NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This is mainly an event for the CSEMS, but if you have a semi-Socialist nation and would like to attend, please do.

IC: Emperor Cav had laid out all of the plans. There was to be a grand parade in downtown Cav City, right to the doors of The Emperor's palace. Citizens of Socialist Paradise were invited, and the first CSEMS Conference would start seeing attendance soon.

The Council of Socialist Economic and Military Security was founded in the region of Socialist Paradise awhile ago to secure its members in an alliance. Now that every nation was large and powerful, it was decided that the CSEMS would hold a conference on what to do to help the other smaller Socialist nations in the world.

The Emperor donned his ceremonial robe, tied his cape on, and took up his golden staff. The Crown of The Emperor was placed on his head. He took the Sword of Cav down from the wall, sheathed it, and affixed it to his belt.

Emperor Cav walked through the reception room, making sure that everything was laid out nicely. The chefs had a fine menu for this occasion, and there was something for everybody.

Everything was in order there, so The Emperor gathered General of The Army William Higgins and Imperial Minister Miles Forsyth together for the drive to the airport. There, they would meet Imperial Space General Richard Pointer and greet the international delegations.

Once at the airport, The Emperor waited patiently for the first flight to arrive.

OOC: Do any nations need transport provided to them? We will provide planes so that your delegation can arrive swiftly. Also, fighter escorts and the like are available for any nation so wishing. Any fighters escorting your delegation are allowed into Cav's airspace.

President Ivan Suvarov of Briandom put on his best suit. He called up Admiral Grigory Andreevich Spiridov, who had been in charge of Manganmark during the bloody revolution. They would be attending the CSEMS Conference along with their wives, Sonia and Katarenia.

"Grigory, we've got to stop giving you medals. The glare off your dress uniform is blinding."

"Well, Comrade President, the only way I am going to stop being good at my job is when they bury me at sea. Is Vice President Yakovlev meeting us from Manganmark?"

"Yes, Admiral. His helicopter will arrive soon, and then we will make our way to Cav for the conference."

OOC: I will be representing Briandom and Manganmark.

***********
IC: Nikolay Yakovlev, Vice President of Briandom and President of Manganmark, stepped off his helicopter and greeted President Suvarov and Admiral Spiridov. They boarded the executive jet and headed for Cav.

Supreme Counciler Vladimir Lenin III and 2nd Counciler Borovski relaxed in their VC-72 Coaler VIP transport plane as it cruised en route to to Cav. The Haaregradian aircraft touched down on the tarmac and Lenin and Borovski prepared to get out.

"Time to meet our friends."

OOC:
I'll be representing Soviet Haaregrad, Metropolis Industries and Dill Row.

Prime Minister J. Revanin, Minister of the Interior and the High Diplomat, former Prime Minister John Blazin, Minister of the Defence Don Feng, and one armed body guard by the name of Chang, sat in their seats in the luxery "Tiltrotor" style of executive jet, flanked by a single M-20A7VX Cobra MBT fighter.

About an hour later, the rotors tilted upwards, and like a helicopter, it floated downward, and gently set down, while the fighter touched down on the adjacent runway.

"Well..." Revanin said. He opened a compartment on the jet. A ramp slid down, which he climbed up on. He then pulled down a custom-made executive Motorcycle. "See you there." He hopped on it, put on a helmet, and drove toward the Palace.

"... I will never understand that habit of his." Blazin said, raising a brow, as he, Feng, and Chang walked toward their schedueled limosine.

The four representatives of the High Council of The Order of Kiith, sipped upon their glasses of port in the High Council chamber discussing their usual agenda of cross border relations and all the technicalities there of when a runner entered the chamber.


"Excuse me councilmen but the transport is ready."

"Very well, we are on our way." The councilmen of Naabal said as he drained his glass, and stood.

The four councilmen put on their suit jackets and followed the runner out into the field where their jet was waiting to take them to Cav

OOC: I represent Kiith Naabal, Kiith Sjet, Kiith Gaalsien, and Kiith Soban

OOC: Excellent! It's good to see all these people attend.

IC: The first to arrive at the airport were President Suvarov, Vice President Yakovlev, and Admial Spiridov. As they disembarked from the plane, Briandom's national anthem was played by the nearby band. They were saluted by the Imperial Marines as they steeped off the stairs, and greeted by Emperor Cav.

"Misters President and Vice President, Admiral Spiridov, welcome to Cav. This is General Higgins, and Minister Forsyth."

"Ah, General Higgins, what a wonderful job you did in Higera. It's a sad thing that happened to that country, but you fixed it swiftly and bravely."

General Higgins bowed his head. "Thank you, Mister President. It's good that the international community values my work."

OOC: Briandom, hope you don't mind me tooting my own horn through you

IC: A limosuine pulled up. "Gentlemen, this will be your car in the parade. The others are arriving now."

Briandom's plane pulled away and Haaregradia's taxied to its spot. Supreme Counciler Vladimir Lenin III and 2nd Counciler Borovski stepped out, this time to Haaregradia's national anthem.

"Supreme Counciler, Second Counciler, welcome to Cav. Meet General Higgins and Minister Forsyth. Here from Briandom's delegation are President Suvarov, Vice President Yakovlev, and Admial Spiridov."

Nods were exchanged and another limo pulled up. "Gentlemen, your car in the parade."

*********
When the jet from Firen touched down, a motorcycle slid down a ramp on the other side of the plane before the doors opened. The band rushed to play Firen's national anthem, but their Prime Minister was already gone.

"Gentlemen, welcome to Cav," The Emperor said as the men approached the limousines. Cav went on to introduce the delegations to each other when a third limo pulled up. "As your Prime Minister has already made his way to the palace, you will represent Firen in the parade."

*********
"Welcome, Councilmen! Here are the delegations from the different CSEMS members. We hope you enjoy your time in Cav. There are two limousines for your group, as you represent a total of four countries."

OOC: I will wait another day for more arrivals to Cav. We are still waiting on some CSEMS members as well as any borderline Socialist nation who wishes to be part of our alliance.

Carfy News Note:

"The people of Carfy have elected a delegate to send to the CSEMS Conference. Sergey Antonov, one of the governing council members, will attend, along with head economist Dr. Robert Solow. Fleet Admiral Richard Pointer will also attend. Back to you, Tom."

Delegate Antonov, Dr. Solow, and Admiral Pointer met at the airport. It was a short ride across the strait, and the helicopter was ready to go. They boarded their Sikorsky S-92 and took off for Cav.

Prime Minister Roman Abraham will be there. His wife, a top advisor, Barbara will be there also.

General Zulaf will come too.

Soon, Revanin reached the Palace and slipped off his helmet, flashing his authorisation to the guards, and entering.

"I hate excess attention." He turned to one of the guards. "Be a dear and put my motorcycle somewhere safe."

The guard raised a brow before following orders, as Revanin entered the Palace proper and waited for the parade.

The helicopter landed on a pad close to the greeting area. Emperor Cav and his men walked over to the Sikorsky.

"Delegate Antonov, Dr. Solow, Admiral Pointer," he started, "welcome to Cav. Here are my advisors, and these men are all from the other nations. Your limo will arrive soon."

**********
"Prime Minister Abraham, Mrs. Abraham, General Zulaf, welcome. Your car is waiting."

OOC: I didn't want to do introductions for everybody coming. I hope nobody minds.

