The Arcadie Summit (CoDN ONLY)

[Paglaum]

The Paglaumian delegation did call for a lunch break. The nation's finest cuisine being brought over to the guests. The American nation's food was quite unique, and the hosts were rather generous, the food itself was not at all unpleasant.

If the Paglaumians were watching, or hearing, what the Mexicans were speaking to, with the Karthspirians. They did not show. Instead, they just seemed to talk away with people from all delegations. Rather open, and generally kind. Not seeming to have any quarrel, or distrust, for either faction.

As always, the Unified Republics' position in diplomatic affairs was... Ambiguous. To say the least.

Bernier sat down, after a long call with someone. Her chair was next to Flores'.

[Ascoobis]

A familiar headache was creeping up on Flores and upon the announcement of a lunch break, he took that as a pretext to excuse himself. He had an aide give him a small pack and requested that a Paglaumian guard escort him to another room. He would rather take his medicine in peace and avoid the stares from the other diplomats. Once there, he emptied the contents of his bag. Upon checking his blood sugar levels, they were higher then normal and he was feeling it. He applied his insulin.

A few minutes later...

He came back to the room to find Paglaumian cuisine being served out to the diplomats in the room and their hosts cheeringly chattering with all parties. He returned to his seat to find himself sitting next to Paglaum's President. Flores smiled politely and struck up a conversation. He may not be feeling his best, but his position as an Ascoobian diplomat could not allow him to rudely ignore his guest.

"Ms. President, I cannot thank you enough for agreeing to host this dialogue. War would still be looming if it were not for your interference."

He looked to the unfamiliar, but scrumptious-smelling cuisine and proceeded to take a bite.

"This is delicious. I must know the name."

[Nordamy]

As Ruiz continued to speak with the Karthspiri, Legba helped himself to the foreign food that was being served. Being from Haiti he was used to Caribbean cuisine mixed with Spanish and Norse, the common Mexican cuisine. He poured himself a second cup of coffee as his juniors stuck to their Coca tea.

He saw that Ruiz was starting to feel another headache coming on. He went up to him and spoke in Creole

"Señor, du necesiter már medisina"
Ruiz nodded in clear pain. He said something to the Karthspiri before taking a second tablet all the while apologizing. Legba took note of everything in the room as he made his way back. Flores was with the Paglaumians. He decided to go over to them to try to ease tensions.

"This is really good food. You should try some of our cuisine if you ever visit Mexico. I can get you some Coca tea if you eish"

[Allyrije]

The Foreign Secretary addressed Luiz in a more friendly tone, "You must excuse us for our choice of words earlier. I'm sure you understand our situation with the ATCO and our desire not to be pushed on issues of external security. My flight here has been long and I'm afraid my senses aren't all about me. As for Medora, she's always that angry. I pity whoever in your Government has to deal with her on a day-to-day basis. No wonder the people of Veracruz aren't too comfortable with our base there, they can likely hear her incessant shouting more than the sound of the waves hitting their shores."

She laughs a little before Medora opens her mouth to say something before her lower arm is grabbed gently by the Foreign Secretary, "just hush Medora. You've already done enough damage to my reputation."

She lets go of her Cousin's arm and takes a sip from her cup of tea, "As for the Veracruz base, we've already said we're willing to negotiate on relocation or expanding the Haiti base to accommodate its troops to allow for it to be shutdown in-exchange for influence over whatever joint Canal Administration comes out of this. Just promise me you won't let the ATCO or Paglaum push you on our bases, it'd make us both look weak and that's the last thing we need."

The Karthspiri Delegation tasted some of the food brought to them. The Foreign Secretary's face began to turn upon tasting it but she managed to force down the bite, "Truly delicious," she coughs before regaining composure, "next time, remember to bring some Tupperware Medora. You know foreign food isn't to my taste."

[Ascoobis]

The delicious lunch was over and, with time to digest the morning's conversation and full bellies, the diplomats were getting back to business. Flores' headache was dissipating, a good sign he hoped.

Flores spoke first, looking to get the first word and have the initiative for negotiations this afternoon.

"I think we are satisfied with what we have so far, but there are still things we need to smoothen out.

To recap, we have so far agreed upon the creation of the Panama Council to oversee the functions of the Canal and that the representation upon this board is to be made up of one Nord, one UFC/ATCO, one for the Oriental Concordat, and two Pagluamians, the standdown of Nord and UFC forces at our border and the opening of relations. With some reasoning, I believe we have come to find that all Ascoobis' proposals are reasonable and are easily met. Now we can move on.

As it is only fair, I now ask if any other party here has proposals of their own that we may discuss the merits of?"

[Nordamy]

Ruiz nodded at what Flores said. Things we moving ahead smoothly

"If I may propose something that may help us out more especially in regards to free trade. We have discussed the possibility of establishing free trade zones in the canal. Mexico as you may know has abolished tariffs in an effort to move more in the direction of freedom..."

