IOTMAD: Mutually Assured Destruction

[GhostWriter16]

A Brief History of the People's Republic of Montreal
​

Spoiler :

The USCM did a fairly decent job of hiding their internal conflict from the world, presenting an illusion of a stable government until a new one announced its existence along with the demise of the first. While maintaining the image of a socialist power, Coldwell began to push the USCM farther away from their original ideology. Staffing the bureaucracy and higher echelons of government with die-hard loyalists, the USCM government took a dangerous turn towards fascism, prompting the first of numerous small-scale protests. The protesters would later organize into the New Social Party, which believed that heavily centralized socialism inevitably led to fascism, and instead called for a system that left more power in the hands of the territories, and by extent the workers. The NSP, heavily suppressed during this time, rallied around an Ontario-born doctor who long advocated the decentralized socialist system they sponsored.

Dr. Norman Bethune, strangely enough, was not even in Canada when the NSP was formed. Working as a volunteer in a Sardinian military hospital, Bethune heard news of the protestors when he received notification from the USCM government that he would not be permitted to return to the country. Bethune gladly took up the NSP cause following this bombshell, successfully organizing mass strikes against the government from his hotel room across the street from the USCM Embassy. While doing little to budge the old leaders from power, the strikes brought greater attention to Coldwell's totalitarian regime. After an internal revolt crippled the high command, Coldwell became even more paranoid and increasingly detached from worldly affairs, setting the stage for a revolt.

Mercifully, the USCM ended with a whimper rather than a bang. With the government's power virtually non-existent, the NSP declared the USCM defunct, and founded the People's Republic of Montreal, their capital in the eponymous city. Nearly all Canadian territory declared their allegiance to the new Republic, and the military was unwilling to budge the newcomers from power. Norman Bethune was allowed to re-enter the country as its leader and, in many eyes, its savior. In a remarkable show of compassion, Bethune offered amnesty and allowed the old USCM leadership to retire peacefully, many of whom had already fled the country. Bethune began to work towards reformation, and announced the existence of the People's Republic of Montreal to the world.

The People's Republic would like to ask that all former allies of the USCM send their alliance offers again to be renewed. We have no desire to break our alliance with our socialist brethren.

To the United States:

Oregon and California have decisively supported the regime in Montreal, and we have no desire to break their trust by treating them as a bargaining chip. We will not sell territory under any circumstances.

With that said, the United States Senate, including the provisional representatives from Oregon and California, have voted to place Canada under level one sanctions. We will not trade anything with Canada, no Canadian citizens may cross the border, no American citizens may travel to Canada, and we will only make diplomatic alliances, open borders, and defense pacts with nations that do not trade with Canada. However, we will not refuse normal trade relations with any nation just because they also trade with Canada.

In addition, in spite of our crushing of the rebellion of New England, we will not raise our DEFCON level. It shall remain at 2.

We strongly urge Canada to change its stance, and we will change ours if they change theirs. Until then, we cease contact.

There was one notable political objector to our stance. The Dr. from Texas was screaming about how Manifest Destiny is evil, about how California and Oregon should be allowed to choose their own destiny (George Walker responded that they have, they have already chosen to join America, but the Canadian government is censoring the information), and about how sanctions are an act of war. Of course, to arrest the dissident would be to make a martyr, so we simply paid the news stations to censor him and talk about how he was a nutjob for opposing war with Canada instead. Of course, in spite of the fact that we paid the news to convince people to support war with Canada, the administration itself has not yet supported such a thing, which has caused some radical Republicans to refer to the President as a "Peacenik." George Walker, of course, dismissed Rush Limbaugh's ridiculous claim, but thanked him for keeping the war fever high, for if and when we need it.

 

[Ailedhoo]

The UMWE would note that DEFCOM 3 would be better option for the US industry. After all currently they are very poor and industrial development is as needed as possible.

DEFCOM 3 is a moderate sum. DEFCOM 2 is a... questionable peace time stance.

 

[KaiserElectric]

DEFCOM 2 is not a peacetime stance at all.