IC: A statesman greeted Revanin when he walked through the door. "Prime Minister Revanin, welcome to our Emperor's palace. We hope that we did not inconvenience you with the parade. If we had known...

"Either way, make yourself comfortable here. We have a room prepared for you, and we will see that your motorcycle is well taken care of. If you would follow this man," a servant walked up, "he will take you to the chamber."

Governor-General Rydralie finished reading the message from Cav, he called for his aide to ready his helicopter, he got up and went to his bedroom, put on his parade uniform, and strapped on his custom made Colt 1911. He walked back out into his office where his aide was waiting. "The helicopter is ready sir" He and his aide walked up the the roof of the Governor's Building. He climbed into the EA-24C helicopter and was off.

Ambassador Petrov from Higera will also come to represent Hattia

Vladimir Lenin thought about what to discuss first. Surely the mistreatment of the working class in many neighboring nations should be paramount. After all, was this not what Socialism and Communism made to fight against?

He began the first draft of his speech and prepared for the first meeting on economics.

Trade Minister Ivan Hadenov's helicopter and Defense Minister Mohammed "Bubba" Ed'Plode's personal flying aircraft carrier touch down in Cav City.

Mohammed breathes in deeply.
"I will miss the dry breath from the lady of the desert for these next few days but hopefully this summit will not last more than a week." he says.
"Yes, well hopefully the summit will be interesting enough that you will not long for Lady Desert. Come, let us head for the embassy. We'll need to keep our minds sharp if we are to make the ideals of socialistic capitalism appeal to old Bolsheviks like Lenin and Petrov." Ivan says with his soft brooding voice.
"Agreed, Comrade. Let us go rest!"
The two get into a chartered limo and ride to the Aooogah Embassy.

Governor-General Rydralie finished reading the message from Cav, he called for his aide to ready his helicopter, he got up and went to his bedroom, put on his parade uniform, and strapped on his custom made Colt 1911. He walked back out into his office where his aide was waiting. "The helicopter is ready sir" He and his aide walked up the the roof of the Governor's Building. He climbed into the EA-24C helicopter and was off.

Ambassador Petrov from Higera will also come to represent Hattia

"Governor-General Rydralie, Ambassador Petrov, welcome to Cav. Here are the delegations from the other CSEMS nations."

"I believe that we can start the parade now, Your Excellency," one of the security personnel mentioned.

"Very well. Please report to your cars, gentlemen... and lady. We will follow the parade route to the palace."

**********

The limousines lined up in order of arrival, and prepared to go. Each country's flag adorned the front two sides of the limos, and the full flag was carried by an honor guard.

The Imperial Guard, dressed in full traditional uniforms (like the British Redcoats), started the march down the street. The Honor Guard carried Cav's flag, and a column behind them held the flags of every nation attending the CSEMS Conference. The band division of the Imperial Guard played "O Hail Ye All High Emperor Cav," two Suburbans passed, and Emperor Cav's private limo followed. The Emperor stood out of the top and waved at the citizens who were cheering.

Police cars followed with their lights flashing. Occasionally the officers would sound the siren for the children in the crowd. The Cav Mounted Division came next, closely tailed by the pooper-scoopers.

More Imperial Guard members came next, with their band playing Briandom's national anthem and the Honor Guard carrying Briandom's flag. More police cars followed Briandom's formation.

Haaregradia's flags and anthem came next, with the Imperial Guard not missing a beat. They played proudly for their guests, and they were thrilled to be hosting the largest parade in Cav's history.

The armed forces column came next, with Cav's M1 Abrams tank divisions. Members of the Army of Cav marched down the streets in perfect form. MLRS vehicles came also, followed by a few Humvees. Imperial Navy sailors marched next, in their dress whites.

After more tanks passed, the long-bed tracked vehicles came with the small AH-1 Bell helicopters on them. While those were passing, flyovers from Sikorsky MH-53Js and Pave Hawks were taking place.

Firen's flag and anthem came next, followed by the limo with the partial delegation. The early arrivers at the parade had gotten a special show when they saw Prime Minister Revanin's motorcycle drive by amid a security motorcade.

Kiith Naabal's colors and anthem(s) appeared, with the two limos holding the four councilmen representing the Kiiths.

Black cars followed the Kiith's motorcade, each with blue and red lights in the grill, on the side-view mirrors, and in the windshield in front of the rear-view mirror. These were part of the Imperial Special Services Department, whose job was unknown to most; but the public always knew when those cars were racing down the road, there was trouble.

Another mounted division followed, and Carfy's flag and anthem were presented along with the delegation. More regular police cars and a variety of fire trucks transitioned into Lebensraum's part of the parade. Their colors and anthem were also represented.

Finally, Hattian Higera's delegation ended the delegate portion of the parade. Mainland Hattia's anthem was played, but the Hattian Higeran flag was presented. After they made their way down the street, more M1 tanks followed, and then the Suburbans and other escort vehicles, and finally the second motorcade of Emperor Cav's secondary party.

As the parade was making its way down the street, jet flyovers deafened the parade watchers. There were 3 F-14s, 3 F-18s, 3 MiG-31s, 3 F-27B Manta Rays, 1 B1 Bomber, 1 F-117, and 1 B-10A Python.

After all this excitement, the delegation made its way to The Emperor's Palace. The motorcade and other parade escorts turned off, and the limos stopped in the large driveway at the front door.

Trade Minister Ivan Hadenov's helicopter and Defense Minister Mohammed "Bubba" Ed'Plode's personal flying aircraft carrier touch down in Cav City.

Mohammed breathes in deeply.
"I will miss the dry breath from the lady of the desert for these next few days but hopefully this summit will not last more than a week." he says.
"Yes, well hopefully the summit will be interesting enough that you will not long for Lady Desert. Come, let us head for the embassy. We'll need to keep our minds sharp if we are to make the ideals of socialistic capitalism appeal to old Bolsheviks like Lenin and Petrov." Ivan says with his soft brooding voice.
"Agreed, Comrade. Let us go rest!"
The two get into a chartered limo and ride to the Aooogah Embassy.

OOC: Thank you very much for going to the embassy. I just wrote the whole parade thing in before I saw your reply. If you want, I can add you to it, but I'll have to do it tomorrow. Otherwise, see you at the palace!

Deep within the bowels of the Berëzan Ministry of the Exterior, a fax machine sputters to life, and with hacking noises and a wisp of smoke, rather forcefully ejects a slightly charred sheet of paper into the small office of a low-level government communique. The paper swings back and forth in the air, coming to rest on the back of the communique's head. One corner pokes him in the ear, and he awakes, wipes the drool off his mouth, and looks at it. It was a semi-invitation to attend a conference. The communique scratched, yawned, stretched, scratched himself again, picked up his coffee mug, drank from it, realized it'd been empty, put it back down, yawned again, and eventually got up to deliver the paper to his boss.

...

Berëza was recently labeled "progressively socialist" by a popular radio speaker, due to its increasing welfare and public healthcare, and somebody within the MinEx decided to send some observers to the conference. The last conference, a dinner party at Egocenturia's, ended with the delegates' car being towed, so some better form of transportation was deemed necessary. There was talk of war with Belem, but it was decided safe enough to simply send the observers, better-dressed this time, on a regular civilian flight.

...