He shows the diplomats a map with areas marked off
"These free trade zones will be areas where as the name implies, areas where trade and business is fully free. No taxes, no tariffs, no unnecessary bureaucracy. We have proposed that these zones be in Colón, Gamboa and Panama City. Now these are just in the canal zone. The others such as Zona Franca Saret in Costa Rica and the Mega Port of Punta Caucedo in the Dominican Republic will be outside of your jurisdiction. As the name implies no party should tax the trade zones, not even the Mexican government"

He flipped through the file marked "FREE TRADE ZONE

"Currency wise we have proposed the use of the Mexican Real, the cryptocurrency of the Simón and your currencies. This will only help the local economy and in doing so will help your economy."

[Allyrije]

The Foreign Secretary smiled at the proposals relating to the Free Trade Zones, "We believe your ideas hold merit and, if they were to be implemented, would bring significant benefit to us all. However, I have some concern relating to the use of the Karthspiri Sovereign as tender in such zones. Whilst, naturally, we do have an interest in doing so, the likely effects such a situation would have in-terms of the value of our currency and in-terms of its vulnerability to destabilisation by Foreign forces concerns us. Whilst we admit that we are open to the possibility, we propose that we be consulted on the matter every 5 years, starting in 2025, to allow future Karthspiri Governments to decide on the issue as binding the hands of future Governments on matters of Monetary policy at such a point in our nation's development would be quite unwise."

[Ascoobis]

"Flores pondered carefully before answering Ruiz. He waited for the Karthspari delegation to finish before having his say

"With all due respect, this is one point where our economic theories diverge. These free trade zones around one of the most important economic hubs in the world seem to be the right thing to increase economic activity, but do not let appearances be deceiving. This may also make it much easier and less expensive for local industries to outsource their labor abroad. As much as this is expected to boost business activity, I fear the people of Ascoobis and UFC will be negatively impacted by this. Furthermore, how is the operation of the Canal going to be profitable for all parties involved if there are no tariffs or taxes of any kind on the shipping flowing through it? An unprofitable, but strategically necessary measure plus an increase in unproductivity and unemployment rate at home isn't something we would back.

However, what about an alternative? The power to tax is given to the proposed Panama Council. They will be instructed to only use this power to gather the funds necessary to maintain operations. Let's also be clear that Nord law and authority that does not conflict with the council, whose only real job is to manage the canal, will be recognized. That will also include laws on Nord taxes. I wouldn't be fair to the rest of the Nord nation if the Nord citizens of the Canal Zone were exempt from its tax laws.

I suppose in response to this the UFC could pull strings at its own end to counter the deindustrialization that this Nord policy puts us at risk at.

As for the Karthspiri suggestion, I don't see why it wouldn't be a good idea to come back to this question every so often and make changes as necessary."

[Nordamy]

Ruiz nodded as they spoke
"With all due respect, we hold to the notion of a fully free market. That means free of unnecessary state involvement in the market. Perhaps we can compromise on the tax issue. Perhaps a low flat tax rather than brackets? Tariff wise, the idea of no tariffs would increase the incentive to do business in the zone and not have to fork over a significant amount of their earnings to a how do you say?....legal cartel?

He made a note in a log book he was using as a journal.

"You did state you feel concern for job outsourcing. Our stances are that the business will go where it is more friendly to that business. That is why Mexico slashed many of the unnecessary business regulations put forth by the National Socialists. We want to remove that stain from our t shirt with how they ruined our business sector. Yes not all the guilds eere broken up yet, we are working on it.

"Regarding the Karthspiri proposition. I think we should revisit that"

[Ascoobis]

Flores finally conceded on this one topic.

"I don't think we shout limit the taxing powers of the Panama Council. That's for them to decide. As long as the Canal is self-sufficient in terms of its funding, there won't be much of an argument from us how exactly the revenue comes in. This should conclude the Panama Crisis, can we agree."

Once he got that out of the way, he addressed Ruiz's last snide remark. Which was interpreted as implying that somehow Ascoobis is in a less advantageous position, that it was wrong to have the concern to protect the livelihood of its people? That in order to do so it had to whore itself out to already wealthy business interests. Specifically them, as small business likely won't be able to afford imports from abroad and shipments through the canal. The nonchalant dismissal of Ascoobis' concerns was a grave insult and had him miffed. Although he tried to keep his next words diplomatic, one could notice the disdainful undertones in his next response.

"That said and the crisis finally out of the way, I would like to say one more thing, Mr. Ruiz. I must object to your suggestion that the notion of freeing Ascoobis of regulations and unnecessary taxation will bring more business and, by default, increase prosperity. We can argue the merits of certain regulations all day, but history shows that more is lost than gained when following the extreme interpretations of the principles of supply-side economics that you are espousing. Unlike your nation, we refuse to engage in this race to the bottom, whoring ourselves out to rich charlatans in the form of subsidies in exchange for a vague promise of investment that could be rescinded without consequence. Failing that, the only suggestion is to humiliate yourself further and give up even more just for a sliver of hope that the "Gods of the Free Market" will favor you. It is simply a ridiculous way to run a country, always vulnerable to the whims of super-wealthy. Let it not be said that we're anti-capitalist, but we must ask ourselves, "at what cost'? We shouldn't have to scrap our minimum wage, worker safety, and consumer safety laws and reinstitute child labor to make ourselves competitive against dirty child sweatshops in undeveloped countries. All so whoever owns that sweatshop can make a quick buck. 'Freeing' the Canal of any impediment will only make the off-shoring of manufacturing more inviting and a detriment to any nation that wants all of its people to be productive and be rewarded with a decent standard of living."

