Imperium OffTopicum XIV

[Mathalamus]

Panama Canal blocked

A ship experiencing navigational issues ran aground in the Panama canal and a small explosion caused damage to the Canal. As of the moment the canal is rendered inoperable and is closed to all traffic.

which nation did the ship belong to?

 

[Robert Can't]

It was an Indonesia Vessel returning from its journey that covered the coast of Mozambique and Argentina

 

[Ailedhoo]

West African Confederation

Capital: Bamako
Government: Confederal Representative Democracy with Direct Democracy Mechanism
Economy: Mixed, due to the clashing ideological debates
Languages: many, official government documents include languages like Senufo, Mandre and Bambara, along with Arabic and French.
Currency: Confederal Franc
Religion: Official non-determine, with a high number of Muslim (including Sunni and Sufism), Christain, Tengist and Animist followers.

Structure: each province is set with their own administrative council, which is voted by the province's peoples and often subjected to direct democracy consult. The provinces then set to the nations, set by cultural consideration. The nations then will set to the Confederal Council and the Great Senate.

Current Status: having been born by the Act of Confederal Africa the confederation is to have its first offical election in February this year. Each province and the current nations have already establish their local administration however; all now is needed is the prime offical election for confederal representation. The Transittional Overseer Committe is though is more a organisation talk shop, for primal orgnaisation is going to be drafted by the top political leaders in the Confederal political system that have already being emerging.

Transitional Overseer Committee Chairman: Ali Nzeogwu, who will leave office after the elections are cast.

Confederal Premier: will be decided after the vote take place.

As for the political parties that will strive to lead this constructed confederation...

Spoiler political parties, their ideologies and their leaders :

Party Ideology Leader
Peoples Coalision for the Confederation Populist Centralism Idowu Saro-Wiwa
Congress for Liberal Unionists Liberal Nsia Falana
League of the Peoples Justice Social Democrat Udo Gowon
Confederal Preservation Party Conserative Kweku Okar
Allaince of Confederal African Nationalists Nationalist Representation Paul Sy
Aberhamic Democrat Allaince Religius Democrat Salif Jomo-Gbomo
Guilde for Revolutionary Democracy Democratic Socialist Oluwafunmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti
Ecopolitical Allaince Green Mamadou Boro
Federal Allaince for West Africa Centralist Federalist Oni Mbanefo
Confederal Islamic Fellowship Islamic Demorat Souleymane Jang
Confederal Christain Congress Christain Democrat Chi Attah
Democratic Union of Patriotic Socialists Democratic Marxism Obi Okiro
Party for One Africa Pan-Africanism Mimi Dia
Allaince of United Lawful Peoples Authoriterian Democracy Abiodun Alamieyeseigha
Party for a Free Golden Future Neoliberal Ousmane Solarin
Malian Nationalist Congress Mali Nationalist Fatoumata Sarr
United African Anarchist Union Anarcy Esi Yar'Adua
Order for a Strong and United Africa Fascist Debora Iwu
United Worker's Party Soveit Marxism Iwu Obasanjo
Pan-African Party of Hyenas Joke Party Okot Takana
Party of True Justice Platonic Republicanism Yaw Mansah

As for the flag...

Spoiler flag :

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

alright, Fine, the government will shut down the project, and we will decommission every conversion plants as well.

Not good enough. The fact that the Romans, whose economy is in tatters and political situation always on the razor's edge of complete collapse, believes that it of all states can be trusted with offensive nuclear technology is only made more terrifying by the fact that it has been pursuing this project in secret.

The United Arab Republic calls for an international inspection team to obtain full details on the Roman nuclear programme and oversee its dismantling. We furthermore question whether Rome can be trusted with the technology it already has.

Pan-African Party of Hyenas

AWW YUS

 

[Mathalamus]

Not good enough. The fact that the Romans, whose economy is in tatters and political situation always on the razor's edge of complete collapse, believes that it of all states can be trusted with offensive nuclear technology is only made more terrifying by the fact that it has been pursuing this project in secret.