The 5 delegates, dressed casually, stood outside their arrival gate at the airport, scanning the crowds for any signs of Cav government officials...

At the Aooogah Embassy:

"Welcome to The Holy Empire of Cav. We're glad you could make it to our conference. We have an official car waiting for you outside. It's a five minute drive to the palace from here."

**********
The airport:

"Ah, Geneltmen, you must be the delegation from Bereza. We got word that your party would be arriving via commercial air. I am Minister Reitz. Welcome to Cav. The other conference attendees are arriving at the palace now. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to a helicopter so I can get you to the palace on time for the beginning."

Regent Edmund Vermillion of SteamEarth shall be tending, thou there is a spot of trouble in the nation of SteamEarth at the moment so he'll be expecting to be late. He shall be arriving by blimp.

Natasha Kamnëva got the attention of the other 4 delegates, and smiled at Minister Reitz. She began to extend her left hand in greeting, and remembered that only Berëzans did that, and that she was a guest. Extending her right hand, she replied with a slight accent, "Glad you could find us." The delegation picked up their bags, and followed Reitz. While walking, another delegate, Sergei Shagalov, turned to Reitz. "Before we get down to business, might you tell us something about your country? To be honest, we've never even heard of it before. Your culture appears to be similar to American, but again, we've never been here before."

Regent Edmund Vermillion of SteamEarth shall be tending, thou there is a spot of trouble in the nation of SteamEarth at the moment so he'll be expecting to be late. He shall be arriving by blimp.

When he does arrive, a helicopter will bring him to the palace.

Natasha Kamnëva got the attention of the other 4 delegates, and smiled at Minister Reitz. She began to extend her left hand in greeting, and remembered that only Berëzans did that, and that she was a guest. Extending her right hand, she replied with a slight accent, "Glad you could find us." The delegation picked up their bags, and followed Reitz. While walking, another delegate, Sergei Shagalov, turned to Reitz. "Before we get down to business, might you tell us something about your country? To be honest, we've never even heard of it before. Your culture appears to be similar to American, but again, we've never been here before."

Minister Reitz turned to Shagalov. "Certainly. We are similar to America, except for the fact that we are both Socialist and ruled by an Emperor. Our nation has a long and devout history of worshipping the Catholic faith, and it brings together every citizen. Our own Emperor is an ordained Cardinal of the Faith. Our culture has also been compared to that of the old Holy Roman Empire in that its citizens are devout and patriotic.

"We have recently finished fighting a war against guerillas that had taken the government of our neighbor, Higera, hostage. A huge coalition of the capitalists and fascists in that nation joined forces and cut off the head of the government. Higera's forces were either overseas or under the control of a "Coalition" party member. They launched their nuclear missiles at our nation and others. We shot them down, but I cannot go into details of that. After that, Emperor Cav ordered in invasion of Higera and things are going very well now.

"Emperor Cav is looking to expand our role in the world through economic and military assistance to smaller Socialist-leaning nations. We have already donated huge sums of money to nations such as Papa Guinea and others. That is a big reason why we are hosting the CSEMS Conference.

"Ah, your helicopter is preparing to take off. I will go with you and give you an aerial tour of the city. These men will take your bags." Minister Reitz motioned for two baggage handlers to load the luggage. He then nodded at the helicopters, "After you, madam."

Shuttle Alpha, the Dictator's shuttle, land at the airport. It is no bigger than a 747 and looks like a smaller, sleeker version of a NASA Spacecraft with the Dominion Flag emblazoned on the side.

Dictator John Arlock, Minister of Diplomacy Jean-Paul Reneviour, and Minister of Defence Tatsua Tanaka jump from the low side and onto the runway. They are all dressed in black military uniforms, red shoulders, and gold tassels. The Dictator wears a red "all-seeing pyramid", the Minister of Diplomacy a blue one, and the Minister of Defence a green one.

They find the Cav Delegates, and salute in traditional American style.

"Good day!" Arlock says cheerily, his green eyes beaming, "I hope we are on time. We don't have very good communication, our countries. In fact, last I heard of you was just before our war with the US and re-location to the Martian Facility we have now." In the wind he brushes away his brown hair with a gloved hand, "It is chillier here than our Compound. We should have dressed warmer."

"I am Jean-Paul Reneviour," the Minister says, extending his hand, "A trained Diplomat. May our friendship be long."

"We should make this quick," Tanaka says, shivering "our entire reigon is on high alert. We risk invasion at any moment." He just then notices the foreign delegation, "Not that we wish to offend..."

Revanin sat in his room, looking over his speech.

"Well. I hope they react to this positively."

Quickly searching over a few lines and flipping the page once--- it was two pages long--- he then nodded and closed it.

"It'll be interesting."

As they climbed aboard the helicopter, another delegate, Heidi Lórasdottir, spoke up, "I've studied socialist theory in college, though it wasn't anywhere near my major. Many tell me that the political aspect of socialism is a high degree of true democracy, or at least representation. Is there more to the government than the Emperor, or are you socialist only in an economic sense?"

Another delegate, Kurt Makarov, also had a question ready that the other 4 were thinking to themselves - just how far did Catholic piety go in this country? The Most Serene Land of Berëza was, and for a long time had been, avowedly atheist. Its almost entirely atheist population's attitude towards religion, especially an organized and dogmatic one such as Catholicism, ranged between a distanced ignorance, to a (barely) tolerated disdain. The delegates were chosen partly for their open-mindedness and understanding, as any diplomatic team should be, but they were nevertheless at least agnostics, and didn't want any conflicts to arise because of religious differences.

OOC: Hmmmmm BUMP

OOC: oh dear god, if this isnt gonna go somewhere I'm gettin my guys outta there...

((BUMPIDDITY BUMP BUMP WHERE IS EVERYONE))

wait till the morrow. it's 1am EST.

note to meself so i don't forget later - i've Natasha Kamnëva, Sergei Shagalov, Heidi Lórasdottir, Kurt Makarov, and Zhen'a Koshkina.

OOC: Genworks, please curb your impatience.

IC: "Gentlemen, welcome to Cav!" A minister walked up and greeted the men from Genworks. "Let me see what I can do about coats for you." He got on his radio and two men came over with three military jackets. "There you go, these should fit..." A pause while they donned the coats... "There, now we have a helicopter for you that will take you to the palace."

He walked them to the helicopter and let them get in first. As soon as he closed the door, the helo lifted off and headed for the palace. "Maybe we can help you with the military problems you've been having in your country. I'll see that it gets discussed at the conference. All I need is a little background story."

**********
Aboard the helo with the Berezan delegates:

"Ah, you both ask good questions. I can answer them both at the same time."

"The Holy Empire of Cav was not always such a 'Holy Empire.' In our onset, we were ruled by an iron fist fascist government that limited our freedoms to the point where a few generations later had never heard of 'free speech.' For many decades our nation had resided in a region called 'Fascist Paradise.' We were very oppressed.

"The nations in Fascist Paradise were threatened and brought to the brink of war by the nations in Communist Paradise (ironically by the nation of Higera, which we just fought a war to free from a fascist coup). When the mighty ships and infantry were deployed to fight the Higerans, one man stepped up and said 'no more.' That man was Colonel Cav of the army.

