Embassy of the South Pacific

[Glen-Rhodes]

-snip-

Sack the statement writer. When I read that statement I got the impression that The South Pacific was nothing more than a disinterested party looking down its nose at Lazarus, not the close ally and friend that numerous people in TSP have claimed Lazarus is.

When the Osiris Fraternal Order's Statement is stronger, when the two regions historically do not get on and only have cordial communication between regions, then there is something wrong.

This advice from Lazarus' self-appointed savior is very welcome. If only TSP ever had the pleasure of being in the presence of such a skilled and calculated diplomat.

... Wait, you're telling me this die-hard Lazarene was with us in TSP? Huh. He moves so fast, I guess it's hard to tell where he is at any given point in time.

[Joshua Ravenclaw]

Thanks for that, Raven. Your constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

As I'm sure you're aware, I've never been one for long-winded statements that are ultimately meaningless. Instead, I've clearly stated our position, have been in personal communication with the government-in-exile and have followed up with action.

Until the gentleman from Alexandria, Osiris (and, any other regions at the moment?) is once again privy to foreign affairs discussions in TSP, I'll ask that he refrain from taking pot shots from the peanut gallery.

Oh you're quite welcome dear.

Thank you for your offer, but I'll be declining. This is a public statement, and I, as a member of the NationStates forum have just as much right to comment on it as anyone else. I'd also recommend leaving my regions out of it, since they have no bearing on my attitude.

Sack the statement writer. When I read that statement I got the impression that The South Pacific was nothing more than a disinterested party looking down its nose at Lazarus, not the close ally and friend that numerous people in TSP have claimed Lazarus is.

When the Osiris Fraternal Order's Statement is stronger, when the two regions historically do not get on and only have cordial communication between regions, then there is something wrong.

This advice from Lazarus' self-appointed savior is very welcome. If only TSP ever had the pleasure of being in the presence of such a skilled and calculated diplomat.

... Wait, you're telling me this die-hard Lazarene was with us in TSP? Huh. He moves so fast, I guess it's hard to tell where he is at any given point in time.

Oh my God you're so right. I should fit myself with a GPS tracker!

[Ambroscus Koth]

The sass-ometer is off the charts, Raven!

[Funkadelia]

-smip-

I really appreciate the support offered by our allies in TSP in ending this coup as soon as possible.

[Tsunamy]

THE CABINET OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC

Statement Regarding the NPO

The Cabinet of the South Pacific was both surprised and appalled by the NPO's claim to the region of Lazarus. This act has turned what might have been seen as an internal struggle into a blatant usurpation of power.

As such, the Cabinet of The South Pacific will be closing its embassy with The Pacific until such time that the NPO renounces its support for the illegitimate government in Lazarus. We would urge all freedom loving-regions to do the same.

The Cabinet of the South Pacific

[Hileville]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The South Pacific

Bulletin: New Cabinet Elected

The South Pacific has concluded Cabinet elections for the term set to begin on December 1st.

Delegate and Vice Delegate
In a race which had 2 former Delegates vie for the regions top political position. Hileville and Vice Delegate candidate Imkitopia beat out Kris Kringle and Farengeto.

Chair of the Assembly
Sam111 a former Vice Delegate best out re-open nominations to become the regions next Chair of the Assembly.

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Current South Pacific Delegate Feirmont has gotten the nod for the regions top Diplomat.

Minister of the Army
Siberian Districts will serve a second term as Minister of the Army. He was the only current Cabinet member who sought re-election for the post they previously held.

Minister of Regional Affairs
The current Deputy MoRA, Scylla will serve as the Ministry of Regional Affairs in the next term.

[Cormac Stark]

Congratulations Hileville and the rest of the Cabinet-elect.

[Pierconium]

Congratulations.

[Hileville]

Thanks!

[Argostania]

Congratulations to the new Cabinet of the South Pacific!

[PrussianEmpire]

Solid results. Hope everything goes well in TSP!

[Hileville]

Statement from the Cabinet of the South Pacific

On the change of forums

The Cabinet of the South Pacific has unanimously voted in favour of a change in forums, under a different forum administration team.