The United Arab Republic calls for an international inspection team to obtain full details on the Roman nuclear programme and oversee its dismantling. We furthermore question whether Rome can be trusted with the technology it already has.

we would be willing to allow completely neutral nations (ie, nations without any preexisting bias for or aganst the Roman Empire) to inspect. and, sorry, but that's where we draw the line. the UAR isn't allowed to dictate what technology we can and cannot have. we do have civilians depending on those, you know?

and i state, AGAIN that we arent anywhere near an economic collapse. its just weak, like the recession the USA had in 2008, maybe not even!

(OOC: never do this again. i HATE IT when people do this. its one the worst things you can do here.)

 

[Reus]

NATIONAL TELEVISION OF INDONESIA
"Bringing to Indonesia - The World."



Expanding Indonesia's Military Capabilities
​

YOGYAKARTA, further validating the commitments announced last season by the executive and the legislative branch of Indonesia; President Vivian De'Arale announced a new campaign of military buildup, that begins this year, which will go along with the industrial plans that have progressed since the past 2 years. Discussing this issue, our Journalist, Dewi Pratiwi, managed to get an exclusive interview with our President, Mrs.Vivian De'Arale. The interview addresses not only this issue, but many other questions ranging from Indonesian foreign policies to the government's plans of the future.

Pratiwi: "Good Morning, Mrs.President; Its a great honor to meet you."

DeArale: "Morning Dewi, the honor's all mine !"

Pratiwi: "So, it has been announced by the government that Indonesia is going to expand its military capabilities. Define expanding military capabilities."

DeArale: "Well, by military capabilities, we actually mean that we are expanding the size of our military, including the numbers of the personnel and the equipment(s); while also expanding the range of our military's operational capability. Meaning, that currently, our army is exclusive for defense and internal security purposes, and we are changing that. "

Pratiwi: "Is there actually a necessity for Indonesia to expand the size of it's military, and moreover re-purpose our military for more than defense and internal security ? Because so far Indonesia's firm neutrality policy have prevented the nation from entering the deadly war that destroyed Japan, and with the war over in the Pacific, many see little point in expanding the military."

DeArale: "Asia is a hotzone and it will always be. The war we've seen in the Pacific is the first of many more possible conflicts. Take China and Korea for example, territorial issues almost led them into a war in the middle of another war. It is prevented only because both were fighting Japan, now that they are gone, there are little factors holding back the Chinese giant from once again demanding the Gangnam territories. Future wars will still happen around Asia, but this time it will involve individual Asian nations, as traditional powers such as United Arab Republic has been torn apart by the war and it is unlikely for them to engulf themselves again into a conflict around the world until they can recover from the war. Which would take long."

Pratiwi: "But how about our neutrality policies ? Won't they still prevent us from entering any war if we remain indifferent about what is happening in other countries ?"

DeArale: "We will always keep our neutrality policy, that is what we can do in our part. But judging from what have happened during the war to us, from the UAR embargo to the PAU blasphemous allegations; it is clear that many foreign nations would like us to take part in the conflict. It is due to the fact that Indonesia is an economic powerhouse, and the cradle of humanity's food supply. Any warring power that have us in their side would substantially turn the favor of the conflict for them. That is why we must prepare for any kind of conflict. Because there are many out there who doesn't want us to be neutral, and there are little that we can do to prevent them to do so. "

Pratiwi: "Ah....Okay. Talking about the UAR and PAU, what is the current stance of Indonesia towards both countries ? After the UAR embargo towards our country and the allegations by PAU that we participate in a chemical weapon development with NWU and UAR."

DeArale: "PAU have mentioned that they are only publicizing what their intelligence heard from the NWU and so far they have not pushed their allegations further. So we can forgive them for this one, and we hope that they would not smear Indonesia's good name in the future. Moving on to the UAR; our relations with them are more complicated. They issued an embargo against us during the war, under the notion that we help Japanese war effort. Indonesia was not in any way helping Japan against the UAR, and the decision taken by the UAR only proofs to hurt themselves, by blockading trade with one of the world's biggest exporter, they only put more burden to their economy. Their industry was already clogged by the war, and blocking Indonesian product means they must clog their industry even more by needing to produce products that otherwise can simply be imported from Indonesia. But thankfully, as the war ends, they have lifted the embargo and reopened trade. Though our relations will remain cold after this incident unless reconciliations are made between the two nations."

