News Thread [Kylaris|Canon|IC]

My Last.fm · by **West Kirkon** » Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:01 pm

Mariya Nazarivna - 25 July 2020

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Vinalia inaugurates new capital on 27th Anniversary of Reunification

Firework display from the Bin River

Vinalinsk -
It was a highly anticipated day since 1993: the day Vinalians could congregate in a single city. “A testament to peace,” stated Vinalian President Ersnt Rupold alongside Minister-President Omelyan Pavlov to a crowd of foreign heads of states, diplomats, veterans, and government representatives.

Vinalinsk is a 15-year-old construction project and a 27-year project. “A vision for a new Vinalia,” stated Gary Druzus, former Minister-President and President of Vinalia in 1993, when the project began. For him and others, Vinalinsk is an older dream, one from the days of the early 1940s, from Chac Sulai’s 1943 novel “51 Birds,” which spoke of a city for Vinalians free of the clutches of the ideological struggle between the two nations — a city of peace.

Activities began early on the 25th, when Omelyan Pavlov left the Blue House in Orlavo, which had been the seat of the Minister-President of Vinalia since 1993 and of North Vinalia since 1933. The House will be turned into a museum by the end of the year. Pavlov arrived in Vinalinsk alongside President Ersnt Rupold, who had left the House of Lina, in Velkarichka, which had served as the seat of the Colonial Governor of Vinalia from 1721 until 1863, when it served as the seat of the Governor of the Province of Vinalia until 1933, when it served as the residence of South Vinalian Presidents until 1993, when it sat the Vinalian President. The House of Lina is to be turned into a museum as well.

Both heads of government and state arrived in Unity International Airport in Vinalinsk at 10 a.m., opened just one month ago, where they traveled to the new Parliament building, where the proceedings of the day would take part. At 12 p.m., international delegations along with heads of state began to arrive at the event. Among the heads of state present were President Viktor Martynenko from Chistovodia, President Valentina Goga from Narozalica, and President Arthur Quinn from Halland, along with delegations from multiple countries in the Asterias, Coius, and Euclea.

At 2 p.m., the yearly official parade, which was exchanged between Orlavo and Velkarichka on a yearly basis to celebrate reunification, was held on Memorial Avenue. The parade lasted three hours and showcased members of the Vinalinsk fire brigade, police department, medical personnel from nearby hospitals, and construction workers who had worked in the city. The parade was headed by Vinalinsk Mayor Iryna Yavkina, waving the flag of the city while flanked by Orlavo Mayor Tsvetnova Ajac and Velkarichka Mayor Deyan Borisov, each waving their cities’ flags. Behind them marched members of the Vinalian Army, including a 50-man section of former Vinalian peacekeepers deployed throughout the world. Behind them were groups of five to 25 people from all of the Federal Districts and Provinces. Orlavo’s and Velkarichka’s People’s Guards marched alongside each other. At last was a 25-man section of the Vinalinsk People’s Guard, each unit carrying the flag of its state. Overhead, three aircraft left colored trails of the Vinalian flag, with a helicopter moving to the center of the trail finalizing the flag before flying off.

As the parade died down, both the President and Minister-President took to the stage alongside the three Mayors. Ernst and Omelyan spoke briefly but mentioned the importance of the event and the impact such a sight made on all Vinalians. They praised the Vinalian people for their resilience and devotion to improving themselves; “moving together to a brighter future as one,” remarked Omelyan Pavlov. As the speeches concluded, both men made their way to a table, the renowned table where the Treaty of Vinalian Reunification had been signed. Julia Narlow, former President and Minister-President of Vinalia, who had restored democracy to South Vinalia, handed Ernst Rupold a bill. Zlatan Druzus, son of the late Gary Druzus, handed the same bill to Omelyan. The bill made a change to the constitution, which officially designated Vinalinsk as capital of Vinalia, as both men signed the document and presented it to cameras. Feeds from Orlavo and Velkarichka showed the lowering of the flag of Vinalia, to be replaced with the flag of Vinalinsk, in the now-former Parliament, Supreme Court, and the House of Lina. The capital change had been performed.

Fireworks exploded throughout the nation in celebration of the historic day. Crowds moved to view the celebrations in the Bin River, including plays and other events in floating stages in the river. This show continued late into the night, as foreign dignitaries and representatives made their way into various other activities, including a banquet held by the government in the Museum for Peace in the city. The event was largely ceremonial, as all government institutions and essential services had completed their move to the new capital months prior, with the Ministry of Defence being the last to perform the large-scale move into its new offices. Vinalinskians, who can now officially claim the title of being from the capital, will return to their normal daily activities with the pleasure of witnessing the largest achievement of a nation with such a tumultuous history.

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by **-AlEmAnNiA-** » Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:35 pm

by **Nuvania** » Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:51 am

Homes Lost As Fires Rage Across Central Nuvania

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Hannes du Plessis (@HduPlessis)
25 July (1:30pm)|CONSTANTIA

Firefighters spray water onto a fire near Kolbe, Veld.

Homes have been lost and more than 1,400 people have been evacuated from their homes as more than 100 fires burn across central Nuvania. Most of the 107 fires reported to authorities are currently burning in Veld province, while several fires are burnig in southeastern Daalen province, and in eastern Arania province.

While property losses have occurred in all three provinces, six homes were lost in four different fires in eastern Arania province, where fast moving grass fires burned through over 4,000 acres of scrubland in several hours.

Commissioner of the Aranian Rural Fire Authority (ARFA), Mike Robinson, said that three homes had been lost in a fire that was burning two kilometres east of the town of Dealesville, around six kilometres west of the provincial border. A further three homes had been lost in fires burning near Lavenir in the province's northeast, as well as two separate fires close to Segovia in the centre of the province.
"Currently we are fighting over 25 different fires across the province," Robinson said. "Most of these fires have burned across the provincial border, and are being fought with the cooperation of the rural fire authorities in Veld." Robinson said that the fires burning within central regions of Arania, in particular the fires that have caused property damage near Segovia as well as another burning 62 kilometres to the northeast near Ogero had potential to cause further damage to properties.
"These fires are fast moving and unpredictable, and we urge people to heed warnings and evacuate when told to do so," he said. "We've had reports of people staying behind to defend properties. Don't do this. These are not ordinary fires."

In Veld, 79 fires are currently burning across the province, most of which are burning through scrub and pasture. Rural fire authority commissioner Hannes Bekker said that there was a plan in place to defend property where it was possible to do so, but said that the fires were "too spread out to be properly controlled".
"We're being stretched very thin by these fires," he said. "This means we're having to allocate resources to where the danger is greatest within the province, and unfortunately we cannot help some of the more isolated areas of the province." Bekker said that the areas of most concern where four fires burning close to major urban areas, two of which were located close to the city of Klip Klop in the centre-east of the province. Another fire burning near the northeastern outskirts of Constantia, and a fire burning near Flinton in the province's south, have potential to cause significant property damage, and thus were consuming most of the RFA's firefighting resources.
"Where we are deploying these resources is where they would be needed most," he said. "It's unfortunate that we have to make this call, but that is the situation we find ourselves in."

Although only three fires are burning in Daalen province, Premier Petrus van der Merwe has said that these fires are unusual in their intensity and has issued a state of emergency for three eastern districts where the fires are burning. He said that the province has escaped much of the same damage and loss of property that has been recorded in Veld and Arania. However, he said that conditions were expected to remain the same, and told residents in affected districts to be prepared.
"We know that the forecast is for more of the same conditions," he said. "So be prepared, listen to official advice, and evacuate when asked."

While fires are common throughout central Nuvania during the dry season, persistent hot and dry conditions and the failure of seasonal rains have meant that drought conditions, as well as a significant amount of fuel, have heightened the risk of large fires breaking out. Hennie Pieterse, a fire ecologist of the National Park Service, said that while fire was a common and essential part of the broader bosveld ecosystem that covered central Nuvania, fires in recent years have become more intense due to increasing fuel loads, changing climate patters, and inconsistent fire control policies between central and local authorities.
"Within the last two decades we've adopted more pragmatic and modernised fire management strategies that recognise the importance of fire in the bosveld," he said. "However, we've not seen the same changes with local authorities at the provincial or district level, and that has led to a lot of problems in conducting productive fire management." Pieterse said that there was also a disconnect between local authorities and landowners who often used fire to control growth on their land, with some fire authorities discouraging the use of fire as part of private land management strategies. He said this has resulted in areas with much higher fuel loads close to farming homesteads and settlements.
"These areas are prone to more long lasting and intense fire activity because landowners cannot use fire to properly manage their land," he said. "This has also been hampered by insconsistent use of fire on private land, where some blocks are managed and some are not."

Pieterse said that where the fires were occurring was also dependent on the type of bosveld that existed, stating that open grasslands and low scrublands were more conducive to larger fires. He said that the largest fires were burning in grasslands and low scrublands, where fuel loads were highest and humidity lowest. He said that the fires which dominate most of the eastern areas were less prone to fires. However, increasing forest clearance and replacement with grazing land put these forests at risk.
"Undoubtedly the problems we are seeing in eastern Arania and Veld are going to be exacerbate if clearing continues at current rates," he said. "This is a role in which both central and provincial governments can act proactively to reduce the risk for rural communities."

The fires could not have come at a worse time for farmers, according to Dirk Bouwen, a representative for the National Rural Association (NPB), as farmers are grappling with stock selloffs and reduced incomes, as well as increased costs for water, particularly from bores. He said that farmers have been forced to reduce herd sizes by between 30-40% across Veld and Arania, owing to the lack of suitable grazing and lack of water.
"This is significant for most farmers as the herds are the main source of income," he said. "Because of the nature of the selloffs, farmers are selling their animals for less than a fifth of the price than they would be receiving normally, so when you couple that with the massive increase in prices paid for water usage, it's really taking a toll on farmers." Bouwen said his "heart went out" to the farmers who have lost grazing areas as part of the fires that have been burning, although he said that new growth would mean better grazing in the future.

Conditions are expected to remain the same for the rest of the week, with hot and dry conditions forecast across central Nuvania.

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by **Piraea** » Sun Jul 26, 2020 10:43 am

Georgios Vamvakas - 26 July 2020

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THEOPEFTATOU NAMES NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION DIRECTOR AMID EFFORTS TO COMBAT CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE

Christos Meikopoulos, a respected prosecutor, will be tasked with combating corruption.

