Post by palestinefree2 on Aug 23, 2008 18:10:50 GMT -5
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Foreign Affairs Update from Liberalia
By the Liberalian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
August 2008
Regional status
New Liberalia Regional Population: 94
Liberalia Regional Population: 12
WWSeti Regional Population: 12
Total Population: 117
Founder (New Liberalia): Whitlamia
WA Delegate: Senorak Valley
Endorsements: 13 (36%)
Founder (Liberalia): Falacer
WA Delegate: None
Endorsements: 0 (0%)
Founder (WWSeti): WWSeti Founder
WA Delegate: Stahlhelm DNVP
Endorsements: 2 (67%)
August Elections
An election was scheduled on 6-9 Aug. to fill four Class 1 seats on the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council is part of the judiciary branch of the Liberalian Government. Candidates for the election were:
Northern Sushi
Nivogal
Julio Trigman
Trodenhiem aka Satan
Laothin
Senita
Soccersian
Bandaloon
Hammer
Here are the final results:
Hammer - 9 votes
Bandaloon - 8 votes
Laothin - 8 votes
Trodenhiem aka Satan - 8 votes
Julio Trigman - 7 votes
Senita - 7 votes
Northern Sushi - 6 votes
Soccersian - 3 votes
Nivogal - 2 votes
As such, by the highest four votes, the new Class 1 Guardians are Hammer, Bandaloon, Laothin, and Trodenheim. Congratulations to everyone for a closely fought but clean race! The Guardian Council, by a majority, has voted Hammer as the new Chief Justice.
In addition to the GC election, an election for Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister was scheduled to be held 13-16 Aug., but due to the passage of the PM Election Timing Adjustment Act, the PM election has been moved to 20-23 Aug. The candidates are Delta Golf Sierra and Iwaqin (Right Alliance), and New Indie and Julio Trigman (Labour Party). The campaigns for PM/DPM have already begun. DGS kicked off his campaign with fireworks, a carnival, cookies, and pirates. New Indie countered with lasers, gold, and ninjas.
Despite going on two terms, the current Prime Minister, Palestine Free 2, had decided not to run, as he'd already served two terms and believed it would be in the best interests of democracy to let someone else take the mantle. Quite a few were astonished, but we congratulate PF2 for a successful run as PM. Good luck to all candidates! The election is officially underway and will end on 23 Aug.
New Liberalia wins Interregional Recruiting Contest
The Founderless Regions Alliance held a recruiting contest between its member regions from 21-28 Jul. After a slow start, New Liberalia came on strong at the end, picking up 16 new nations in a week - 6 more than the second place region, Sapientia! This effort pushed the population of New Liberalia over 100 nations for the first time since the region was formed during the Summer Revolution. Many thanks to all those who have worked hard to recruit lately, especially New Indie, Nucleawasta, Northern Sushi, Haelhan, PF2, and the Deputy Prime Minister & Recruitment Minister Delta Golf Sierra.
RP Update
As always, RP is ever active in our region. Here are some highlights:
Prasser and Carops relations are at an all time low with Ethnic Caropsynes dwelling within Prasser demand independence in their provinces. The Prassian government has taken a very dramatic approach to the incidents by declaring support for these movements as a criminal offence. The Federal Republic of Prasser declares itself in a state of Martial Law until the crisis is finished.
Western Contradictions has been thrown into civil war with Royalists and Democratic factions fighting it out in a deadly face off. The nation of Laothin pledged its support to the Democratic Faction and over the course of the War, has sent over 1 million soldiers into battle. Rumours of Armoria (another nearby nation) supporting the royalists has caused further rifts in the already shaky relationship between Armoria and the rest of the world, as the rogue nation continues its schemes.
Prasser also committed a large contingent of troops to assist the Democrats, but has not yet reached its destination.
Due to Prasser joining the Union, they have withdrawn from the Commonwealth of Nations, leaving only Forthampton and Govrama to remain in that group.
Govrama, due to rising internal and external threats, has placed their entire armed forces on high alert and has begun mobilising all the armed forces for a constant level of readiness.
The Publication of the First region-wide TIME magazine (written by Latagon) was published with interesting stories and advertisements for the regional happenings in the role play arena.
Laothin kicks off the RP world with the Greyhawk campaign of Dungeons & Dragons with several already signed up and ready to kick ass, eat Cheetos's and drink Mountain Dew. The campaign will be following the 3.5 edition rules.
Legislative Update
Legislative activity has always been keeping our region busy. Here's the latest:
The Act to Modernise Foreign Affairs, which would have required new ambassadors to register with the President, keep embassies active, and mandate that Liberalian citizens cannot serve as ambassadors for other regions to Liberalia and vice versa, was defeated 5-0 with 3 abstentions.
A Constitutional Amendment to separate the judicial and legislative branches of Liberalian government in terms of official jurisdiction, passed the 2/3 majority, getting an aye-nay vote of 12-3 with 1 abstention and is now awaiting Guardian Council approval.
The Election Act, which consolidates all Liberalian election laws into one and details the conduct of elections in Liberalia, passed 7-1.