Pratiwi: "Yes, we all hope so, Mrs.President; Let's return to our main topic. The public would need to know further details of our military expansion. What is actually our target ?"

DeArale: "We have several goals that we need to achieve, each and every military branch have different goals. For example, in general our military needs to have over 2 million active personnel, and 4 million more reserves. Our ground forces and air force must be provided with the most up-to-date state of the art equipment, our navy must be a 'Blue Water Navy', capable of operating in the high seas; and so many more. There are also numerous reorganizations in the military, forming new, useful branches, from special military research sectors to cyber armies."

Pratiwi: "Hmm, are such changes necessary for a country that aims to be neutral, and wouldn't changes like the possession of high-seas navy meaning that we drift from our original course of a defensive army ?"

DeArale: "As I have stated before, yes we are changing from a defensive army, to a more operationally flexible one. Our main aim would still be defensive, as in Offense is the Best Defense. We must have the capability to destroy the enemy before they even enter our territories....and yes, these changes are necessary for a huge country such as ours, and remembering that most of our neighbors are oriented towards an offensive army."

Pratiwi: "Uh-huh......moving on, You've previously stated that we need to posses a 2 million men sized military, along with 4 million reserves. How would gaining such huge numbers be possible, and wouldn't it be too excessive ?"

DeArale: "2 Million is just about 1% of our population; and regularly, military(s) are about that percentage of population. Gaining that amount of number is certainly possible, but it wouldn't be at an instant. It will take few years to do so, and it would require things such as launching recruitment campaigns and emphasizing on military education. It is certainly not excessive, many other nations, including some of our neighbors, possesses bigger military:civilian ratio than ours."

Pratiwi: "But aren't the military concentrating on drones instead of huge manpower based armies ?"

DeArale: "Its true, the military's researches are concentrated in drones development. But we must not forget that drones and robots, even though it is controlled by humans from home; it will not have the same flexibility as a living human. It also lacks the the capability of fully perceiving the surroundings, the operators would be limited to what the drone are able to show. That is why a human army is still important...and not to mention that basing our entire military on one doctrine is not healthy if the enemy somehow manages to form an effective tactic against us. Take Japan's "Overwhelming Firepower" doctrine for example; once the allied goes on full defense, the Japanese assaults became more and more clogged. Having a flexible military is important."

Pratiwi: "I see.... would the Indonesian economy be capable of sustaining this new military developments ? We've already seen the ill effects of pouring resources into the military in Japan, and certainly Indonesia needs a good plan that would prevent an economic implosion due to massive military buildups."

DeArale: "Japan's economic destruction is due to the fact that they were pressured to pump up their military in a fast pace. They were forced to do so because of war, but in our case, we have no reasons to be that hurried. Our developments would be slow and steady, preventing an economic drop."

Pratiwi: "Okay, gradual developments would prevent a sudden clog in the economy. But in the end, when the buildups are finished, we will be left with a huge military and a huge maintenance cost. Are we prepared for that ?"

DeArale: "Certainly ! Our current plans are far below our actual capabilities; and around us we can see other nations with inferior economy and far smaller populations having a considerably better military than ours. For example, our allies in Germany which is not economically as powerful as us, and with a minuscule amount of population compared to ours, and yet they are able to sustain a military more powerful than ours."

Pratiwi: "Alright, that is very good to hear; talking about other nations, what do you think about other nation's military programs and which nation would be Indonesia's main competitor if there is an arms race ?"

DeArale: "A lot of programs are being developed throughout the world, and most of them consists of either the creation of a small professional force or new technological developments. Our drone programs, Australian armored developments, and Malaccan naval expansions are at the second category, while Germany's Meteor program and Rhodesian Springheel Jacks are at the first. How the nations choose their focus depends on their military priority; so I'd say none are more superior nor inferior than the others. Moving on to competitors in an arms race, I would say our neighbors would be the main competitors. But out of all the powers around the region, the Chinese would probably be our main rival. With Japan defeated, China will rise as the most powerful nation in the region, they possess a huge amount of manpower, which could pave their way to be an economic powerhouse, and also a huge military power."

Pratiwi: "Time will tell us about that, and hopefully, we can all cooperate instead of competing. My last question, Mrs. President, and this one is related to our topic. There's a debate whether Indonesia's military developments should concentrate on expanding its size, or improving its technology, training, et cetera; So on your opinion, which is more important for a military, Quality or Quantity ?"