Alikianos, Piraea - Amid her new push to combat the influence of organized crime, Premier Maria Theopeftatou has appointed a new director for the National Agency for Combating Corruption. In a statement made to the press today, the premier announced that Christos Meikopoulos, a much respected government prosecutor, would be charged with leading the agency.

Meikopoulos has a long history of public service, dating back to his origins as a prosecutor in Hersonissos after the fall of the military government in the 1980s. His career later brought him to serve as deputy prosecutor-general to the Supreme Court. Recently, Meikopoulos has served as chairman of the Financial Intelligence Office, a government watchdog agency focusing on anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism. His appointment as Director for Combating Corruption is a shift away from the politicized nature of the national anti-corruption agency.

Under previous premiers, the agency has been led by close allies of the ruling Piraese Socialist Workers' Union. Ex-premier Ioannis Flambouraris has been accused of both strong-arming and stacking the agency in order to avoid charges of wrong-doing for both himself and government officials. A former agency head was implicated in a scandal that resulted in the resignation of over a dozen senior officials after they were caught buying real estate at prices significantly below market value from a company that had received a series of fluffed up contracts. Filippos Gara, who was a close ally of Flambouraris, resigned after being implicated in the scandal. No one official was ever put on trial.

Criticism of the agency extends beyond the real estate scandal. Flambouraris' government and the PSEE have been hit by several scandals over the past decade, but the anti-corruption agency has declined to pursue individual charges against former government and party officials. Meikopoulos, whose reputation is well respected, is likely to change that.

His appointment comes as the premier is working to fight organized crime and corruption as Piraea once again entertains entry to the Euclean Community. Much of the criticism from EC officials and member governments relates to the culture of corruption in Piraea, which tends to be widespread at all levels of government. Theopeftatou has also indicated she wants to make changes to the national anti-corruption agency and increase its independence. The de-politicization of the agency could have far-reaching implications for current and former government officials who have been tied up in scandals surrounding wrongdoing.

by **Union of Akoren** » Mon Jul 27, 2020 4:11 pm

Our Sheik in historic addres: "we now fight the Holy War demanded by the times we live in."
Sheik Faizan Salah calls on all those within the ILR and SCGR-held territory to fight the regime in name of God.

Nazeem Al-Tabri (@alMuqawama)
03 May 2020 | Sidi Amar, Free Tsabara

Our Sheik, Faizan Salah has addressed the puppet regime’s advances in Bedjene province, calling upon all Irfani to answer recognise the struggle as a “holy war.” His bold assertion was made in a pre-recorded video message, broadcasted across Free Tsabara and posted online. He defiantly said, “if the puppets in Adunis believe that they are winning, they are mistaken. For now, we shall fight the holy war demanded by the times we live in. No restraint, no quarter, no mercy.”

Supporters watching the Sheik's speech at a Broadcasting Screen in Sidi Amar.

In his first public address since the Atudite dominated regime forces seized much of Bedjene province from Al-Isbah fighters, our Sheik was unequivocal in the situation now facing free thinking Irfani Badawiyans.

In his address the Sheik said, “make no mistake my brothers and sisters, the loss of Bedjene to the puppet regime is a blow to all aspiring free citizens of this country. To those who wish to know an end to Atudite enforced destitution and poverty, the events of the past few weeks will be a bitter blow. Yet, in all things, God is present and awaits with blessings. The loss of Bedjene to the furious and murderous rage of the Atudite will be short lived, by God’s grace we will return and evict the puppet regime from our cities.”

“For if one thing has become clear out the horrors unleashed by the puppet regime and their Atudite attack dogs, is that now, we face nothing short of a total war. Either we are crushed and condemned to an eternity of destitution, powerlessness and servitude to the whims and wills of the Atudite, or we are victorious and restore Irfan in Adunis. This a war for something greater than just freedom and equality, we are now fighting for the restoration of our faith to the sanctuary of the prophet” he said, for the first time issuing a call for holy war.

“If the puppets in Adunis believe that they are winning, they are mistaken. For now, we shall fight the holy war demanded by the times we live in. No restraint, no quarter, no mercy” he roared from his undisclosed location.

“We fight now, not just to escape the horrific poverty enforced on us by the Atudites and their puppets squatting in Adunis, but we fight for righteousness, goodness and justice in this world. We fight for the protection of the poor, the defence of the powerless and for the salvation of all, for is the return of Irfan to Adunis not the greatest deed under the Third Act of Intercession? Did God not say to us, ‘go now and bring the Final Truth to the city of Adunis, that darkness may be cast out of its streets? Did God not instruct the Prophet, peace be upon him, to bring the Last Night to the ignorant and those prideful in their wickedness? We are Irfani and we are Badawiyan and no longer will we tread lightly in our war for survival against the Atudite” he said banging his podium.

“Let the world know that we are successors to those first holy armies, the very same who carried the black standard of the last night, the last night before ignorance, sin and heresy was washed away in the judicious march of the Prophet. Let the world know we march and fight now, to avenge the martyrs of Bedjene, to the innocents slaughtered by those Euclean bombs and Atudite bayonets. Let the world know that cast aside our differences with Al-Isbah to say we fight as one” he said.

The Sheik would go on to say, “now let the puppets in Adunis know we are not done with. They may have broken and scattered Al-Isbah, but even now they strike from the shadows, tearing at the backs of the enemy as we go forth to tear at their faces. From the ruins our towns, flattened by the regime, Al-Isbah strikes. And from the east we shall strike and together we will destroy the puppets’ forces, we will turn our homeland into the Atudite’s grave.”

“I say to you all now my friends, let the loss of Bedjene be our emboldening, let the burning of Bedjene and the horrors of their vengeance be our inspiration. Let us not cower but stand taller, bolder and stronger. I say to you, let us the government’s arrogance against them, let us remind them that they have not won and will never win. I say to you, let us march faster and hit harder than ever before, let us be the warriors of God and the liberations of Adunis” he boomed.

“Let me finish by saying we all pray for the martyrs of Bedjene, we pray to God the merciful to take of their souls and judgement kindly, for they are victims of the ignorant and the prideful. Because God did say, ‘pity those prideful in their dark ways, for they shall be laid low like dust before the wind’ and let us take comfort in that. I also wish to say to God, we pray to you, bring destruction down upon our enemies, bring pain and grief to the Atudite, destroy the puppet regime and its poisonous master, bring destruction upon Estmere and tear down their planes from the sky, turn Ashcombe to dust. Please God, guide our fighters to victory, guide their bullets and shells into the hearts of our enemies. Please God, let our Zorasani brothers and sisters heed our cries, let them unleash their might and war machine upon our enemies. And please God, protect our women and children from the bestial fury of the Atudite.

“Together, my brothers and sisters will overcome whatever they throw at us. Together, we will avenge and make proud our martyrs and God will, we will drive the Atudite and the puppets out of our country and into Euclea where they belong. God protect you, God be with you and God cherish you” he concluded.

In wake of the Sheik’s speech, the Supreme Committee for Governance and Resistance has issues a series of edicts and decrees, including the mandatory mobilisation of school children with ILR-held territory to assist in the production of non-lethal equipment. This is followed by the formal creation of a Civil Defence Unit to better organise search and rescue, in wake of the indiscriminate bombing by regime and Estmerish warplanes. The SCGR has also announced its intention to recruit a further 10,000 fighters from the male population in exchange for increase food rations for their loved ones.

Supreme Commander of the ILR, Hadir Ali Zahreddine also issued a call for “relentless fury” in his fighters, posting on social media, “in wake of Bedjene, the regime will soon know what faces them now Al-Isbah has scattered, not doubt to return behind the enemy’s lines. The forces of the Irfanic Liberation and Resistance are ready to repeat what happened to the coastal cities every day and every night. And at the front, we will come to haunt the dreams and nightmares of the Atudite child killer soldiers.”

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by **Nuvania** » Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:06 pm

National People's Party Set For Leadership Contest As Van Lingen To Step Aside

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Tim Collins (@TimCollins)
28 July (1:30pm)|PIETERSBURG

Acting Chief Minister Joesoef van Lingen said he would not seek the nomination of the NVP for November's election.

The National People's Party (NVP) is set to undergo a leadership contest as incumbent Chief Minister Joesoef van Lingen announced he would step aside as party leader at the party's pre-election national conference in Constantia on August 5.

Van Lingen said he had informed caucus on Friday about his decision to step aside, but was still interested in remaining as part of a future cabinet. He said that the decision was made owing to family commitments, as well as his personal preference, stating that he did not feel "up to the task" of leading the party into a snap election.

Speaking to Die Vrystaat, van Lingen said that he was happy to step aside for someone who was younger and had much more energy for what he said would be a "tough and intense election."
"It's not going to be like any election we've known," he said. "As much as I would have loved to remain as party leader, I simply do not have the energy required to take the party into this year's election." He said that he would be voting for his preferred successor in the upcoming election contest, as well as providing support for new party politicians. He also reaffirmed that he was only Chief Minister in an acting capacity.
"I never thought that I would become Chief Minister in the first place," he said. "So to have become one, albeit under unfortunate and controversial circumstances has been an incredible experience."

Van Lingen will make use of a provision in the Constitution of Nuvania that allows for the Chief Minister and a leader of a political party to be different people in the event of the resignation or removal of the incumbent Chief Minister until the new party leader can be affirmed as Chief Minister, or until elections are called. This allows for a caretaker government to continue general administration tasks while parties decide on new leaders.

In this instance, van Lingen will remain as Chief Minister throughout the election until the swearing in of the new government. He is allowed to campaign for the party and himself, as he intends on remaining a Member of the General Council (MGC) for the constituency of Hattingsburg in southern Constantia.

Political analyst Samuel Hofmeyr said that the leadership election would not reflect badly on the NVP as the leader prior to van Lingen, Robert Marten, was already a polarising figure.
"What the party doesn't need is another Marten," he said. "They need someone who has a lot of energy, someone who is passionate, but also someone who has political experience, able to maintain caucus unity and party control, and someone whom the public will like." He said that there were a number of people in the current and former cabinets that could take up the role of party leader, especially some from the former cabinet as they would not be tainted by being in the Marten cabinet.
"As much as we want to think that parties are a hivemind, there's a number of politicians that could come from the former Marten cabinet," he said. "At this stage it could be anyone."

