The Friendly Empire
![USA](http://www.erepublik.net/images/flags_png/S/USA.png)
Rheinlander von Phalz
eRepublik makes it very obvious which territories are yours and which ones aren’t. There are no historical or ethnographic claims one can fall back on to argument for sovereignty over a territory; each region in eRepublik already has one country that owns it by default. A successful resistance war will always award the region to that country. This makes it very obvious when one country controls another’s territory.
![](http://i46.tinypic.com/10hjcrr.jpg)
The war module is a major aspect of eRepublik, and each region is a battlefield. With a vacuum of other issues, the primary focus of foreign relations relates to war – forming alliances and coordinating strategy. The New World is divided between two major power blocs, and arguably always has been. Both of these alliances benefit from access to high resource regions, as they fuel their war machines. Not every nation is affiliated one or the other, though, and the list of unaffiliated countries has grown larger since PEACE shed some members to produce Phoenix and since Sol became more prominent. Obviously Phoenix and EDEN will wage war on each other, but I contend that the two alliances interact with neutral nations in a qualitatively different way, and the way one bloc approaches it more strongly subscribes to imperialism.
Hungary holds Heilongjiang without the consent of the Chinese government. Indonesia likewise held Karnataka from India. China and India are not member-states of EDEN, the rival empire to PEACE and Phoenix, so their occupation is not an example of the mutual war waged by the two sides. Hungary and Indonesia are stronger than China and India, and they attempted no other justification for their colonization of the resource-rich regions than that.
![](http://i47.tinypic.com/16ae004.jpg)
Day 747 – the United States plans to stretch from Maine to Zhejiang
The United States now holds territories belonging to other countries. During the first few months of my e-life, that was only a fact for a very short while after conquering Manitoba and then Nunavut from Hungary. Both were promptly returned to Canada in resistance wars started by the enemy as a distraction. The current possession of foreign regions started with Kyushu, Japan, and then our zone of occupation expanded westward into Tibet. We invaded Indonesian-held Xinjiang, and then promptly returned the region to China. From Zhejiang, we swapped our way north to invade Liaoning, which was under Iranian occupation.
![](http://i36.tinypic.com/30az349.png)
Manchuria, Day 683
Iran was a member of PEACE and is now part of Phoenix. During The Invasion, Iran came into possession of Northwest Territory, a high-diamond region. I consider this a more legitimate war of conquest because Canada was a declared enemy nation of PEACE. The Iranian occupation of Liaoning, which only ended with United States intervention, is another story; China was not, and still is not, a member of EDEN. The occupation of their territory is not vengeance for joining a rival superpower but punishment for having high resource regions and being too weak to defend them. War between equal powers is war, but asymmetrical war is essentially empire-building.
![](http://i36.tinypic.com/14kcppg.png)
The Indian Subcontinent, Day 690
It is no secret that the United States will be keeping Karnataka for more than a transient period of time since capturing it from Indonesia. Trolls and enemy spin-doctors are quick to label this imperialism or, if they have no qualms with imperialism, hypocrisy, as a segment of the United States media proclaims that our cause is for freedom. The critical difference between the Hungarian occupation of Heilongjiang and the United States occupation of Karnataka that they ignore is that we entered Karnataka with the cooperation of the Indian government. We have entered into negotiations with the Indian government for use of the region. The iron we extract from the region will fuel further efforts to liberate other Phoenix colonies, including Heilongjiang.
Phoenix is not simply an alliance opposed to the United States, but the two subscribe to different philosophies in foreign relations and what constitutes success. Phoenix would be content to see the world firmly under their heels, even unaligned countries. We approach international affairs with a respect for others’ sovereignty. Indonesia threatened Japan with annihilation if they did not comply with a land-swap through Kyushu. When the United States attempted the same land-swap, it was only after months of diplomatic efforts. Admittedly, the current administration failed in that endeavor, but it was an endeavor the Indonesians wouldn’t have bothered to undertake.
![](http://i46.tinypic.com/u6cnb.jpg)
Our enemies occasionally goad us to admit our imperialism and drop our good-boy routine if we want to be as powerful as we are. We are like the United Federation of Planets – we are a military power but respect unaligned groups and do not resort to wanton empire-building. This is a perfectly sane way to approach foreign affairs, and it will conserve our might to direct towards our real enemies and secure friends and allies for those wars. Being delicate and respectful as we hunt down Phoenix colonies, I argue, produces a better result that thrashing through the globe and makes us a better empire.
![](http://i47.tinypic.com/2jexuoh.png)
Being nice to neutrals doesn’t make the Federation weak.
Comments
first
broated
<3
Voted, great work Rheinlander.