DeArale: "Porque no los dos ?"

Link to video.​

CLAIMS FOR THIS SEASON

 

[Civ'ed]

we would be willing to allow completely neutral nations (ie, nations without any preexisting bias for or aganst the Roman Empire) to inspect. and, sorry, but that's where we draw the line. the UAR isn't allowed to dictate what technology we can and cannot have. we do have civilians depending on those, you know?

and i state, AGAIN that we arent anywhere near an economic collapse. its just weak, like the recession the USA had in 2008, maybe not even!

(OOC: never do this again. i HATE IT when people do this. its one the worst things you can do here.)

Wait, so Rome, a nation which has been failing since Taiwan, is allowed to perfectly skirt international law on the basis that it's called Rome?
That.
Is.
Ridiculous.

Just because you think you have some connection to a nation that hasn't existed for centuries doesn't make you exempt from real life and we're sorry, but that's how it is.

 

[Sonereal]

Panama Canal blocked

A ship experiencing navigational issues ran aground in the Panama canal and a small explosion caused damage to the Canal. As of the moment the canal is rendered inoperable and is closed to all traffic.

The good news is that this changes nothing, since I didn't know the canal was even open given I slated a 2110 timetable on it being operable.

 

[Mathalamus]

Wait, so Rome, a nation which has been failing since Taiwan, is allowed to perfectly skirt international law on the basis that it's called Rome?
That.
Is.
Ridiculous.

Just because you think you have some connection to a nation that hasn't existed for centuries doesn't make you exempt from real life and we're sorry, but that's how it is.

actually, considering the Old Empire was so arrogant, they thought themselves as Civilization, and that everyone else were barbarians. im sure they could have defied international law made by barbarians, and used their own, had they survived. they were rather brutal at times...

their arrogance was, obviously, their downfall, and we aren't that arrogant. we did end the nuclear program, erased all the data, and shut down everything. all the inspectors could do is confirm that its shut down, and that thorium power plants are actually using thorium. and theres the fact that we havent even made any actual weapons, we only just started to process thorium to uranium when it was shut down...

 

[Sonereal]

actually, considering the Old Empire was so arrogant, they thought themselves as Civilization, and that everyone else were barbarians. im sure they could have defied international law made by barbarians, and used their own, had they survived. they were rather brutal at times...

There was no such thing as "international law" at the time. The implication that the barbarians were monolithic in that sort is, err, wrong.

their arrogance was, obviously, their downfall, and we aren't that arrogant. we did end the nuclear program, erased all the data, and shut down everything. all the inspectors could do is confirm that its shut down, and that thorium power plants are actually using thorium.

No. Rome's downfall was a rapidly decreasing revenue stream on top of rapidly increasing expenditures forcing it to levy increasingly high taxes on its dwindling population to pay an increasingly ineffective military.

 

[Civ'ed]

actually, considering the Old Empire was so arrogant, they thought themselves as Civilization, and that everyone else were barbarians. im sure they could have defied international law made by barbarians, and used their own, had they survived. they were rather brutal at times...

Key word being "had they survived", which clearly didn't happen. Instead, said "barbarians" went on to become valuable soldiers, rulers and so many things the Romans could not achieve. Like invade Persia and Germany. Difficult task, that.

 

[KaiserElectric]

The Bremerhaven Drydocks were abuzz with activity. Workers were rushing to add the finishing touches to a newly refurbished aircraft carrier. Destined to be the new heart of the German navy, it was going to be ceremonially rechristened as the DNS Joseph, in honor of the last Archduke of Austria and the father of the great Kaiserin Claudia. The press had already gathered in the entrance, ready to take photos of Claudia as she arrived, while naval commanders exchanged words with shipyard foreman about the final touches to the mighty vessel. No one noticed two women on the opposite end of the drydocks, a slight blonde and a fiery redhead, the former with a suspicious sack over her shoulder.

"Karla, I thought we were planting the bomb up there," the blonde asked, gesturing towards the entrance and the gathered crowd.

"No Gertrude, the plan is much simpler, and much safer," the redhead replied with a wicked smile. "This ship is the bigger prize today."