Speculation around who could put their name forwards for the NVP leadership include Marten's former Internal Affairs minister Schalk Du Cros, former Finance Minister Hannes Kempff, and incumbent Foreign Minister Philip Ackerman, with Ackerman having a "high chance of becoming leader" according to Hofmeyr.
"He's got experience in the diplomat corps, he's young enough by the standards of the NVP to take the reigns, and he is widely liked by many senior officials within the party," he said. "He's definitely one of the shining stars in the current caretaker cabinet and one that would definitely put the NVP back into contention."

Hofmeyr said that while du Cros had experience within the government, he was as outspoken and prone to gaffes, having recently referred to the ambassador of Dezeveau as a "gowsa", and that could make his selection "problematic" for the NVP. He also said that while Kempff was "experienced and less likely to make a fool of himself", he lacked the charisma for higher political office.
"I like Kempff," Hofmeyr said. "He's about the only competent minister Marten ever selected. But he's boring. He's a policy wonk and that's about it."

Chief Minister van Lingen said that while he didn't have a preferred candidate, he would be happy with whoever the party chose.
"Ultimately it doesn't matter what I think, it's what the party thinks," he said. "I have every confidence that the party will chose the right candidate."

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by **-AlEmAnNiA-** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 2:55 pm

by **Union of Akoren** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 5:04 pm

by **Union of Akoren** » Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:31 pm

How Zorasan is weaponising the internet against its people
A sign of how far authoritarian regimes will go to stifle free speech and dissent online.

The moment a missile struck the southwestern city of Savyon on May 28.

Teàrlach Mac Cùga - Research Fellow at the Euclean Institute for Liberty.
June 4, 2020

The invention of the internet and the spawning of social media has rapidly transformed human interaction and political operations beyond comprehension, with the internet being both the making and breaking of governments, political careers and political movements. This no different in democracies or authoritarian states, but the story below will attest, authoritarian regimes seek to mobilise social media for much more than just propaganda or faux-electoral purposes.

Almost a year ago I met with Zaheeda Salami, a 54-year old midwife from the northern Zorasani city of Mazdavand. I had travelled first to Zahedan as part of an investigation on behalf of Liberty House to assess the state of Zorasani democracy. My trip was uneventful, many times was I warned to keep a look out for shadowing men, abrupt handlers and people following me. I was even given emergency numbers for the Caldish embassy in case I was arrested as a form of harassment by Zorasani’s labyrinthine security apparatus. But none of this came to be, instead, as a result of my meetings with Zorasani reformist politicians, brave journalists speaking truth to power and advocacy groups I met with a group of parents, all in grief, fear and anger. All had missing children. The leading personality of this group was Zaheeda, a woman whose face you could tell once shone with colour, warmth and happiness, but now was engulfed with anguish. I was immediately intrigued by this group, known as colloquially as the “Lost Parents.” I wanted to know more and Zaheeda was kind enough to invite me to her middle-class home in Mazdavand.

Arriving at her home, I was brought into the living room, where in the corner stood a shrine to her son, Adavazdar. Her husband, Abdolreza greeted me having just returned from work as a dentist. He too had the face of a lost warmth, but both maintained the Zorasani penchant for immense hospitality and friendliness. I asked what their group was about and what followed truly shook me.

They wanted to raise awareness of how Chanwans are treated in the country - it was humane and peaceful and they took him away

Four months prior to our meeting, Zaheeda explained, her son, Adavazdar had told his parents who would be going out to meet a friend. He was always honest with his parents, he had explained weeks prior that he had meet a young man on a social media site who had joined a group chat of mostly young, energetic and politically engaged people. Adavazdar was in his final year of his bachelor’s degree in Zorasani political science and was hoping for a masters in constitutional law in order to work at Zorasan’s Union Supreme Tribunal, or Supreme Court. He, like so many young Zorasanis were political engaged and aware. They knew they lived in a flawed democracy, one that was inherently crippled in benefit of the all-powerful military and the ever present Irfanic clerical establishment. Yet, like so many equally, they saw futures ahead more wealthy, developed and healthier than their parents’ generation. They knew of the “social contract” between the people and the so-called Civic-Military system, the latter would provide economic growth, growing wages and improving living standards and the people would accept the near omni-potent military rule.
“Our boy was never a revolutionary, he knew we owed a lot of our life to the government. Whatever the flaws, we live lives at least our parents could never have envisioned”, Abdolreza told me. While they sought not to rock the boat, Adavazdar and his friends had become concerned and aggrieved by injustices suffered by Zorasan’s 3.6 million Chanwans, the South Coian ethnic group that straddles the border between Zorasan and Xiaodong.

“Our son really worried about the Chanwans. Even after the government defeated the separatists in the 2006-2009 war, they were treated even worse than before. Adavazdar and his friends just thought they should have the same rights as everyone else” Zaheeda explained passionately, a cause she has since taken up personally, both in honour of her son but also due to his passionate pleas for her engagement.

“They set up a group chat on social media, mostly students from Mazdavand State University to discuss ways of raising awareness of Chanwans being basically segregated and treated like slave as he put it. More so that most workers building the city’s metro were Chanwans and paid basically nothing. It was humane, harmless, they wanted just to press for reform” Zaheeda explained. “Then this person joined the group chat, they claimed to be a student from the Imam Hussein Academy in Zahedan, very prestigious. It’s where most of the leadership send their children” she said, “the group was very excited to think they had a direct line to the government.” But once this person, called Sadavir Davari, joined, things started to turn.

“This person was very engaged, deeply knowledgeable and approachable. For a long time, he was the most active member, posting stories and links to Chanwans being tortured, locked up and abused because a relative was found to be a terrorist. It was a way of determining the extent of a network of possible terrorists or separatists” Zaheeda told me as she poured us another cup of tea, Abdolreza swiftly produced printer copies of this group chat.

“After a while, this person had got the group really energised and convinced. They had to do something to help the Chanwans. But then the person started agitating the group about the government. He would say a lot of things, he would say that the only way to change lives was to change the system. Some of the group immediately left worried his words would cause trouble, but most stayed” he told me, pointing to messages to prove his point.

Despite these anti-government ramblings, he was able to establish relationships with most of the chat group. Over a period, the group began to align with this person’s anti-government sentiments. “We noticed Adavazdar was becoming more militant. He would rant about tyranny and oppression and that real change would solve everything” Zaheeda said, her husband followed, “we were worried. That kind of talk causes trouble.”

Eventually the group chat agreed to meet in person, they would meet at a popular social club near Damaran Park in the centre of the city to discuss how to put their words into action. On the 4 January, Adavazdar told his parents he was going out to meet his university friends and his friend from the capital, they told him to be careful, considering his sour turn toward the regime. He left just after 6pm, he never returned home and remains missing.

Adavazdar’s parents refused to talk about the immediate hours and days, to them it was too painful. All Zaheeda could say before fighting back a torrent tears were that the police said they would search for him but were incredibly slow, quiet and cumbersome. Abdolreza said, “I felt that they were slow on purpose. That they knew more than they were letting on.” News of Adavazdar’s disappearance reached the group chat due to the university in turn being informed by Zaheeda. Unfortunately, no one on the group chat spoke since they too had all been reported missing by their parents. All 28 members of the group chat had vanished on their trip out to Damaran Park.

“I was relieved and shocked at the same time; we were relieved to think that we were not alone. We were relieved to think that our son may be with his friends, but shocked that so many went missing. We knew something had happened” Zaheeda said. The parents of the group met and decided to join in demanding information from the authorities, but much like the immediate period, they were shut down or ignored. The silence by the authorities became deafening by the lack of coverage by either national, city or state level media. The group went to newspapers at all levels of Zorasani life, they even went to UCTV, the state broadcaster but no one would print or broadcast the story.

“In any other country the disappearance of 26 young people would be a breaking headline. But we told so many people, but we never saw anything about it” Abdolreza said, “that is when we knew something was wrong. I knew they’d be taken” Zaheeda said. Their fears were confirmed when the story was published on a pro-democracy blog, they were contacted by the Zorasani Association for Citizen’s Rights (ZACR). The parents, explaining the lead up, mentioning the Zahedan student who turned the group against the government, were informed that their children had been caught in a government trap. The representative from ZACR, told the parents, that this trap had been devised almost two decades ago, it would involve a government agent or a paid informant getting involved in political groups, usually in every university, either in person or through the internet. This individual would involve themselves with the group’s members, feigning interest or passion for the issue, by doing so they become entrusted or ever deeply involved within the group both collectively and personally. Then, this individual would gather intelligence, addresses, workplaces and then propose a meeting, the person would either never show and the police would grab the group members at the meeting place, or the security services would grab them en-route from their homes or workplaces. These people would then vanish into the vast chasm like security apparatus, no doubt charged for the nature of their political opinions.

“We were shocked into silence. None of us could believe what we were hearing” Zaheeda told me shaking her head.

“A lot of the parents got up and left, they never contacted us again. I reckon they were frightened that by meeting with these people they too would be in trouble” she said. The group ZACR, agreed to take up their case and mobilised its full strength to get answers from the government. Five months later they succeeded, the parents were each sent a letter from the Union Ministry for State Intelligence and Security (UMSIS), stating their children had be “found to have engaged in activities that both undermine the Union and the integrity of its social harmony.” The letter went on to say that they had been arrested, charged and tried under a State Security Tribunal, hence the complete silence – State Security Tribunals in Zorasan are behind closed doors as is the pre-trial process. The parents were informed their children had been sentenced to 2 years imprisonment. It did not say where they were being detained, but ZACR succeeded in having UMSIS permit one telephone call.

“About seven months after he vanished, we finally spoke to our son. He said he was well; he didn’t know where he was. We knew it wasn’t so bad because he said he spent his days with other prisoners building roads and fixing farming properties. We were relieved, we thanked God everyday since” Abdolreza told me. Prison facilities in Zorasan that involve “public works” are generally safe and house the least severe “political criminals.” I too, was relieved to hear their son was alive and well. But so many others are never so lucky, some if not most, may find themselves lost in the vast network of prisons and camps known as the Hasadar, where at least three are still in operation in the depths of the Zorasani desert, where prisoners are sentenced to "dig for oil for the benefit of the Union", without water, in the middle of the desert. To be sentenced to the Hasadar is to be lost in the depths of the military's parallel detention system, unaccountable and outside the state's reach.

