WORLD|NATION|BUSINESS|SCIENCE|TRAVEL|LIFESTYLE|RUGBY26 Oct 2026Weekly World Roundup
By Jean Marc Charjan; Mercinda Denéux; Ute Gorovica; Daniel Bogotti; Ross Reffet
Neu Engollon
Officials here in Geneva are getting closer to selecting a final spot for the War Criminal Court, but haven’t said whether an existing building will be selected, and retooled to become the Court HQ, or new construction will commence. Part of the delay is that other sites both within and outside Teremara have also been proposed, and no final decision has been made by the Court Council.
Security is also being talked about and who will be overall in charge if Geneva is indeed selected. Security matters might fall to the National Gendarmerie, NEDM-DGC, or to a force from outside the Confederacy, including a Court recruited security force.
Protests outside the Federal Assembly and other governmental buildings in recent days have shown a definite schism, with far-right nationalist sympathizers crying out that the Confederacy is helping to construct the noose that we will be hung with, as many nations question the actions of the Confederacy in neighboring Austrakia and want to hold Neu Engollon accountable for the chaos there. Meanwhile, more liberal groups say that the Court will be welcome and so would an indictment from it against Federal leadership and governmental agencies for their complicity in Austrakian civilian deaths.
The Court continues to gather signatory nations to an Assembly and is planning an upcoming nation of founding nations here to the Confederacy’s capital.
Culiácan
The Culiácano Asociación Comercial, a trade organization for nations interested in doing business with Culiácan in the international marketplace, has been active lately in sending out delegations around the region to meet with other national trade officials.
Lia Vega has announced that barring any unforeseen changes in the trajectory of the country, she will keep tariffs low to induce foreign trade.
Greater Orcadia
The government of Orcadia has announced the decommissioning of a MAGNOX reactor that has run since 1962, making it one of the oldest running nuclear power stations in Teremara. Piper's Sand Power Station consists of 2 magnox reactors. Construction started in 1957 and it was commissioned in 1962, and has run almost continuously since that time.
Greater Orcadia’s nuclear power is of significant importance as its military nuclear capability is being discussed for cutbacks, along with the other 3 Teremaran nuclear powers: Falkasia, Yellow Star Republic, and Gaul at an ongoing arms limitation conference in Cinqfreres.
Terre des Gaules
Officials from the Bosque Country have expressed their frustration at yet again having been put off with meeting in Paritte with Gaulic officials. They seek to discuss further points in a new semi-autonomy agreement for the ethnic Bosque region of northwestern region of Gaul.
Paritte has stated that with leaders occupied in Port Lyron and Cinqfreres, as well as the fallout from the Taraniman Prince assassination involving Bosque nationals, it hasn’t been the best time to continue discussions.
Dachine
Gaul has increased operations at their Centreville space control center in their Wishtonian territory. There has been a steady flow of launches to boost the satellite fleet above the atmosphere. Now there is a push to increase manned flights, both for vital research and to consider possible missions to the far flung moons and asteroids. Discussions with partner nations are ongoing regarding these missions. One thing President Trevalle promised during his last election platform was the commencement of a large space-borne station that could be a springboard for further exploration. So far, resistance in the Gaulic Senate has hindered the passing of the budget for such a program.
Meanwhile, the security situation in the territory has improved with many Dao Chongese (Dachinois) units of the Gaulic army returning from long deployment to Jaragupta, after the successful recapture of Gahana from the ISVF.
Roman Federated States
Popular Latin Nationalist leader Octavius Terebus held a large rally in Barzinium this week. At the rally, Terebus called for the hostile re-taking of the Merinos States and forcefully reuniting them with their Latin Roman brethren.
Authorities in both the state government and the federal government back in Roma have stepped up their monitoring of Terebus’ group’s activities to keep a lid on actions that might disrupt relations with their neighbors.