"Not to question your wisdom," Gertrude began cautiously. "But wouldn't our cause be better served by placing the bomb in the crowd? That's what the mistress wanted, wasn't it?"

"Gertrude," Karla said, placing both hands on her shoulders. "You and I both know she is slipping. The Mistress has let her fear control her when she should have been out fighting long ago. Simply murdering the whore masquerading as a Kaiserin will not be enough. We need to wound German pride as well, and what better way to do that then by crippling the ship named after the deceased pig that led them a few years ago?"

"But how will one bomb be enough to sink this?" Gertrude asked, waving her arms to encompass the entire ship.

"Simple. You see the unfinished portholes on the side? It is an easy throw from here, and when the bomb goes off during the ceremony, their precious carrier will sink to the bottom of the North Sea!"

Gertrude stared at her in disbelief. "Are you sure the bomb will do that much damage?"

"Of course it will, packed the explosives myself. So long as the timer you set up worked okay, that bomb will go off in the middle of the ceremony. Then when the chaos sets in, I approach the Kaiserin with a 9mm..."

"Uh, about the timer..." Gertrude muttered.

"What about the timer?" the redhead said severely.

"Uh, I MAY have skipped on arming it just yet," she said apologetically. "There was a lot of traffic, and I was afraid we would get here too slowly..."

"Then arm the damn thing!" Karla hissed at her, making the poor blonde girl jump. With shaking hands, she dropped the package on the ground and began attaching the wires and leads to the copious amount of dynamite packed in. "Set it for an hour," Karla ordered. "The whore and her ministers love to hear themselves talk, so that should be plenty of time."

"And...done!" Gertrude announced happily, punching in the correct time with a flourish. Removing it from the bag to admire her handiwork, she frowned slightly.

"Karla," Gertrude said nervously. "The time just jumped to sixty hours..."

"What?" Karla demanded. "Give me that thing!" She snatched the bomb away and stared angrily at the timer.

60:00....80:00...L0:00...90:00

"L-0?" Karla said to herself. "That's not a number. Gertrude what did you..."

Karla's heart leaped into her throat faster than a Springheel Jack. With trembling hands, she turned the bomb upside down and read again.

00:05...00:04...00:03...

Karla looked up slowly. Gertrude had already begun running for her life towards the other end of the drydock. Karla bared her teeth in fury, the ticking timer still being gripped by her slender white fingers.

00:02...00:01...

"GERTRUDE, YOU LITTLE BI-"

----

"What the hell is going on?" Claudia exclaimed as she stepped out of the limousine. She was used to meeting hostile crowds before, but this one seemed to be snubbing her. Apparently something far more interesting was going on at the opposite end of the dry dock.

"Police sirens," Thorsten observed as the familiar wailing began to sound. "Must have been some sort of accident. Think it was serious?"

"If it's this distracting it has to be," Claudia reasoned, more than a little miffed that her grand entrance was ignored. She moved into the crowd, and despite the pleas of her entourage began shoving her way towards the front. She ignored the gawks she got from the crowd and soon found herself at the front, where policemen and soldiers were keeping the crowd at bay.

"Get back people, the police need their space to find out what happened!" a soldier ordered the crowd, shoving back a reporter who tried to stick a microphone up his nose.

"Pardon me," Claudia asked, tapping him on the shoulder. "Can you tell me what exactly is going on?"

"Sorry ma'am, I can't give the press any-"

The soldier was cut off by his recognition of the speaker. "Kaiserin Claudia?" he asked incredulously.

"More or less," she said, pushed in every direction by oblivious newsmen. "I get the feeling I'm not the most interesting thing going on-"

It was now Claudia's turn to pause, as she also recognized her conversation partner, more by his gentle blue eyes than by the medal on his chest.

"Hans! " Claudia remarked, momentarily distracted. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

Hans Nørup gave a slight start. "You remember me?"

"Of course," Claudia said, blissfully unaware of how flirty she was sounding. "You're very hard to forget, Mr. Nørup."

Hans turned slightly red in spite of himself. "So..you want to be let through, right?"

"Oh yes, of course!" Claudia sputtered, snapping back to reality. Hans moved slightly to let her through to the other end, prompting a barrage of questions and camera flashes from the press as they spotted her. Hans ordered a cop to take his place in the line and escorted her to the scene. Moments later, Thorsten emerged from the press line and joined the two of them.

