Peace at Last, Peace at Last. Thank God
Peace at Last
Was Prime Minister Neville Chamberlains words today. The war that had lasted from 1915 to 1918 was finally over. Millions of men died. Peoples of all nations are having joyous parades by day, and somber mass funerals by night. The millions of men who died shall never be forgotten, and their sacrifices shall echo through time until the end of days and beyond.
However, the aftermath of the war is also about reflection. Some people thought the war was well worth the cost. PATO felt it had achieved its goal by dismantling a dangerous armed camp, known as the Grand Imperial Alliance, and was able to show to Mongolia that they were not invincible. Many believe that if PATO hadnt pulled out, and opened up a northern front in Kazakhstan earlier, PATO would have destroyed the Mongol state. Most Mongol strategic analysts agree on that fact, and PATO is banging its head against the wall realizing it should have done that.
Then there are many who feel that it all could have been avoided. Many go so far as to say that the whole fiasco could have been avoided had the Anglophone Alliance not attacked Spain, which tarnished their reputation. One scholar wrote a report in an English Newspaper*:
Having lived through two wars and studied the histories of countless others, I have concluded that there was never a good war, or a bad peace. It seems to me that wars are nearly always waged not for the sake of some ideal but for the sake of gain.
Ministers and leaders of nations are, for the most part, motivated less by their concern for the good of the country, than by their own avarice and ambition. They desire more territory or fewer taxes, liberty of commerce or free passage upon some waterway, and can think of no other way to obtain them than by force.
If wars are indeed commercial enterprises,. Why do we not conduct them as such? Why do we not put businessmen, rather than statesmen, in charge of our diplomacy? Rather than fighting to obtain what we desire, why do we not bargain for it?
Instead of resolving conflicts in the reasonable fashion of businessmen, however, our leaders prefer to cast themselves in the role of the gambler. They play at war as though it were a great game, and risk their money and their lives, and the lives of their people, on a roll of Fortunes dice.
*-OOC: Excerpt taken from The Year of the Hangman by Gary Blackwood
In spite of whether or not people think the cost was worth it, Zululand, having arranged a peace treaty between PATO, Germany, Byzantium, Mongolia, and rebel eastern European factions, are now calling out to the world to donate money for The World Peace Festival to be held June 1st of this year in Zimbabwe. Shaka Montoubo II is inviting everybody in the world, including world leaders, to come for this week-long festival of dancing, celebration, and singing.
However, many things are unresolved. Mongolia is now standing more or less alone, surrounded by either democrats or communists, and trouble is brewing in the Mongol heartland. Mongolia, though getting economic support, looks as though it may dissolve if it does not do something quickly.
PATO is also unsatisfied. They feel that perhaps as long as there is a Mongol Empire (not meaning Mongolia), then there shall always be instability in Asia, and perhaps the world.
Nonetheless, it is now a time for great celebration and mourning, as the world desperately tries to rebuild, and to assure that this is never to happen again.
Peace at Last.
Two Times the Zululand
Zululand, at the price of seven economic points, has bought British, and almost all Canadian holdings in Africa, more than doubling the size of Zululand. However, this has attracted some unwanted criticism. Lately, the popular political cartoon, now being turned into posters, is showing a fat black man named Zululand, eating a gigantic pie in the shape of Africa. Many are criticizing the government, saying that it has grown far too bloated, and has escaped its original ideals of anti-expansionism and imperialism.
The second bit of criticism comes from the north, predominately Sudan. The Sudanese and sub-Saharan Africans are as different as night and day. They come from the Arab lands, and settled in Sudan, with a VASTLY different culture. As one Sudanese senator put it in a council in Zimbabwe:
We may be in Africa, but we are NOT African
Even in west Africa, where the people are still black, say their culture is different. We are Islamic Africans, and those of the south still worship the old Gods and Goddesses. Our culture is different from theirs, and I do not know why Shaka does not see this, said a West African resident.
Freedom!
As per the treaty between PATO and Mongolia, PATO members have given referendums to their overseas colonies. The new nations are:
Cuba
Liberia
Pakistan
Chile
Vietnam
Kurdistan
Morocco
Many other nations have expanded their territories, as the indigenous people opted to join a native power Union of Venezuela-Colombia gained Britains Northern South American holdings, and Falkland Islands goes to Patagonia. Hong Kong was bought from Canada by China. Some Chinese say the government should try to regain Sinkiang and Manchuria, but this is purely speculative.
Kurds rejoice as they have recently gained independence.
Procession through Mongolia
Many Mongols have joined a caravan, going by horse and foot from Samarkand to Karakorum, the motherland of the Mongols, where their late great leader, Genghis Khan Nayuk shall be buried in a surprisingly simple tomb on the steppe.
Trouble on the Mongol Horizon
A new party, in effect a rebel faction, has arisen in Mongolia. They call themselves The Mongol Workers Party. They have attracted many low-class citizens with their communist ideals. Officials in Mongolia try to find the ring-leader, but have no idea who it is.