From traps to bots, artificial intelligence, to Xiaodongese facial recognition.

Having met Zaheeda and Abdolreza, I decided to delve deeper into this digital police state that apparently haunts the entire of Zorasan’s online world. I spoke at length with members of ZACR as well as other NGO contacts in the country. They doubled down on the trap used against Azavazdar and his university group, it was used on every social media site, every chatroom and online forum the state could access. They explained that this operation is conducted jointly by the UMSIS and the military’s more infamous and vicious General Intelligence Directorate (GID). It boasts thousands of agents or informants. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it also boasts some of the latest digital tools in the repression of free speech, free thinking and dissent.

Zorasani sources informed me that these tools included bots that would search out social media accounts posting certain words, such as “oppression”, “freedom”, “liberty” and “dictatorship.” These bots will automatically send pre-recorded replies, defending the government, while they also post misinformation, propaganda and outright lies. Beside the bots, is the growing use of artificial intelligence to run continuous searches of social media and chatrooms for dissident statements and posts. Once these messages are located, human officers then study the offending account, with the aim of identifying the human poster. These tools are further augmented by the import of Xiaodongese digital facial recognition systems, which this operation uses to identify citizens by their social media profile pictures, especially if their names or tags are misleading or overly creative.
It is well documented that authoritarian regimes around the world utilise digital tools to spread their propaganda and misinformation, but from I found, Zorasan is now using these tools to physically trace and identify the posters to detain them. Also I found a worrying trend, from my sources in Zorasan, the operation is expanding from just hunting those who attack or criticise the Civic-Military regime, but now is pursuing people who speak of democratic reform, minority rights and those who criticise the rebels in Tsabara. What was described to me amounts to an apparent crackdown, a major escalation, as if the regime seeks to silence dissent completely. One source told me of four cases where people were detained for posting messages opposing any intervention in Tsabara.

Fundamentally, what is happening in digital Zorasan can easily be viewed as an offering of inspiration to other authoritarian states and those undergoing democratic backsliding, say Etruria for example. Only last month, a government MP in Etruria remarked that “Xiaodongese bots could be used to shut up the war crimes bunch”, in reference to the effective ban on discussing Etruria’s historic war crimes. Easily, Zorasan’s and Xiaodong’s tactics could be exported to Narozalica, Chistovodia, Marirana and elsewhere. The weaponization of social media will tempt many a despot and tyrant and Zorasan is revolutionising this new weapon.

Please note: All the names mentioned in this article are not real and have been provided to protect the identities of the people involved.

© Coian Monitor, 2020

Teàrlach Mac Cùga is a research fellow at the Euclean Institute for Liberty, specialising in digital communications and politics in authoritarian states.

by **Sinharia** » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:49 am

PRESIDENT SIGNS LAW CRACKING DOWN ON FOREIGN PROPAGANDA
New Foreign Propaganda Prevention Act will allow deportation of foreign journalists engaged in libelous/seditious activity

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Janiya Karazhal (@JKarazhal )
^{30 Jul. 2020, 16:42 SST | Karatan, Sinharia}

President Atasar delivers a speech after signing the Foreign Propaganda Prevention Act into law
Photo courtesy of Amanet Kazy.

KARATAN, SINHARIA -
His Excellency President Nariman Atasar signed the Foreign Propaganda Prevention Act 2020 into law Thursday night, instituting much-needed restrictions on the rampant proliferation of anti-Sinhari propaganda spread by foreign media outlets. Under the new law, all foreign journalists working within Sinharia will be required to register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as foreign agents, thus making them eligible for immediate deportation if they are found to have engaged in libelous or seditious activities against the United Republic of Sinharia or its people.

The law was proposed to Parliament by the President six days ago in the aftermath of shocking documents uncovered by the National Intelligence Directorate that found that dozens of so-called journalists working for foreign media groups were being covertly funded by Euclean globalist elites in an apparent effort to spread misinformation and fake news in Sinharia in an effort to harm the President, and to influence this September’s elections. The stunning revelations led to dozens of arrests and widespread calls for foreign media to be held to greater public scrutiny.

The President again displayed his masterful command of the spoken word in a rousing televised speech. “The elites of Euclea have again shown the world that they have no intentions of putting an end to their history of imperialism and the destruction of nationalism and self-determination in the name of material gain. For centuries, the people of Sinharia have bowed before the whip of tyranny as an endless procession of invaders burned our cities and slaughtered our people in the name of plunder and conquest. It is this whip that we at last cast away thirty-one years ago, and it is this whip that the Eucleans seek to once again crack down upon us. That is why, my people, I am signing this law, so we may remain a free nation; a guiding light to all oppressed peoples around the world in their struggle for emancipation from the twin forces of international socialism and global capitalist hegemony.”

Predictably, Euclea has responded to Sinharia’s assertion of its right to self-determination with outrage. The Euclean Community, which since its foundation has served as an instrument of global financial interests and their quest for the establishment of a totalitarian one-world government, issued a statement condemning the “journalists’” arrest, accusing the government of fabricating evidence in order to prevent free reporting on the upcoming elections this September. In reality, it is the globalist puppet-masters who are engaging in deceit and fabrications, in their ceaseless quest to stamp out all opposition to their stranglehold on global affairs.

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by **The Holy Dominion of Inesea** » Fri Jul 31, 2020 1:00 pm

by **Etruria2** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 6:13 am

FOUR YEARS: How the Federal Revenue Service and National Audit Office became the hammer of the Tribunes
Part 1 of the Four Years series, which looks at the state of Etrurian democracy after four years of Tribune government
Vittore Alessandri, a columnist for Il Popolo
^{03 August 2020 13.00pm | Stazzona, Carvagna, Etruria}
Since 2016, over 200 senior staff members of the Federal Revenue Service have been sacked or have retired. In their place are political appointees of the Tribune Movement, this goes a long way in explaining why the FRS is now the undisputed weapon of vindictive persecution of the Tribunes.

Giorgio Amante is a 57-year old FRS veteran. He joined the then Federal Revenue Service in 1983, knowing the unglamorous view society has to tax men, but it was a job he surprisingly, to himself, excelled at. By 2003 he had risen the ranks to Deputy Director for Auditing. At times he knew full well his department and the entire organisation was not up to par, it was rarely proactive in the pursuit of crushing corrupt practices and more often than not, it was purposefully slow and cumbersome but it did its job when it mattered. Between 2005 and 2010, he worked tirelessly to reform its procedures to modernise and professionalise the auditing process. It was those changes that delivered the 2016 Miraviglia Scandal that not only brought down the government of Emiliano Reali, but also destroyed the yes campaign for EC membership and brought the Tribune Movement to power.

Ugo Belvedere has been instrumental in the weaponisation of the FRS and NAO by the Tribune Movement.
And was actively supportive of the persecution of government critics by audit.

Speaking in his garden outside Solaria, Amante doesn’t particularly seem like the stereotypical tax man. He sports designer shirts, has a taste for gardening, as seen by his innate terraced space and apparently regularly sky dives. He never seemed to understand the accusation made by some on the left that if his department hadn’t discovered the scandal, Etruria would be in the EC and the Tribunes exiled to the fringe.

“That’s just bad logic and bad thinking. They broke the law, it was a huge violation of the law, no matter the political position. They were stealing from the government and jeopardised the FRS” he said, shaking his head.

When the scandal broke in the press, a leak Amante is certain never came from his department - since proven, it was slow moving in terms of gaining legal traction. The consequences in the press, society and the EC referendum at the time was erupting like a volcano. It torpedoed the pro-EC camp, as many senior figures were named and the government of President Emiliano Reali began to implode in real time, while the no-camp led by the Tribunes equated corruption with Eucleanism. It delivered No its landslide victory.

But to Amante it was a job well done, “we did our job, we found out that they had set up front construction companies for fraudulent government projects and were using tax payers money to funnel in funds to their own bank accounts. We found criminality and brought justice.”

With the centre-right government collapsing, the Tribunes won the subsequent snap election, demolishing the centre right and centre left as they mobilised anger over the scandal against a “corrupt, aloof and arrogant establishment.” Forming a coalition with the Farmers and Workers Union, they promised constructive reform. The discovery that senior figures above Amante at the FRS had covered the Reali government’s corruption led to the centralisation of the FRS and a new name. The Federal Revenue Service was kept independent of government, but the appointment of Ugo Belvedere as director general was a portent of what was to come.

“I knew Belvedere well; he headed the department dedicated to aiding the fighting against the mafia. He was particularly good at his job, but I was really surprised they made him the FRS leader” Amante said. The Tribune-FWU government boasting a two-thirds majority in the State Council confirmed Belvedere within two days of his proposal, virtually no confirmation hearing worthy of the name was held and looking back from today, perhaps that was the point.

Within a week of Belvedere’s appointment, the criminal prosecutions over the Miraviglia Scandal began. Former presidents Emiliano Reali and Andrea Salvini were arrested, alongside 30 other ministers and civil servants who flooded their bank accounts. As the nation was gripped by the court proceedings, Belvedere quietly moulded the newly reformed FRS into a weapon for the federal government. His close working ties with federal law enforcement was cemented with the reformation of the Federal Crime Service into the Civil Security Service, which too was stacked at the top by seemingly pro-Tribune figures. One of Belvedere’s first acts was to enlarge the Anti-Fraud and Organised Financial Crime Division, while moving the former head to oversee centralisation in Povelia, he replaced the head with Victor
Stepanovic, the leader of the AFOFC at the former Novalian state branch of the FRS. unbeknownst to Amante, Stepanovic was a former federal prosecutor, specialising in using financial irregularities to break organised crime groups, he was also a fierce supporter of the Tribune Movement.

Amante explained to me that the appointments of department heads by the director general was done with virtually no establish scrutiny, as the belief was that since the DG was confirmed by the State Council, his or her intentions would have been scrutinised and vetted, ensuring a degree of self-moderation. Yet, “Belvedere wasn’t vetted or checked. He was just hand waved through and so no one knew what his plans were. At the time I didn’t know any of these new people, we now know they’re all government supporters.”

