, and use this concoction to make the UDL great. So lets talk about that.

In many fights, the factions eventually can be boiled down to, with simplification, “good guys” and “bad guys.” In this case, NationStates is no exceptions. It is obvious that the UDL and other defender groups, such as FRA and TITO and SDF and Mordor, are the good guys, whereas the raider groups, are not. Many times the good guys have to simply protect or save innocents. But oftentimes, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure, the good guys have to be assertive to fight the bad guys. So I, Mahaj, can promise the world, the UDL will be stronger in its fight against raiders. Gone will be the time where regions turn raider out of fear of raiders, and in will be the time where NationStates as a community fights against raiders.

The UDL, as a part of being a defender group, is a group designed to provide services to the NationStates community, to better the community. Our main service is of course our defending, but we offer others, such as our public library and our weather forecasting and our magic eight ball. The NationStates community will get to see more of these type of things from the UDL. We’ll provide more databases of information similar to our libraries, more national statistics programs such as our weather, and we’ll revive the UDL WA Mission, to prove help writing and passing WA proposals to those in need.

I’d like to keep this relatively short so I think I’ll wrap it up now. The UDL will again become the best organization in the world, working with the greatest group of organizations, to do the best job in NationStates. I know there have been concerns about my ability to lead the organization, but I hope to show you that those concerns are unfounded.

Thanks,
The Chief of the Band

[Zaolat]

Congrats, Tramiar...

....such as odd... speech coming from a crasher. Oh well.

[Warzone Codger]

Will all posts be made under "The United Defenders League" rather than the personal account?

Guess it helps with the duality between it and "Tramiar"

[Tano III]

Huh, a raider becoming Chief of the Band

This should make for an interesting news article.

[PrussianEmpire]

So confused...

[Andacantra]

In many fights, the factions eventually can be boiled down to, with simplification, “good guys” and “bad guys.” In this case, NationStates is no exceptions. It is obvious that the UDL and other defender groups, such as FRA and TITO and SDF and Mordor, are the good guys, whereas the raider groups, are not. Many times the good guys have to simply protect or save innocents. But oftentimes, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure, the good guys have to be assertive to fight the bad guys. So I, Mahaj, can promise the world, the UDL will be stronger in its fight against raiders. Gone will be the time where regions turn raider out of fear of raiders, and in will be the time where NationStates as a community fights against raiders.

Oooooh, where do I even start in this trainwreck of a paragraph?

It is obvious that the UDL and other defender groups, such as FRA and TITO and SDF and Mordor, are the good guys, whereas the raider groups, are not.

And where do militaries which are neutral or independent or whatever the hell you want to call them fit into this picture? It might be incredibly convenient for your rhetoric to utterly ignore their existence, but they do actually happen to exist. And do the ends always justify the means? Can "good guys" do "bad" things, and still fall within your definition of "good"?

But oftentimes, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure, the good guys have to be assertive to fight the bad guys.

I presume this means that the UDL are going to be aiding in more refounds. Which is all well and good, so long as they actually make a proper effort to ensure that the natives a. Want it and b. Understand the risks. And from what I've seen of defender-aided refounds in the past, that's fairly often not the case. But whatever, I might just give you the benefit of the doubt here.

And how on earth can the good guys be "assertive" to fight the bad guys, if we're going to accept for now the stupid rhetoric? Ask them pretty please not to raid? Or post strongly worded statements denouncing what they're doing (hint, a chunk of the raiders who want to do the most damage get a kick out of these things.) Or do you really mean proactive?

Gone will be the time where regions turn raider out of fear of raiders, and in will be the time where NationStates as a community fights against raiders.

As far as I was aware, those times are already long gone. I dare the UDL to provide me with recent examples of this happening. I can't recall a single example during my involvement in R/D. I strongly suspect that this is more pretty rhetoric, designed to drag people into how they think with a very flimsy grasp on reality.