"He took his men to the capital to fight the government. Hopelessly outnumbered, he never thought he could win. As he was seriously thinking of abandoning his men, he had a vision from God. That vision told Cav that he needed to fight and to free his men from the evil hands of the government. Cav heeded to that vision and led his men on a march to the dictator's throne. A horrible lightning storm hit the capital suddenly and without warning. It was more of a sign for Colonel Cav to press on. God had helped him along the way. In the battle that ensued, Cav lost no men (think Charlemagne).

"When Colonel Cav had control of the government and began letting the people do as they pleased, they rejoiced. They immediately appointed him to lead and be their emperor. He refused at first, believing that that position of power would corrupt him. But his heart was true, and the people would not let him step down. He took the will of the people and made that his number one priority.

"We have had many Cavs since then, and all have upheld their great lineage. The people crave their Emperor, and it keeps them happy to have one. It is a weird situation we have here. The people are well taken care of by the government, but they do not want to take the last step to true Socialism. They love The Emperor too much. The people are open and accepting to the different faiths-- or lack thereof-- of the world, but almost 100% of our population is avowedly Catholic.

"Hopefully that explains the people's devout faith and the whole Socialism/Emperor situation. My apologies if I have talked your heads off."

The helicopter touched down on the helipad at the palace.

"Oh, we're here, and I didn't get to show you any of our landmarks. I apologize again, and now I will take you to the other delegates that are now arriving."

OOC: Thank you for waiting patiently, all of you other nations, while new people came. Everybody will get to the palace in the next post, and then we'll start.

Nations attending:

Aoogah
Bereza
Briandom
Carfy
Firen
Genworks
Hattian Higera
Kiith's 4 nations
Lebensraum
Soviet Haaregrad
SteamEarth

I think that's everybody. Please forgive me if I missed your name.

Things will start again tomorrow.

By the way Bereza, you've inspired me to write a History of Cav thread.

Also (I hope you all would do this anyway), if you're going to be responding to something another nation said, please quote it as there are a lot of nations here and things might get confusing if there are posts everywhere responding to different people.

Regent Edmund Vermillion has arrived.

presumably, we'll use quotes, but edit out the bulk of large posts so they don't take up a lot of space?

yay, i inspired something.

The 5 were still slightly apprehensive - experience showed them that Christians of any denomination were rarely tolerant towards atheists. However, upon hearing how the government ran the country, they each had the same thought, which was voiced by the 5th delegate - Zhen'a Koshkina. "Well, Minister, it appears that our nations have something in common - we are also run by a very much non-democratic government, though ours is headed by a dictator, not an emperor. It maintains control much in the same way yours does - it keeps the people happy, and the people let it rule. It's unfortunate that the word 'despot' has a negative tone to it, but if it didn't, both of our governments could be called benevolently despotic. Ours even has the UN label of 'benevolent dictatorship'."

They began to climb out of the helicopter, thinking to themselves that despite the Catholicism, the average Berëzan citizen would find Cav quite respectable. Lórasdottir shouted as she emerged from the winding-down helo, "Might you show us these landmarks of which you speak sometime?"

He walked them to the helicopter and let them get in first. As soon as he closed the door, the helo lifted off and headed for the palace. "Maybe we can help you with the military problems you've been having in your country. I'll see that it gets discussed at the conference. All I need is a little background story."


The three men walked into the helicopter and get seated.

"Nice," Tanaka said, "my men could learn from your military engineers."

"Well background..." Arlock said, "Well, about twenty years ago my twin brother Bill started the compnay 'Genworks' as a computer hardware and software company. Soon we had overtaken Microsoft, Macintosh, Linux, IBM, and Intel as the leading Computer Company. Bill asked me to be CEO seeing as I had a buisness degree from UCLA.

"Soon we had so much money we didn't know what to do with it all. I had been reading about the econemies of Denmark, Sweden, and other Social Democrat states. I had an epiphany.

"We built a compound in Eastern California and moved all our workers there. We had advanced simulation machines to train troops. We had money and connections in the black market for weapons. We built an army in a desert compund and when the US got on our tails for taxes, we declared independance.

"War ensued, the US refusing to allow a socialist state in its borders, but we had programmed all thier technology and easily hacked into everything they had. They had no guidance, no communications, nothing. People saw our flourishing econemy, happy people, and moved to our claimed territory. In the war we had no political leader, but I was Commander In Chief of the military.

"Soon we had the entire Western Half of America. The US saw only one alternative: movement. There was a cease-fire and we made plans to move us and everyone who wanted to be with us to a terraformed portion of Mars. The move took 6 years with our Maako Shuttles, but we made it. The scientists who followed us helped our econemy, but such a large-scale war drained our resources.

"We were able to buy two interplanetary ships, however, equiped with particle weapons, that could make the Earth trip in 6 hours as opposed to the latest Maako engine design which makes the trip 20 hours. Our Airforce is working mostly with Machineguns on the Maakos, Fighters, and Choppers. The Police Force has some particle weapons, and our artillery is mostly guided missile infantry. We've invented new electrical energy barriers for our compound, and working on extending the range of the emitters for the other countries who relocated to the Valley.

"We've become quite poor, spending less on personal goods for the people, but we try to keep them defended and educated. We're looking at ways to harvest the rainforests, but with new genetic cloning we're at no lack of food.

"The Lead industry in the valley is dominated by The Dominion of Counter-Utopia, so our bullets are mostly steel. We're recieving a lot of Uranium from our allies in Draconas in return for our major abundance of Gold. The People's Republic of Lindsay Coleman has issued a major trade deal with us, giving us the silicon and titanium we need for our inventions and research, while we send them teachers and engineers. The Queendom of Mizjellybean is trying to be educated, but they were once only a tribal people of the pacific with Chinese heritage. Mizjellybean is a very smart woman, although her people lack cleverness."

"Quite overblown, Dictator..." Minister Reneviour said, a bit angrily.

"Sorry Jean," Arlock said, "I'm not the Diplomat you are."

"Well that is our history," Minister Tanaka said.

"Still didn't need to be that long!" Minister Reneviour smiled

(Bereza)
"Of course. Perhaps after the conference? And don't worry, you'll find that our nation will be very accepting of you."

**********
(Genworks)
"Ah, I will pass this information on to The Emperor. We have many programs for building up new Socialist economies. More will be discussed at the conference."

**********
(Firen)
"Prime Minister," the aide said to Revanin, "the delegates all have arrived. I hope you have been comfortable while waiting."

The cars had all arrived. There was an expression of joy on Emperor Cav's face as was so proud to show off his wonderful citizens. Today's parade was the greatest ever in Cav.

Now it was time to get down to business. There was much to do, and The Emperor didn't want to keep Firen's Prime Minister waiting for much longer. As the delegations assembled at the doors of the palace, Cav stood to speak:

"Ladies and Gentlemen of all nations, welcome to my home. There are rooms for everybody here with full service available. A servant (for lack of a more Socialist-friendly word) will take your bags and show you to your rooms. You will have one hour to compose yourselves, and then we will meet in the conference room and begin this summit."

"Parade? There's a parade?" the Berëzans asked each other. "More importantly," Kurt began, turning to Minister Reitz, "what are we expected to wear? We don't have much of anything resembling your Emperor's attire. That, and...well...as a diplomat like myself, surely you can understand when I ask how we're to greet your Emperor?"