Without sufficient vetting of the DG’a appointments or changes by the FRS itself, Belvedere was able to move personal colleagues and associates into key positions, these appointments also all happened to be tribune supporters. Like most power plays by the Tribunes between 2016 and 2018, the centralisation of power was conducted under the cover of “repairing the damage down by the establishment.” The reforms and reorganisation of the federal government was officially primed to halt corruption and the spoils like system that had emerged during the 2000s, in reality it was the centralisation of the most powerful federal government since 1983, and a smokescreen for state capture by the far-right party. The Federal Revenue Service wasn’t alone in being “reformed into submission”, it was joined by the Civil Security Service, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Justice, the newly formed Ministry of Culture and National Identity and the National Office for Political Affairs. In all these cases, they were reformed to combat corruption, but were centralised under the executive by virtue that their new heads were either Tribune ministers or supportive civil servants.

“I’m not sure I ever noticed what was happening until it all started. For the first few months I saw Belvedere and his appointments as a sign that the Tribunes were serious about fighting corruption and getting the FRS up to Euclean standards. I just saw these new people as part of the reorganisation process” Amante said to me sincerely.

By mid-2017 however, the mask began to slip. The anti-fraud department under Stepanovic began to investigate numerous civil society groups, primarily those tied to providing legal aid to migrant communities. Beginning in July, the audit department under Amante was receiving requests from the anti-fraud department daily. An internal memo sent by Belvedere changed FRS procedure, mandating that the audit department couldn’t refuse a request from the AFD for audits of suspicious organisations or businesses. Again, Amante confessed to what he called blind naivety, “I thought that memo from Belvedere was smart. Before I took up the position heading the auditing department, there was a great deal of room for the auditing chief to accept or reject requests from the anti-fraud team. It’s how politicians got away with corruption in the 90s, the auditing head was always rewarded for not playing ball with the anti-fraud team.”

Initially the requests were into businesses tied to the Miraviglia scandal as well as businesses that had been flagged prior for mafia ties. But by late July, Amante noticed the requests were near exclusively for NGOs and civil society groups. Legal aid was the most prominent, then came requests into LGBT+ interest groups, lobby groups and the pride organisers for Solaria. Bound by the Belvedere memo, the auditing department had no choice but send out the audit requests.

In August after 118 requests against NGOs and civil society groups, Amante was approached by one of his subordinates. In the subsequent conversation that Amante realised what was going on.

“A young auditor came to me, he said he wanted to talk confidentially, naturally I agreed. He explained he came to me directly because his didn’t trust his line manager wouldn’t punish him. He told me he was gay and had was involved with a particular LGBT+ group and that his team had received audit requests against it. I was confused, why more than one? He told me as soon as the first was complete, the next day the anti-fraud department had sent another. The costs of auditing independently and the amount of time wasted was causing irreparable damage to the group and if a third follows they’d be forced to shut down because of the money spent bringing in independent auditors. I was shocked, I didn’t realise how persecutory all the requests really were” he sighed, “I assured my man that I would look into it and for him not to worry. That’s when it became clear to me” he said, his head falling slightly.

Disturbed, Amante raised the case with Belvedere during a departmental head meeting the following week. The director-general dismisses Amante’s concerns, saying the anti-fraud department wouldn’t be issuing audit requests without reason. He also reminded him that the FRS’s mandate or priority for the next two years was tackling corruption and the near criminal relationship between lobbyists and government. Belvedere did concede to look into it if the group mentioned by Amante was investigated a third time. No further requests were made against that particular group.

Despite his meeting with Belvedere, the auditing department was still receiving hundreds of audit requests from the anti-fraud department, though the majority had shifted to previously flagged companies. The Tribunes were beginning the early crackdowns preceding the now infamous Operation Gladio. The audit requests were targeted and precise, at least 70% of them resulted in criminal charges and succeeded in breaking several small time syndicates. Yet, among the big names and targeted requests, were still requests against civil society.

“I felt placated, after the meeting the requests seemed more professional, in that they were useful for federal law enforcement. We still got the odd request against this group or that group, but nothing like before” Amante told me. I put it to him perhaps there was a reason for it, Belvedere wasn’t prepared for someone to ask questions and so directed Stepanovic and his anti-fraud department to calm down. Amante nodded, “yes I completely agree. Because I’d worked there so long and held my position for so long. I think they saw me as a person who doesn’t rock the boat, who does what he’s told. But I know right and wrong and speak to that.”

On November 3rd, the air changed. The auditing team had received a request from Stepanovic against the elderly parents of disgraced president Emiliano Reali. His parents own a chain of successful restaurants and they had just accused the Tribune Movement of strong arming the prison where he was held into putting him into solitary confinement. The anti-fraud squad wanted Amante to look into their finances to see if they profited from their son’s leading role in the Miraviglia Scandal. Again, Amante thought nothing of it, it was a justifiable cause and made legalistic sense. That is until he received a second one the day after the first audit check was complete and passed.

“I immediately noticed that they were persecuting this people. Knowing what they had said about the government, I knew this was spiteful. But the memo from earlier in the year meant I had to. But I spoke to Belvedere” Amante explained, shaking his head in disappointment.

As Amante prepared to confront his boss yet again over the Reali parents, all hell broke loose. The earlier issue of the LGBT+ group mentioned to Amante was raised by then Citizens’ Alliance leader Vittoria Vetra in the Senate. She accused the Tribunes of homophobic tendencies and then reeled off other non-auditing related issues. In the ensuing foray, the use of audits as a weapon was lost, especially after President Carcaterra accused Vetra of valuing the “so called modern family over the family that has defined Etrurian life since Ancient Solaria.” It was not missed by the Tribunes, however. Within days of the Senate spat, Belvedere issued a new memo, mandating all FRS staff sign a new job contract that now includes a non-disclosure agreement enforceable by the Civil Security Service.

“The memo was overly aggressive. Leaks would not be tolerated because they endangered the fight against organised crime and corruption. So, we were all forced to sign NDAs with the intention to include the FRS on the the Official State Confidentiality Act. Day after, the auditing team under me and all those at the state level offices were investigated” Amante said, it was a full-scale pursuit for the leak to the opposition.

To make matters worse, the auditing departments of the entire FRS were denied the annual Christmas bonus payment, citing “security breaches.” On January 1 2018, a new employee handbook was published, the annual pay review would now reward “professional confidentiality” while leaks from suspected departments would see the same department a penalised across the entire organisation. The lack to a Christmas payout and the new rules soon opened the floodgates, seasoned veterans and newbies quit in growing numbers. As Amante led the entire auditing side of the FRS let alone the federal auditing team, he was soon coming under attack for the desertions. Other auditing leaders at the state level were either being fired outright or offered lucrative early retirement a package by the director-general’s office. Amante was being completely sidelined as those forced out were replaced with figures from the financial investigative unit of the Civil Security Service.

“I couldn’t believe it, I wasn’t even informed until I started getting emails from auditing heads at the state level, with names id never heard of before. I called the head of the Veratia office and he told me he’d been sacked for not enforcing confidentiality rules. He thought I’d signed off on it. Never knew, never knew. I then found out he’d been replaced by some
Guy from the civil security service” Amante told me, visibly getting angry at the recollection.

Amante heading the auditing service had some executive power of his own. He chose to issue a memo to the FRS auditing service, asking that all emails between the state level heads and their Human Resources department being forwarded and CC Amante. Doing so he’d be clued in on turnover and the status of his subordinates. Two days later he was called into a meeting with Belvedere alongside the federal HR officer.

“I sat down, and Belvedere said he wanted to modernise the FRS and would need a younger and more modern auditing head, I didn’t say a word, I just listened. He then offered me a very generous, I will admit, generous retirement package or I could stay but moved to another department, a space was opening in taxation coordination. I knew what was going on, I was either being paid off or exiled. I looked again at the retirement package and took it” he said, a sullen look soon followed.

“I tried to save people by using my position to force myself back into the loop and now they were getting rid of me. There’s zero tolerance for resistance, I knew if I was moved to taxation coordination, I’d be so far out of the loop there would be no getting back in, I had lost completely. Perhaps I should have stayed but I don’t know what difference that would have made, so I took the money” he said sighing loudly.

Amante was replaced by Enrico Chiavetta, who had served as the FRS head of the Veratia state office. Chiavetta took over that role four weeks after Belvedere was promoted and was chosen personally by him. Since Amante left the FRS with a payout 30% larger than contracted, the use of audit requests against government enemies has increased exponentially. A week after Amante was replaced by Chaivetta, the centre-right candidate for the mayor of Auronzo was slapped with an audit request, which threw his campaign finances into chaos. The Etrurian Association for Journalism and Reporting, an NGO dedicated to protecting the rights of independent and freelance journalists was effectively “audited to death”, when an audit sent by the FRS led to its closure because its audit response “showed inconsistencies in foreign donations.” Another common thread according to Amante’s contacts inside the FRS is the use of successive audit requests to discover any differences as a sign of illicit record keeping.

“One NGO that dealt with assisting young girls get early terminations was sent four consecutive audit requests, in the fourth one they had not updated a section on expenses, they had kept the same numbers from the previous audit. The FRS accused them of tax evasion by hiding costs and shut the NGO down. Its ruthless and more importantly it’s the complete take over the tax service for political ends” Amante said.

In 2019, the Tribunes detached the auditing service from the FRS, establishing the National Audit Office as a separate and independent entity. Enrico Chiavetta was appointed by the government to head this new department, with a significant pay rise. This move all but secures the NAO as a weapon of persecution by the Tribune government, they use audits to strike back at critics, opponents and groups they deem “un-Etrurian.” It has ruptured and brought about the collapse of countless NGOs, lobby groups and charities dedicated to people victimised by the Tribunes. It is cruel, it is heartless and it must be stopped.

“If the Tribunes can do with this with the FRS, then they can use it to protect themselves. When revenue services and auditing is controlled by the government, in virtually every instance, corruption explodes” Amante warned me. He finished by laughing, “I expect to investigated by the FRS once this article is published,” don’t worry I worry too.

See more by Vittore here
© Lighthouse Media 2017

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by **Liecthenbourg** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 8:05 am

Camille Chamoun - 12 Av AM 5780 / Doshanbeh: 13. Mordad 1399/ 03 August 2020

Home · Tsabara · Bahia · International · Politics · Business · Technology and Science · Arts · Education · Health · Sports · Weather

Unity Government announces date for delayed elections: 14th November, 2020.

