| 9 November 2015 Edition // Great Council, NS World Fair, and elections |
Published 9 November 2015
Editorial Note We are always looking for new contributors! If you are interested in writing as a regular contributor or have an interesting story you want to write as a guest contributor, please send a telegram to South Pacific News or a PM to SPINN on the official TSP forums. If you have written an editorial of 2,000 words or less, please submit it to the Editorial Board! Farengeto forces end to Great Council Having growing increasingly frustrated with the pace of the Great Council, Farengeto, who serves as both chair of the Great Council and Chair of the Assembly, forced its speedy closure. The Great Council will end by November 14, 2015, if there are even any proposals that require a 5 day voting period. The move was harshly criticized by Glen-Rhodes, who was spearheading a proposal to create a new Head of State system where the in-game Delegate and the head of government on the forums would be two separately elected positions. Glen-Rhodes stressed that more time was needed to not only finish the proposal, but to determine what other changes would be necessary to elections laws and the Charter to make the proposal work. He noted that the proposal was only written a week prior to Farengeto's rush to end the Great Council, pushing back against claims that a month had already been enough time. In addition to the Head of State proposal, it is likely that Hileville's proposal to rewrite the Charter and Code of Laws into a new format will not move to vote. There is also a serious question as to which Regional Officers law will move forward, given that a vote must be started by the end of the night on Monday and no determination of whether Farengeto's Charter version or Glen-Rhodes' separate law version will be on the ballot. The chair has put himself in a bind by not figuring these details out before rushing to close the Council. The push to end the Great Council should not have come to the surprise of those who have been paying attention to the chair's words on IRC. Farengeto could be heard almost daily decrying the Great Council, saying he never wanted to hold it in the first place and gleefully cheering its end. For it to be such a nuisance and thankless job, one wonders why Farengeto demanded he lead the Great Council in the first place. Certainly, this kind of behavior has come to be expected by some-- Farengeto very publicly expressed his disdain for the judiciary during a period of high-stakes elections cases, putting into question at the time his own legitimacy as a fair and neutral Justice. Should we expect Cabinet officials to actually like their jobs and uphold to the responsibilities they voluntarily take on? As for the fate of the proposals pushed out by the closure of the Great Council, it's not certain if Glen-Rhodes or Tsunamy will move forward with the Head of State proposal in the Assembly. In a move clearly borne of his own frustrations with the chair and a challenge to those who believe these issues can be addressed in the Assembly already, Glen-Rhodes has motioned in the Assembly to do away with Great Councils and the right of any citizen to call one. Out of the ashes of the Great Council, we may see judicial reform that may have the support of a broad base of the political establishment. The judiciary would be transformed into an appointed body, with one permanent Justice and a pool of temporary Justices that would be drawn from when needed. The proposal was written and submitted by Glen-Rhodes, who serves on the High Court as Justice. If passed, the reforms would come into immediate effect. NationStates World Fair 2015 causes controversy “I will argue against participating, but I will respect whatever decision the Cabinet takes on that matter,” answered Minister of Regional Affairs Kringalia when asked by SPINN whether or not The South Pacific should bid to host the latest incarnation of the NationStates World Fair, or attend at all. Kringalia and co-organizer Charles Cerebella announced on October 26, 2015, that they were asked by former chief organizer Unibot to hold the fair this year. Almost immediately, they faced harsh questions about the extent of Unibot's involvement, and why no other former coordinators were asked to participate. Kringalia offered a simple response to the former question: “Unibot has provided valuable insight while Charles and I got acquainted with the organisational aspects of the Fair. However, he has not been involved with the organisation of the Fair itself.” However, long-time players like Cormac, Astarial, and others who normally find themselves at odds with Unibot, did not accept that answer and continued to question the extent to which Unibot was involved. Cormac accused Kringalia of benefiting from cronyism, saying that he and Unibot had a “cozy political relationship” in The South Pacific. This conflicts with numerous instances of the two disagreeing on not only tactics, but basic policy in how the region should run, particularly on issues of military and Gameplay politics. Unibot's involvement with the fair, no matter how marginal, garnered immense controversy due to unproven allegations of widespread sexual harassment of female players. NationStates game administrators and moderators quashed any discussion on these allegations, warning players to treat carefully on the subject, and noting that they cannot take into consideration any incidents that occurred off the official website. Following the criticism, Kringalia and Charles Cerebella both resigned their co-organizer positions and canceled the fair altogether. Todd McCloud, a former co-organizer with Unibot and known widely in The South Pacific for his role in the Operation Brave Toaster infiltration conspiracy, wasted no time picking up the event and establishing his own organizing committee. While both Kringalia and Cerebella were offered positions on the committee, Cerebella turned it down due to time constraints, and Kringalia turned it down in rejection of the committee being controlled by Gameplayers rather than those with cultural affairs experience. The NationStates World Fair IV will be held from December 7 to December 14, 2015. The committee is chaired by Todd McCloud. Its members are McMasterdonia, Eluvatar, Astarial, Sopo, and Almonaster. There has been no word yet if The South Pacific will be participating. Ambassador corps disbanded Minister of Foreign Affairs Hileville quietly announced the dismissal of all ambassadors on November 3, 2015, following anemic recruitment efforts and presumably inactivity among the diplomatic corps. The announcement was reminiscent of former minister Glen-Rhodes' March 