"Parade? There's a parade?" the Berëzans asked each other. "More importantly," Kurt began, turning to Minister Reitz, "what are we expected to wear? We don't have much of anything resembling your Emperor's attire. That, and...well...as a diplomat like myself, surely you can understand when I ask how we're to greet your Emperor?"

"I must apologize, but you have already missed the parade. As we were unaware of your arrival until recently, the parade had started by the time you got here. That is why we had to take the helicopter in.

"As for your attire, The Emperor donned his ceremonial outfit for the parade. It is perfectly fine for you to wear regular business suits to the conference meeting table, and even Emperor Cav will be dressing that way.

"When greeting Cav, a handshake will do. As you are not Catholic, you will not be required to perform any of the traditional pratices such as kneeling or ring-kissing. A nice firm handshake will not offend us. He prefers the title of 'Your Excellency.' How should we address your delegation?"

Regent Edmund Vermillion was already wearing the suit he did buisness in, in fact it was the same suit he wore on a day-to-day basis. "How I shall be addressed? Regent Vermillion will be just find if his Excellency wishes to do so. Oh just one other thing, thats a spot of civil unrest in my country at the moment and I was wondering if it'll be at all possible for me to send a telegram?"

Antonov, Solow, and Pointer were shown to their rooms.

"What a parade," Antonov said.

"Yeah, did you see all of their military equipment? I wish we could have seen some of their naval units." Admiral Pointer was always looking for ways to improve Carfy's navy-- certainly the largest and strongest force they had.

The men checked themselves in the mirror, used the bathroom, and went over Carfy's objectives in the conference.

re: cav

Kamnëva answered to the last question, "Well, that's why we're asking. In Berëza, even the highest national leaders are never addressed by anything other than their names, and first ones, at that. Children don't call adults as 'Mr.' or 'Mrs.' anything - pretty much everyone calls each other either by first or last name. The only time anyone gets a title is when it's an educational or military one, like 'doctor' or 'lieutenant', or when one has tremendous respect - earned respect by knowing the person and her actions - for the addressee. So if Emperor Cav took a walk in Berëza, he'd be addressed merely as 'Cav', perhaps with the title. Anyway, address us however you wish - we're mere diplomats, and you see that our culture is very easygoing in this respect. We'd be more used to first and/or last name. Only Heidi has a military title - Chief Lieutenant - but there's no need to use it."

Somewhere in the middle of that, Sergei started to cut in, and when Kamnëva finished, he added, "We're diplomats, so we're not supposed to care, but Berëzans tend to get annoyed when someone makes no attempt to pronounce a name, theirs or not, properly. The letter ë sounds like 'yo', my name has a hard G sound, 'zh' is a hard J, Zhen'a sounds like 'jenya', the ó sounds like 'oh', all Rs are rolled, and all words have second-syllable accents, except Heidi, Lórasdottir, Zhen'a, and Koshkina."

After Reitz answered, the delegation wanted to greet Emperor Cav, but he had walked off somewhere. The delegates got up to go to their rooms and change. Before leaving, Kurt whispered to Reitz with a smile, "Please excuse him. He's young, new, and seems to have inherited the Berëzan intolerance of mispronounciation more than most. And keep in mind that it's the effort that counts."

45 minutes later, all 5 were standing outside the elevator to take them to the conference room, dressed in sharp black suits with blue trim.

car... (forgot your name and i'm editing so i can't see it) - we've got some good naval designs we might share. no real breakthrough technology, just some good ideas. accost one of the delegates at some point, and they'll be happy to discuss any technology or hardware trade.

cav, you've inspired me to write a thingy on Berëzan culture

After the parade, President Suvarov took Emperor Cav aside for a moment. "Your Excellency, today's parade was wonderful. Our car was very comfortable and we enjoyed seeing your citizens. We find your
nation to be very accomidating. I was hoping that we could have some time to talk away from the other delegates. Let me know when you're avalable."

With that, President Suvarov caught up to his team and they headed inside to their rooms. The conference would be beginning soon, and they wanted some time to catch up on the news from their countries.

"Your Excellency, today's parade was wonderful. Our car was very comfortable and we enjoyed seeing your citizens. We find your nation to be very accommodating. I was hoping that we could have some time to talk away from the other delegates. Let me know when you're available."

"I will let you know, but it may be some time."

***********
The conference room was set up perfectly. The room, a peninsula from the palace, four stories high, enabled the delegates a 270 degree look out on the magnificent gardens of the palace grounds. The heliport could be seen to the south, and the central business district of downtown was visible to the north.

The windows, 10 feet high starting at about waist-length, were made to withstand most natural disasters and any manmade, human-fired weapon. They could be dimmed to any level, all the way to opaque. It was a nice day outside, though bright, so Cav had the windows set to medium light intensity.

The double doors opened up to expose this room of dimensions 45x35x15. A long 20 foot mahogany conference table sat in the middle of the room, with a polished top. The eight legs curved underneath the table, and then curved out to meet the floor. Surrounding the table on each side were seven black, high-backed leather swivel chairs. At the end of the table was a slightly larger chair, and it had a gold "C" embroidered on it. That was Emperor Cav's chair.

When looking through the doors, one would notice that they were offset, the center of the room being to the left. Upon entering and turning around, one would figure out the reason. A large 80 inch flatscreen television monitor rested on the wall 3 feet from the door frame. The television was used for presentations and the like. Headphone jacks are available at every seat for translations.

Atop the conference table were controls for operating the presentation screen, chair controls, volume, and other various gadgets. There was also an information message board to the right of the instrument panel.

Around the table were 20 smaller black leather chairs. They were seats for other advisors who were not heads of state. Each of those chairs had a wireless connection to the seat their head delegate was in. Using the PDA located in the right armrest, the advisors could communicate with their statesman at the conference table without interrupting. All incoming messages would be logged in that statesman's information message board for viewing by the delegate.

OOC: Sorry, but we have 35 people in all at this thing, and the conference table would get way too big if we sat everybody there. I hope this way is easy enough for you. The next post will describe who sits at the table.

IC: Security is nothing to worry about in this conference room. While the glass is bulletproof, sometimes that isn't enough. That is why a mini phalanx system operates around all areas of the palace. Large radar systems put out enough energy to locate a bird flying in the area around the palace. Incoming projectiles are verified by a camera system, and the miniguns plot the trajectories and fire their bullets away at appx. 1,000 per minute.

Also, there are closed circuit cameras everywhere. Most of them are hidden so that only the security guards know their location. A huge security center is controlled from the deep basement of the palace. At least 10 guards are watching the cameras at any time of the day. A company (180 men) of the Imperial Guard is stationed there and trained in quick deployment to the ground level. A nuclear attack bunker is located below the security level and capable of withstanding a massive air blast and a medium ground blast.

For a quick getaway, three cars are usually at the ready. For this conference there are 16. The cars drive underground and exit at a remote and secure helipad. An underground magnetic levitation train is also ready to go if an extremely grave situation calls for it.

Now, we are ready to begin the conference.

"Your Excellency, today's parade was wonderful. Our car was very comfortable and we enjoyed seeing your citizens. We find your nation to be very accommodating. I was hoping that we could have some time to talk away from the other delegates. Let me know when you're available."

"I will let you know, but it may be some time."

***********
The conference room was set up perfectly. The room, a peninsula from the palace, four stories high, enabled the delegates a 270 degree look out on the magnificent gardens of the palace grounds. The heliport could be seen to the south, and the central business district of downtown was visible to the north.