Part of me, just an eensy tiny bit of me, had hoped that the UDL could use the change in leadership to fix some of the awful crap within the organisation and make themselves a positive part of the gameplay landscape. But I guess I was being just a little bit optimistic there .
(also, hint, proofreading major speeches is good.)

[Corporation de Apple]

Oooooooooooh my god, Abbey.
You didn't.

I love you.

[Drop Your Pants]

It is obvious that the UDL and other defender groups, such as FRA and TITO and SDF and Mordor, are the good guys,

Oh keep us out of that example. FRA doesn't do the "defending because its good" thing

[The Blaatschapen]

Will all posts be made under "The United Defenders League" rather than the personal account?

Guess it helps with the duality between it and "Tramiar"

Huh? It says Mahaj in the speech. Is Tramiar Mahaj? Is that speech using Mahajs name incorrectly?

*sits back and enjoys his popcorn*

[Tramiar]

Will all posts be made under "The United Defenders League" rather than the personal account?

Guess it helps with the duality between it and "Tramiar"

Huh? It says Mahaj in the speech. Is Tramiar Mahaj? Is that speech using Mahajs name incorrectly?

*sits back and enjoys his popcorn*

I may have forgotten if Tramiar or Mahaj won when I wrote it. My bad.

[Ambroscus Koth]

In many fights, the factions eventually can be boiled down to, with simplification, “good guys” and “bad guys.” In this case, NationStates is no exceptions. It is obvious that the UDL and other defender groups, such as FRA and TITO and SDF and Mordor, are the good guys, whereas the raider groups, are not. Many times the good guys have to simply protect or save innocents. But oftentimes, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure, the good guys have to be assertive to fight the bad guys. So I, Mahaj, can promise the world, the UDL will be stronger in its fight against raiders. Gone will be the time where regions turn raider out of fear of raiders, and in will be the time where NationStates as a community fights against raiders.

Jesus "Mad Eye" Moody Christ, man. This has to be the biggest hunk of bullshit I've read out of you in a long time Mahaj, and that's saying a lot. Perhaps you really are Unibot's kid brother.

Abbey ripped apart this monstrosity well enough, so I won't bother adding onto it. What I will say is that now that you've established yourself as the beacon of moral defending, it's going to look really shitty when all of the bullshit the "good guys" won't admit to doing, or in even worse cases, will admit to doing as long as it can fall under the umbrella of good intentions, is inevitably exposed to everyone.

Kicking off your job with a bang. I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Mahaj.

[Cromarty]

Why are you all being so mean to Tramiar?

[North East Somerset]

In many fights, the factions eventually can be boiled down to, with simplification, “good guys” and “bad guys.” In this case, NationStates is no exceptions. It is obvious that the UDL and other defender groups, such as FRA and TITO and SDF and Mordor, are the good guys, whereas the raider groups, are not. Many times the good guys have to simply protect or save innocents. But oftentimes, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure, the good guys have to be assertive to fight the bad guys. So I, Mahaj, can promise the world, the UDL will be stronger in its fight against raiders. Gone will be the time where regions turn raider out of fear of raiders, and in will be the time where NationStates as a community fights against raiders.

As childishly simple as this all sounds, I don't know why anyone is surprised. Because I've heard it all before. In this hilarious "Overview of Defending":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX_6OeN1TR4

(Yes, UDLers, that really is the Voice of your Leader... no further comment.)

I always used to joke Mahaj was a future leader in NS. Well, that isn't in the future anymore, it is current. Which is mildly concerning. I'm wondering if I'm really playing the same game as someone who thinks there are two sides - one of whom "destroys things recklessly" and the other (of which he belongs to) plays NS to "fix things and make them better" - like "a firefighter". I wanted to be a firefighter too. When I was about 7. It's hard to interact with someone you aren't playing the same game as, even if it's a negative interaction. I can see why DYP is already distancing the FRA from Mahaj's attempt to rope them into this puerile philosophy.

Good luck, you'll need it...

[The North Polish Union]

Yay! Now we should finally get more PR scandals, and hopefully they'll be even more hilarious than the ones that took place with Unibot!