Nazim al'Qutayni called the elections "necessary for the future of Tsabara".

Adunis, Tsabara - The government has announced, in the wake of talks with numerous political party representatives from across the country, that elections will be held on the 14th of November, 2020. The confirmation of an election has been an unexpected announcement likely made possible due to the support the government has found itself with following their campaign in Bedjene.

Interim President Nazim al'Qutayni, who has been in his position since October of last year, announced the government's decision to see "elections and normalcy returned to Tsabara". Originally, al'Qutayni and his Unity Coalition composed of the PIS, the APP and P&E had intended on hosting elections of March of this year but the renewed fighting in the "Tsabaran Crisis" put these on hold as an emergency was declared across the country.

On the 25th of July the Tsabaran Section of the Workers' International met with the Unity Government and since then, numerous further parties and peoples have been involved in these talks. This summit, describe as being "instrumental to the future of Tsabara", featured Adunis with a strong hand given their recent successes. Regionalist groups that have been fighting Al-Isbah and Sheik Salah across their respective provinces, such as Trifaoui and Sambarat, had been expecting that the crisis would allow them to capitulate on a weakened central government to push for more autonomy. The Oroqic and Suhalan people have often described themselves as "nations within a nation". Yet, their requests and demands are less likely to be accepted by Adunis given the renewed confidence in the government.

It has been rumoured that the elections come as one of the only agreed upon points within these cross party talks. We know for a fact that the TSWI requested that at the end of the Tsabaran Crisis, efforts to "reintegrate the nation" as "Tsabaran" have also been regarded as a necessity by the Unity Government. Yet their demands for a step away from a market economy has faced severe hurdles from all elements of Adunis.

The elections on the 14th of November will see not only a president elected, but the entirety of the Grand Assembly as well. Current presidential candidates are rumoured to be interim president Nazim al'Qutayni, but whether or not he will be running uncontested is not known. It is also expected that the Party for Irfanic Democracy, the Atudite Peoples Party and the Peace and Equality Party will be contesting the election in the big tent "Unity Government" coalition, given their strength in holding the nation together thus far.

The government has announced its intentions to regard the votes of refugees from areas currently occupied by Al-Isbah or Sheik Salah as the votes of the provinces themselves, including those returning to the Senate and the National Assembly.

Al'Qutayni has also announced that the International Council for Democracy will be invited to oversee the elections to "ensure they are up to the international standard" as part of the government's efforts to reintegrate into the international community. When asked if he feared foreign influence, al'Qutayni said "yes, from Zorasan. Not from the ICD." It is expected that these proceedings will allow Tsabara to be resubmitted into the International Council for Democracy after it was suspended during the height of Atwan al'Tughluq's "autocratic policies."

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i am from montecara do i get a vote?

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bruh icd commissars are going to overrule us and destroy our election

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by **Etruria2** » Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:51 pm

My Last.fm · by **West Kirkon** » Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:10 pm

Mariya Nazarivna - 7 August 2020

Home · Vinalia · Asteria · International · Politics · Finance · Sports · Entertainment · Health · Travel · Weather · Opinion

FC Nazika clinches Novikov Cup

FC Nazica Celebrating

Vinalinsk -
In a thrilling 4-3 match that saw the lead changed 3 times over the 90 minutes, the Novikov Cup was handed to FC Nazica, their first such trophy over their storied history. FC Nazica were seen as clear underdogs against an in-form Orlavo Red Stars, who won the Vinalian Superliga after an impressive 21-5 season, seeing them overcome FC Nazica and their equally impressive 20-6 record. The Red Stars completed the double over Nazica this season, triumphing 2-0 at home and 3-2 away. Needless to say, FC Nazica faced an uphill battle against an impressive Red Stars lineup, with the likes of Mazur Burkala, who led the league in scoring this year, and Sanzo Vukovenic, to many the best Vinalian to ever play the game, ranked second in the all time Vinalian Superliga scorers, and had celebrated his 28th birthday on Sunday. Serhiy Bilyj, who celebrated his 25th birthday 3 days prior to the match, had finished one goal behind Mazur.

The game started off with a quick goal from the Red Stars in the 4th minute, with an impressive shot from Mazur that found the back of the net with ease. Nazica refused to let the quick goal put them down, and equalised through Yurij Kazymyrovych, who had returned from an injury to his knee a week prior, firing a shot that beat Red Stars keeper Zynovij Bilous from the left side at the 18th minute, assisted by a pass from Bilyj past 2 defenders. Despite the early action, both teams settled into the game strategically. Mazur struck the post with a blistering strike shortly before half-time, and the Red Stars were caught on the break by Nazica straight after, with Kazymyrovych slotting home his second of the night to make it 2-1. The Red Stars attempted to equalise before the half, with Mazur once again hitting the woodwork in injury time. Nazica entered the break with a slim one-goal lead.

Medal ceremonies for the participants of the Vinalinsk Sports Week Marathon were held at the break, for both men and women, along with the winners of the Cycling competition which saw the 3 brother team, Novak United, receive their gold medal while wearing Red Stars shirts.

The second half kicked off with a Red Star push, with Nazica able to weather the attacks for around ten minutes, until a lucky shot from Vukovenic outside the zone brought the Red Stars level again. Immediately after the resumption of play, Mazur was caught offside in a rush to the box, where he had scored his first goal, but directly after Paneli headed home of a Vukovenic cross put the Red Stars ahead. A Vukovenic shot 3 minutes later got the crowd going, being kept from the net by an impressive Antonenko save. Nazica caught a brief break with a Mazur yellow card, his first in 3 years. A Bilyj goal from inside the six-yard box in the 75th minute put Nazica level once more at 3-3.

The Nazica coach, Libano Leontijovych decided to give his team one final push at the death, substituting Kazymyrovych with youngster Panas Vorona with ten minutes to play. With the dwindling minutes of regular time, Vorona rushed to the ball following a rare interception from a Vukovenic pass, making his way inside the box with an impressive dribble, before a left-footed strike found the back of the net in the 87th minute. Causing stir inside and outside the stadium. Vorona, who had just broken his eight-game scoring drought, was celebrated by his teammates as they settled to defend their lead. With three minutes of injury time, Nazica sat back and defended their lead well, seeing a 4-3 scoreline through to the final whistle.

Leontijovych called the victory “payback” for their double defeat against the Red Stars during the season. Nazica were the oldest team yet to win the Novikov Cup, with the team contesting the final 3 times prior in the trophy's 37 year history. Nazica also won its first League title in 2017, a record that extended back to the North Vinalian First League. With the Novikov Cup final and the Vinalinsk Sports Week celebrations, the first-time victory was celebrated in the city and marked as a great success. The cup final venue will move south to the city of Catherinsk next year. Nazica’s victory was only the second time a team from a city hosting the Sports Week the previous year had won the Novikov Cup, after FC Vevetsia completed won the cup in 2006 at the end of a perfect season, and after hosting the Sports Week in 2005.

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by **Eskaeba** » Sun Aug 09, 2020 1:06 pm

by **Estmere** » Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:51 am

Roger Sherman - 9 August 2020

Home · Estmere · Euclea · International · Politics · Business · Technology and Science · Arts · Education · Health · Sports · Weather

ESTMERISH DIPLOMATS CALL FOR TSABARA'S "FULL" RE-ADMITTANCE TO THE ICD

Foreign Secretary Mendenhall praised the move to call elections in Tsabara.

ASHCOMBE - Senior Estmerish diplomats have called on the International Council for Democracy to hold a vote that would end Tsabara's from the organization. Citing progress towards restoring the country's degraded democratic institutions and the scheduling of fresh elections, the Estmerish government has argued that the Tsabaran government has made adequate progress.

"What we see now in Tsabara is a government fully committed to democracy. Acting President [Nazim] al-Qutayni has been a champion for the values of the free world. The time has come for Tsabara to once again join free nations at the table" Foreign Secretary Stephen Mendenhall said during a a speech given at the Tsabaran embassy in Ashcombe.

Last week, President al-Qutayni announced that Tsabaran would hold elections on 14 November. A president will be formally alongside members of the Tsabaran legislature. The fragile political situation in Tsabara and ongoing civil war have made holding democratic elections challenging. Some critics of the move are concerned the elections will face obstacles, potentially under-representing parts of the country held by anti-government forces.

Mendenhall dismissed those concerns, saying he was "fully confident" in the Tsabaran government's ability to hold free and fair elections. He said that the Estmerish government and the ICD's Office for Elections and Democratic Institutions should provide assistance as needed.

The foreign secretary's support for Tsabara's full return to the ICD was echoed by Estmere's permanent representative to the organization. Lillian Warnock said that the "time had come" for Tsabara's suspension to end and pledged to work with diplomats at the ICD to ensure it is re-admitted. Tsabara has been suspended from the organization for almost a decade, the result of Atwan al-Tughluq's extensive personal power and weakening of the nation's institutions. His death last October saw the gradual reversal of much of his policies.

The government of Prime Minister Reginald Wilton-Smyth has made deepening ties with al-Qutayni's acting "unity" government one of its top foreign policy priorities. It has seen the delivery of new development aid and direct military assistance to the internationally recognized government of Tsabara. As part of this process, al-Qutayni nationalized all Xiaodongese investments in Tsabara.

The prime minister regularly praises al-Qutayni, having called him an "outstanding leader". The ongoing Tsabaran Civil War has created a volatile political situation with dire humanitarian consequences, but it has also created an opening for the Estmerish government and its allies to counter its geopolitical rivals in Coius.

by **Xiaodong** » Mon Aug 10, 2020 1:50 pm

Normalisation Measures "set to expire by next year" State Chairman confirms
10 August 2020 | By Jiang Huliang

State Chairman Yuan Xiannian speaking to reporters in Baiqiao

RONGZHUO - State Chairman Yuan Xiannian has today released a press statement confirming that Normalisation measures - first put in place on the 18 January 2017 - are set to expire on the same day in 2021,

"Over the past three and a half years we have made substantial progress in readjusting public administration and made great strides in eliminating corruption in Xiaodong. As such the Xiaodongese government aims to end all emergency measures that were launched in January 2017 by 2021 in order to move to new political projects for the next decade and ensure National Principlism remains the doctrine of our nation" the press statement stated.