The windows, 10 feet high starting at about waist-length, were made to withstand most natural disasters and any manmade, human-fired weapon. They could be dimmed to any level, all the way to opaque. It was a nice day outside, though bright, so Cav had the windows set to medium light intensity.

The double doors opened up to expose this room of dimensions 45x35x15. A long 20 foot mahogany conference table sat in the middle of the room, with a polished top. The eight legs curved underneath the table, and then curved out to meet the floor. Surrounding the table on each side were seven black, high-backed leather swivel chairs. At the end of the table was a slightly larger chair, and it had a gold "C" embroidered on it. That was Emperor Cav's chair.

When looking through the doors, one would notice that they were offset, the center of the room being to the left. Upon entering and turning around, one would figure out the reason. A large 80 inch flatscreen television monitor rested on the wall 3 feet from the door frame. The television was used for presentations and the like. Headphone jacks are available at every seat for translations.

Atop the conference table were controls for operating the presentation screen, chair controls, volume, and other various gadgets. There was also an information message board to the right of the instrument panel.

Around the table were 20 smaller black leather chairs. They were seats for other advisors who were not heads of state. Each of those chairs had a wireless connection to the seat their head delegate was in. Using the PDA located in the right armrest, the advisors could communicate with their statesman at the conference table without interrupting. All incoming messages would be logged in that statesman's information message board for viewing by the delegate.

OOC: Sorry, but we have 35 people in all at this thing, and the conference table would get way too big if we sat everybody there. I hope this way is easy enough for you. The next post will describe who sits at the table.

IC: Security is nothing to worry about in this conference room. While the glass is bulletproof, sometimes that isn't enough. That is why a mini phalanx system operates around all areas of the palace. Large radar systems put out enough energy to locate a bird flying in the area around the palace. Incoming projectiles are verified by a camera system, and the miniguns plot the trajectories and fire their bullets away at appx. 1,000 per minute.

Also, there are closed circuit cameras everywhere. Most of them are hidden so that only the security guards know their location. A huge security center is controlled from the deep basement of the palace. At least 10 guards are watching the cameras at any time of the day. A company (180 men) of the Imperial Guard is stationed there and trained in quick deployment to the ground level. A nuclear attack bunker is located below the security level and capable of withstanding a massive air blast and a medium ground blast.

For a quick getaway, three cars are usually at the ready. For this conference there are 16. The cars drive underground and exit at a remote and secure helipad. An underground magnetic levitation train is also ready to go if an extremely grave situation calls for it.

Now, we are ready to begin the conference.

Governor-General Rydralie and Ambassador Petrov strode into the conference room. Petrov leaned over and whispered to Rydralie. "Nice parade wasn't it, almost as good as a military parade back home." Rydralie nodded and walked over to his seat. Petrov however stood transfixed staring at the TV. He was a big fan of TV and an even bigger fan of big TVs. He stood there for a few minutes until the Governor-General walked up and pointed him to his seat.

The Ministers, a little disgruntled by all the Nations except Bereza's attitudes towards titles and majesty, allowed the Dictator to go to his seat.

"Good day to you all," Arlock said, taking his seat, "I am John Arlock of the relatively new Dominion of Genworks. We are Socialist despite the fact that we sell computer products in the private sector of other econemies. We do treat our citizens as equals as it is."

Uncomfortable in such luxury, Arlock tried to look natural. He felt like a part of something larger and better, and got a sense of unity in this group. They were socialists after all.

The 5 walked in, admiring the room, nothing like what a Berëzan conference room would be like for the same event. Noticing the arrangement of seats, they decided that Zhen'a would be the main representative, while the others would sit behind her. They walked over to the windows to behold the view, and eventually settled down towards the near end of the table, on the emperor's left. They were ready.

Vladimir Lenin III and Dimitri Borovski arrived wearing simple, casual clothing and walking briskly.

"Vlad, we need to ensure our allience stays close to the roots of Marxism, do you have your speech done yet?"
"Yes, yes I do..." *thwap*
"Ouch, what was that for?" asked Mr. Borovski.
"Sorry, reflex..."

Dimitri gave Lenin a slap to the head, "Sorry, reflex."

They both continued on laughing rather heartily.

"A rather pompous display, kind of a waste don't you think?"
"Yes, but they as a nation can afford it, perhaps we should invest in decorating our parliment buildings, after all they are a symbol of the nation." replied Lenin
"True, we are still using the beer-hall where it all began, it is time to build a true parliment buildings."

They carried on and entered the room, admiring the expensive materials everywhere.

The four representatives of the Kiith entered the room dressed in their usual black suits and bowler caps. They paused for a moment taking in grandness of the conference room. They strolled to their seats nodding respectfully at the other delegations already arrived. Councilor Bellerophon leader of the Kiith introduced himself and his colleagues

“Greetings, I am Councilor Bellerophon, leader of The Order of Kiith, and these are the executive members of my High council. To my right the leader of Kiith Gaalsien Councilor Valorum, and to my left the leaders of Kiith Sjet and Kiith Soban, The Councilors Titus whom are brothers.”

With that Bellerophon took his seat and looked out the window admiring this scenery and going over his thoughts in his head

Emperor Cav walked in with General Higgins, First Minister Forsyth, and Economy Minister Milton Friedman.

"Well, I hope everybody finds this room to be as breath-taking as I did when I first saw it. I know we've overdone things a little, but this room represents us in the eyes of the world. Oh, and if you like that TV, you should see the set I use to watch sporting events."

The Emperor took his seat at the head of the table. The other three took their seats along the back wall.

Emperor Cav began speaking when everybody was situated. "Welcome, again, to The Holy Empire of Cav. We are all here because each country has a vested interest in the future of their Socialist nations, as well as the future of other nations. We have guests here from many non-CSEMS nations, but hopefully they will have signed up with our alliance at the end of the conference.

"This summit will hopefully enhance the bonds between our nations. As I look out on this group, I see delegations from nations that reside within our region and have been there for us. I would like to thank every nation of Socialist Paradise for making the CSEMS what it is today.

"We have much to talk about at this meeting. The format will be speeches followed by any questions you may have for the speaker. General Higgins will speak of the readiness of our nation, and Dr. Friedman will speak of keeping our economies in good health. All members of the delegations are welcome to make speeches, and team presentations are welcome.

"The presentations given by our speakers will include the current and future roles of the CSEMS in the world, as well as helping out smaller Socialist nations get their feet wet. If we can get them to join the CSEMS, it will be good for all of our nations.

"I now want to let the others present speeches or presentations they may have written up. Is there anybody that wants to go first?"

OOC: Have something to say? Let's hear it! Don't have anything to say? Don't worry, ask some questions or just say whatever pops into your mind first. Or just sit back and watch what's going on! Enjoy!

Dictator Arlock stood up, his black Uniform and Red "All Seeing Pyramid" showing proudly. He took off his hat and lay it on the table and looked rather sheepish.

"Well, my country of Genworks was originally a capitolist company, but won our independence from the US. We would like to join in your alliance, but sadly cannot move from our reigon. Too much of our country's pride comes from the existance of the Gallileo Valley, a work of all our country's intellectuals and proletariats.

"However, our country does not supress the bourgoise. I hope that does not offend any of the delegates here, but we would not be where we are now without both. The proletariates are the backbone of our country, doing a feat which other cannot, but we wish everyone to be educated and work with whatever material nature has given them.

