Lzherusskia wrote:"So if I may, Commissar, allow me to understand your train of thought."
Jakub Burian was an unimpressive man. Standing a few inches shorter than the national average, with mousy brown hair that had resisted his attempts to style it for thirty years and counting and a tendency to gravitate towards fashion choices that made it extremely easy for people to simply overlook him, the Honoured Minister for Domestic Security certainly did not look like a man destined for high office or, for that matter, even medium office. The only thing that set him apart were his eyes - the icy blue were unsettling to begin with but, when the man was fighting his cause, they burned in a way that colour should not.
A middling student at school and an undistinguished graduate of International Security, the highest anybody expected from Jakub was that he would make a reasonable ambassador in a neighbouring nation of no particular importance. And then, at twenty-one, something happened. Maybe it was his time in national service that lit the fire under the Honoured Minister, maybe it was personal issues, maybe there was a private tragedy - nobody, not even the Commissar, knew for certain, but Jakub Burian refused to bow to public and private expectations.
By hook or by crook, he managed to get his name on a postgraduate program in one of Wraland's universities, and with that under his belt, he entered the political world with a vengeance. He had served his time in international relations, acting as the Lzher ambassador to Anollasia for three years, and parlayed everything into a position with the Ministry for International Affairs. Over the next years, the Honoured Minister earned a doctorate, spoke at tens if not hundreds of international conferences dedicated to the security of the realm, climbed the political ladder, somehow found time to marry his long-term partner Natasha and finally, more than twenty years after being mentally discarded by his teachers, his peers and even his parents, Jakub Burian was named to the Cabinet.
If the gods that Jakub had no time for believed that giving him success would choke off the fire in his belly, they would be proved hideously wrong. It was well-known that the Honoured Minister's ambitions ran higher than merely being part of a Cabinet that, at the end of the day, had no real power if their conclusions ran contrary to the wishes of the Commissar they served, and while he doubted the man had the capacity for murder, Marat Revyakin knew full well that his Honoured Minister wanted his job. It was the price he paid for having Jakub's services in the Cabinet, for the man was a true patriot and fiercely devoted to his duties.
The day's Cabinet meeting had come to conclusion and three men remained in the room. The Commissar had returned to his desk, seated comfortably in the position of power, while Jakub had eschewed the seats on the other side of the desk and remained defiantly standing. "Jakub, I always look forward to hearing your opinions. Speak your mind."
"You have had the opportunity to ally Lzherusskia with a number of power blocs and you rejected every one," the Honoured Minister began, listing them off on his fingers. "You rejected the PPDC out of disagreements with some of the member nations. You rejected the MPCP due to their right-wing nature. You rejected the CSCP for reasons I never understood at the time and still don't, but you rejected them nonetheless. I was fully in support of all of these decisions, as you must recall."
"I do." His time spent overseas had not endeared the rest of the world to Jakub, and he remained a strong devotee of the Tolkoniszt philosophy that suggested the best thing for Lzherusskia was for them to shut their doors, close their borders and become self-sufficient. If nothing else, it would ensure that Lzherusskia could get their house in order without needing to concern themselves with international terrorism.
"With that in mind, what on Earth was going through your collective heads when you decided to put the nation forward for this pact?" Jakub said, angrily shaking the small sheaf of documents in his right hand at the Commissar and the Honoured Minister for International Affairs. "You spit in the face of everybody in Atlas, all of our closest neighbours and trading partners, by rejecting their offers and instead choosing to pair with this...Uzumcu, and you do it while protests against your determined neutrality in the Atlas wars are STILL GOING ON."
"Not to mention the constant level of pro-democracy rallies," chimed in Evgeni Kurakin, sitting beside the desk, and Jakub turned on him.
"Are you pretending to be on my side now, Evgeni? Your signature is on here as well." Looking back at the Commissar, Jakub ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Marat, if you want me to resign, you only need ask."
