Balder After Dark

[Jormungandr Unleashed]

https://imgur.com/a/59n1nid

I will keep this brief. Entities in which Balderan officials have placed their trust have betrayed them, and I am here to show off what they have leaked.

This is an album containing selected screencaps of Balder's secret forums. The first is a report from OnderKelkia detailing Balder's side of the conflict between the IJCC and Osiris, including criticism of the way Europeia handled the situation. He uses terms such as "ludicrous", "ridiculous", and "unprofessional" to describe Europeia's behavior behind closed doors. The second screencap is cut from the first to save space.

The third and fourth screencaps reveal what was going on in Balder when The South Pacific terminated their treaty with Balder. It shows a Balder primarily concerned with ensuring the fallout did not sink their chances at securing another treaty with The North Pacific, which was at vote at the time. This isn't anything we didn't know.

The next three screencaps are from a 2015 thread called 'TNP to cut ties with us", wherein Balderan officials appear more concerned with the optics of losing a treaty with The North Pacific than the value of the alliance itself. On the second page, Andrew commits espionage against The North Pacific by discussing matters from their private forums, and no other official raises this as an issue. History repeats itself: The North Pacific had famously found itself a target of espionage by the UDL's Ravania 2 years earlier.

The last thread screencapped is "Osiris Situation", which contains more criticism of Europeia by the Queen of Balder. Balder initially wanted to oppose the 2016 coup of Osiris, and she refers to the support of the new government by Europeia and the LKE as "trying to save face".

The final screencap is a recent shot of a subforum called "Meeting Room", wherein a thread started by OnderKelkia exists called "IJCC Withdrawal". Perhaps the contents within should be discussed with Europeia and the LKE.

[Malphe]

Okay I like the Norse themed name of this anon puppet so it gets a pass.

[Cormactopia Prime]

Well, RIP Balder's diplomatic reputation.

I also look forward to TNP responding just as harshly to this espionage as they did to the UDL's.

[Altinsane]

LOL. What the heck, Balder.

Could've saved our friends in Euro a big headache if you had just pulled out of IJCC rather than slamming them where you thought they'd never find out. Osiris certainly would've been a better ally to them than you have been. Someone please be sure and send screenies when the Meeting Room logs pop out for how to deal with the Forum Breach Crisis. ❤️

[Armaros]

This is pretty damning towards Balder. I can see the interregional outrage coming.

[Onder Kelkia]

This information has been obtained through a security flaw in Tapatalks which saw classified threads captured and cached by Google bots.

It is normal and proper for regions to have frank internal discussions about foreign policy issues. Balder is no different.

Some of Balder's enemies will doubtless seek to exploit this for political effect, but most reasonable people will recognise that every region is entitled to have private discussions about its diplomatic direction and that not all the contents of those discussions ultimately translate into a region's actual policy.

In relation to the material concerning Europeia and the Independent Joint Command Coalition, they has already been full and frank discussion between the governments of Balder, Europeia and the LKE on all the matters concerned. Indeed, there is a process of continuous dialogue. I made the same criticisms shown in the thread to both Presidents of Europeia who were in office covering the period concerned and they shared our concerns.

All this release achieves is to firmly dispel the ludicrous idea that Balder is being administered with the interests of Europeia or the LKE in mind.

[Chuukango]

This information has been obtained through a security flaw in Tapatalks which saw classified threads captured and cached by Google bots.

It is normal and proper for regions to have frank internal discussions about foreign policy issues. Balder is no different.

Some of Balder's enemies will doubtless seek to exploit this for political effect, but most reasonable people will recognise that every region is entitled to have private discussions about its diplomatic direction and that not all the contents of those discussions ultimately translate into a region's actual policy.

In relation to the material concerning Europeia and the Independent Joint Command Coalition, they has already been full and frank discussion between the governments of Balder, Europeia and the LKE on all the matters concerned. Indeed, there is a process of continuous dialogue. I made the same criticisms shown in the thread to both Presidents of Europeia who were in office covering the period concerned and they shared our concerns.

All this release achieves is to firmly dispel the ludicrous idea that Balder is being administered with the interests of Europeia or the LKE in mind.

Yep, as someone who is also a part of a regional government (though on a much much much much smaller scale than that of Balder) I can also confirm that a lot of very “blunt” conversations happen behind closed doors, it’s nothing new really. So this doesn’t really surprise me. The “wow!” factor might be there, but ultimately this is nothing new.

[Benjabobaria]

Well, RIP Balder's diplomatic reputation.

What diplomatic reputation?

[Lord Dominator]

Interesting characterisation of raiders there

[Alkasia]

Yikes. :^)

[Altinsane]

All this release achieves is to firmly dispel the ludicrous idea that Balder is being administered with the interests of Europeia or the LKE in mind.

Well, with the interests of Europeia in any case. LKE always seems to by some stroke of luck come around to your way of thinking. It's Europeia you're consistently "disappointed" in. I heard they've opened up embassies with EMN now, after you specifically asked your allies to refuse to work with EMN so the traitors could be easily quashed. I imagine that's disappointing too. I hope no one too far away from Onder's Influence comes into power in Balder. If they stop doing what they're told too, the imperialist sphere will be more like a little imperialist dot in a dying UCR.

[Bdurham07]

Well that is a little bit of a mess

[Neo Domais]

We should liberate Balder ASAP.

[Aumeltopia]

As Onder has said, this looks to be not a case of someone leaking from inside the government but some enterprising person searching through the Google Caches of Balder's forum, which saved pages from restricted areas.

This security flaw is not just damaging to Balder. Numerous private and some highly-classified threads from The North Pacific, Osiris, the FRA, and TRR, and many other forums, are now publically viewable via the Google cache. Forums which were behind passwords are still private, but those which were restricted by roles/permissions are largely viewable.