 

[Sonereal]

The Istanbul Diaries


By James S Cromwell​

"İstanbul is a beautiful city, and if you have never stepped foot out of your comfort zone, I would suggest taking a vacation to the capital of the Great Turan. A vibrant democracy, the country in many ways reminds me of my studies of the United States and German Confederation of the 19th Century. Like the United States, the Great Turan is a vibrant and culturally diverse democracy that, at the time of writing (June 3rd, 2020), stretches from capital region to Central Asia across the Caspian Sea. Compared to the excesses of the Fourth Reich in Germany today, and the divided peoples of North America, the Great Turan has not only achieved similarity, but like the United States with Rome, has surpassed them in stability.

The more one looks at the map, the more one comes to realize that democracy, a trait of government held in high regard for the last two centuries, has eroded on the international stage. The United States has devolved into petty two-party bickering, and the Great Turan is the exception that proves the rule. The United Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand is theoretically a democracy, but the charismatic, populist strongman Harold Saxton has ruled so long that a peaceful transition of power is, at this time theoretical. The Republic of India is another theoretical democracy with many similarities to the sham democracies of Caribbean and Central American Banana Republics during the last century.

However, as I pen this part of the text in a Turkish cafe on a Saturday afternoon, I can't help but feel apprehension. Fiery rhetoric between Turkish authorities and the Chinese government over the fate of the Sinkinag province has resulted in heavy economic burdens on this cafe. The people are solemn, but with every Turk I talked with, there is no question that they support the government in the matter. Last week, there was some dissension but when Chinese leaders began accusing Turkey of genocide in Uzbekistan and referring to Pan-Turkism as "Hiterlism", the dissension retreated rapidly lest the holder of the view be accused of a being a Chinese sympathizer.

I should also note, at the risk of falling off topic, that I attended an impromptu parade in from of the Wali Emirate embassy after their government and the Great Turan concluded the terms of a defensive agreement. While China wasn't mentioned formally in the terms, it is quite clear which country is targeted by the agreement. The Great Turan has gone to great lengths to extend commercial, political, and military relations with other countries.

China hasn't, but China has nuclear weapons too. A Chinese declaration of war was given a few days ago, yet nothing has happened, leading many to believe the Chinese are now just venting frustration...."
-----

September 19th, 2020


"Australia's attempt to broker, or at least get the ball rolling on, a peace agreement ended in failure yesterday after Saxton announced two days ago his wish to hold a peace conference. While the Turkish government went out of its way to reach conciliation on the issue, including announcing to the world which regions it intended on restoring, the Chinese government refused to attend the conference.

Another declaration of war followed, again from the Chinese government. China declared war on the Wali Emirates just a few hours ago. Australia and the Falkland Island has since denounced China, and China has declared its willingness to escalate the border conflict into nuclear war. Needless to say, the cafe I am penning this draft in is full of men and women and their children. The former two drinking their woes away while the latter play board games and counting games, blissfully unaware of the apocalyptic war to come.

On the cafe's television, angry Turkish, Northern Watch, and Chinese ambassadors argued over compromise. If it was up to me, I would turn the sound off every time the Northern Watch ambassador opened his mouth. Unfortunately, half the people in the cafe are gluttons for verbal punishment in the strange accented tongue of the Watcher ambassador."
-----

December 9th, 2020

"The year's fighting is over, and the Chinese have secured Sinkiang. In an autumn of conflict, this war promises to be the worst the world has seen in quite some time.


Edit: I like the Nation of the Year Awards. It helps a lot.

 

[christos200]

OOC: That's nice RP. You should write about the Chinese War.

 

[Sonereal]

Excerpts from The Parisian Dream

By Jean-Marie Guatier Firmin​

"I make no bones about the richness of my country's culture and the inevitability of our proud workers marching across Europe in peace and prosperity. When those filthy, lying Northern Watchmen tried to turn international opinion against the French, our leaders held their own in the UN and trounced the Northerners in debate. The Northerners retracted so fast that you could hear their argument tripping over its own feet.

'We were merely seeing if YOU guys were trustworthy.' Ha.

The grand Commune of France won the Nation of the Year Award recently. Our leaders should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize to be perfectly frank. The Commune of France is now the Commune of Belgium, Spain, Portugal, France, and Switzerland! My heart flutters in my chest to see how far our proud workers have come. Peaceful unification of Western Europe! This has been a dream of European leaders for centuries, and we achieved it in but a year despite the Emirates challenging us in Iberia.

