Twobagger wrote:A Bloodred Moon wrote:Hm. But were "Kain_the_Dragoon" and his endorsers allowed to vote?
Good question. I didn't remember offhand, but the rules outlined in here seem to state explicitly that they would have been able to, provided they committed their WA to the region for the whole election. Looks like at least one nation we banned (Nicholas von Sinterklaas) was willing and able to come back in, run, and cast a valid vote.
Thank you so much for linking that, because that gives me much more information on the history regarding this commendation.
It also shows me that this occupation, as called by the Osiris natives, was wildly unpopular. The defender nations who organized those elections also showed themselves to be unwilling to listen to their request for TITO to leave. The words of the long-gone nation of Diol from that thread strike a cord, "By claiming that osiris is 'stuck with tito' you are invading the region. Call it liberation. Call it helping the region get on its feet.
Sprinkle it in sugar and put a cherry on top but it's still an invasion, and for a defender organisation, I have not seen a higher form of hipocracy in my time on nation states."
More natives seemed to speak out, with Oliver the Mediocre saying, "With TITO in firm control of the delegacy at the moment, there's very little we can do but let them run the elections their way. I have faith in A Mean Old Man's ability to keep this neutral, and I applaud TITO on their decision, though I would feel a lot better if the people who intended to actually spend time in Osiris were permitted to make their own decisions about the matter, rather than having them handed down from above." This was one of the tamer responses to TITO's occupation I saw on this thread.
This whole situation appeared to be one a big overstep by TITO, in my opinion at least. But now, back to this commendation. I quite frankly think it's undeserved. They took part in an operation against a threat that wasn't there and an unpopular takeover by self-righteous TITO forces and Pacific allies. To this effect, Topdop, the starter of the thread, said, "...and to all the stubborn naysayers, I'll be very blunt: You're stuck with TITO, and you're stuck with me." So, defenders take over the region, force the people into what is an unpopular temporary occupation, and disregards the actual natives, the people they're trying to help, in favor of their own larger goals. It was an overstep then and it's an overstep now in trying to commend your own actions essentially once again.