[DEFEATED] Commend Ariusgrad

[Sedgistan]

So, it's been awhile since I've posted a draft of a commendation. This particular one is a re-work on a draft posted in 2018 by Lanaograd, found here, which I kept mostly intact. Since the bulk was made up by the old draft, I added Lanaograd as a co-author. I'm writing this with permission from Lanaograd to use their draft, and Ariusgrad as well.

The Security Council,

Noting that Ariusgrad, first elected on January 31st, 2012, has been the longest serving delegate of the region Philippines to the World Assembly,

Recognizing the eight and a half years of unparalleled service of Ariusgrad to said region as its President, encouraging active participation of its residents in regional and global affairs,

Impressed by the performance of Ariusgrad as they took the task of leading a relatively small and unknown region riddled with fleeting administrations, feuding member nations, and strong invasions,

Further noting that Ariusgrad introduced to Philippines at least 11 new government capacities within a constitutional democratic setup, including the Vice Delegate (Vice President), the Communications Officer (Minister of Foreign Affairs), the Homeland Officer (Minister of Domestic Affairs), and the Security Officer (Minister of Defense) as a commitment towards efficient and effective service within and outside the region,

Admiring the fact that they quickly resolved at least 30 invasion attempts during their administration of the Philippines, including at least four that had a total of over 40 invading nations and at least one with a total of over 70 invading nations taking control of the region from Ariusgrad,

Applauding the diplomacy of Ariusgrad as they helped their region maintain warm relations with more than 100 regions at one time, including multiple major regions such as The Rejected Realms and The Order of the Grey Wardens, while cooperating and working with a number of them in multiple missions in the past,

Praising the leadership of Ariusgrad which brought Philippines to new heights, administering the most number of member nations in the region's history as it reached 177 nations in 2017,

Respecting their prolific work to maintain a good international standing for Philippines as Ariusgrad continued to be active in the universe by having their region join the inter-regional alliance of the URA, an alliance of over 34 independent regions dedicated to World Assembly matters and inter-regional peace,

Grateful for Ariusgrad's continued programs to bolster defense and reinforce security from the regional to the global scale in promotion of ready power for peace,

Moved by their commitment to achieve economic and social development within a shared world,

Believing that the existence of a nation passionate about individual participation, international relations, inclusiveness, openness, and democratization in this decade makes the world a better place for all,

Hereby commends Ariusgrad.

Co-authored by Lanaograd

[Tinhampton]

This is okay.

First holdover from Lanaograd's draft: Why is "Vice President" capitalised but not "president?"
Second holdover from Lanaograd's draft: "administering the most number of member nations in the region's history as it reached apogee" sounds a bit off.
Something you inserted: Isn't URA a bit controversial in some circles and why is merely "applying... to join [an] inter-regional alliance" Commendable if we aren't told in the resolution itself whether the application even got accepted in the end?

[Kuriko]

This is okay.

First holdover from Lanaograd's draft: Why is "Vice President" capitalised but not "president?"
Second holdover from Lanaograd's draft: "administering the most number of member nations in the region's history as it reached apogee" sounds a bit off.
Something you inserted: Isn't URA a bit controversial in some circles and why is merely "applying... to join [an] inter-regional alliance" Commendable if we aren't told in the resolution itself whether the application even got accepted in the end?

It's pretty obvious to anyone looking at Philippines that they're in the URA, Tin. I'll work on the others.

[Honeydewistania]

Nothing but support for this.

A few nitpicks:

The Security Council,

Noting that Ariusgrad, first elected on 31 January 2012, has been the longest serving delegate of the region Philippines to the World Assembly,

My addition in bold.

Recognizing the eight and a half years of unparalleled service of Ariusgrad to the said region as its pPresident, encouraging active participation of its residents in regional and global affairs,

Some grammatical changes.

Impressed by the performance of Ariusgrad as it they took the task of leading a relatively small and unknown region riddled with fleeting administrations, feuding member nations, and strong invasions,

Referring to Ariusgrad as ‘it’ gives me an iffy feeling. Referring to them as ‘they’ feels better and more like it is referring to the nation.

Further noting that Ariusgrad introduced to the Philippines at least 11 new government capacities within a constitutional democratic setup, including the Vice Delegate (Vice President), the Communications Officer (Minister of Foreign Affairs), the Homeland Officer (Minister of Domestic Affairs), and the Security Officer (Minister of Defense) as a commitment towards efficient and effective service within and outside the region,

Putting ‘the’ in front of Philippines is a bit superfluous.