Unfortunately, they are now laying claim to Sicily. However, I am sure the workers of Sicily will reject any and all African attempts to subjugate their island. They lay their claim on Sicily while offering a sorry note and trade agreement to France. I don't think the Wali Emirates are bad, but they're misguided. One shouldn't feel anger with them, as easy as it is to sometimes..."
-

August 15th, 2021

"The Wali Emirates hold Sicily and Southern Italy, and the Egyptians have seized ROME. They have SEIZED beautiful, traditional European Italian city-states.

To open a newspaper and read about the fall of Rome to an Egyptian military dictatorship hurts. It makes the Commune's successes in Sardinia and Corsica all the more hollow. The Egyptians and Emirates had a tussle in Libya, so maybe some good will come of all this.

Something interesting is happening in the news. News media is now reporting extensively on international events. This is good news, because it shows the workers our my beautiful country how bad things are elsewhere. One can't read about events in New England, Korea, and Indochina without looking at the peaceful expansion of our country. The imperial capitalist powers the world have knives to the throats of one another, but Western Europe and Iberia are at peace.

In the ideal world, the world would be one big commune with many little communes where the workers work with one another, not against one another like the decadent capitalist system that sadly still holds sway over much of the world. However, as Sinkiang has shown me, the stakes are too high. Can a worker paradise ever be carved out from the ruination of a nuclear hellscape in which no life can hope to be sustained?

Our interactions with foreign, but ideologically friendly partners can drag us down this path of ruination. If our trade partners sink, we will too."

 

[christos200]

OOC: Once again an excellent RP.

 

[Ravus_Sol]

OOC: I have an image now of "The Watcher" the leader of the Watcher States who saw that the future was inevitable conflict and death. He gave up his position and land so he could walk the earth, writing about the people and ensuring that some of the history can be preserved after the inevitable nuclear war.

PS: I'm glad someone noticed that Egypt is actually secretly a dictatorship run by a outwardly pleasant individual.

 

[arya126]

DEFCON 2 is impossible at peace Ghost?

 

[Terran Empress]

EXPOSING TURAN NATIONALIST LIES:

The central Asian country Mongolia is home to more than 20 tribes and ethnic groups, some of which are related to neighboring Turkic populations. The main Mongolian people, Khalkha, live in central and eastern Mongolia while the Tsaatan minority lives in the north of the country. The Oold minority is from the western Altai mountain region and live in close proximity with Turkic people. We have typed the HLA-A, -B, -Cw, -DRB1 and -DQB1 loci by PCR-SSP in these three Mongolian populations as well as a sample of the German population. To examine their genetic relationships, a sample of the Turkish population already typed at the HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 loci were used. Altogether five populations were analyzed: Khalkha (n = 100), Tsaatan (n = 72), Oold (n = 52), German (n = 260) and (Anatolian) Turkish (n = 498). Nei's unbiased genetic identity (GI) and genetic distance (GD) were estimated from genotypes using PopGene v1.31, and dendrograms were constructed using phylip. The results suggested a close relationship of the Khalkha to the Tsaatan. The Turks and Germans were equally distant to all three Mongolian populations. These results confirmed the lack of strong genetic relationship between the Mongols and the Turks despite the close relationship of their languages (Altaic group) and shared historical neighborhood. This study has provided useful population data for genetic and anthropologic studies bridging eastern and western populations.

Study in Mongol Genetics

Turan does admit that the Mongolians and the Turks ethnically are not related, and the use of the term "brother" to describe them may have been a little off, the term Cousin, Father, or Uncle, would have been more appropriate.

However Turan does have a vested interest in the Mongolians, like the study above showed the Turks and the Mongols share a similar language, The Altaic Language group, and while not ethnically related, the Mongols and the Turks do share a similar and common history due to Genghis Khan and Timur, we want to see the Mongols free to do as they please, to create their own government, and foster their own relations.

When Mongolia broke away from China two nations, The Watch, and Turan both offered alliances and friendship to it, However now that the war with China is over we have not heard one thing from the old administration and they have not stated anything on foreign relations other than its alliance with Russia, from the mouths of Russia.

We only wish for the Mongolians to create their own government, and to hear it from the mouths of the Mongolians.

What they do after that is up to them.

