The Realm of Balder: Announcements and News

[Ostrovskiy]

Congratulations!

[The Democratic Disney States]

Congratulations Balder!

[Scotsgale]

Congrats Balder!!

[Mark]

Please see the latest update from the Realm of Balder:

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=2745428

[Mark]

Hello everyone,

Here is the latest update from the Realm of Balder!

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=2782665

Have a great day!

[Mark]

Here is the latest update from the Realm of Balder!

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=2812303

[Mark]

We are proud to announce we have a new treaty partner, The Region that has No Big Banks! Introducing The ABBA Accords, a partnership between The Region That Has No Big Banks and The Realm of Balder.

The text of the treaty can be found here: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=2816549

We look forward to wonderful relations with NBB and I personally can't wait to see all the future events and collaboration.

Special thanks to our Minister for Foreign Affairs Millenhaal and the diplomatic team of Namojia and The Democratic Disney States over in NBB for their hard work on this. Also special thanks to Western Arba Fir for their original outreach to us and proposal of our initial consulate!

[JayDee II]

Mamma Mia!

What exciting news!

[Lucienite Comfed]

Congrats!

[Dragonian Kazaman]

Statement of Détente Between Balder and The Rejected Realms

For well over a decade, the relationship between Balder and The Rejected Realms has been characterised by mutual distrust which has created obstacles to harmonious relations both for each other and with other partners. In light of this, and with an optimistic eye to the future, we acknowledge that respectful and open dialogue between our regions in the interests of reconciliation is both beneficial and desirable. There is more work to be done to achieve said reconciliation, but we can take the first steps towards reaching that goal here.

With that in mind, we, the undersigned representatives of our governments, recognize a state of detente between our two regions. To be clear, this is not a binding treaty of non-aggression or alliance, but no longer would we consider ourselves to be hostile to one another as we seek to enter an era of better bi-lateral relations.

Accordingly, our governments profess the desire to strive towards:

Mutual recognition of sovereignty over our regions and the right to govern as we deem appropriate.
Mutual respect and understanding of the members of our communities.
Further discussions to understand and resolve our differences.

Previous attempts at reconciliation did not come to fruition, and our governments would like to express our regret over this. To better help our communities understand one another, we are exchanging offsite consulates.

Signed,

Dragonian Kazaman, Delegate and King of Balder
Mark, Statsminister of Balder

MadJack, Delegate of The Rejected Realms

[Oseao]

This is very much welcome news from two of our embassy partners, my best wishes to both Balder and TRR!

[Rhaza]

Fram.

[Namojia]

Very encouraging news.

[Ikania]

Skol.

[Imantica]

Great news! Here's to a fruitful future

[Lucienite Comfed]

Congratulations, excellent news!

[Western Arba Fir]

congrats!

[Omnicontrol]

Mhm. Cool.

[Dragonian Kazaman]

(A Dispatch version of this speech is here: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=2825233)

Today marks fifteen years since Balder was founded. I have two announcements to make today, but I can't resist some historical commentary. Please forgive me if you can.

The NationStates world is very different now from what it was back then. So many powers from that time are irrelevant today except as parts of our history: the United Defenders' League, the Founderless Regions Alliance, The New Inquisition, The Black Hawks, The Black Riders, Unknown.

The most striking change between 2011 and 2026 is the rise of independence. In 2011, interregional politics was dominated by invader and defender factions, and more often than not the most powerful actors in NationStates identified more with a faction than any particular region, and might even be cosmopolitans. A third bloc of independent regions formed in those early years, culminating in the 2014 [url=/page=dispatch/id=844519]Independent Manifesto[/url]. Even reading the list of signatories is a lesson in how much has changed, and I expect many new players will know hardly any of the regions or names. But as the signatories show, early on independence grew from two sources: the regenerating political culture of GCRs, and the imperialist sphere of UCRs. They all wanted to be able to form relationships and project power through foreign policy without needing to hand their region's sovereign interests, including not just policy but much needed talent, over to cosmopolitan organisations. In those days, the only way to achieve this was to form a bloc, almost a faction of their own, and this was the idea behind the manifesto.