Good stuff as always.
Mr. Hyphenated
http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/hyphenetically-speaking-204691/1" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/hy[..]691/1
fail
Brilliant, this is the type of article that helps me develop as a player.
"education" for the newbies, eh?
"Being nice to neutrals doesn’t make the Federation weak."
Great line, unsaid and very true.
Yatuiig, you imply that this isn't the truth?
Would mean more if China and Japan hadn't been PTO'd. But a nice try all the same.
"Our enemies occasionally goad us to admit our imperialism and drop our good-boy routine if we want to be as powerful as we are. We are like the United Federation of Planets – we are a military power but respect unaligned groups and do not resort to wanton empire-building."
How do you explain the invasion of France ? Didn't Spain invade for no more reason than greed and revenge ? First you claim you'll stay neutral, and then you send soldiers to tank walls down !
And for what ? France is just a pain in EDEN's ass to invade the real objective: UK. The sooner EDEN leave France, the easier the battle of Britain will be.
Plus, France didn't take part in Phoenix's actions in Slovakia for example. France didn't have any foreign territory. France even made peace with USA and Canada to show that we were not an agressive country.
You keep saying: "What goes around, comes around" Think about it, what will happen if you fail the UK and France destruction ? Whole Phoenix and Entente will just crush Spain and Poland and, ultimately, USA.
Yeah right now they have a lot of babies. But babies can be killed...
@Hubert: The United States is not carving an empire out of France. I cannot speak for Spain and the rest of EDEN, however.
yeah yeah. That's why you don't help Poland nor Spain to control French region.
Oh wait...
OBVIOUS PROPAGANDA IS OBVIOUS.
EDEN is Imperialist !
Hubert +1 , as always
😃
The Newton Factor: http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/the-newton-factor-189830/1" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/th[..]830/1
@ Hubert: In case you're illiterate, he said we don't attack non-aligned nations. France was a PGC nation and invaded Canada and the US.
Go USA
Go Greece
Go China
Go India
Go EDEN!
Great stuff Rhein.
Farnsworth is a babykiller, apparently. 😛
Yeah, and Karnatka just happens to be in eUS control because eUS respects eIndia so much... Fail propaganda...
Radovan fails. 😉
On top of that, Hubert, I am one of the leading reasons why France was not wiped off the face of the earth a heck of a lot quicker. When the Spanish invaded France the eUSA and Italian governments came together in order to try and work out a situation diplomatically. When we tried the French government completely rebuffed us. Negotiations were attempted no less than three times, and every single time it was the French government that ended the negotiations.
We tried to find a diplomatic solution. We attempted to fix this problem WITHOUT France being completely wiped. If you don't believe me, ask my counter-parts in the Italian government, or YOUR leaders. Now, the eUSA has exhausted diplomacy, and rather than end up being blocked by France, or allowing eSpain (our ALLY) to keep those MPPs open against them, we have dedicated ourselves to closing that war with whatever means necessary.
If you're angry about the eUSA helping eSpain finish off your last territory, I suggest you point fingers at your own government first.
@Radovan, did you read the article? Apparently not. Rheinlander covered the fact that we liberated Karnataka with eIndian backing. We're now in negotiations to pay rent for Karnataka. Fail troll is fail.
wars:
" @ Hubert: In case you're illiterate, he said we don't attack non-aligned nations. France was a PGC nation and invaded Canada and the US."
Funny, but before invade canada and usa, france was invaded (by usa, spain, canada, suede...) So it was not an invasion, only a revenge...
And for the peace, just lol. The only goal of spain president is to wipe france from erep map, and "teach us" spanish culture...(he wrote i in a newspaper...)
No matter what each "side" says, propaganda is propaganda.
Propaganda has been used all over the e-world since the beginning of e-time, and whining about it won't make it go away.
Also, fail-trolls are fail. ;P
Great article, Rheinlander!
And France could invade North America because you guys invaded them earlier, activating a bunch of MPP's. Oops, forgot that part of the story?
Rheinlander is a pretty talented propagandist, and can write better stuff than 'hail eden!", but this article is still little weak. Won't fool anyone who is not already on your side, and really, eden citizens nowadays don't need longer articles than "hail usa, hail spain, hail eden".
US will keep karnataka, a region of an allied nation. Remeber the amount of trolling you gave the Russians when Hungary conquered Urals and Siberia from Romania. I don't really blame the US for it, it would be foolish to give up those resources to an eCountry that barely exists. Just read back your trolling in the russian papers half a year ago. Not a really long time, but some people seems to have issues with remembering stuff.
This is just plain hypocrisy, indeed.