Since January 2017 several emergency decrees passed by the Legislative Council have sought to restore public order and dignity after foreign backed saboteurs attempted to overthrow the Xiaodongese state from November 2016 to the beginning of Normalisation. Amongst these decrees were the creation of Anti-Sedition Courts that report to the State Presidium alone, extended powers of arrest given to police and military units, controls over the media, the ability to suspend certain constitutional rights and the banning of anti-Xiaodongese measures.

These measures have been credited with helping root out over 150,000 subversive elements both within the Xiaodongese government and society as a whole. It has also ensured that anti-Xiaodongese groups such as the Way of a Thousand Minds cult have been stopped from brainwashing Xiaodongese people with treasonous and dangerous ideals.

A partial relaxation of Normalisation measures was made in May 2018 when the state of emergency declared on the 19 January 2017 was repealed, which also ended an association curfew, the ability to police to search houses without warrants and liberalise some media controls. However other normalisation measures that have remained in place since 2017 will seemingly be also dropped as a result of this announcement by 2021.

Nevertheless Yuan stated whilst the emergency decrees and general policy will be repealed things "will not return to the past. Normalisation has allowed Xiaodong to end the rampant corruption and eliminate treasonous and terrorist elements from the nation. We will aim to uphold these achievements and reaffirm the importance of National Principlism as our governing creed".

To entrench these policies Yuan has said that the government plans to introduce constitutional reforms by the end of the year as well as pass a National Security Law that will continue some of the normalisation measures.

"We are currently examining the best options possible to draft a new national security law that will more comprehensively ensure that anti-Xiaodongese actions will be functionally eliminated from our nation" Yuan stated, "Normalisation has ensured the revolution and the National Principlist doctrine has been protected. With the end of normalisation we can also progress to the next stage of the Corrective Revolution and ensure that the legacy of Lu Keqian can be upheld for future generations.".

by **Eskaeba** » Mon Aug 10, 2020 3:42 pm

by **Slirnija** » Mon Aug 10, 2020 9:23 pm

by **Liecthenbourg** » Tue Aug 11, 2020 5:46 pm

In the lead up to the first round of the elections, Tsabara resurfaces as the key issue for Gaullicans.
With Tsabara once again in the front of everyone's mind, will the candidates responses to it define the election?

Antoinette Giroud
August 12th, 2020|Verlois, Gaullica

Gaullican Foreign Secretary Sylvaine Lambert met with interim-President Nazim al'Qutayni following his announcement of elections in November.
Photo courtesy of the ICD.

Verlois, Gaullica

At the forefront of the Gaullican Presidential election is the question of "what should be done in relation to Tsabara?" The candidates had a wide plethora of views on the subject back in April, during the first debate. In early April, the three leading candidates: Premier Barreau, Senator De Troumpe and Senator Barreau all had differing opinions on what was best to do in regards to Tsabara.

In April, the situation in Tsabara was far more dire for the government. The fighting in Bedjene was fierce and intense, with little understanding on whether the government was succeeding in the area. There were fears that a refugee crisis would spark, or that it had already begun, with the government's failure to secure victories in the region. Monique Degar-Abdulrashid was adamant in supporting the Unity Government of Nazim al'Qutayni, but only by way of medical supplies and support in housing refugees on the Tsabaran coast.

Senator Barreau was vocal in the belief of not taking military support off of the table. She described herself as someone with the strength to entertain the decision and to do it if the situaton required of it. Much of her belief came to mirror the support Estmere was offering the Tsabaran government. Receiving much criticism for this decision, the stance has popularised within the recent months but has reneged again following the government's successes in Bedjene province.

Augustin De Troumpe could be seen as the middle ground between the two: whilst never explicitly stating a belief in the necessity or the requirement of deploying troops in Tsabara; he was in favour of deploying the Gaullican navy to assist in securing the shipping lanes of the Aurean Straits and to deter migrants from undergoing the journey. With the redeployment of the Tsabaran navy to the southern coast of Trifaoui, the Gaullican navy stepped into this role.

Much of these stances are still held, but the Social Democrats are determined in their belief their cause of action was the right one. Criticising Senator Barreau as a "war hawk", the Premier argued that she was "prepared to go to war" in a situation that is currently being well handled by the Tsabaran government. She has strongly supported the motion of Nazim al'Qutayni announcing elections, as have all candidates, and has expressed her desire to see Tsabara "return to the ICD" in conclusion of these elections in November. However, she has also been criticised for taking the success of several viewpoints held by her competitors and passing them into reality; as was the case of Gaullica's navy in the Aurean.

Augustin De Troumpe heralded the successes of the Tsabaran government, arguing that "[his] plan would further their successes". By aiming to help train elements of the Tsabaran army in highly specialised roles they would be "securing the nation" against foreign interference. Mr. De Troumpe accuses the UZIR for their involvement in the crisis, as do the other candidates, but regards them in the same vein most Estmerish politicians do.

Senator Barreau has seen herself resurface as "the" diplomat to discuss Tsabara. Much of her rhetoric on the necessity to make the harsh decisions has been praised as forward thinking. She asked a crowd of supporters on if she would be being heralded as right has Tsabara broke rather than harden over Bedjene. "We cannot gamble with the lives of 63 million people by way of being sensitive over getting dirty." She would add that Gaullica owed a "historic responsibility" to Tsabara.

However, the Senator has also been criticised in recent developments by historians across Gaullica. Some have accused her of aiming to revive the Euclo-Coian Transition Zone, a criticism levied at co-PRCP founder Zacharie Blanchard, who aimed on militarising the Aurean Straits.

Ultimately, Tsabara will become a key cornerstone of the remainder of the presidential debate. Much of the discussion has oriented around it as a distant problem, as one that can be prevented, but now the candidates speak of containing a problem from getting worse -- and assisting the government of Adunis in doing so.

In the end: all agree that the government's successes are successes for the world. But whether or not each would show the same commitment to the the Unity Government is up for debate.

Whether or not anyone will deliver on their pledges to Tsabara can only be seen in their own actions as president. All we can know for certain now is that all, roughly, want to assist the Tsabaran government in overseeing its elections as legitimate: a matter discussed between Nazim al'Qutayni and Sylvaine Lambert as per ICD involvement in the democratic processes.

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by **Nuvania** » Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:55 am

Ackerman Wins NVP Nomination, Charts New Course For Party

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Tim Collins (@TimCollins)
5 August (1:30pm)|PIETERSBURG

Philip Ackerman speaks at a business conference in June.

Philip Ackerman has won the leadership contest at the national conference of the National People's Party (NVP), held at the PostBank Arena in south-central Pietersburg today. In addition, the new party leader outlined a new course for the party to rebuild public confidence in the NVP after what he labelled as a "shambolic period" under former Chief Minister Robert Marten.

Speaking to over 14,000 people, Ackerman said that the NVP needed to "embrace a new era" in Nuvanian politics and that he would "reinvigorate the party".
"We have much to do to rebuild the party and the public confidence in it," he said. "But we can do this with the right team leading the way, we will regain that confidence." Ackerman said that he would adopt a less confrontational approach to politics and conduct a more moderate foreign policy, seeking to make use of Nuvania's status as an uncommitted nation in the Asterias.
"Previously we pretended that what strategic importance we had was important enough to bully smaller countries into submission," he said. "Those days are over. We're no longer bound by a code of belligerance and aggression imposed on our friends by a government that was callous and corrupt. Our friends deserve better. Our people deserve better. And we will give them better."

He revealed the new direction for the party, which he labelled the "Three Esses". These would be stability, security, and safety.

According to Ackerman, the NVP would concentrate on these three areas as the core of their election campaign as well as governance into the future. He said that the party was committed to delivering a stable, safe, and secure Nuvania.
"We are experiencing unstable economic conditions, global insecurity, and rising crime," he said. "The NVP commits to addressing these issues to deliver a safer, more secure, and more stable Nuvania for everyone".

Partially outlined in the speech was the party's future policy directions, including loosening regulations on foreign direct investment for manufacturing and information technology, as well as new incentives for businesses to take on new workers. He said that while it wasn't official yet, he said that the public should expect similar policy "in the coming months."
"These are glimpses of what the NVP promises to deliver to all Nuvanians if it's reelected," he said. "Additional policy will be revealed throughout the remainder of the campaign." Future policies regarding foreign affairs and law and order would also be revealed.

The conference was larger than previous elections owing to the internal leadership election, with delegates from regional and provincial party organisations gathering to elect the new leader of the NVP. Ackerman was a clear victor of the vote, winning 7,354 votes to Schalk Du Cros' 5,118, and Hannes Kempff's 1,202 votes. Approximately 1,304 blank or invalid ballots were cast.

Du Cros and Kempff both congratulated Ackerman in their respective speeches to the conference, and put their support behind Ackerman.

Ackerman has the distinction of being the only sitting member of parliament to have won a predominantly Estmerish-speaking constituency as a native Asterianer speaker. However, Ackerman, who is also fluent in Estmerish and speaks some Gaullican, said that he would be "the Chief Minister for all Nuvanians".
"I don't want to be the Chief Minister for the Asterianer, or the Estmerish, or the mixed, or the native," he said. "I want to be the Chief Minister for all Nuvanians. I want to get them back into the workforce, I want to give them a sense of dignity, I want to end their hardships."

Prior to entering politics, Ackerman worked in the private sector as a communications and marketing adviser initially for mining giant Alkmaar before working as the head of marketing for the national carrier NLM. He entered politics in 2005, unsuccessfully contesting the Waterford seat in eastern Wetting, before moving to the seat of Rosedale in time for the 2013 general election, which he won.

Political analyst Samuel Hofmeyr said that Ackerman was a logical if safe choice for the NVP, saying that the last thing the party needed was someone like Du Cros or Kempff as leader. He said that Ackerman was a "middle of the road" candidate, but that is exactly what the party needed.
"They don't need someone like Du Cros, especially at a time when the party is lagging in the polls," he said. "Ackerman's a good choice to get them back in the race."

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by **Navack** » Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:27 am

Lulzime Brozi - 12 August 2020

Home · Galenia · Euclea · International · Politics · Business · Technology and Science · Arts · Education · Health · Sports · Weather

PIPELINE EXPANSION PROJECT IS APPROVED BY THE GALENIAN GOVERNMENT.