"Like I said before, I wish for a good alliance. I know our ways seem odd to both the capitalists and the socialists, but the essence of what we do is for the human being."

He bowed and sat back down, unsure of how his speech went.

J. Revanin stood up slowly, looked to John Blazen (Feng, the Minister of Defence, had opted not to come to the actual conferance, and began his speech.

"Firen has entered a new age. I would like to thank all of you for making this possible, especially for helping us through the difficult period of the Civil War 9 months ago.

"We have learned from that, that we need to make changes. Our officer corps have been totally shifted. Some corrupt and lazy officers have been demoted, and promising young recruits have been put on the fast-track to seniority. We are active.

Also, we have totally retooled our Defence Ministry. Don Feng, our Minister of Defence, is really our only holdover.

"We have retooled the military, mostly our air units. Numbers will be available to region members. Because of this, we will have to ask the CSEMS to lease us another 1 or 2 Nimitz-class carriers.

"Finally... Firen has developed its first unique weaponry. We have harnessed the power of Elecromagnetic weaponry, and are already finished shielding all our electronics in Firea, our capital, and are working on it in our other major cities. Our technology should be on sale to fellow region-members within a few months. Thank you."

And with that, he sat.

Ambassador Petrov stood up, his medals, which were numerous, were gleaming in the light. Especially one he got for leading Hattian Forces into the capitol of Higera.

"Hattia, like Genworks, does not suppress the bourgoise, well not much. Just to the point to where they are equal to the Proletariat. One of the things I think we should speak about here, is how to prevent capitalist, facist, etc rebellions in our countries. I'm sure most of you remember the civil war in Higera, and the devestation it caused. This is really important, I think because there will always be people of these... persuasions in our nations, waiting to sieze power." He looked around and sat back down.

I'm sure most of you remember the civil war in Higera, and the devestation it caused. This is really important, I think because there will always be people of these... persuasions in our nations, waiting to sieze power." He looked around and sat back down.

John Arlock nodded, "I concur. But I belive that the best way is prevention. I may be a dictator, but only because I belive Votes are easily changed. I walk amongst my people, listen to what they say, talk to the proletariats and intellectuals alike. We must appease the people if we want peace, but if they ask too much, politely ask them to leave. I suggest a system to fund the trips of people seeking capitolism. We have yet to have this problem as all our citizens sought us out and the latest generation has yet to mature."

John Arlock nodded, "I concur. But I belive that the best way is prevention. I may be a dictator, but only because I belive Votes are easily changed. I walk amongst my people, listen to what they say, talk to the proletariats and intellectuals alike. We must appease the people if we want peace, but if they ask too much, politely ask them to leave. I suggest a system to fund the trips of people seeking capitolism. We have yet to have this problem as all our citizens sought us out and the latest generation has yet to mature."

Governor General Rydralie of Hattian Higera stood up. "Yes, that is a good idea, though it could be economically unfeasible for a small nation, or one with a large population of capitalists. Though, I think a nation should be what it's people want.

Governor General Rydralie of Hattian Higera stood up. "Yes, that is a good idea, though it could be economically unfeasible for a small nation, or one with a large population of capitalists. Though, I think a nation should be what it's people want.

Arlock looked thoughtful for a moment, "Yes, well, for those who cannot afford a movement plan like that, perhaps we can begin a new Charity. Genworks could print on our software and hardware products that so much of the proceeds go to charity, but not specify that the charity is for relocation of unwanted capitalists in socialist countries. A psuedo-moralistic consumerist nation is always willing to pay more for a product if some of it goes to charity."

James Arlock looked around the room, realizing he was pitching a Capitalist plan to help Socialistic countries.

"Well, it's beating the Capitalists at thier own game. I know how they work, I was once 'Buisnessman of the Year', and now I lead a Socialist Country. But if we could rid ourselves of Capitalists, with funding by Capitalists, so we have a strong enough presence to take on Capitalist countries.... wouldn't that be the ultimate irony? Showing them how weak thier system is?"

Note: I won't be able to post until Monday. :cry:

Delegate Antonov spoke up at that moment. "You know, we don't have to beat the capitalists at their game, we just have to get better at our game. In Carfy, most every decision about the price of goods is determined by the market, as it should be. There is an acceptable amount of markup for the store owners, and the rest gets translated back to the workers. While I do see charity as a good way of promoting Marxism, I fail to see why we should fight against capitalism when we can use that money to help smaller Socialist nations become strong enough to resist the capitalist uprisings."

Doctor Solow also took this time to say something. He walked to the front of the table and stood to address them. "I agree with my partner. We must give these small nations funds to increase their technological capacities. In economic models, increases in economies of countries can be related to a factor called the Solow Residual (no relation). It is the part of industrial capital growth that can be explained by technological advances. Therefore, our best bet in improving world Socialism is to get nations to advance their technological capacities through help from larger nations and alliances."

"I belive you missed my point, Doctor and Delegate. The money WOULD be going to those causes. The irony shouldn't be known to the Capitalists."

"What my friend is trying to say is in order to prove to other nations Socialism truely is a superior system of economics is we need to stay ahead of the Capitalists in all respects." interupted Mr. Lenin.

"If we allow the Capitalists to bet us in one area soon we will have to defend our system to Capitalists both at home and abroad. We must keep our system of economics working fully, more money must be put into technological research, more money must be put into improving working conditions. A happy worker is a good worker."

Prime Minister Abraham interjected his thoughts. "I agree. We have to keep up with Capitalism and the way it treats its workers. We have to give our people the incentive to work, as the system fails if the people decide to stop working. The government should provide large benefits to its people, as well as a wage that surpasses the market value for labor. Hopefully that will keep the people happy. But..." he lowered his voice a little, "we shouldn't be too easy on the freeloaders."

(Bump.)

bump (i'm very busy RL. i might not post anything for a couple of days)

"All of you make excellent points. The rise of Capitalism in markets is normally due to the fact that it lets workers choose when they want to work, and lets companies produce what they want to produce. We need a competitive advantage that puts us above Capitalism. Our workers have to want to work a certain number of hours. If not for the economic gain for themselves, they should keep the economy of the country in their best interests. The people of Cav have done that, and Cav's economy has flourishd due to that reason."

A murmur of agreement went through the delegates.

"So..." Revanin said. "How about that new UN Labor Law?"

"Your Highness, you introduce a point that I believe is of utmost importance to the success of socialism anywhere. The reason that socialist economies have failed in the past is that the people don't have their country in their best interests. And with some acknowledgement of human mentality, it makes sense - even if they are educated and knowledgeable enough to understand how they affect the economy, if they don't see a direct benefit to increased productivity on their part, or a direct problem from the lack thereof, their motivation suffers. It's very fortunate that your citizens want to work and are motivated, but this is an unusual case, and one that we can't see how can be reproduced."

Arlock stayed seated, his fingers steepled

"Yes, well, if you look at failing Socialist and Communistic countries and past failures, you can see a pattern.

"Myanmar, formerly Burma, is failing due to The Generals' self-importance. Soviet Russia had a tendancy to make incursions into personal lives, a mistake made by Mao in Communist China's infancy that was quickly corrected by his peers by making him step down as President of the PRC.

