Meet the Candidates [OPEN, ATTN Noctur]

[Radiatia]

This is a repeat of This Thread and This Thread. The rules of the thread are that your post must take the form of a foreign journalist asking a question to the Presidential candidates. Questions can be about anything that you might ask a Presidential candidate, ranging from domestic issues, to foreign policy, to economic policy.

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SBC Studios
Exegrad, Alayenia
Radiatian Federation

Radiatians were known to be many things. Interested in politics was not one.

And yet, it was hoped by the SBC network executives that the fact that this was perhaps one of the most bizarre elections in Radiatian history, the match-up between incumbent President Angela Pavlovic and the complete political unknown Premier Jaagen Autenberg might be good for ratings.

Neither candidate was particularly popular - President Pavlovic had ascended to the Presidency after the impeachment of the wildly popular Gregori Fyoderov. Her administration's birth in scandal had since been mired by a number of foreign policy blunders that saw a notable decline in Radiatia's international prestige. And there was the added fact that she was a woman, who had previously been nicknamed "PMS Pavlovic", in a country that had long been known in some parts to consider women property, rather than people.

On the other side of the coin was the 72 year maverick redneck from the rural northern state of Diatara - Jaagen Autenberg. Many of his opponents were, justifiably, able to question whether he could read or write, let alone if he was fit for the role that was frequently described as the most powerful in Noctur. His vague, homespun, populist campaign had already overcome that of Melina Forst, who had previously been the favourite to gain the Social Democratic Union's nomination, and yet since then he had spent the campaign making a number of gaffes including stating that Radiatia had been better under the old communist regime, to referring to racial minorities as "chocolate face foreigners".

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For the Pavlovic Campaign, it was excellent news that the debate was being held in Exegrad - Radiatia's largest city, in the middle of Radiatia's biggest state Alayenia - a swing state worth a whopping 59 electoral college votes.

Polls already had the President ahead in Alayenia - Exegrad's financial elite had always tended towards the Liberal-Conservative Party, while her own social liberalism (in contrast with Autenberg's unpredictability), meant that she was doing well among the middle class suburbanites elsewhere in the state.

"Madam President, the polls have you ahead nationwide and ahead in Alayenia by a wide margin," One of her advisers told her. "We've done all we can. It's up to you now to take us over the top. Remember - you're the President. Act like it. Show that redneck clown who's in charge."

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Jaagen Autenberg, on the other hand, seemed overwhelmed by the city of 21 million people.

"I ain't never seen a buildin' that tall!" Said the rural Premier for the umpteenth time as he stared in amazement at all the skyscrapers.

"Come on Premier, we're filming on the 52nd floor," Said his aide.

"52nd floor!? Dang it back home where I come from we ain't even got us 52 buildings, let alone one buildin' with 52 floors!"

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Soon, the studio lights were on and the candidates on the stage.

"Good evening and welcome to the LET 60 Presidential debate here on SBC. I'm Norman Wahner, and I'll be your host tonight. Also in the studio we have long time political correspondent and journalism Jimini Kriket, Professor Boris Kahler, head of the Political Science Department at the University of Saku and Barbara Takahashi, a journalist who is here as ordered by the Court following her successful sexual discrimination lawsuit against the network.

"Our candidates tonight include the Liberal-Conservative Party's nominee, President Angela Pavlovic of the State of Clode, who has been in office for three years now and is seeking to win a Presidential term in her own right.

"Challenging her is the Social Democratic Union's nominee, Premier Jaagen Autenberg of the State of Diatara. According to the result of our coin toss, we now invite the President to give us her opening statement."

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President Angela Pavlovic (Liberal-Conservative Party): "Thank you Mr. Wahner and good evening fellow Radiatians,

"This election is about stability and leadership. It's about who you trust you lead our federation over the next four years, in the midst of global unrest and economic uncertainty.

"Right now the Radiatian Federation has never been more stable or prosperous in its entire history. Despite the chaos in the rest of Noctur, we alone are enjoying the fruits of a strong stable economy, low unemployment and low inflation. We are trading more than ever before. We are consuming more, because low taxes mean more money in the back pockets of hardworking individuals.

"And despite the dangerous world we live in, we are at peace. Radiatian troops no longer fight and die on foreign battlefields in pointless wars. We're concentrating on our own country, rather than fighting the battles of every other country for them.

"People are knocking on our door because they know that the safest place in Noctur to be is the Radiatian Federation and we have become the envy of Noctur. Why then would we want to turn away from the path we are on?