The circumstances that have resulted in this vote for change have been as a result of the improper use of administrative powers by the current administrative team. Such instances include the unauthorized release of confidential information from the High Court, alongside the systemic and rampant abuse of authority by several members of the administrative team. In this respect, the administrators have failed to abide by their own guidelines, as stated in the Administration Policy, as follows:

All forum staff members are expected to act professionally and fairly in undertaking their duties. This means they are patient and reserved, instead of acting rashly and emotionally when taking any action. They are objective in applying the rules, and tolerant of users they may not like very much. All administrators and moderators are responsive to reports and helpful to new players. They are not “the law” and do not wield their authority to intimidate users into submission. Administration and moderating are services given to the region, not positions of high power.

In a separate instance, one that precipitated this move, the administrative team has repeatedly refused to remove the citizenship masking of a member whose citizenship had lapsed, due to not meeting the posting requirements as stated in the Charter, the reason being that this member was on reduced activity, in addition to being part of the administrative team. The Cabinet and the Vice Delegate would like to emphasize at this point in time that the citizenship requirements as stated in the Charter applies to all citizens of the South Pacific, regardless of position, influence or any other arbitrary criteria. We stand firm that this issue is a non-negotiable one. However, in this instance, the administrative team has sought to skirt around the issue by stalling or declining to remove the citizenship masking from the member in question.

In addition, the Cabinet notes that the administrative team have also sought to skirt around the aforementioned incident by bending the rules stated in the Administration Policy. Under the section ‘How Administrators and Moderators are chosen’, clause 4 states the following:

4. Dedication. We want people who put the region first in their priorities. We won’t pick somebody just because they’re administrators on 10 other forums or they’re generally seen as trustworthy. If your first priority isn’t TSP, we will likely look elsewhere. This also means that citizenship is a requirement for being an administrator.

It is in the Cabinet’s opinion that by declining to remove the citizenship masking from the particular member, the administrative team has sought to bend this rule stated above. In addition, the Moderation and Administration Policies are written in such a manner that these policies cannot be altered by any other means apart from a vote taken by the administrative team, causing the administrative team and their policies to be virtually unquestionable by members and institutions of the South Pacific community.

When the current administrative team established these forums, they had sought to create a more open and accessible environment for members of the community. Unfortunately, to date, the results of this promise are largely unapparent. In its place are destructive, derisory and deceitful attitudes that the Cabinet believes are detrimental to the progress of the South Pacific and the community as a whole.

In addition, the Cabinet has voted in favour of temporarily removing border control powers from Glen-Rhodes (Sandaoguo), Tsunamy, and Farengeto to ensure regional security during this transition.

The Cabinet asks our friends and allies for their support of our forum move. We ask for the same support from all residents of the South Pacific. While we did not take this decision lightly, we have decided to do so, with the knowledge that it will help further aid the progress of our great region.

Thank you.

[Consular]

TSP really is the drama Pacific.

Your cabinet has the power to legally neutralise CSS members? Seems to me that rather defeats the point of the CSS.

I see Hileville has managed to maneuver back into being the admin of the TSP forums though, after having been removed not all that long ago.

[Hileville]

TSP really is the drama Pacific.

Your cabinet has the power to legally neutralise CSS members? Seems to me that rather defeats the point of the CSS.

I see Hileville has managed to maneuver back into being the admin of the TSP forums though, after having been removed not all that long ago.

It is a little more complicated than that. The CSS hasn't been removed. The border control power has been temporarily removed. The law that grants that allows for the Cabinet to make changes with a majority vote which we did. It should also be noted that even though the CSS has border control power they are not legally allowed to user it, EVER. Which is an area of our laws that needs updated since passing the Regional Officer act.

[Glen-Rhodes]

The Cabinet has no authority to create new forums, except in cases of the existing forums being inaccessible.

The Cabinet has no authority to remove forum admins, either.

The legitimate Admin Team moved the forums to a new server a little while ago. We did so following a landslide vote in favor in the Assembly. This is after several votes failing throughout the last year. The Assembly is the only body that can authorize the creation of new forums, and Hileville and this Cabinet decided to bypass the Assembly.

Hileville is now the root admin of forums he made himself, and then redirected the domain to those forums.

That sounds like a coup to me.

I'd like to apologize to TSP for my poor judgement in giving Hileville a second chance. I really thought he could be trusted again, and I was wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Unibot III]

If I recall correctly (I'm no longer able to view the Constitution), there's only one constitutional provision (the second provision of the final section? Showoff) which enables the cabinet to unilaterally move forums and it explictly requires the forum to be nonfunctional. It's an emergency clause to use when the forum isn't technically operable - an old legal relic which became important last year when the forum was starting to regularly crash and the Assembly kept voting down attempts to move forums.