Admiring the fact that it they quickly resolved at least 30 invasion attempts during its their administration of the Philippines, including at least four that had a total of over 40 invading nations and at least one with a total of over 70 invading nations taking control of the region from Ariusgrad,

Applauding the diplomacy of Ariusgrad as they helped their region maintained warm relations with more than 100 regions at one time, cooperating and working with a number of them in multiple missions in the past,

Praising the leadership of Ariusgrad which brought the Philippines to new heights, administering the most number of member nations in the region's history as it reached apogee in 2017 with 177 nations,

Respecting its their prolific work to maintain a good international standing for the Philippines as Ariusgrad continued to be active in the universe by applying Philippines their region to join the inter-regional alliance of the URA, an alliance dedicated to World Assembly matters and inter-regional peace,

Grateful for its Ariusgrad’s continued programs to bolster defense and reinforce security from the regional to the global scale in promotion of ready power for peace,

Moved by its their commitment to achieve economic and social development within a shared world,

[Bhang Bhang Duc]

While this is a high quality draft, up to your usual standards Kuriko, it does not convince me the nominee is Commendable. No support I’m sorry.

[Lanaograd]

I am grateful about this development taking off from my initial efforts years ago. I understand Ariusgrad still remains relatively unknown in the world stage despite its remarkable achievements as our region's longest serving Delegate (since 2012) and the international efforts it has done since. But I plead the consideration of our fellow nations to also regard that in this world, founderless large regions like ours are plum targets of global events, particularly invasions. We have endured all that and thrived under its leadership. I welcome corrections in manner of style to help better articulate Ariusgrad's career.

[Honeydewistania]

I am grateful about this development taking off from my initial efforts years ago. I understand Ariusgrad still remains relatively unknown in the world stage despite its remarkable achievements as our region's longest serving Delegate (since 2012) and the international efforts it has done since. But I plead the consideration of our fellow nations to also regard that in this world, founderless large regions like ours are plum targets of global events, particularly invasions. We have endured all that and thrived under its leadership. I welcome corrections in manner of style to help better articulate Ariusgrad's career.

What would help would be to give specific details/examples of their work. What is a significant example of one of the 100 regions that Ariusgrad established relations with? etc

[Lanaograd]

I cannot name all the 100+ embassies now, but we have a network with defender regions like 10000 Islands, and later on with the URA. For the rest, you can check the list out here: https://www.nationstates.net/page=regio ... hilippines

First elected on January 31, 2012, Delegate Ariusgrad has served continuously despite the challenges against our small region then. To date, it is the longest standing resident of our region. Here are some helpful documents:

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1360188

The 2017 defense operation was particularly important because it highlighted a new form of raiding tactic which made it difficult for defenders to hold the ground. As far as I verified, it was indeed more than 60 raider nations involved. I think it involved creating "communities" which boosted regional influence of the raiders through cross-endorsing. The defender coalition which assembled with Ariusgrad as defender lead later shifted to another trusted member, our current Vice Delegate Ecnav Enitsuj.

The initial wave was 20 invaders, and so defenders came in with 30. This was added by 51 more invaders. The difference between the defenders and the invaders was 14, so it required a total of 85 coalescing for the defender lead to take out a total of 71 invaders. At least this was what I recall. It should be in the range of 71 to 77. I just usually say it is more than 60 invaders. Quite a number still for a region which peak membership was some 170 plus.

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1360940

Meanwhile, this May 2020 message somehow summarized the status we had before more reforms came this year. I believe the regional constitution we now have was largely the spirit of Ariusgrad, as no amendments were made by the Constitutional Convention, except mine which was to designate Ariusgrad as our Eternal President (defender lead for security reasons). We had a new regional constitution which provided even more government positions (from 4 to 12) to foster leadership formation in the region. This has been an advocacy early on with its proposed 5-member Senate. It is currently fulfilled by a Regional Congress. Of course, our membership has grown also. We managed to maintain 100+ members for around 4 months now. When Ariusgrad took over way back 2012, we had around 15 to 20 members. Not enough to form the working government it envisioned.

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1361943

Ariusgrad has also been an ardent supporter of force in being, or a defense force in standby to protect regional sovereignty. It was only implemented this year because in the past, there was some opposition to its proposal. So far, it has helped us reduce the invasion attempts and keep them at bay. There was no repeat of 2017 to this day. And Ariusgrad is committed to mutual defense only. No raiding. Ever since its assumption, war has been abhorred as regional policy.

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1364873

From an average of 6-9 invasion attempts a year in the period 2012-2018, I believe there has been only two attempts last year. Also, before Ariusgrad, no delegate has served as long. After refounding in 2011, we had three different delegates prior to Ariusgrad.

Our average number of delegates per year since 2003 was around 4. Imagine the instability we had to endure during the year before Ariusgrad assumed office? I liked how some nations outside our region appreciate the hardship of maintaining a focused community, while keeping the pledge to be open to all? We never password locked the region despite pressure to actually do so.