"It's time to stay the course. We are on the right path. And under my leadership I promise you that I will lead and govern for all Radiatians."

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Premier Jaagen Autenberg (Social Democratic Union): "When I was a youngan, things sure were different ter how they is today.

"Back then I remember if you was sick, you got healthcare. If you had no house, you got given a house. An' if you had no job you got given a job.

"It ain't like that today, an' I can't help but ask myself why it ain't. We're told it's because o' that there capitalism. Well shoot. I may not have me the best edu-ma-cation, but even I know that our kids today ain't gettin' a fair deal. We're growin' up stupid.

"We're told we're the richest country in Noctur an' yet I ain't seen none o' that money, and nor did the man I saw on the way here who was sleepin' on the street.

"I don' think we should be continuin' like this no more, an' I say dang it, it's time ter do some things a bit differently, y'all!"

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"We will now take questions from journalists and members of the audience."

[The Arthurian Isles]

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If Jaagen was bewildered by Exegrad, he was not the only one.

The city was home to over twice as many people as the entirety of Arthuria. Egilfjorður, the largest city in the Isles, was considered huge with a population just over one million and a number of ten-storey office buildings. When she went there to report on business stories, Trausti Sigurðardotar felt as though she was at the very heart of a thriving metropolis. But even in Arthuria's financial centre the pace of life was slow. Financiers walked by in sharp suits at a sedate pace, talking to their colleagues about anything but money. Watching them from cafés which flanked the central streets were shoppers or loungers who took pleasure in simply sitting and observing the world around them. Trausti always found al fresco cafés to be rather optimistic in Arthuria. Egilfjorður lay just south of the Central Belt - a strip of alpine forest that ran across Arthuria's largest islands - but that could not disguise its proximity to the Antarctic Circle. Winds bore down from the uninterrupted southern mountains and the temperature barely reached above 20 celsius; outside of the summer months it hovered just above zero, if it could break freezing. Thus when she saw diners choosing to eat outside in their admittedly stylish overcoats and scarves, she could not help herself but laugh a little inside. She could never be as carefree as they.

Yes, life was slow and communal in Arthuria. In most city centres the fastest things were the bicycles which rolled gently by in their tens along plentiful cycling lanes, made safer by an absence of cars in the busier of places. It was easy to live a more relaxed life when there were so few concerns in the country. Of course, Arthuria had problems which drew the attention and ire of much of the public, but by comparison to the troubles of some of their Nocturian neighbours there was very little to bother about. War did not loom as it did in Karas or the Poldanian border. Inequality of opportunity was present but was the focus of much governmental attention and was slowly being combatted. The economy was certainly beginning to weaken as war-torn countries to the north healed, but Arthurians did not define themselves by their wealth; as gloomy predictions emerged of a coming downturn, they peered over the precipice and then launched themselves down on their skis, ready to do what needed to be done to adapt. Yes, the peculiar little country had its own way of life, which was part of the reason it had a tourism industry at all.

All these peculiarities meant that when Trausti arrived in Exegrad to cover the election she was awed by the scale of every single thing. The buildings grazed the sky in such a way that she had only seen done by mountains in Arthuria's south. The food came in vast portions with so much grease that she began to pine for fermented shark, a peculiarity of her homeland but nonetheless something she never thought that she would crave after. The people walked with such purpose and in such great crowds that she could get lost on a single stretch of pavement. Thrice Trausti was almost run over when she went to cross the street, only to remember in a hail of horns that cars penetrated deep into Exegrad in a way unthinkable in Egilfjorður or even Vestmannaeyjar. The city was a living monument to a capitalist Radiatia. So uninhibited it was that it could serve as a monument for the free market across all of Noctur. Energy and chaos do not usually make good bedfellows, but in Exegrad they were tempered under the guiding force of the market, which gave everyone a direction - money. It yielded results on a dramatic scale. For a country whose scale was much smaller than Radiatia's, any Arthurian would be left aghast at such a place.

A presidential debate was therefore comparable to a spa day in the middle of Trausti's working holiday. Whereas she had felt lost in the expanses of the Radiatian capital, she could sit at home in the debating chamber in an environment familiar to any journalist. What was less familiar to her was the type of politics she was seeing acted out in this election. There were so many superlatives, so many definitives, so many rhetorical phrases. If this sort of politics were to be transplanted into Arthuria no-one would know how to react; Arthurians were used to compromise, fact-backed arguments and an ingrained resignation from the politicians that their country was nothing special. It was in this vein of thought that Trausti raised her hand to speak when the time came for questions.

