[Foreign Affairs]Foreign Affairs and You

Day 571, 10:07 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by Dishmcds

Over the last few days we've seen articles written by the Minister of Defence as well as eUK, eGerman, and ePolish citizens regarding the eUK in this war. Most of what people "think" has come down to not realising the circumstances beyond their own interactions within our nation, so a little more explanation that what we've received thus far is most likely in order.

These are not official explanations, but that of someone who's around enough to get the feel.

The History of the Nordics

Back in February, as the Minister of Trade, we were approached by people within the eGerman government shortly after their "liberation" from Sweden through Operation Burning Spirit. Burning Spirit was mobilised almost completely and paid for in large part by PEACE to "liberate" almost every German region at once from Swedish rule (forgive me if I miss a couple of details, I wasn't in on the planning and it's been a long time since then). DKN and Justin Tyme approached the UK in an effort to become a "neutral" nation, even with their close ties to PEACE.

Initially, we were hesitant, for obvious reasons. We knew about their affiliations and the close and sour relationships they had with a well known and long time member of ATLANTIS. We took them at face value, asking them to earn allegience with the eUK through strong diplomacy.

They took that and agreed, and we soon signed the Berlin Pact (which no one used, but meh) to try and create stronger relationships between our nations. Germany expressed remorse for the actions of Governments before them, their aggressions towards the Poles (they conquered the Poles in Beta, and were in turn politically taken over by Polish because of it), and continually used the "this is not the same Germany response when asked about their previous aggressions.

Even before Burning Spirit, they had begun making plans of conquering other nations before they had their own nation to do it from, yet we still allowed them, as a country, to prove their worth.

Then comes the joining of ATLANTIS.

Germany's biggest mistake was joining ATLANTIS when their allegience overall should have been PEACE to begin with. It was the PEACE military forces which freed them, and kept them safe (they held an MPP with Indonesia up until they joined ATLANTIS). They did so under the guise of "a Hungarian Attack", which I can not confirm nor deny myself, but through thick and thin you do not turn your back on those who aide you. Especially when they front you an entire Q5 hospital for free on your word, which you never pay back.

It was during this time, they joined ATLANTIS and the conflict between the population of Germany and Sweden took a nose dive. They worked as passive members and managed to sustain for a while, but it was inevitable that conflict would occur. It was simply bound to happen. Poland, in this sense, felt justified for invading Germany because of the previous transgressions, and Sweden has always felt betrayed by Germany with no apology, response, or care.

When ATLANTIS fell, and Sweden invaded Germany, most official military units stayed away from Sweden and Germany, including both PEACE and ATLANTIS nations. I know many Indonesians who still felt betrayed by Germany joining ATLANTIS, and many ATLANTIS nations who felt betrayed by Burning Spirit. Why would they commit to saving a country which had betrayed them both?

The only response you'll get now about previous actions from Germany is that was old Germany, we're different now. That's the same thing every administration since Sulla has said in Germany, which dates back to June of last year.

So as a nation, the United Kingdom left it alone. We chose to remain neutral in the personal conflict between Germany and Sweden, although many of us chose to fight on our own through the MPP that had been signed. That's ok. Even I myself fought for Germany in a few of those battles, just to get my hits in, and because I felt like defending it would be the proper thing to do for me.

Moving On, What this Means to You, the Citizen of the United Kingdom

Germany turning back to PEACE to regain their regions is simply a means to an end. I'm quite tired of hearing and reading the things people say about the UK "needing to choose sides" or "join Alliances" or so on.

To put it as bluntly as possible, The United Kingdom needs to worry about itself, and only itself. We have our allies and friends, and this conflict has nothing to do with us. Poland are long time allies, but honestly PEACE isnt scared of a country like the UK which is lower on the damage scale (barely beats Ireland in the Training War) and Poland knows that we're not going to beat Hungary by ourselves.

In short, none of them really care. We need to worry about getting ourselves right, staying neutral, and taking care of the United Kingdom. We're hardly in the position to attempt "World Police". We don't do enough damage, and our economy isnt strong enough to take on countries like Sweden (who will soon be back to original regions) or Hungary.

tl;dr:

1. Sweden and Germany can take care of themselves. Thats a personal feud. If Germany didnt want to handle it, they shouldnt have picked that fight. PEACE will use Germany as a means to an end, which is their own choice. But the UK needs to be it's "own man" so to speak.
2. Quit blaming the UK for your own failures in Erepublik. We've made mistakes, sure. We all have. But we're not the ones that got conquered either.
3. Strength in Diplomacy lies in not bowing to pressure and not blaming others for your own problems. Self Responsibility is a beautiful thing.

Sincerely, with Love,
Dishmcds