OOC: Great job Sone

 

[NinjaCow64]

Ack, LH would you mind if you NPC my orders for this turn? I'm sorry but there is a lot on my plate.

 

[GhostWriter16]

DEFCOM 2 is not a peacetime stance at all.

DEFCON 2 is impossible at peace Ghost?

Wait, we aren't even allowed to keep it as is?

Why would we deliberately reduce preparations?

If the rules of the game force me to do so, move up to 3...

 

[Terran Empress]

The Great Turan would like to announce to the world that the Grand National Assembly of the Turks has officially dissolved the Turkic Republic of China.

With the inclusion of the Uyghur province into The Great Turan the need for a Nominal Republic representing the Uyghurs in RoC boundaries is no longer a concern.

Instead the Uyhgur people have formally declared their own Federal State within The Great Turan with its own government, leaders, and laws.

On that note I, Atatürk Barış Atilla Kartal, am pleased to announce that in time for the elections for representatives for the Grand National Assembly of the Turks, that the people of Uyghur have founded the Turan Federal State of:

The Uyghur Republic

They have decided that their flag will be the Kokbayraq flag:

This flag represents the entire freedom movement for the Uyghur people, outlawed in China for many years, this flag was the symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement from China, and is now the flag for The Uyghur Republic

 

[Sonereal]

Excerpts from Now His Watch is Ended

By Aron Vilhelm Frederiksen​

"We were packed into the barges like fish. Unfortunately for us, there were more customers than there were tins of fish. The only saving grace afforded to us by the gods was that the Chinese were fighting for their own survival farther north. Rockets and shells fell all around us, splashing salt spray into our eyes and into the barge. One man screamed that they were going to drown, but a Chinese sniper shot him in the throat before his screams lowered morale even lower.

One rocket destroyed a barge nearby, sending up a large plume of saltwater, gore, and flaming metallic hulk into the sky. I focused on my feet and tried to keep my focus on just that. The falling metal and bone pinged like hail off our helmets and the barge.

Before we made it to the beach, I snuck a peak peak at what was before us. There weren't a lot of machine guns, but a single man with a one could hold up an entire platoon. Our commander, and I'm sure every commander on every single barge, was screaming into a radio for naval support.

The first shell struck quick like lightning and strong like an impact from Thor's hammer. Others followed, one after another. We didn't care if some had missed or if they all missed because the explosions stopped the rockets and the machineguns, even if it was just for a little while.

The barge made landfall, the door fell, and I remember running up the beach to the nearest cover, ducking into craters and taking potshots at the enemy whenever I could to cover my squad's advance. It was a fifteen minute affair mopping up the Chinese on the beaches, but it felt like hours. There weren't as many Chinese as there should've been, we felt, but we didn't really care. You throw grenades into a bunker and call up a flamethrower to give them the taste of the dragon and stop carrying whether there is two men or fifty in there.

All you know is that there is somebody who wants you dead and is waiting for you to show up with your ticket to heaven.

Seventeen minutes after making landfall, two minutes after it all went silent, the rockets started up again. The Chinese hammered our position for five minutes and launched a counterattack with armored vehicles. As they say in the Northern Watch, we have shot our bolt, and were trying to get a new bolt in our bow before the ax-brandishing Chinese descended on us.

We were outgunned, outmatched, and outnumbered. We advanced, but back toward the beaches and landing craft. I'm not entirely sure how many men gave up their lives so the rest can make it back to the ships..."

-On the Battle of South Korea, 2022.

 

[Lighthearter]

Orders lock tonight at 6PM EST. Update either tonight or Thursday.

Apologies for being a bit out of things. Anything you NEED me to answer before sending orders, put it in red. I likely won't be ON again before 6 EST, so assemble contingency instructions if you won't be on around that period.

-L

 

[NinjaCow64]

I'm not going to get orders in tonight sorry no can do.

 

[Lighthearter]

Orders Locked.

Expect update tomorrow evening, but I may do it tonight. No promises. If you've sent no orders at all, you can still get them in but I will not promise I will actually use them. You have been warned.

-L

 

[GhostWriter16]

I did send mine, right?

 

[Lighthearter]

Yes, I have yours. However, I'm unlikely to calc the update tonight so if you wanted to send a correction, you could.

-L

 

[GhostWriter16]

I don't, I just wanted to make sure they were sent.