Imperium Offtopicum XIX

[SouthernKing]

Dolphin Commonwealth signs and ratifies both UN Charter and Rome Statue

 

[NinjaCow64]

@Thor: 0.1 Billion Belgium Francs is about what the United Nations expects from most players, right?

 

[Ninja Dude]

Emperor Shishun agrees to sign and ratify both the UN Charter and the Rome Statute. The Kingdom of Guandong thanks the supporters that have made this half-term possible, and we will do our best to ensure that the most is made of this opportunity.

 

[Robert Can't]

I know many of you have expressed confusion at the systems in place for Budgeting an the Economy. However do not fear I've changed things so that in the next update things will be a lot more illuminating and easy to follow.
Notable new additions will include a qualitative description of what your money is actually doing.

Also because of these changes I will be allowing for a 1 off any nation who made a budget this turn to change it next turn if they so desire.

So go forth with confidence because its all going to make more sense by Sunday.

 

[Mathalamus]

I know many of you have expressed confusion at the systems in place for Budgeting an the Economy. However do not fear I've changed things so that in the next update things will be a lot more illuminating and easy to follow.
Notable new additions will include a qualitative description of what your money is actually doing.

Also because of these changes I will be allowing for a 1 off any nation who made a budget this turn to change it next turn if they so desire.

So go forth with confidence because its all going to make more sense by Sunday.

the Roman Emperor will hold off on the budgeting, then. all budgeting orders i made so far is deemed void.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

You're still paying me, though, riiiiiiiight..?

@Thor: 0.1 Billion Belgium Francs is about what the United Nations expects from most players, right?

Let me break it down a bit, because new information has come to light.

I crunched the numbers based on what players have publicly committed, and eight countries alone have pledged 2.54 bil (though the majority is from Rome and India*, and Angola was at the far end with 10 mil). I'd originally modelled my estimate on the real-world UN budget which is about 5.5 bil; 5.5 - 2.54 = 2.96, divvied between the remaining 20 Member States equals 0.148 each, before factoring in China's refusal to pay and Valkyria's budget not designating a UN fund.

However, I've subsequently learned that this 5.5 bil is just to cover the basic administrative overhead, meaning the UN budget in sum is actually much higher, and thus far I haven't found a resource that provides the net total. So from here on out, it's guesswork on my part.

But, in the course of all this I forgot that the real UN budgets on two-year terms, meaning for a proper comparison we then double the value of player donations, so what we actually have from these original eight players is a fund worth 5.08 bil in real-world terms. We have the minimum operational fund before even accounting for the majority of Member States, and before we consider that in a game with most of the world empty, we can assume with relative safety that overhead would be lower to begin with.

So to sum it all up: 100 mil per Member State, multiplied by 2, produces 5.6 bil, roughly matching my real-world peg. But this only encompasses the costs of the UN at its administrative level, not the operational costs of sub-agencies and their affiliated commissions and projects. Ergo, a 100-mil-per-member standard will keep the UN functioning, but if you want to ensure it operates efficiently, you'll need to pay in accordingly.

So, if someone were looking to draft a formal budget proposal to the General Assembly, I'd take that 2.54 base, triple it, and apportion payment accordingly.

* 1 bil is split between the UN and IMF, so I don't know how much will actually be received.

 

[Mathalamus]

You're still paying me, though, riiiiiiiight..?

the cheque that we sent was obviously received, so, you were already paid 780 million.

(that means my income would be 25 billion, not 25.78 billion)

also, i need to note that the UN is much smaller. 28 countries, compared to the 200 it had previously, so the budgeting would of course be smaller. it cannot cost 2.54 billion per years to keep up a UN that is more or less one tenth the size AND just starting up again.

so, according to the Emperor, you only really need to pay for the Core UN, with its many, many subsets not needing to be set up, or completely empty at present time, or not doing anything.

so, the Emperor thinks that you "only" need 381 million (15% of normal yearly budget), at least for the start. you can set up additional UN offices and adjust the income needed.

so, the figure you mentioned is only if the UN is heavily established, with all the offices active and needed, and with substantial peacekeeping operations underway, and ten times larger.

but you can ignore me completely. i'm just the Emperor ofn a piddly state. what do i know.

 

[Traveller76]

India ratifies the UN Charter and Rome Statute.

Signed,
President Jagdish Pradip Bachchan
Minister of Foreign Affairs Usha Bhattacharya
Ambassador to the United Nations Devraj Sharma

 

[jackelgull]

The Empire of Central America signs the UN charter, but refuses to ratify or sign the Statute of Rome.

 

[Gurra09]

Joint Statement from the Governments of Transnistria and Abkhazia
Tiraspol, Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, 27 January 2043
As per the Bulgarian Association Pact treaty signed in Sofia, Bulgaria earlier this month, the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic and the Republic of Abkhazia will enter into free association with the Democratic Republic of Bulgaria. In short, this means that the Government of Bulgaria holds full responsibility for our defense and partial responsibility over matters regarding diplomacy and foreign relations, while we retain our own independent governments. Our separate budgets will be submitted yearly to the Government of Bulgaria who will then include Transnistrian and Abkhazian expenditures in a collective Bulgarian budget for simpler overview. Our territories will be considered part of the Bulgarian domestic market for trade purposes, and Bulgarian, Transnistrian and Abkhazian citizens will have the same freedoms to live, work and travel within all three states as they do in their home state.

We, the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic and the Republic of Akhazia, now ask for the international community's recognition of our independence and our governments will be submitting applications to the United Nations for permanent observer status.