I'd suggest admins of any forum which was transferred to Tapatalk take notice.

[Neo Domais]

As Onder has said, this looks to be not a case of someone leaking from inside the government but some enterprising person searching through the Google Caches of Balder's forum, which saved pages from restricted areas.

This security flaw is not just damaging to Balder. Numerous private and some highly-classified threads from The North Pacific, Osiris, the FRA, and TRR, and many other forums, are now publically viewable via the Google cache. Forums which were behind passwords are still private, but those which were restricted by roles/permissions are largely viewable.

I'd suggest admins of any forum which was transferred to Tapatalk take notice.

Just make a private discord channel problem solved

[Cormactopia Prime]

It is normal and proper for regions to have frank internal discussions about foreign policy issues. Balder is no different.

Is it "normal and proper" for Balder's officials to allow one of their subordinates to commit espionage against the Cabinet of The North Pacific, while Balder was still an ally of TNP? Because none of you thought that was "normal and proper" when Ravania did it while he was a UDL Lieutenant, and that wasn't even from TNP's Cabinet, it was just from the NPA. At the very least, Balder should be made to answer for that act of blatant espionage against its ally, TNP.

It also begs the question of where else your officials are committing espionage, given you're so comfortable with it. I'm already certain NES is abusing his citizenship access to commit espionage against Osiris, but I wonder who else is receiving that treatment from Balder.

[Aexnidaral]

I'll be honest and say that I don't really care about things like this. It's great for kicking back and seeing who spilled what tea where, but... I'd wager that pretty much every single one of us has said some pretty shitty things about each other / other regions / our allies in private conversations (Discord/Forumside) when we're frustrated -- especially since so many of us have hot heads and outsized egos. I wonder if more Regions will/have been effected by something like this because of Tapatalk. Maybe we should just call it a draw. There's a lot of feigned outrage here from some people insinuating that Balder is doing something they've never done. Oh my stars! lol, I think we need to have a reality check and admit we're all guilty of having done this to each other. Nobody is innocent.

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

0/10 not enough flying toasters in this thread

[Xoriet]

Did Balder and TNP have treaty requirements obligating them to report breaches of regional security to each other?

[Syberis]

Yeesh. I mean, it's obvious to anyone Balder indulges in casual espionage. But this is not looking like a good day for them.

[Cormactopia Prime]

Did Balder and TNP have treaty requirements obligating them to report breaches of regional security to each other?

The treaty in effect at the time included the following provisions:

The parties will not undermine one another's security, regional identity, or sovereignty through subterfuge, espionage, invasion, or any other means.

The signatories agree to share any intelligence relating to the security of the other party. This includes information relating to both regional and forum security.

The treaty currently in effect includes the following provisions:

1. The signatories will provide to their counterpart's Delegate any intelligence related to the other signatory's in-game or off-site security, unless the signatory in possession of such intelligence reasonably believes that doing so would violate applicable laws, or violate the terms of service for NationStates or said signatory's forum provider, or unduly compromise said signatory's sources of information. If this intelligence relates to actions of the other signatory's Delegate, then it will be provided to the Security Council for The North Pacific, or the Vice Delegate for Balder.

3. The signatories will not in any way, direct or indirect, initiate or participate in espionage, subterfuge, or other clandestine operations against one another. For the purposes of this clause, a "clandestine operation" is one or more persons acting under false pretenses in one signatory's home region or regional forum, without that signatory's knowledge, and at the direction of the other signatory.

Although the espionage occurred in 2015, a case can be made that because Balder hasn't reported Andrew's act of espionage in the intervening time period, they have failed to live up to their obligations under both treaties. After all, Andrew has continued to participate in TNP on and off, with access to various government areas, and has thus continued to pose a security risk. Balder was aware of the security risk he posed to TNP and said nothing.

Treaty obligations aside, it's just good sense not to maintain relations with a region or organization that has so little regard for your region's sovereignty and security that it will tolerate its officials committing acts of espionage against your region. TNP understood this in 2013 following Ravania's leaks from the NPA, when it prosecuted various UDL officials, vigorously interrogated other UDL members despite no evidence of wrongdoing on their part, and terminated all relations with the UDL. And that was just a leak from the NPA, with much broader access and far less sensitive information. This was a leak from TNP's Cabinet at a time when Andrew enjoyed such access because TNP had placed their trust in him to be a Minister.

It would be a shame to see TNP let such a serious breach of their sovereignty and security pass without a response similar to the UDL in 2013.

[Indo-Malaysia]

As Onder has said, this looks to be not a case of someone leaking from inside the government but some enterprising person searching through the Google Caches of Balder's forum, which saved pages from restricted areas.

This security flaw is not just damaging to Balder. Numerous private and some highly-classified threads from The North Pacific, Osiris, the FRA, and TRR, and many other forums, are now publically viewable via the Google cache. Forums which were behind passwords are still private, but those which were restricted by roles/permissions are largely viewable.

I'd suggest admins of any forum which was transferred to Tapatalk take notice.

Just make a private discord channel problem solved

Or just don't be associated with TapaTalk as a whole :/

[Solorni]

Just make a private discord channel problem solved

Or just don't be associated with TapaTalk as a whole :/

The problem is that if you had a forum that was once zetaboards, it is now tapatalk. Unless you wanted to delete all those private discussions.

[Cormactopia Prime]

I should note this isn't really just an issue for TNP, but for all of Balder's allies. If they had no regard for TNP's sovereignty and security, why would they have any regard for yours? This is what Balder is. This is what Balder will always be unless the people currently in charge quit and change can happen.

[Marilyn Manson Freaks]

Cute.