HimDyr
Victory Week, a series of events in tribute to the nation’s military history, specifically the Eroia Campaign, will commence soon across the nation. The largest of the events will be taking place in Estisia, Memori Province. Typically, Victory Week is commemorated with parades featuring the men and women who fought in the war, along with speeches given by local town leaders. A large facet of the Week is a nationwide memorial service for those who lost their lives in service to the Empire, as well as the innocent lives lost.
Mubata
Increased tension on the border with Qasifya, including tribal militia incursions, has spurred Karalaga to mobilize more troops for border security missions. Lini Fazembe has vowed that they have not given up on territorial claims inside the Islamic Republic that go back at least as far as the Vita Kubwa (the border war of the early 1980s).
During the coalition intervention two decades ago, in which Mubata participated in, it took concerted effort by Madurinite powers to convince Mubata to withdraw troops once the actions were over and the QLA defeated as an effective fighting force.
Now Fazembe feels that it is time to consider a new security zone using Qasifyan territory to make the Republic safer from both a feared resurgence of the QLA and the MFM, the Marxist Mubatan insurgency that was mostly wiped out a few years ago.
With the continued rebuffing of Mubata from membership in the TSO, the nation has increased ties with MALET and not welcomed overtures from Gaul and other Western nations for opening talks to head off a potential future conflict.
Yellow Star Republic
Other than a brief trip over the border into Falkasia to sign the MALET alliance treaty, Director General Gerta Hildgursdottir, the leader of the YSR (Jelskja), had never left Republic since taking power until she flew to Cinqfreres for the nuclear disarmament summit.
Concerns by TSO intel analysts that the door is open for a possible coup in her absence. Said an anonymous source from one of those agencies:”She likely prepared for that possible contingency with plans and trusted people in place. However, seeing how she got to power in the first place, and how there are no depths of betrayal too low for the RLO, nothing can be ruled out as beyond possibility.
Humanitarian experts in Eastern Tavlyria are reporting an increased amount of Jutuomi refugees fleeing the YSR for Falkasia, Glisandia, and other nearby nations. Reports from southern YSR are that the Jutuomi are being forcibly relocated from their villages and ethnic leaders have been rounded up into RLO detention. Advocates for the ethnic minority are sounding the alarm that a new genocide might be under way that would put the 1950’s purge to shame. Both then and during the Northern Tavlyrian War, the excuse that the YSR government used was that the Jutuomi were a treasonous fifth column to the country.
As with 70 years ago, there’s not much that would forcefully stop such Yellowsian government actions but external economic pressure, with no one ready to go to war again with the YSR since the last war of a decade ago.
Region-wide
Rugby union organizers have announced that the newly re-titled Yarok Championship will take the place of the old Teremaran 8 championship to better reflect the new format. Extra-regional national teams will not be invited to play in the new tournament, beyond one additional region. Wishtonian teams will feature prominently, as the two regions have become more united in sporting ventures.
Said Sport Minister Koepller,
“There’s actually not much more connection between the T8 and the Yarok Championship other than they’re both rugby union events and some of the same Teremaran teams, along with Hutanjia, will be competing. We consider this a completely new enterprise for the sport.”
When pointed out that the T8 organization had been dissolved and absorbed by the new board, Koepller added:
“Well, yes, any support and funding for the former T8 organization has now been redirected to the Yarok Championship instead. So there is that.”
Jean Marc Charjan has a focus on regional sports; Mercinda Denéux and Daniel Bogotti focus on world political matters; Ute Gorovica reports on Central Madurinite matters with a primary focus on ethnic minorities; and Ross Reffet mainly covers military and technology matters around the region.
Keep up to date here on the Gardel website and paper publications associated with the Geneva Gardel for more Teremaran and Wishtonian developments.
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NATION|WORLD|BUSINESS|SCIENCE|TRAVEL|LIFESTYLE|RUGBY26 Oct 2026Interview with Marshal Renzario
By Ross Reffet
Geneva
After months of chasing after the Joint Chiefs Commander/Defense Minister through messages and emails, I was finally granted a sit down with him at the Ministry of Defense in one of their spacious conference rooms.