I believe one flaw in my past proposal was the lack of discussion on Ariusgrad's international ventures. Despite the wondrous deeds in our region, Philippines remains largely unknown out there at the time. Of course, not so now considering it is one of the largest founderless regions.

While publicly keeping an independent stance, Ariusgrad has been instrumental in our admission to the URA, an alliance of regions. I did not expect that we would join via invitation. And Ariusgrad, the upholder of democracy that it was, even held a vote twice to ensure that our admission was consensus-based. With its support, I was elected Public Affairs Head of the URA, and thus we are taking bigger roles for the alliance and for international relations.

It might not be common knowledge, but Ariusgrad also ran for SecGen in the past. His idea of a shared world was quite unique in my opinion. It is passionate about individual participation, international relations, inclusiveness, openness, democratization, and sustainable development to help the world become a better place for all.

If you need more information on Ariusgrad, please do message. Of course, there might be some bias because I served under its leadership, then as Vice Delegate and now Homeland Officer, but I assure you that its vision of unity, stability, and progress is being met in the Philippines.

[WayNeacTia]

An unbiased commendation would be great every once and a while.

[Praeceps]

first elected on 31 January 2012

The way this date is arranged irks me for some reason. Should it be "the 31st of January 2012" or "January 31st, 2012"?

Applauding the diplomacy of Ariusgrad as the region maintained warm relations with more than 100 regions at one time, including multiple major regions such as The Rejected Realms and The Order of the Grey Wardens While cooperating and working with a number of them in multiple missions in the past,

I don't believe the "while" should be capitalized.

Praising the leadership of Ariusgrad which brought the Philippines to new heights, administering the most number of member nations in the region's history as it reached 177 nations in 2017,

I don't find the number of nations to be that important.

Grateful for its continuing programs to bolster defense and reinforce security from the regional to the global scale in promotion of ready power for peace,

Defence not defense. /s

Overall, while I support this commendation—primarily for dealing with all those raids—I do feel kind of "meh" about it.

[Honeydewistania]

Defence not defense. /s

This but without the /s

[Praeceps]

Defence not defense. /s

This but without the /s

Given that the /s is at the end, does that mean you're being sarcastic? So it does include the /s then!

[Honeydewistania]

This but without the /s

Given that the /s is at the end, does that mean you're being sarcastic? So it does include the /s then!

So it should be spelt:
Defen/se

[Daytime to Night]

Leaning in support of this, the community that the region has been able to build as a founderless region is incredible and Ariusgrad has been central to that for a long long time.

I think the section on the URA needs a lot more work. Joining the URA isn't commendable but I understand that Philippines have been a fairly central early member that has contributed meaningfully to its success. There needs to be more context about what the URA is and why it is significant. I would talk about its size, influence and importance as a voting bloc and community of UCRs as well as research Ariusgrad's own contributions.

[Lanaograd]

If I recall correctly, there are 34 regions in the URA today with more than 1,000 WA nations and a total influence of around 11 million. Indeed, the Philippines is one of the major voting members to date owing to its size. Our delegate has been instrumental in raising our international profile like so, it has managed our increasing role in the alliance, and it has also been supportive with my work as Public Affairs Head of the alliance.

[Kuriko]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I've made some changes. Further advice is appreciated .

While this is a high quality draft, up to your usual standards Kuriko, it does not convince me the nominee is Commendable. No support I’m sorry.

That's okay BBD

[Honeydewistania]

In the grateful clause, ‘continuid’ should be ‘continued’

[Kuriko]

In the grateful clause, ‘continuid’ should be ‘continued’

I blame my phone >·>

[Kuriko]

If there's no more comments on this I plan to submit it later today.

[Gorundu]

This has already been submitted but I guess I can still add my comments in. I'm against this commendation.

For a nation such as Ariusgrad (i.e. longtime native of a founderless region) to be commendable, I feel that they need to either have contributed to defending at large (i.e. outside defending their own region) or have made their own region a positive force and a power to reckon with in NationStates. For Ariusgrad, sure, I guess they worked hard to stopped Philippines from getting destroyed by raiders, but there's no contributing to defending at large here, nor has the region Philippines become relevant by any stretch of the imagination.

Also:

Applauding the diplomacy of Ariusgrad as they helped their region maintain warm relations with more than 100 regions at one time, including multiple major regions such as The Rejected Realms and The Order of the Grey Wardens, while cooperating and working with a number of them in multiple missions in the past,

Sorry, but there's just no way for any region, even the largest one, to "maintain warm relations with more than 100 regions at one time", if you take any meaningful definition of "warm relations". Gross exaggeration.