In our own decade, independence has looked very different. It is not so much one faction among several, but is the way most regions conduct their foreign policy. This change was clear by 2021, when there was debate about the relevance of the manifesto and its original signatories, and whether an independent bloc still existed. Balder's King North East Somerset addressed these concerns in a speech to Europeia's 2021 Summit on Independence and Government:

So Independence is neither dead, nor alive, by virtue of this situation. It is cryogenically frozen in time by the Manifesto. Indeed that is part of the whole beauty of independence now, by virtue of the Manifesto, is that it has been eternalised and encapsulated by it. Rather than something being actively led by a group of individuals with specific interests, biases and alignments. One cannot trademark a word in Nationstates, people would of course be free to claim independence meant something else, something other than the Manifesto. But no one seems to be trying to do that, there is no debate of substance. Rather any criticisms seem to focus on the "leadership" of independence, that the original signatories of the document should somehow "step aside". Anyone who says that must fundamentally not really understand what Independence is about, because by very definition if there was a central leadership of independence, then it would be the very antithesis of independence. Sadly those players who grew up in the cult that was the UDL, or indeed many R/D groups, will probably never really understand the concept that one can organically develop a political system and debate and take decisions through institutions, rather than merely be led and dictated to by a small group of charismatic individuals.

So independence has expanded and has ceased to be a bloc. This is true today even though the Modern Gameplay Compact might suggest otherwise. For example, Europeia recently had a diplomatic row with The East Pacific and Lazarus, but all of them are independent. The Leftist Assembly used to be in a state of de facto war with several MGC members over the region Solidarity, even though all those regions are independent. We could also point to the diplomatic rifts between the anglosphere and the the MGC, or rifts between the anglosphere and the other imperialists, or the fact that the imperialists are not in in the MGC even though they are friendly with it. Again, it is clear that independent regions don't act as a bloc anymore.

But those examples don't do justice to the scope of change. Today, many defender regions are independent, thanks to the Aegis Accords. With this alliance, defenders have built a strong political institution which gives every member an equal seat at the table, which respects each member's laws and political leadership, and which forms policy through transparent political consensus. This is quite different from how the old defender organisations worked: the early years of Libcord dominated by a claimed meritocracy, "the cult that was the UDL," the unaccountable scheming cabal at the top of the FRA. Today, if you want to be a political leader among defenders, you need to show that you can serve the interests of your region well, and keep trustful and respectful relationships with other regions over time.

I hope all of this explains why Balder would choose to align itself with defenders, when before 2021 the idea would have sounded crazy to anyone.

This brings me to my first announcement. Earlier today, the Aegis Accords released a statement marking Balder's accession to the alliance. The announcement goes over our history with other Aegis members over the last five years, a history every Balderan can feel proud of. I would like to thank our Aegis allies for their welcome.

Aegis was an important part of the war against the Brotherhood of Malice. Now the war has been won, much more decisively than the MGC ever expected. For the first time that I can remember or think of, the two largest alliances in the game are friendly and have overlapping membership, and there is no third alliance pushing against them. It's natural for people to worry about what purpose all of these alliances serve now, or what comes next. Some old leaders in the UDL (whom I won't name) believed that NationStates needs a cycle of revolutionary changes to keep the game's politics from growing stale. I can't think of anything more hostile to building stable regional communities to last across many years. It's the sort of thing that you could only believe if you had no loyalties to a region, and only sought your personal glory. It gets things exactly backward. NationStates will only be worth playing while it's still possible to join or make political communities, and for these communities to pursue long term projects together.

Since the most ambitious projects can't be done alone, alliances like the MGC and Aegis give regions a place to pool resources and share talent, while still respecting each other's sovereignty. I fully expect other alliances like this to form, where regions "organically develop a political system and debate and take decisions through institutions, rather than merely be led and dictated to by a small group of charismatic individuals." Despite what people have thought since at least 2003, we don't actually need overarching ideologies to counterbalance each other and consume regional communities, like a neverending digital cold war.

This brings me to my second announcement. After opening up to defenders, Balder has gained many new citizens, including A Leaf on the Wind. She has served for years as a minister, Jomsviking officer, Statsminister, and during my reign as Crown Princess. She has decided to step down, and in honour of her service I name her Duchess of Uppsala. On behalf of the realm, thank you, Sarah!

The Storting has just finished approving the new Crown Prince, Mark. Since Mark has joined, he's served admirably in government, including the last two terms as Statsminister. Congratulations Mark on becoming Vice Delegate of Balder!

When I came back to Balder in 2021 after a long hiatus, I asked "How are things?," and OnderKelkia answered me, "The affairs of the region are strong and stable, but there is scope for further improvement and we must strive towards this." Five years later, a third of our history later, and we've achieved much of what we've striven toward. I hope that I and my successors will give reason for more optimism on Balder's 20th birthday in 2031.

Fram Balder!

Dragonian Kazaman
Delegate and King