Andrey Mikhailov
President of Transnistria

Sergei Grivapsh
President of Abkhazia

 

[christos200]

​

The region of Xinjiang is to be made a "Special Autonomous Territory". It will have autonomy in matters of culture and education while the central government will control fiscal, foreign and military policy. The region will also have a local 10-members parliament elected in regional elections which shall appoint the Governor of the region, instead of him being appointed by the central government.

"Xinjiang is an integral part of China", the government said, "but it also has its own culture and minorities which must be protected. As such, while Xinjiang is to be incorporated into China, it will have a degree of autonomy. This will allow the incorporation of Xinjiang to proceed quickly and without dissatisfying anyone and shall ensure that Xinjiang remains part of China."

 

[Robert Can't]

GM Note

Just to confirm to everyone, the minimum required is that you make your 4 claims.

That's all you really need to do.
If you just joined this turn you don't have to if you don't want to (decamper)

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

The Complete Idiot's Guide to the United Nations​

There was some argument last night over what several players considered 'infodump' in the Introductory Topic, so I promised to post clarification. IOTers as a general rule don't really give a damn about international law unless they're trying to spin it to their advantage; as such, while I hoped people would take the time to read through the full documentation, I never actually expected you would—the fact that you are taking this all seriously enough to kick up a scoff warms the cockles of my heart.

Contrary to first impressions, the group is not designed to be a Model UN, and the only organs players are directly responsible for are the General Assembly, Security Council, and where appropriate, the Trusteeship Council. All the other offices exist primarily as roleplay venues and my means of disseminating data in-character. Provisions exist within the Charter text to take control of the organs if you so desire, and NinjaCow64 is currently proposing just that for ECOSOC, but at the end of the day you can still just play it like any other game and only show up for votes, and you'll be doing your job.

For the intermediate players that want to go the extra step and work with bodies like the Courts, here's a Simple English run-down of the big huge scary linked documentation:

UN Charter
Basically, this game's End User License Agreement: we all say we're bound by its terms, but nobody's actually read it. I'm not naïve, and I don't for a moment imagine that every single Member State actually intends to apply internationalist principles to their actions, or use threat of force strictly as a last recourse and with global sanction... and in a sense it doesn't matter because it's your prerogative to enforce it. tl;dr: Mostly-ignorable blueprints for the UN's functionality, but if Member States are serious about holding each other to international standards, consult for relevant Articles.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Self-explanatory. These are the basic rights and freedoms assumed in any international law and policy with regard to the UN. It is not automatically canonized within respective domestic law, but unless you're persecuting citizens of a foreign state or wantonly genociding your own people, odds are the UN won't become involved in an official capacity because players are lazy and self-centred bastards. tl;dr: "This is what we strive toward, not necessarily what we're actually practicing."

Statute of the ICJ
Like the Charter, it's mostly procedural nuts and bolts. All the basics you'd need to know are covered in the ICJ Topic; namely, that it is not a criminal court and only operates in disputes between states.

Rome Statute
Once again, most of the text is procedural details. By ratifying the Statute you formally identify genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression as international offences, and allow other participant states to take you to court if you commit them. Rejecting the Statute does not render you immune to indictments stemming from a Security Council referral, but does communicate to the rest of the world your opinion of a global rule of law. tl;dr: Ratify if you're a Good Guy, Refuse if you're not, Sign if you haven't decided.

In Sum​

Everything you absolutely positively must know to properly use the UN is laid out bare in the Introduction Topic. The Charter and complementary texts are required reading in principle, but I don't actually expect you to read through them all of your own free will. Unless you're NC and actually want to memorize the legalese down to the last sub-paragraph, just the Wikipedia abstract should be enough for you to know what a statute or agency does. I don't for a moment pretend any of you are seasoned experts in all this, nor that you want to become ones, and I'm not gonna hold your feet to the fire if you can't name when the Security Council is officially permitted to arbitrate a dispute.

And also bear in mind that if we're trying for weekly updates, I'm gonna have to cut corners if we want anything running in a timely manner, so I'm not even that much better-briefed than you.

 

[inthesomeday]

The Holy Federation believes the Rome Statute is precisely counter-intuitive to peace and true justice across the world, including in the original meaning of the United Nations. The people of one region should not have to answer to those of another, and for this reason we refuse to sign the Statute.

 

[Robert Can't]

Just a reminder I'll begin working on the update tomorrow (maybe today in your time zone!)

I've received feedback that people don't want to play a budget-balancing UN simulator so I'm going to update the rules to streamline the economic system as much as possible. Might even remove it if people really hate it that much idk.

 

[NinjaCow64]

Just a reminder I'll begin working on the update tomorrow (maybe today in your time zone!)

I've received feedback that people don't want to play a budget-balancing UN simulator so I'm going to update the rules to streamline the economic system as much as possible. Might even remove it if people really hate it that much idk.

I would be extremely disappointed if that happens. If they don't want to play your game then they don't have to.

 

[tobiisagoodboy]

Keep the Budget its a neat idea, if people dont like it they shouldn't Play. Also its no really that complicated.

 

[Robert Can't]

I think the system does need changing though, the number of people who don't understand/like it is pretty high so at the very least it will be streamlined. Maybe make it so that you can change spending every turn rather than just every 4th turn. Or at least allow a bit more flexibility on that

 

[Decamper]

I'm of the same mind with the martial arts bovine.

 

[gay_Aleks]

I believe that removing the entire budgeting system is wrong, however, a bit of streamlining in my opinion wouldn't hurt at all.