[MoFA] Survey Results
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by Jacobi
First, Congrats to BelatedDeath for winning 5 gold as entry number 70. We had 82 respondents to this survey, of which only 10% were found to be fraudulent so a pretty decent turnout of about 20% of the active Canadian population.
I’ll post the results first and then do some analysis thereof:
EDEN:
First Choice: 1st with 30%
Second Choice: 2nd with 20%
Least Favorite: tied 5th with 7%
Commentary: It seems that despite our exit from EDEN in May that fully half of Canadians are still interested in continuing some sort of relationship with our “traditional allies.” With movement by several Terran allies to the EDEN fold an EDEN realigning would be popular amongst most of Canada’s allies, but would leave Canada surrounded by CTRL countries and harm US/Canadian relations.
No Alliance
First Choice: 2nd with 27%
Second Choice: 3rd with 17%
Least Favorite: 3rd with 19%
Commentary: Another significant chunk of Canadians, representing again almost half, would prefer for us to deal with individual countries on an individual basis. The “Have your cake and eat it too” crowd should keep in mind that almost a 5th of Canadians would prefer to be in ONE rather than continue to scum around without an alliance, making it one of the more divisive options to follow.
Pro CTRL Independent Alliance
First Choice: 3rd with 17%
Second Choice: 1st with 25%
Least Favorite: tied 5th with 7%
Commentary: A smaller but still relatively large amount of the Canadian population would be pleased with a CTRL leaning independent bloc as Canada’s main diplomatic tie, but the amount of people who would be displeased with this configuration belies the fact that with CTRL-ALT on the ballot some “least favorite” votes were certainly split up between them. Still good news for pro-Americans looking for a vehicle to keep US/Canadian relations up.
Asgard
First Choice: 4th with 11%
Second Choice: 6th with 8%
Least Favorite: 4th with 9%
Commentary: About a fifth of Canadians would be happy with an alliance with this northern block, probably a number hampered by both its irrelevancy and inability to protect Canada from any of its neighbors. However, it wouldn’t be an objectionable move, either to Canadians or to our present allies.
CTRL-ALT
First Choice: 5th with 7%
Second Choice: 4th with 15%
Least Favorite: 1st with 29%
Commentary: Much like medicine, CTRL is easier to swallow when sugar coated with independence. Being an ALT, consequently, is a bitter pill for Canadians who have long prized foreign policy freedom. An purely theoretical metaphor, I would say though, since being the least favorite option also makes it the least likely.
Fellowship (exOne)
First Choice: 6th with 5%
Second Choice 7th with 4%
Least Favorite: 2nd with 24%
Commentary: Canadians do not want to be in ONE
Circle of Trust (CoT)
First Choice: 7th with 3%
Second Choice: 5th with 11%
Least Favorite: 7th with 5%
Commentary: Simultaneously the least loved and the least hated, our limited connections with CoT make such an alignment unlikely and not very useful but with Bulgaria and Switzerland a common reaction might be “well, it’s different.” I have no evidence of any groundswell of support for CoT Membership.
Overall Commentary:
EDEN is an hardly objectionable safe choice that puts us both with traditional allies but surrounded with CTRL countries hardly happy with us vigorously defending Portugal, Colombia et al. CTRL is an interesting choice that paradoxically puts us out of reach of either invasions or the possibility of a Canadian offensive without region swapping that would drain Canadian battle power. The other options are either completely objectionable, irrelevant, or at most mildly interesting. Canadians are on the same page as Canadian leaders: we have choices to make and only a few serious options.
Couple things I will say to the people who believe that friendly relations are possible with the United States if we go an EDEN-esque route.
1. When close allies are attacked by American allies (Spain primarily, maybe Poland) are we either going to risk American wrath by helping our allies to a significant degree or will we be cowardly by failing to do our utmost for our friends.
2. While the future of CTRL and its longevity is in doubt, Spain’s relationship with America is not. As long as there are issues with Spain and Portugal and Spain and Colombia we will find ourselves at loggerheads with our southern neighbors.
3. Being a half hearted friend leads to half hearted support. Not only did we piss off America with silly MPPs last month, but we found ourselves fighting against EDEN countries like Romania and Croatia. If we are fair-weather to our friends and allies, we can expect the same.
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Comments
Makes sense Canada is following it's leadership, we have no idea what we are doing or what we want.
Voted for good article, as allways.
That No Alliance pic looks so lonely. I'm sure we could find a few like-minded allies to join us on the beach without having to go fullShift. That Asgard has the nicest iconography ~ almost makes we want to vote for them.
Strange days ahead. EDEN sympathies but awkward geography. Brolliance nostalgia but awkward silence. Middle-ground between the two isn't really making a choice and waiting for the world to sort it out instead of us. "Pause/Break" alliance anyone?
After reading the final bit "#3 Being a half hearted friend leads to half hearted support" it may seem that eCanada does deserve a time-out (Pause/Break?) for being unpredictable and uncoordinated in its MPP choices lately
Of course, if we sit back and hope nothing bad happens to us, will that improve our standing among any group of allies?Is there a middle path to satisfy both, beyond being uninvolved and non-commital to any particular alliance?
A: Prioritize and actively support one set of allies. Explain our reasons to the other set and hope they can understand what drove us in that direction and aim for improved future relations, if that could somehow be possible. Cut losses, move on, don't dilly-dally too long unless there are signs that the US will change its course again. We know what direction EDEN is heading in since the core Balkan group has not varied much in all the time we've been playing.
There really are only two options; we either cozy up to CTRL, saving our bacon, but turning our back on our traditional allies, or we rejoin EDEN (if they'll have us), thus remaining loyal to our traditional allies, but risking annihilation. Whatever choice we make, we've got to stick to it, not just throughout this month, but in the coming months. We have to prove to the eWorld that we aren't wishy-washy, that we actually have a foreign policy vision and that we can stay on track.
I think you said it best Quimbie, "If they'll have us." We turned our back on them hard in May. While I am sure they would appreciate our gesture, those that pull the strings might not like the idea of letting us back. Yes we have friends within the proEDEN sphere, but not all of theme are in control of EDEN and decide EDEN priorities
We are becoming the UK in our wishy-washyness.
We need to make a choice and stick with it, for better or for worse.
However, the safe choice would be to go with whatever alliance the USA is with and stick with them.
Voted
>However, the safe choice would be to go with whatever alliance the USA is with and stick with them.
Not at all. They came up with some pretty subhuman reasoning for the last time they invaded us.
It is paramount that we fix, define and maintain good relations with eUSA. In spite of the questionable foreign policy decisions, by both nations, our geography as nations demands that good relations prevail. It is that, or we allow their numbers to overwhelm us and Manifest Destiny comes to fruition.
If eCanada was eUSA (which it is quickly becoming) would you want to put all your effort into placating unpredictable and fickle political leaders? We couldn't even bare dealing with ourselves and now we're trying to guesswork our way through making the eUSA like us again...or just not wipe us.
They spanked Lil Bro during Evry's presidency and we took it in stride. Now they've escalated the policies that brought us to blows in the first place and we're supposed to grin, bare it, and turn the other cheek on our old allies without any guarantee there will be a silver lining to it all.
Ah well, it's a fate shared by Canada in both realities.
^Truth^
~hyuu~
I'm disappointed so few voted for CoT. I like the Bulgarians. They're feisty.
I'm disappointed so few voted for CoT. I like the Bulgarians. They're feisty. x2
That Shift name is well-chosen! : ). I like the name but I don't like that option.
Tough decision, but either way, this should be fun 🙂.
EDEN all the way.
V
Good choice for eCanada. Hail EDEN!
Go EDEN!