"So what exactly is going on?" Claudia said, craning her neck to get a better look at the scene.

"Don't really know yet," Hans said. "But they are pretty sure someone may have set off a bomb."

Claudia felt a chill that had nothing to do with the autumn cold. "Any idea who?"

"Not yet, but they may have a witness," Hans said, pointing to a blonde woman sitting near a police car, being consoled by a couple of policemen. Hans tried to continue, but the three of them were suddenly approached by the police detective in charge of the scene, an overweight man with an impressively elaborate mustache.

"Kaiserin," he grumbled, bowing slightly out of respect. "My name is Inspector Voight. I presume you want to know exactly what has interrupted your ship ceremony."

"Uh, sure," Claudia said, caught off guard by his official-sounding tone. "Nørup here said you have a witness?"

"Most likely an accomplice who helped set up the bomb," Voight reasoned. "The other bomber is in no fit state to answer questions."

"Is he or she dead?" Thorsten demanded.

"Oh yes," Voight said fervently. "In the words of my younger companions, the other suspect currently has the consistency of a fine strawberry jam."

Claudia regretted having toast that morning, but soldiered on. "Uh, anything else?"

"Well, unless the bomber had a particularly strong distaste for concrete, it seems this wasn't the intended target," the chief inspector concluded. "Considering the most likely target was yourself, it seems you dodged a bullet, Kaiserin."

"Or a bomb," Hans added. Claudia raised an eyebrow at him, and the Unteroffizier grimaced apologetically.

"Either way, it's best if the Kaiserin is not out in public right now," Thorsten concluded. "If you find anything else Inspector, let us know."

"Of course, of course," the inspector said. Bowing again, he turned to speak to another policemen.

"Well, this didn't turn out the way I had hoped," Claudia said sadly. "Shame, I was looking forward to this..."

"I'm sure you could reschedule," Hans suggested. "From what I heard, the carrier was entirely unscathed."

"We'll figure out the semantics of the raid date later," Thorsten interjected. "Right now, we need to get the Kaiserin back to the palace."

"Oh, right. Nice seeing you Hans!" Claudia said sounding a little disappointed in her hasty goodbye. She started to head back to the entrance before stopping suddenly.

"Thorsten," Claudia said, a devious grin on her face. "Do you think I will need extra protection until this incident is sorted out?"

"Well, I think the usual guards will be enough," Thorsten responded, looking suspiciously at Hans. "But if you want extra protection, that's manageable. I'll just contact the reserves and see who we can-"

"Thorsten, didn't you say you wanted a Meteor in the royal guards?" Claudia reminded him.

"We already have one, but it doesn't have a trained pilot-"

"Problem solved!" Claudia exclaimed. She stepped over to Hans and grabbed his arm a little too eagerly. "I'd like Unteroffizier Nørup to be in my guard for the time being."

Thorsten and Hans were equally shocked, but only the latter of the two was turning red. "Somewhat sudden," Thorsten remarked. "But you are the Kaiserin, so reassigning him to your guard is easily within your power. Granted it would be easier to just train a new guy..."

"Perfect!" Claudia interrupted. With a new spring in her step, Claudia led to drag a bewildered Hans through the crowd again followed closely by Thorsten, amidst a new battery of questions from the press.

"I'm still a little confused as to what is going on." Hans exclaimed as a reporter snapped a photo of his reddening face.

"Frankly, so am I," Thorsten quietly admitted. "Clearly she sees something in you, Mr. Nørup. Not going to argue with her about that."

"I would..." Hans muttered.

 

[Robert Can't]

Indonesian Crew detained for questioning

With the Canal closed a full investigation has been launched. Texarkan detectives are investigating the ship and the crew have been detained for questioning.

 

[christos200]

Economic Reforms in Thailand:

- Chancellor Yingjang Shinawatra, the man behind the economic reforms​

The Thai Government has made some important economic reforms. The first of those reforms is the decrease of the wage of those who work in the public sector by 6%. The money saved have gone to the Investment in Thailand Organization (ITO). ITO will give allowances to businessmen, both foreign and native, who invest in Thailand and create new industries/factories/shops. Also, ITO will advertise Thailand to foreign companies. This reform is expected to increase foreign investment in Thailand.