The Ventrilo Act, which declares the Ventrilo server of voice.gamservers.com:4426 as Liberalian property, passed 6-1 with five abstentions.
A Constitutional Amendment to ensure the President is a symbol of unity and bipartisanship within the Liberalian Federation by prohibiting him to serve as PM, DPM, Speaker, DPP, DEA, or Leader of any political party, as well as any other cabinet position, got a aye-nay majority of 6-4 with 1 abstention. However, this amendment failed to achieve the 2/3s majority needed.
The PM Election Timing Adjustment Act, a temporary bill to adjust the timing of the PM elections without adding extra time on a single term, would return the original election schedule to its original form, passed 8-2 with the election moved to 20-23 Aug.
Two Constitutional Amendments, one that would limit the power of the Guardian Council in that they would not be able to swear in the PM nor to approve the occasional recalling of officials, and another that would follow a procedure on Presidential succession should the President be incapacitated as soon as possible, passed unanimously 8-0 and as such is now awaiting Guardian Council approval.
The Bill and Resolution Definition Act, which would have clarified the difference between a bill and resolution, passed 9-4.
The University Reform Act, which would simplify and streamline the running of the Regional University of Liberalia, was passed 8-2 with 3 abstentions.
Controversy emerged in Liberalia after it was discussed that two officers of the Founderless Regions Alliance, Arch Chancellor Sedge and Intelligence Minister Numero Capitan, were given "Defence Officer" status in the Liberlaian Volunteer Forces (LVF). Some viewed it as misleading, and were even more alarmed when it was discovered they were allowed to have Global Moderator access, which meant that foreign officials could see the IPs of users. This angered not only Liberalians overall, but many who were even questioning why Liberalia is considered a defensive as opposed to a neutral region. The bill is currently under vote in Parliament.
To see our other laws and government documents, visit the Liberalian Statute Book
Foreign Affairs Update
Liberalia has recently opened up ties with Gatesville, Glorious Praetorian Empire, Our Black Market, 01 East Roman Empire Alliance, NeoGenesis Movement, Eastand The New Revolution!
Equilism has officially ratified our Friendship Treaty with them, in their College and got Monarch's approval. We hope to strengthen relations with Equilism!
Newcomers to Liberalia
Welcome to the region, Osafune, Western Contradictions, Danmark, East Ying, and CISS!
Social Notes
Recently, Forthampton took a break from NS due to RL health issues after being released from the hospital earlier this month. We wish her the best of luck and pray for a speedy recovery so we can once again see her back in action .
Elections will be held soon, as she has resigned from her Guardian Council seat due to above issues, which means that another round of Guardian Council elections will occur to fill her seat.
The Great Debate: Good vs. Evil
A new Liberalian tradition, The Great Debate, moved to a lighter note in July with a fun debate on Good vs. Evil. The majority of participants were on the side of Evil, which is fairly representative of the behaviour of Liberalians as a whole. They pointed out that evil people tend to be more fun, intelligent, and just more interesting. They also make better movie characters. Those arguing for Good pointed out that Chuck Norris is on their side. Needless to say, Evil won. Expert Gramophonics was declared Debater of the Month.
Californians bring Immigration Issue to Liberalia with Game
Laothin started the Live Crazy show of Who Wants to be an Immigrant with it only being a few days old, the competition has really heated up and people are trying to race to the border as quick as they can. Note: The State Government of the State of California, nor the Government of the United Mexican States, has not endorsed this game as a solution to the US immigration problem.
University Activity
With the return of Carops, Liberalia regained one of its most vocal supporters of socialism. Soon after his return, Carops gave a lecture in the university on the benefits of socialism, and why it is the best form of government. Rebuttals were quickly presented by Delta Golf Sierra and Julio Trigman.
Another hot topic in the University has been global warming. Delta Golf Sierra gave some lectures about the topic in the College of Applied Science. The information he presented argued against humans being the primary cause of global warming, which stirred up quite a controversy.
Bandaloon, Arcade Master
Bandaloon has established himself as the master of the Liberalian Arcade, owning high scores in 18 of the 32 games in the arcade. The second closest champion is Iwaqin, with a paltry 6 high scores. Delta Golf Sierra is furious for revenge after Bandaloon beat his high score in Flamingo Golf.
Liberalian Webcomics
Laothin started publishing web comics satirising the various personas of Liberalia's most active individuals. With this update comes the Special Edition of his web comic:
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The current Cabinet of the PF2 Government:
President: Julio Trigman
Prime Minister: Palestine Free 2
Deputy Prime Minister: Delta Golf Sierra
Speaker, Liberalian Parliament: New Indie
Deputy Speaker, Liberalian Parliament: Nivogal
Minister of Defence: Hammer
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Prime Minister Kurt
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs: Nivogal
Minister of Recruitment and New Citizens: Delta Golf Sierra
Minister of Justice: Soccersian
Director of Public Prosecutions: Forthampton
Minister of Culture: Iwaqin
Minister of Media: Woolcott
Thanks to Delta Golf Sierra, Laothin, Prez, and Nivogal for the update!
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