"I would hope the situation has not gone that far," replied the Commissar mildly. Jakub had a tendency to be very heated when he fought his corner and the truth was that a lot of the Commissar's edicts had made life increasingly difficult for the Honoured Minister. Pro-democratic groups had existed for hundreds of years, but the proliferation of social media had seen their ability to demonstrate and make the news increase a hundredfold...along with their ability to commit attacks for their cause. Add the growing issue of Sargkisian independence, with all the protests and violence that entailed, and the recent rise of militant religious groups, and the entire Ministry for Domestic Security had seen their workload increased hugely under Commissar Revyakin's rule.
"Do you want to give me a heart attack instead?"
"No, Jakub. On the whole, I would prefer you to stay alive." Turning his computer monitor around to face Jakub, the Commissar pulled up the aims and the goals of the Pact for him to see. "Have you read the details of the Pact?"
"Of course. It is an anti-democratic alliance and short of declaring, say, the colourblind an inferior race that must be exterminated, I don't see a more efficient way of riling up the rest of the world."
The Commissar sighed. "Not quite, Jakub. The intent of the alliance is not anti-democracy but pro-totalitarianism. I do not deny this will inflame militant pro-democratic supporters, but it is not as though I have changed the tune I have been singing all the years. I have never been in favour of democracy and nor have any of my predecessors, and I personally doubt that you will see much of an increase in terrorist threats as a result of the Pact."
"The fact is, Jakub," put in Evgeni, speaking up properly for the first time, "that the Pact is not wrong. There are countless international power blocs out there who all proclaim freedom to be an essential right of some kind, and who delight in toppling dictators and installing democracies and republics to replace them, but precious few ever stop to consider what happens after the glorious overthrow of the totalitarian monsters. In most cases, those same democracies either fall or succumb to the temptations of totalitarianism themselves, and what have the people of that nation gained? A few years of faked freedom. Forgive us if we do not seem keen to sign ourselves up for that."
"But..."
"It is a matter of national sovereignty." The Commissar spoke over Jakub's attempt to rebut. It wasn't normal for him to do that, but the Pact appealed to him and his own personal quest to reclaim the word 'dictator'. It was not up for debate. "Why do we, as a totalitarian state, not have the same freedom of government as the rest of the world? When you can answer me that question, then I will consider withdrawing from the Pact. Not before. I am sorry, Jakub, but this is happening."
Jakub's eyes were narrowed and burning. A professional he may be, but the frustration was palpable. "I see. In that case, I will begin briefing my subordinates to be on high alert in the next months. I would recommend you raise the OSS level commensurately. Good day, Commissar."
Basic InformationNation Name: The Fatherland of Lzherusskia
Demonym: Lzher
Tech Level: Modern with trace elements of Post-Modern
Population: RP - 212 million
Capital City: Smyslova
Head of State: Commissar Marat Revyakin
Government Type: Military-backed dictatorship
Military InformationName of Armed Forces: The Lzher Armed Forces
Head of Defense: The Honoured Minister for Defense, General Taman Siyanovich
Active Military Personnel: Approximately a million
Reserve Military Personnel: Approximately a million
Number of Superweapons (please specify): Officially, none
OOC InformationMember or Observer: Member
Activity in RPs: Involved in the IESP. Besides that, none.
Other Alliances: Currently, none.
Reason to Join (not less than three sentences): You'll be able to see my roleplaying is of a high standard, and I'd like totalitarian states to ally with because it fits the profile of the nation and the character of the Commissar. Read the second link below and you'll get a reasonable idea of the Commissar's background - in short, he's a dictator convinced that dictatorship is the best thing for the nation and determined to reclaim the word 'dictator' from the legions of fools who believe absolute power is a license to commit genocide, use the nation's treasury as their own piggy bank and generally cripple the nation that raised them to power. This means that while he wishes the nation to join the Pact, he will not stand for having to ally with nations whose dictators are power-mad lunatics.
RP Examples (direct link, provide three; if none write sample): One, sporting.
Two, political.
Three, somewhat political.
Please state your IC or OOC concerns here, if any:#PTS. Do not remove tag, or be rejected.