The second reform is to decrease the Taxes of newly created industries/factories/shops from 30% to 7%. This will make Thailand a heaven for investors. Although decreasing the taxes on those companies will cause some short term economic problems, in the long term the Thai economy will accelerate.

The third economic reform will change the tax system on farmers. The farmers, who make up 35% of the population, instead of paying the taxes with money, they will pay them by giving to the Government 3/10 of their products. In turn, the Government will sell 2/3 of those products in state owned markets at a little higher price that the usual (the rise of the price will be 5%). Also, by state law, private supermarkets will have to increase their prices on farming products by 6%, thus making state owned farming products more popular.

The other 1/3 of the products will be sold by the Government in the foreign market, but the price will be 10% cheaper than the usual price in the country where the farming products are exported, in order to make Thai farming products more popular.

The fourth economic reform is to for the government to force citizens who have more than 700 acres of land to give 200 of them to the government, which in turn shall give it to unemployed citizens who apply for it. The citizens who give the 200 acres of land will not be compensated, but taxes will be decreased by either 8% for non farmers and for farmers, they will have to give 2/10 instead of 3/10 of their products to the Government.

The fifth economic reform will be the creation of the Farming Organization (FO). FO will give the money gained by the state owned markets (see the third economic reform) to the unemployed people who become farmers (see fourth economic reform), in order to support them.

Chancellor Yingjang Shinawatra, who planned the reforms, is confident that they will make the Thai economy stronger and will allow it to compete with other East Asian economic powers.

Increase and modernization of the Thai Army:

- General of Light Sukhumbhand Paribatra​

The General of Light Sukhumbhand Paribatra has begun a new program which will modernize and increase the Thai armed forces. Citing the instability in Vietnam and the rest of Asia, Sukhumbhand Paribatra has increased the Thai army from 200,000 men to 340,000. The new conscripts are mainly unemployed men who did not want to become farmers as well as Vietnamese refugees. Sukhumbhand Paribatra has also introduced new weapons in the Thai army like Remington 783, Glock 30S and HK762A1 Long Rifle. The Thai forces have also conducted an exercise this week involving 30,000 soldiers, with the scenario of an invasion from the North. The exercise went really good and showed that the Thai army is capable of defending the nation. The main doctrine of the Thai army is a defensive one, as according to the foreign policy of Chancellor Yingjang Shinawatra, Thailand will not need to go into an offensive war.

- Remington 783

- Glock 30S

- HK762A1 Long Rifle​

 

[christos200]

The laws of the Imperial Court​

- Article by James Fox, reporter in 'The News of the World' online newspaper

Those who serve his Imperial Highness Rama XXVII as Ministers of the Imperial Court have to follow certain rules. One of those rules is that they have to wear traditional Thai robes. That's why Chancellor Yingjang Shinawatra always appears dressed in medieval robes. The second rule is that the Ministers have to eat with the Emperor every Sunday night. An other rule is that the Ministers have to bow in the direction of the palace five times every morning, to show their loyalty to the Emperor. The Emperor and the Ministers believe that those law keep the natural order in the Empire and make it prosper.

 

[JohannaK]

Claims for the turn:

 

[Mathalamus]

the Roman Emperor, Theodoros Laskaris, has commissioned an independent study into the state of the Roman Economy, and how weak or powerful it really is, or if its indeed "dangerously close to collapse" as some nations claim.

(basically, i sent a PM to RC asking him to settle it once and for all.)

 

[KaiserElectric]

Did RC ever finish the stats for this turn? I'm interested in knowing how the North American war is affecting national scores and whatnot.

 

[Tyo]

but this will cost you. you know, once we figure out how.

Is that a threat?

 

[TheGryphonPrince]

Claims:

Terrorist threats against Indo-Persia

A terrorist northern irani group claimed responsability for the attempted assasination attempt against the shah. In a letter written to a police center in New Persepolis, the group attacks the government of persecuting the islamic population and by genociding arabs as they reclaim territory from Oman. Shortly after, Ramin made a speech in public TV saying that a policial investigation will be performed in the northern provinces. The shah's condition is slowly improving but still has to lie in bed.