[A Bloodred Moon]

To make a long answer short, I don’t see anything commendable here. It’s well-written, but I don’t think I can support it.

The Security Council,

Noting that Ariusgrad, first elected on January 31st, 2012, has been the longest serving delegate of the region Philippines to the World Assembly,

Recognizing the eight and a half years of unparalleled service of Ariusgrad to said region as its President, encouraging active participation of its residents in regional and global affairs,

Sitting on a delegacy for eight years doesn’t make anyone commendable. Also, if the region has an elected President, which I assume is the case, shouldn’t someone else at some point be elected to serve as President?

Impressed by the performance of Ariusgrad as they took the task of leading a relatively small and unknown region riddled with fleeting administrations, feuding member nations, and strong invasions,

This might be me, and I know that I am late with this, what is a “strong invasion”?

Further noting that Ariusgrad introduced to Philippines at least 11 new government capacities within a constitutional democratic setup, including the Vice Delegate (Vice President), the Communications Officer (Minister of Foreign Affairs), the Homeland Officer (Minister of Domestic Affairs), and the Security Officer (Minister of Defense) as a commitment towards efficient and effective service within and outside the region,

The only response I can give is “okay?” Frankly, I don’t think this is notable at all.

Admiring the fact that they quickly resolved at least 30 invasion attempts during their administration of the Philippines, including at least four that had a total of over 40 invading nations and at least one with a total of over 70 invading nations taking control of the region from Ariusgrad,

How did they resolve anything?

Applauding the diplomacy of Ariusgrad as they helped their region maintain warm relations with more than 100 regions at one time, including multiple major regions such as The Rejected Realms and The Order of the Grey Wardens, while cooperating and working with a number of them in multiple missions in the past,

I agree with Gorundu. How do you define “warm relations”?

Praising the leadership of Ariusgrad which brought Philippines to new heights, administering the most number of member nations in the region's history as it reached 177 nations in 2017,

Ignoring the fact that the larger part of Philippines is nothing but puppets and sleepers, wasn’t it you who argued previously that building a large region isn’t commendable?

Respecting their prolific work to maintain a good international standing for Philippines as Ariusgrad continued to be active in the universe by having their region join the inter-regional alliance of the URA, an alliance of over 34 independent regions dedicated to World Assembly matters and inter-regional peace,

Question: did the URA do anything of note? Followup: did Ariusgrad do anything of note in the URA?

Grateful for Ariusgrad's continued programs to bolster defense and reinforce security from the regional to the global scale in promotion of ready power for peace,

They sat on the place for 8 years and I distinctly remember them having an endocount of less than 10 for the most part.

Moved by their commitment to achieve economic and social development within a shared world,

Does this refer to issues?

Believing that the existence of a nation passionate about individual participation, international relations, inclusiveness, openness, and democratization in this decade makes the world a better place for all,

You’ve really only mentioned international relations in the draft. The rest we simply are to assume.

[Kuriko]

Like I said before, I kept most of Lanaograds writing intact in deference to them so that's why it's worded the way it is in some places.

[Marxist Germany]

OOC: Is there a reason behind the use of an alt to submit this?

[Tinhampton]

Here's the telegram's actual text, if you're visually-impaired or unwilling to look at an absolutely massive image:

To my dearest fellow Ambassadors to the World Assembly,

Throughout the history of the Cosmos many have pushed a narrative for a commendable nomination. The nation being commended must have had a large impact on the greater universe, they must have done a large amount of work for a large amount of years. They must have contributed to more regions than just one.

Ariusgrad, despite that narrative, is a commendable nominee. They have, over the last 8 year's, kept the region of Philippines going strong despite numerous raids. They've innovated a regional government for their region, creating multiple posts which double as security against outside threats.

In a Cosmos where most founderless regions quickly die after the first few raids, Ariusgrad has persevered and continued on. They've sought allies to help keep the raiders at bay through the United Regions Alliance, taking on a leading role within the multi-regional organization. They've innovated a new government for their region.

They've put their heart and soul into the continuance of their community through raid after raid, that sometimes could have turned destructive. This proposal serves to show that dedication over years is commendable, that those of you out there that have done the same can one day be commendable yourselves. I ask you to please vote For on the commendation of Ariusgrad, and if you've already voted against to please think about changing your vote to For.

Lanaograd gave a good summary of Ariusgrad's years of service here, so please take the time to read it. Thank you if you've read all of this!

Sincerely,
Kuriko
SC Extraordinaire

[Spode Humbled Minions]

While I find it ironic that Timhampton of all people is complaining about WA telegrams, I must echo my shared distaste for using them to promote resolutions