"Sæl. Trausti Sigurðardotar from The Figaro." She spoke with an unmistakeable Arthurian inflection¹; the consonants were hard and biting and every sentence had a deep but melodic intonation. "Our readers are interested in two things: firstly, what are both candidates' policies concerning environmental protection and global initiatives to implement them? Secondly," she paused for just a second to collect her thoughts, wanting not to embarrass herself in front of the world's press, "how do each of you propose to bring stability of expectation to the region after the recent chaos?"

She sat, fingers hovering over a tablet ready to type up the responses word-for-word. In her lap, her phone was recording the entire debate. She would make sure that it was The Figaro which dominated the reporting of this election in Arthuria. Damned be The Ciceronian if it was the one to publish another exclusive.

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¹ An Arthurian accent is similar to Norwegian or Swedish with that unmistakeable South African harshness. Speakers tend to have deep voices. Though the written language is based around Danish and Icelandic, the accent most certainly contains no trace of either.

[Radiatia]

"Our readers are interested in two things: firstly, what are both candidates' policies concerning environmental protection and global initiatives to implement them?

President Angela Pavlovic (Liberal-Conservative Party): "An excellent question.

"My administration has done more than any other Radiatian administration in history for the cause of environmental protection. I signed into law the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, I increased funding to the Federal Ministry of Environmental Protection, I supported a major campaign to clean up Radiatia and supported educating our young people on the science behind climate change.

"I'm not oblivious to the facts. Is it a global issue? Yes, but I'm also aware of the fact that the Radiatian Federation is far the biggest polluter in Noctur. You've probably seen the dark clouds outside here in Exegrad? Except it's actually a sunny day here, that's just how thick the smog is.

"Is it time to transition towards a clean energy future? You bet. That's where the future is, not just environmentally but also economically. Radiatia cannot afford to be left behind in the race for green technology."

Premier Jaagen Autenberg (Social Democratic Union): "Ayup I heard somethin' about that there clean energy,

"Well I'm gonna put up tariffs to stop that there clean energy from comin' ter Radiatia an' destoryin' jobs in our oil and gas industries. I know a lot o' folk where I come from rely on them there industries an' I'll be damned if I'm gonna let some hippy foreigners steal 'em away.

"Now I don't know if you've ever been here in winter, but it's also dang cold. The more carbon we done produce the more global warmin' happens an' that's gonna help poor folk save money on their winter heatin' bills so I say burn that coal, the carbon and let global warmin' happen!"

President Angela Pavlovic: "You must be joking. That is the stupidest thing I've ever..."

(Her comment is drowned by cheers from the Radiatians in the audience.)

Secondly," she paused for just a second to collect her thoughts, wanting not to embarrass herself in front of the world's press, "how do each of you propose bring stability of expectation to the region after the recent chaos?"

Premier Jaagen Autenberg: "Well miss I say how the dang hell is that my problem?

"My campaign slogan says 'Radiatia First' an' that's exactly what I'm gon' do. If Radiatia goes an' blows up some foreigners, we're told we made the world more dangerous. If we all stay at home eatin' Greasy Joe's, we're told we didn't do enough an' made the world dangerous.

"I think I speak for a lotta Radiatians when I say I'm done with that. You foreigners can do whatever the dang hell you want to each other. I'm gonna concentrate on makin' sure Radiatians are taken care of.

"But don't get me wrong, if anyone thinks that Radiatia's weak, well, when I was 20 I remember we done nuked some country to stop them invading us. That country don't exist no more. An' I'd be perfectly willin' to do that again, an' I say that as a warnin' to countries like that there Hadey country an' Zigzagland."

President Angela Pavlovic: "Premier Autenberg's detailed knowledge of geopolitics never ceases to... ugh... amaze me.

"I've of course worked in international politics all my life, including before I entered domestic politics. I was the Deputy Chair of the Humanitarian League and worked with other organisations and NGOs to ensure peace and stability, as well as solving issues such as poverty and inequality.

"The reality is that the root cause of our current levels of instability is poverty. It's competition over resources that are scarce. It's also a problem of a lack of education - charismatic leaders are able to exploit gullible, uneducated populations into proverbially following them off cliffs.

"But if we can work on strengthening and interconnecting the global economy, then the need for war becomes obsolete. Why would you attack someone you depend on economically? Globalisation will be the key to preventing conflict."