While I was certainly a proponent back in the day of codifying measures to allow the Assembly to recall Admins (and I believe Hileville was against those reforms - as was almost everybody else to be fair), I can't see how the constitution would permit this move unless it's been changed since I was a member. The constitution was always pretty clear any move like that needed to be done by an Assembly vote - votes which were admittedly quite difficult and onerous. Only the Assembly could authorize a move of forums or even a change of url address.

[Hileville]

The Cabinet has no authority to create new forums, except in cases of the existing forums being inaccessible.

The Cabinet broke no law moving the forums. The forums will still reside at the legal domain (thesouthpacific.org). The only legal definition of the forums was that they reside at that domain and that has not changed. (yes the zeta URL is being used temporarily until the DNS updates)

This was a vote of the ENTIRE cabinet that resulted in this. With your actions being a large part of the reason a move was made.

[Unibot III]

This was a vote of the ENTIRE cabinet that resulted in this. With your actions being a large part of the reason a move was made.

But there was not a vote of the ENTIRE Assembly, no? Again, I believe the Constitution explictly says in... the third provision (? again, going by memory here) that the Assembly has the sole right to authorize the creation of a new region forum. While no new url was created (thereby satisfying the... first? clause), the creation of a new forum would presumably qualify as the creation of a new forum and run afoul of the third clause if done so unilaterally without the approval of the Assembly.

So then the question remains why the constitutional practice couldn't be followed? Why the Cabinet couldn't have confronted the Assembly with this "self-evident" decision? Presumably the answer is that the Cabinet didn't think the decision would pass in the Assembly and so they decided to acted extra-constitutionally and are now engaging in sort of smear campaign in the hopes of seeing it through.

[Riftey]

No? Too soon?

[RiderSyl]

Making a conspiracy out of this isn't going to bring you back from irrelevancy. I hope you do know that.

[Hileville]

(Image)

No? Too soon?

I'll have our in-house graphics team (Imki) touch that up a bit.

[Riftey]

(Image)

No? Too soon?

I'll have our in-house graphics team (Imki) touch that up a bit.

I support that decision. Such a shoddy job aye.

[Unibot III]

Making a conspiracy out of this isn't going to bring you back from irrelevancy. I hope you do know that.

It's not exactly a "conspiracy". It's a pretty naked violation of the constitution, dude. I'm just sharing my legal two cents. At one time I did know the laws quite well, so it's a bit jarring when I see a cabinet document claiming it's acting constitutionally but its actions fly in the face of what's been the conventional and legal practice in the region for over a decade.

Hileville knows what he is doing is illegal, he's not a dumb man and he knows the laws just as well as I do if not better. If he genuinely cares about ensuring the region isn't torn apart, he should consider trying to make amends for this and resolve this crisis in a way that'll generate peace and stability - not future grievances and sectarian vitriol. That means honoring the constitution and the region's laws, offering the olive branch, being the bigger man, all of that cliche stuff and opening a difficult dialogue in the Assembly on the politicization of administration which has, admittedly, been put off for years - there's been protocols for removing administrators via the Assembly considered for years and perhaps something like that will need to be engineered to bring some long-term peace to the South Pacific. This does not seem the way to accomplish that though. This seems like either someone making a mistake or someone with bad intentions or both.

Creating a precedent, where if you just don't like the admins the Cabinet can vote to leave, is a bad precedent for the future - not to mention an awfully illiterate interpretation of the constitution. If we had had that in "my" day in the South Pacific, the South Pacific would be engulfed in even more civil strife than it is now. The constitutional status quo which requires near consensus decision-making for difficult decisions like administrative arrangements is basically what has kept the region from falling apart even earlier. We were forced to live with each other. We knew we had to work together because there wasn't a choice. This jack-in-the-box Hileville's cabinet is opening is far bigger than they're realizing. What happens when the cabinet wants Hileville gone? And the next Kringalia & Glen? When does that cycle end?

[Consular]

Making a conspiracy out of this isn't going to bring you back from irrelevancy. I hope you do know that.

Mhmm good stuff. Randomly snark attack Unibot rather than dealing with his pretty accurate assessment of what looks to be happening here.

[The Silver Sentinel]

Making a conspiracy out of this isn't going to bring you back from irrelevancy. I hope you do know that.

Why the cheap shot? If Hileville and his cabinet circumvented the assembly and violated the constitution then they deserve to be called out on it.