Marshal Markus Claude Renzario has had some big shoes to fill as he would be the first to tell you. From the first Wilhelm Tell, to our greatest modern hero, the late Henri Guisan, to the man who last held the seat and brought us through some turbulent times with dignity, Jacques Fernand; there is no doubt that even with a neutral nation such as ours, heavy weighs the shoulders of the top military leader of the Confederacy.
Marshal, what do you view as our biggest challenge during your term as the Minister of Defense? Do you think the region is heading for a cataclysmic war, likely with TSO on one side and MALET on the other?
“Ross, there are many challenges we face these days, but I don’t think that that is one of them. This big looming ‘war to end all wars’ that several leaders talk about is not likely, but that’s not to say it’s an impossibility. MALET doesn’t want a big war any more than we do. War disrupts trade, it upends lives, and it’s costly on more levels than just currency. MALET nations are part of, and working together with UTEC, just as we and our allies are.
Kazyenko and Hildgursdottir met in Cinqfreres with my colleagues from Gaul and Greater Orcadia because they want to take away one of the threats that the whole region faces - nuclear annihilation, and of course all the other mass destruction weapons out there that have been mentioned. Keeping controls on such destructive power takes a toll and when you put in the human factor, there’s so much that can go wrong that can’t be taken back. We support the minimization of that threat.”
But doesn’t the increase in technology put more safeguards in place?
“To a degree, but relying on technology and, let’s just agree that relying on AI is quite scary…but that will only get us so far. The best safeguard is relying on less destructive force to be used as a threat, a club, over the whole region. I have faith that our allies have good controls over their WMD arsenals, but that is only half the story, after all.
In any case, I think that total war is too costly for any of us in the region. What you will likely see, if there is conflict, is proxy wars and a lot of behind the scenes diplomacy, as has been the case so far. Also, MALET is not the only looming threat to security. You have the ISC and their military wing the ISVF, who have taken hold in both Eastern Tavlyria and Southeast Madurin, as well as how active they have been in Wishtonia. You have terrorist groups and other non-state actors that are still a concern.”
Is that why some TSO nations are talking about phasing out and selling off their armor assets?
“Yes, for sure that’s part of it. Modern warfare is almost always asymmetrical these days, hence why I say you cannot discount the non-state actors.
The days of large armor formations meeting on the battlefield are over. This might come off as a hot take, but I think tanks are really kind of dinosaurs these days. They’re a giant cost suck that can be defeated by methods a fraction of the cost, whether it’s a missile, IED, and all manner of anti-armor tactics from the ground or the air. This is even before drone warfare became so prevalent, which just added another argument against armor production and maintenance.
So, yes, that being said, there have been talks in Roma, at the TSO HQ, about downsizing armor units, with some of the smaller nations in the alliance ready to abandon tanks altogether, although not quite ridding themselves of all armored vehicles. Then those sectors of their budgets would be re-invested in drones, cyber security, lasers, space-borne platforms, and other such aspects of modern 21st century warfare, not to mention tried and true sea and air power.”
That is a bit of a hot take, Marshal, for someone who built their career on land forces, you being an officer in the Militia.
“I know, Ross. Agreed, but I wouldn’t be a good defense minister if I wasn’t practical. I’m not fully anti-tank, for the record, I just think that their uses are limited in this day and age. They served their time with distinction. The tank age has been over and we and our allies are coming to terms with that.
A good modern case study would be the attempted invasion of Jaragupta a few years ago by the ISVF. They had been doing so well supporting the Marxist insurgency, then they just threw down the gauntlet and went for it all with a full on conventional invasion, complete with armor.”
Yes, but weren’t they trying to squeeze all those forces into Mehatar? Then they were bottled up there.
“Yes, and the armor assets were landed outside the city. The armor was destroyed without infantry support, and the infantry was bottled up in the tight Mehatar streets without that armor support and little air support. A lot of the victory in Mehatar over the Marxists can be contributed to the mercenaries with some JRA help. Overall, it was pretty disastrous for the ISVF and a political morass for the ISC. My point is that they were utilizing asymmetrical warfare so well up to that point that going for a big conventional gambit seems counterintuitive.”