Map depicting the proposed expansion pipeline.

Kartha -Narozalica’s gas company, Zakhaz, has officially submitted the application needed to start their pan-euclean pipeline expansion project. Stemming from the end of the Seredny pipeline, in Kissamos, Piraea, the Haleniya pipeline will run through Tarpeia into Galenia into the city of Mbresht.

The government’s response to the application was quick and positive: Zakhaz is now allowed to expand their pipes into Galenia. The government also established that the Galenian state owned company, Trekagaz, should partner Zakhaz in the operation of the gas in the country.

The chairman of Trekagaz, Selim Kastrati, commented on the expansion project as being “good for the nation’s development and foreign business.” The chairman said: “I see this opportunity as a good way for us to expand our business and bring more resources into our country, to our people. We are glad the government has trusted us to do such a task.”

Zakhaz also submitted an application to the Etrurian government, pending approval. The pipeline, that starts in Kissamos, Piraea, would need to cross the Etrurian territory of Tarpeia before entering Galenia.

When asked about his opinion on the involvement of the Etrurian government, Kastrati said: “I think it’s a joke. Tarpeia is barely a legitimate Etrurian territory, why do they need to stick their nose in everyone else’s business?”

The Etrurian government still needs to approve Zakhaz’s operation. Specialists say that the country would benefit as much as Galenia, considering the shortage generated by the Tsabaran crisis. A positive feedback by the Etrurian government is the most likely scenario at the moment.

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by **Estmere** » Wed Aug 12, 2020 10:00 am

Marilyn Albridge - 12 August 2020

Home · Estmere · Euclea · International · Politics · Business · Technology and Science · Arts · Education · Health · Sports · Weather

GOVERNMENT SPLITS, WILL RUN TWO CANDIDATES FOR OCTOBER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Matilda de Fay has the backing of the NUP backbenches and the Progressives, but no the PM.

ASHCOMBE - With tomorrow's deadline to collect signatures for October's presidential election fast approaching, the current government is set to split its efforts between two different candidates. Matilda de Fay and Âbréhan de Neville have divided the support of the Federal Appeal electoral alliance and will both compete in the first round of 13 October's election. The divide is a rare showing of public discord between the National Union Party and the Progressives, which have governed together for nearly half a century.

However, such splits have become more common throughout Reginald Wilton-Smyth's tenure as prime minister. Wilton-Smyth has not shied away from clashes with his Progressive partners. In January, Progressives leader Anne Buckett stepped down following a series if disagreements with the prime minister and mounting pressure within her party. Oliver Osborne, Buckett's successor, has had a somewhat tenuous relationship with Wilton-Smyth. The two have decided to lend their support to rival candidates for the upcoming presidential election. Osborne will back de Fay, a former NUP cabinet secretary, while Wilton-Smyth is supporting Âbréhan de Neville, a former governor of Flurland.

Wilton-Smyth has previously indicated he was unhappy with de Fay's candidacy, questioning her "ability to do the job". Sources close to the prime minister cite her tenure as Secretary of the Treasury as "problematic".

"The general uneventful and otherwise underwhelming nature of the [Rupert] Richardson government is all you need to know about what a de Fay presidency may look like" a senior cabinet minister and ally of Wilton-Smyth has said.

de Fay served as former prime minister Rupert Richardson's Treasury Secretary from 2016 until his resignation in 2019. She challenged Richardson for the party leadership after the NUP's poor performance in the local and EC elections that year. While she did not have enough support to dislodge Richardson, she had enough to pressure to trigger his resignation. Wilton-Smyth won the leadership race after Richardson's exit and made de Fay his Secretary of Education. However, she was sacked from that post this January. Reports indicated that she did not see eye-to-eye with the prime minister and the two became increasingly at odds over government policy.

President Alice Roberts announced her decision not to seek a second term in December 2019. Her decision created an opening for the NUP and the Progressives to agree on a new joint candidate. In March, de Fay hinted that she may run for president and made a formal announcement in June. She has since collected the needed 20,000 signatures needed to gain ballot access and is standing as an independent, similar to Roberts. While Roberts was elected as an independent, she was a former member of the Progressives and had served in as a cabinet secretary in four different governments. Following the traditional approach to the presidency, the Progressives backed de Fay instead of a candidate from their own ranks. The presidency, like the premiership, tends to rotate between the NUP and the Progressives.

The Progressives endorsed de Fay in late June after a number of prominent NUP backbenchers and former officials got behind her candidacy. The former cabinet secretary has been endorsed by 52 sitting parliamentarians from the NUP. She also has the support of Richardson and former prime minister Arthur Read. With NUP moderates lining up behind de Fay, Wilton-Smyth and his allies began to vocalize his opposition to her candidacy.

Matthew Balls, a top advisor and former political strategist to the prime minister, has criticized de Fay for "failing to provide leadership" and cited what he says is her "total lack of experience" with foreign policy.

Complicating the prime minister's position further is the ongoing parliamentary investigation into the Edwards Scandal. The Progressives and many NUP moderates backed the investigation, and Osborne has as recently as July mentioned he is still deeply concerned by the allegations made. The Progressives' leader also said he was also disappointed by the slow progress of the investigation. Several NUP parliamentarians have privately cited the Edwards Scandal as their reasoning for backing de Fay, while Osborne stated that it was essential to maintain a "presidency independent of the premiership".

Wilton-Smyth and his allies got behind de Neville in July. He served as NUP governor of Flurland during the early 2000s and is a close friend of the prime minister. After leaving political office, de Neville went on to work for several international institutions and sits on the board of three major international charities based in Estmere. In his endorsement of de Neville, Wilton-Smyth said his "expertise in finding creative solutions to international problems was imperative amid growing international uncertainty". The NUP has officially endorsed de Neville and will campaign for him.

The split within the government over who to back for the presidency could provide an opening for the opposition parties to make the race competitive. The Democratic Labour Party has endorsed Cuthbert Atwood, a former civil servant and Mayor of Longwood who is running as an Independent. The Party of the Swathish is also backing Atwood while Common Wealth has said they will not field their own candidate and indirectly support his candidacy. Other candidates include George Avery of Estmere First, Jean-Marc FitzClarence of National Interest - Party for Democracy, and former attorney general Nigel Birtwistle. Businessman and investor John March announced his candidacy but has not yet filed the needed number of signatures with the Federal Electoral Office.

The first round of the presidential election will be held on Tuesday 13 October. If a single candidate fails to receive more than half of all votes cast, the two candidates who receive the most support will move on to the second round.The second round will take place on Tuesday 10 November, the same date as the parliamentary elections. This year the presidential election, which is held every five years, aligns with elections to parliament, held every four. An upset or poor showing for both de Fay and de Neville in the first round could have an impact on the parliamentary elections the following month.

My Last.fm · by **West Kirkon** » Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:22 pm

Mei Phoumsa - 12 August 2020

Home · Lavana · Coius · International · Politics · Finance · Sports · Entertainment · Health · Travel · Weather · Opinion

Pers Metro inaugurated

Passengers on the train.

Pers -

Although the day started rainy, many hopeful Lavanans rushed into one of the 10 stations on the 10 km stretch of the new Green Line, in the hopes of catching one of the many green colored trains inside the station. For the previous 7 years, the metro has been under construction, a project dating back to the early 2000’s, and in the mind of many. Before the turn of the century. Sketches from artist Makan Minhao, dating back to 1984 are showcased prominently in Minhao station which was named in his honor in 2015 following an online competition, after Makan died of Liver cancer in 2013, also hold various pieces of art from the renown artist, and the station works in conjunction with Minhao Museum just a couple blocks away to maintain the gallery.

For many the metro works as a part time museum, it’s murals showcasing the history of the area where they are, and in the case of Lion Shal close to the Museum District of the city, the history of the country. Each station is unique in its style, this is on purpose for the mayor of the city Liễu Anh commented; that a unique style helps improve commuter orientation. Whether this proves to be true or not remains to be seen, however few are complaining at the sight of the many murals.

Map of the Green Line

The Green Line is the first metro line in the city of Pers, and Lavana as a whole. Although many considered the 2014 plan to construct 5 metro lines by 2030 too ambitious, the opening of the Green Lines proves Lavana more than capable to complete such a task, two more lines are already under construction: The Red Line, will an additional 10kms to the system and 9 stations, it is expected to open in December of this year. The Blue line will add another 7 kms with 7 stations including 3 stations on the eastern side of Pers in February 2021, across a new tunnel. Although the Purple and Orange lines have not begun construction they’re expected to start construction either in 2021, or 2022 depending on the performance of the previous 3 lines. They’re planned to begin operations in either 2027 or 2028.

The Green Line starts in the North in Vin Thihn station, it follows alongside the Kung river all the way to Shi Ban station near the Firebirds Stadium to the south of the city. It crosses through important areas such as the Central Railway station inside downtown, where the metro goes underground for a section of 5 kms and 5 stations, as it reaches Cao Tan Station under Cao Tan Square. Before going another 2 kilometers and 2 stations to reach Shi Ban and the end of the line. The Red Line will start in the West of the city in the University Station outside the Pers National University, before culminating in Central Station. The Blue line will start in the Cin Lan Station in the Cin Lan district before travelling to Central station again and going under the Kung River culminating in the Bao Kuan station in the district of the same name. Many developers hope the metro will connect the wealthy downtown to the rest of the city, which they hope will increase the wealth throughout the city, already residential complexes along with commercial venues have been constructed in the Bao Kuan District in expectation of the coming metro line, which will connect most of the city in under an hour. Planners also hope the development of the metro will reduce congestion in the crowded city, with hopes of reducing average rush hour commute times from 2 hours, to 1 hour.

The Green line is already causing stir in other cities in Lavana, as thousands signed online petitions calling for other cities such as Kipchu and Liucpa, (3rd and 4th largest cities) to begin planning their own metro systems. Kurei, the second largest city, was saved as they began construction on their own metro in February with the Golden line with some 12km’s with 11 stations, which Kureians are hopeful to inaugurate in 2026. For now the Pers metro will operate until next Monday with tickets free of charge, for any who desire to try out the brand new trains, so far the citizens of Pers are loving the new addition to their growing city.

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Lavanan Financial Times 2020

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