He wanted to criticize further. Wanted to tell that pompous, obnoxious Nord punk how much of a sham his economic model truly was. That his "freedom" only applied to the greater freedom of multinational corporations to exploit and oppress the citizens of his country for maximum profit. But he wasn't here for that, he had to keep his eye on the big picture. He's here to prevent a war. A war that could doom the entire hemisphere if the Karthspiri got their way, Flores knew they would like nothing more then to watch the continent tear itself apart and bring whatever is left into their sphere of influence. He settled for ending his tirade with an icy glower towards the Nord representative.

[Nordamy]

Ruiz knew he had set a small fire under the foreigner. In a way it wa sickly entertaining to watch him fumble around in an attempt to not come after him so he smirked at Flores instead.

"You look flustered? Are you alright?"

One of the juniors spoke up, a former economics professor from Father Hidalgo University, a prominent university.

"I don't know if you are familiar with Austrian economics or not. Allow me to give a, quick crash course, like I did with my students. You see it is considered a heterodox school. The theory is based on praxeology or the study of how the individual can cause changes in the market...I assure you your market God is yourself and everyone here. We also hold to consumer individualism, as the saying goes the customer is always right. The so called if you would pardon my language, the whoring to state corporations is not desirable"

Ruiz piped up
"Thank you Dr. Sanchez. So our whoring to the consumer is bad then? Letting people be shouldn't be tried according to you Flores? "

He started screaming which made everyone jump

"THAT WE PASS OFF THE DUTY OF THE FREE MARKETS AND THE CONSUMER CHOICE OF THE CANAL TO A BUNCH OF OUTSIDERS RATHER THAN THE RESIDENTS THERE? ARE YOU MAD?"

He instantly calmed down
"We were doing so well but no, now it's gone to hell"

He grabbed at his temples and groaned a bit.
"Legba, please take over, I feel one coming on"

He muttered in Creole before stumbling out of the room. These pompous twits always set him off. He barely made it outside before he had to sit down, he suffered from mild epilepsy and paraseizures. Both brought on by stress. He was sweating bullets now and breathing a little heavy. There was no avoiding this one. He fumbled for his phone and started messaging a junior to come help him.

"Seizure coming, no avoiding this one. Going to be a doozy. Help"
Right as he pushed send he felt the familiar white hot pain in his head

[Ascoobis]

While still quite cross, Flores was ready to answer them rationally, as the professor had clearly misconstrued his position and were drawing conclusions about Flores from his misunderstanding. However, he reconsidered, this discussion on the Canal Zone's power to tax has derailed and become an economics debate that was going nowhere. He was going to interrupt to ask for the conversation to get back on track when Ruiz abruptly started raving like an incoherent madman. All thoughts of a reply swiftly forgotten as it dawned on Flores that the man before him was clearly in pain and unstable. Ruiz whispered something unintelligible to someone in his delegation before storming out of the room.

A hushed silence permeated the room and Flores had to consider for a minute if he played a major role in what had just transpired or if it was merely a coincidence involving a pre-existing condition. It was a minute before he could piece together what to say without sounding like an insensitive prick. He turned to his Paglaumian hosts.

"Perhaps a medical team shall be dispatched to assist Delegate Ruiz while we finish up here? If this is truly a medical emergency, I'm afraid we cannot afford to wait for him to feel better. I want to redirect our debate back to the funding for the canal zone. Let us stay clear from further debate on our favored economic platform.

I suggested that the powers of taxation be available to the Panama Council to use for canal operations. The Nords disagreed and want to matter settled now, fine. Now the Nord's proposal for a 'flat tax', or as they would prefer it, no barriers at all, threatens heavy industries in Ascoobis and the rest of the UFC. There must be an alternative proposal we can agree upon."

[Nordamy]

The junior representative received a ping on his phone from Ruiz, another seizure. He excused himself and headed over to where he had already slumped over

"Hey!"
He went over and shook him, he was still alive just out cold. He reached into Ruiz's pocket and found his medicine that would help stabilize him, a concoction of THC, phenytoin with some benzo thrown in. He injected into Ruiz's left arm and he started to gradually come to

"What happened?"

"You had a seizure, a bad one. They want to call an ambulance"

Ruiz sighed and sat up

"Just give me a minute. That....Flores had to have set this one off. I don't need a stinking hospital, I need a minute"


*Meanwhile*

"I agree that we need something. The problem is that nothing satisfies us. We get steamrolled and we need to let the locals prosper. For some time they have not been allowed to prosper under the regimes. Please understand