Well, but also the Gauls and Hutanjians were joining the fray and starting to pour in forces. Maybe they felt forced to play their hand?
“True. Yes, good point. They were in a bit of a use it or lose it scenario with the Gauls and Hutanjians tipping the scales.”
Marshal, before we close out, I wouldn’t be doing a fair job as a journalist if I didn’t bring up Austrakia. The Federal Council, which includes yourself, have made promises that you don’t intend to put boots on the ground there, but is there a scenario where that could and will happen?
“I understand. I will try to be as forthright as possible, but there is a lot of internal government policy regarding our neighbor that I can’t discuss. It’s a very complicated situation. On the face of it, we probably could have rolled in there even a decade ago and quashed a lot of the mess that’s going on right now. Austrakia and Neu Engollon have been hostile with each other for a long time, but we are not equal. There’s a lot of history there as we know, and in our earliest history, Austraks dominated a lot of our country and committed atrocities on us, but that was a long time ago. Wars, extreme politics, and a poor economy have decimated them to a shell of what they once were.
Obviously, for us to invade, it would have to be fully justified from a security standpoint as we would be in flagrant opposition to the sentiments of the region, most of our allies included. The situation would have to be so overwhelmingly fallen into chaos and also with complete inaction on the part of the rest of Madurin for us to do that. We came close when our border was attacked recently.”
A couple points to make clear - Many regional politicians say we contributed to the dire economic situation there in the BundesRepublik with our sanctions…
“Debatable. I tend to agree, as do many of my colleagues, that internal policies from Vilgenna have most to do with their economic situation.”
...And also the attacks over the border were from the OPF, an opposition rebel group not supported by Vilgenna. They didn’t have control over that and attacks on the Austrak military maybe weren’t warranted due to that.
“Vilgenna’s inability to control their border area and their lack of security allowed those attacks to happen. They may not have directly given the orders, but they did little to stop them, so they are complicit.”
That is one view of it. Ultimately, is Neu Engollian ground troop response off the table?
“Conditionally, no. If we are included in this proposed international peacekeeping force, which we would like to be, then we will have troops in there. Or, if we feel that international efforts fall far short of our security needs, we will still need to consider a ground intervention in a worst case scenario. Let’s be clear about something, international pressure is not all that’s holding us back from sending troops in. A security occupation is a worst case scenario…It would be a costly affair for this country, both in manpower and our economy. We could be sucked into a morass for years upon possible decades that would be difficult to get out of, even with a well established exit plan ahead of time.”
Current proposals are to exclude Neu Engollian forces from a peacekeeping force. So would there be a scenario where both Neu Engollian troops, and international peacekeeping forces are in Austrakia at the same time? At cross purposes?
“Again, that is a very remote scenario and I also think it would depend on the makeup of those other foreign forces in Austrakia.”
Like if they are our TSO allies, versus other powers?
“Definitely. Our friends and allies would respect our security concerns more than some other nations outside of Central and Western Madurin. This is such an unlikely hypothesis, in any case. I can’t see this ever being remotely possible.”
There’s a lot of reports that Neu Engollian ground forces are already in the Bundesrepublik. Not conventional forces, but still boots on the ground, nonetheless. If they remain when a peacekeeping force arrives, then is it really that unlikely?
“I can’t comment on that at all and I’m not here to substantiate rumors, Ross.”
Lastly, if the OPF succeeds in taking over Vilgenna, is that a likely scenario where we will see a Neu Engollian incursion?
“The OPF is the group that attacked us, and they have sworn we are their enemies as much as the GNP government in Vilgenna. I do think this is the worst case scenario to have an extremist movement that is even more far-right than the GNP currently in power there. We would have to carefully re-evaluate our options at that point, and I don’t see how diplomacy would factor in as much in this scenario…That’s all the time I have.”
Thank you for this time, Marshal. This was quite informative.
Ross Reffet covers military and technology matters around the region for the Gardel.
Keep up to date here on the Gardel website and paper publications associated with the Geneva Gardel for more Teremaran and Wishtonian developments.
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