2014 “Modernization and Renewal” plan that dissolved the diplomatic corps and ended the monthly update program. While Hileville has not announced any intention to end the re-established monthly update program – indeed, it will now be his sole duty to write and distribute it – its questionable if The South Pacific will see a successful foreign service in the future. During his own tenure and election campaigns, Glen-Rhodes stressed the difficulty in maintaining an active foreign service, and the general futility of it in light of how much work goes into it without any real reward for players. It seems that his election-time prediction that Hileville's attempt to resurrect the corps would fail has, for the most part, come true. What remains to be seen is how Hileville moves forward. Will he quietly let the idea of a foreign service die, or try to resurrect it with a different job and purpose? Elections start on November 15, 2015, and we are predicting Hileville will run for reelection. In other words, expect to see this issue become a major point in his reelection campaign. Foreign affairs chiefs meet to discuss recruitment rules First reported in the Miniluv Messenger, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Game-Created Regions, known colloquially as feeders and sinkers, have met behind closed doors in The North Pacific to discuss cross-regional recruitment among each other. The unusual diplomatic summit was sparked by a recruitment campaign Lazarus, a sinker region, began in the feeder regions, including The South Pacific. Sources say that an agreement may include permission for sinker regions to recruit, though in a highly limited matter, though no final agreement has yet been reached. When asked for comment, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hileville responded: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is happy to see a discussion on the potential of recruitment by the GCR's within the GCR's. It is our belief that it is important for all Game Created Regions to come together and discuss matters that impact the game for all of us. However, the Cabinet does not believe that recruitment by Game Created Regions is necessary and have not been persuaded to change our general belief. While discussion at the conference has slowed a bit we are still hopeful that a reasonable agreement can be reached. One that benefits all. The most important thing at this point is to ensure that we come together and reach some sort of consensus. It is my belief that over the coming days we will be able to wrap up the discussion and present the agreement we have reached to each region.” Opinion on cross-regional recruitment is split among prominent Gameplayers, though not along any normal cleavages. Some, such as Glen-Rhodes and Cormac, defend Lazarus' recruitment, arguing that sinker regions do not have a regular influx of newly created nations to draw from, unlike their feeder neighbors. They have a base of inactive nations by nature, so they must recruit. Those opposed to Lazarus' recruitment program are relying on arguments of regional sovereignty and the notion that nations created in feeders “belong” to those feeders. They argue that Lazarus should rely on “internal recruitment” from their own player-base, rather than try to “take” nations in the feeders. Elections Predictions It's that time of the year again-- Cabinet elections begin on November 15, 2015. All positions are up for election, and SPINN is here with our predictions of who will run, who will bow out, and who might actually win. These predictions are based on nothing more than paying close attention to political discussions on the forums and IRC, and having extensive experience in politics. The Southern Journal is currently running election polls, and we eagerly await those results. But until then, let's play the game! Delegate and Vice Delegate We expect that Feirmont will bow out of this election. His activity levels have been incredibly low for a Delegate, and he doesn't have a lot to point to as incentive to reelect him. This naturally leaves Vice Delegate Arbiter as next in line, but he too has anemic activity levels. If either run, they will have to face intense scrutiny of whether or not they'll be able to undertake even the basic duties of their office. Who else might run? Farengeto comes across as politically ambitious. If we were to place our bets on a member of the political establishment running, it would be him. There are also newer players who might make a stab at the office, though. Chair of the Assembly If Farengeto doesn't run for Delegate, he will run for re-election as Chair, with no credible competition. If he does run for Delegate, it's an open field for new players to win an easy spot. Minister of Regional Affairs There is not reason to expect Kringalia to not run for re-election. While he has increasingly shown distaste for the Gameplay aspects of Cabinet membership, he hasn't slowed down his string of successes in cultural events and the roleplaying community. Minister of Foreign Affairs With Glen-Rhodes sitting on the High Court, there isn't any competition for Hileville if he were to run for re-election. While his recent dissolution of the diplomatic corps will raise eyebrows in the campaign, we expect he has a response to that already. Minister of the Army This is a toss-up. We just don't know. Siberian may run again, but the military has been relatively inactive for a while now, so he may get punished for that. Then again, who else wants the job? Perhaps Hammerstar and Resentine will run again.
In some ways I really like this newspaper. I like seeing bias and non-bias viewpoints from our two newspapers. Mind you I think your election predictions are wrong and I think the option poll coming out soon will shade a clearer idea of what's going to happen.
Europeian Ambassador to The South Pacific
Former Local Council Member Former Minister of Regional Affairs Former High Court Justice
The GCR recruitment conference is happening in the East Pacific and not the North.
Besides that I like this edition. I expect a few surprises in the Elections.
Interesting predictions. I see some overlap with the SJ survey results so far, though results differ in at least once race.
Former Delegate of the South Pacific
Posts outside High Court venues should be taken as those of any other legislator. I do not participate in the regional server, but I am happy to talk through instant messaging or on the forum. Legal Resources: THE MATT-DUCK Law Archive | Mavenu Diplomatic Archive | Rules of the High Court | Case Submission System | Online Rulings Consultation System |
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