[Mahaj]

In many fights, the factions eventually can be boiled down to, with simplification, “good guys” and “bad guys.” In this case, NationStates is no exceptions. It is obvious that the UDL and other defender groups, such as FRA and TITO and SDF and Mordor, are the good guys, whereas the raider groups, are not. Many times the good guys have to simply protect or save innocents. But oftentimes, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure, the good guys have to be assertive to fight the bad guys. So I, Mahaj, can promise the world, the UDL will be stronger in its fight against raiders. Gone will be the time where regions turn raider out of fear of raiders, and in will be the time where NationStates as a community fights against raiders.

Oooooh, where do I even start in this trainwreck of a paragraph?

It is obvious that the UDL and other defender groups, such as FRA and TITO and SDF and Mordor, are the good guys, whereas the raider groups, are not.

And where do militaries which are neutral or independent or whatever the hell you want to call them fit into this picture? It might be incredibly convenient for your rhetoric to utterly ignore their existence, but they do actually happen to exist. And do the ends always justify the means? Can "good guys" do "bad" things, and still fall within your definition of "good"?

In every situation between the "good guys" and the "bad guys", you have groups that try to stake a middle ground. The UDL's relationships with these groups will depend on the individual group itself. Of course the UDL will work with these militaries on defensive missions.

And how on earth can the good guys be "assertive" to fight the bad guys, if we're going to accept for now the stupid rhetoric? Ask them pretty please not to raid? Or post strongly worded statements denouncing what they're doing (hint, a chunk of the raiders who want to do the most damage get a kick out of these things.) Or do you really mean proactive?

Indeed, the better word would have been "proactive". My thanks for this correction.

Part of me, just an eensy tiny bit of me, had hoped that the UDL could use the change in leadership to fix some of the awful crap within the organisation and make themselves a positive part of the gameplay landscape. But I guess I was being just a little bit optimistic there .

If you are ready to characterize my leadership based on one balcony speech, then no amount of actions could convince you otherwise.

[SkyDip]

Bad speech, Mahaj. But good luck anyway.

[PrussianEmpire]

Good luck to you Mahaj. You're going to need it. I enjoyed reading the replies to Mahaj's post. Quite entertaining - and true.

[The Blaatschapen]

Congrats Mahaj.

[Benevolent Thomas]

13 minutes ago: The Best Trilogy is Best of Unibot III applied for WA membership.

Welcome Back

[Karputsk]

Congratulations, Mahaj.

[Vortiaganica]

13 minutes ago: The Best Trilogy is Best of Unibot III applied for WA membership.

Welcome Back

Unibot and Tramiar would be an odd combination.

[Tim-Opolis]

13 minutes ago: The Best Trilogy is Best of Unibot III applied for WA membership.

Welcome Back

*waves*

Hey there,

It's your friendly neighborhood UDL CoFA here too channel the words of Unibot who got repeatedly pinged until he answered this reporter's question.

He's just checking to see if he has a WA out there, since it notifies you of this if you apply while having a current WA nation. Some accounts are being re-arranged, etc. He's got no intention of coming back, and nor does this reporter have any intention of letting him come back

Unibot would also like to congratulate MiniUnib *cough* Mahaj on his recent Election to Chief of the Band, and has already done so in private; as per tradition.

And now, Gameplay's latest Gameshow! Find Unibot's WA Nation! Whoever finds it gets their own secret forum! If he doesn't have one, then feel free to say that!
Telegrams with answers/guesses/speculations can go to Tim-Opolis.

Thank You and have a good night.

[Karputsk]

That was less of a challenge than I thought it might be.

[Tim-Opolis]

That was less of a challenge than I thought it might be.

Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner

The "Unibot needs to stop losing his WA" committee would like to thank you for playing. Your complimentary shipment of Coca-Cola Fukk will arrive by the next Major Update, and your secret forum has been created. The Karputsk Multi-Regional Boardroom of Press Relations is now build. We shall use it for Party Games, and Starcraft II.

Once again, thank you for playing.