[Segland]

For a Seglander who had been to Radiatia only one other time, almost 30 years earlier, Georg Mihailian saw it as a miracle that he was able to sit down and eat at a Seglandic bistro in the middle of Exegrad -- and converse in real Seschespek with the owner, to boot. He had no issue with the Radiatian language (in fact, it was oddly similar to that of Segland, with its Germanic and Slavic influences), but he viewed it as clearly inferior to the likewise complex Seschespek tongue. Not to mention it felt a bit more like home when he could speak it while digging into a platter of bratwurst and swigging some Seglandic import lager.

Yet on his other visit to Radiatia, during the Haussmann Nathus presidency, there was no trace of anything Seglandic in Exegrad. And if it wasn't in Exegrad, it certainly couldn't have been found in the other, more... rustic parts of Radiatia. Those were the years, after all, when anti-Seglandic sentiment was at its highest across the world. In concert with the fascist nation's rise as a regional power, the true nature of the monstrous abuses of the Anatheon were coming to light. Many in the world were realizing that the Demarchists might not just be bizarre, localized political ideologues, but rather that they might pose a dramatic threat to global peace and stability. Those were the years when Radiatia first perceived an obstacle to their theretofore world hegemony. The Seglandic ethnic minority in Radiatia faced instances of violence at the hands of natives, and Radiatians in Segland endured the same hardships. Hopes for a cosmopolitan, worldwide culture seemed dashed.

But as the old proverb goes, time heals all wounds. While the Seglandic-Radiatian wound was still at risk of becoming infected again, it was no longer the ugly, festering sore that it had been in those dark years. The conciliatory attitude of the Fyoderov administration in particular had done much to help, and many in the Demarchist diplomatic circles were genuinely sorry to see him go in so ignominious a manner. Mihailian himself lamented the fact that Fyoderov's impeachment meant a woman had to accede to the presidency. Surely one of PMS Pavlovic's episodes would start a nuclear war with Segland!

So, after three years now slightly more convinced of a woman's ability to lead Radiatia, Mihailian was ready to meet the Radiatian presidential candidates and make sure they got asked the hard questions. That is, to make sure Angela Pavlovic got asked the hard questions, since the number one goal was to make Jaagen Autenberg look good. The Demarchists considered that an exceedingly difficult thing to do, which was why Mihailian had been instructed to just attempt to make Pavlovic look even worse in comparison.

Pavlovic and Autenberg finished their replies to the queries from the sonorous Arthurian woman. Georg Mihailian, looking spruce in a slim charcoal suit with fleur-de-lis necktie, stood up and recited a question of his own (or at least of the Seglandic state media).

"President Pavlovic, Premier Autenberg: what will you do to minimize the occurrences of devastating and humiliating conflicts -- as well as the humanitarian crises which stem from them -- as exemplified by the recent wars in Algrabad and Karasia?"

[Radiatia]

"President Pavlovic, Premier Autenberg: what will you do to minimize the occurrences of devastating and humiliating conflicts -- as well as the humanitarian crises which stem from them -- as exemplified by the recent wars in Algrabad and Karasia?"

President Angela Pavlovic: "The implication in your question is ridiculous. You seem to believe that Algrabad and Karasia were somehow the fault of the Radiatian Federation.

"You realise that the Radiatian Federation has not intervened in a military conflict since the Keldon Silviu Administration? We've never picked a fight, we've never threatened anyone unless we've been threatened first.

"There's nothing Radiatia can do to prevent conflicts like this. The question is whether we should involve ourselves and the answer is no.

"That said, we do have a humanitarian role to play, which is why I allowed the resettlement of one million Algrabadi refugees into Radiatian territory.

"But just as one a domestic scale we need to stop assuming that government is the solution to everything, internationally we need to stop assuming that Radiatia is the solution to everything.

"But as we all know, Segland is funding the Autenberg campaign anyway..."

Premier Jaagen Autenberg: "Dang it, that ain't true Miss President! We ain't got no money from that there Zigzagland!

"I say what I've always done said: Radiatia First. I'm gonna bring our troops home, an' I don't just mean wars. They closed down some military base in that New Tar country an' I say well, it's time to pull out of our alliances and bring people home.

"Time to become one o' them there neutral countries.

"But I say letting all o' them brown people into Radiatia was a mistake. I just don't trust 'em. They eat different food to us, look different, talk different an' have crazy beliefs about magic folk who live in the sky. It ain't right ter do this when we still got homeless people in Radiatia."