"We need to give the people a reason to like the country. We need to give to them. The issue, gentlemen, is not how can they serve us, but how can we serve them? Like any human relationship you get by giving. If we are morally strong, provide for the people, and make our countries the most glorious in existance, they will love us and do anything for us."

Kamnëva sat back and replied, "Hey, I hadn't thought of that. Which is strange, because our entire government system is based on the concept of 'if we make them happy, they will serve and support us'. I didn't realize that the concept could be applied to a socialist country. But tell me, do you think that a happy and loyal population is enough to offset the fact that socialism prevents workers from quickly and easily seeing a direct result of increased quantity or quality of productivity, which is what I thought the reason socialist nations have failed historically?"

Revanin coughed, clearing his throat, and began.

"I'm sorry, but you are incorrect. It is not a socialist country which fails. Socialist countries have gone on to great heights. Look at Britain's Labour party of about 25 years ago. It's pound currency was so powerful that it not only constantly outdid the American dollar, but it refused to submit to the all-consuming Euro. It had a lesser version of the command economy, it taxed its citizens for about half of their earnings and gave almost all of it back in benifits,

"But Communist countries fail."

His hands clenched on the table.

"When a government looks out for itself first, its economy second, and its people tenth, when a government takes all rights away under the guise of many rights, it is a Communist dictatorship, and it is as bad, no, worse then the Capitalistic countries we compete against for the hearts, souls, and minds of the people."

He sighed raggedly.

"I know this, because the Communists within my country--- and you can bet that, if you have a Socialist country, there is plenty of them, executed a coup d'état, successfully, apon me. Only with the help of my fellow regional supporters, and help from outside the region, was the country pulled out of the chaos. Most of my staff survived. The congress was not so lucky, about 3/4ths of them died. Total Firenian deaths: 3 million. 1500 Governmental casualties. All because of them."

"But I am higher then most would expect. The Communist party is growing again in my country. It has reached a number of about 1,000,000 by now, from its previous number of 75,000,000. But I shall not abolish it."

"And I will concede the floor to you."

http://www.myimgs.com/data/GreatJT/Reno.jpg
J. Revanin
Prime Minister of Firen
Firen's Economic Info (http://www.pipian.com/stuffforchat/gdpcalc.php?nation=firen&defenseprovided=1&defense=20&militarybudget=5)

"So what are the theoretical and practical differences between socialism and communism? Just that the latter is a 'bad' dictatorship?"

Not wanting a full-on debate, Arlock quickly changed the subject back to the productivity of the masses.

"Well, in my country, we assign workers cupons, called Rangs, the amount of which is directly related to productivity. We give them all the same quota of food, of course, and baisic living standards, but Rangs can be used to purchase luxuries like Televisions, Computer Software, the latest album, the like.

"Rangs are not to be traded between two individuals and are not quite currency, but are a reward to good workers. And no job can provide more Rangs than another, the number of Rangs you get per month is decided by how much you needed get done versus how much you did get done"

Communism in theory is the final breakdown of material ownership and the desire for material ownership. Communism in practise has so far began as an attempt for that which is slowly dragged down by corruption.

Those in power are greedy, because their society is not yet ready for the abolition of private property, they begin to horde goods and command the people around. Is communism a bad thing? No. Are we ready for communism? Most likely not. Communism will happen naturally when we are ready for it. The mere fact that capitalist nations tend to become more left-leaning and embrace more Socialist changes overtime demonstrates this fact.

Change will occur when society demands it, this is the basis of social democracy.

OOC: Sorry Metropolis Industries but I don't see one of your delegates at the table. While an interesting comment, it will have to be ignored at this discussion.

OOC: I do believe that Haaregrad was posting under Metropolis Industries. Probably a harmless mistake, but he did say that he was representing that country.

In other OOC news, busy weekend, expect a post from me tomorrow.

"You all make excellent points. Communism is one of the steps towards true Socialism, as a central committee and heads of state are needed. The central committee is usually the point where the progress ends and a dictatorship begins. The people lose the freedom they were fighting for, and end up becoming slaves to a nation. The people are less motivated and less productive, and the economy goes to hell after that."

"It's all basically about making sure that nations take that vital step towards Socialism, and making sure that the people end up in power. Granted, a government is still needed to make things such as defense happen, but the decisions should be made by a nation's citizens and not a group of corrupt oppressors bent on maintaining their power.

"That's why we need these CSEMS projects to aid small nations and to get their economies on track to teaching them that productivity is what drives a nation. With economic and technological boosts, a nation's people can be given a reason to work hard and make their country look good. A strong national pride in what they've accomplished will further make that nation impervious to corruption and hostilities."

"I don't mean to offend, but many Marxist and Socialist theories seem too idealistic to be workable in an actual human society. The people will never be able to write thier own laws or come to any kind of unanimous vote, because it is human nature. Human beings can only exist in a society that they agree with on most terms and in which they can see the immediate manifestation of work to thier benefit. Very select few will work hard for Patriotism instead of supplies."

Patriotism is backwards from true Socialism. Nationalist feelings destroy the bonds that one should feel towards humanity in general.

"Again, the idealism. Call me a cynic, but I can't imagine an entire country, or even a significant part of it, made up of people working out of a 'bond of humanity'. Very few countries will work for patriotism rather than food, but I think it's downright impossible for an entire nation to work for little but humanity."

"Please excuse me, but I believe that my words were misconceived. What I meant is that the citizens as a whole will be proud of their productivity and ability to do work without being forced. It is said that the people who do their jobs the best are the ones who have fun while doing it. I think that since everybody in a nation is different, they will go after jobs that are best suited to them-- like a car mechanic or soldier, or businessman.

"It is possible to have a system where people are proud of their country and want to spread that joy to others in the world. We care about ourselves, but also of the people of Firen, Cav, Haaregradia, Bereza, and all the others in the world. We are proud to haev found the Socialist way, and I think that translates into a form of patriotism for the system, and not so much of a nation."

"Again, the idealism. Call me a cynic, but I can't imagine an entire country, or even a significant part of it, made up of people working out of a 'bond of humanity'. Very few countries will work for patriotism rather than food, but I think it's downright impossible for an entire nation to work for little but humanity."

"I agree. The free market system doesn't keep people working for humanity, but more for their own freedom to do as they please with their money. We have mixed this highly laissez-faire system with large social programs based on benefitting the people. We find that we can provide many things for the populus without putting the burden on the market, but the people are free to spend their money as they choose."

Arlock nodded but checked his radio teletype communicator, seeing a new message that brough distress to his face.

He read the whole message and then turned to the table, "Well excellent gentlemen, it seems we agree... but a new problem has arisen in my reigon. A group of nations have moved to my valley and are forming a closed alliance. They are dragging in loyal members of the CIVA, our reigonal comittee, and my analysts predict some kind of colonization effort on the part of this alliance.

"The DCU and my country have already begun military alliance to prevent the military spread of these Imperialist States, and my Viceroy has reopened diplomatic conversation begging the Queendom of Mizjellybean to cut all ties to this not-so-secret alliance, but the reaction is yet to be seen. If the Imperialists continue, then my valley will be plunged into war."

OOC: Just to make sure, you are located on Mars, aren't you?

IC: Emperor Cav and General Higgins stood up upon hearing this announcement. "Excuse me, but I believe that before we go any further we should contact General Richard Pointer of the Imperial Space Agency." Cav jotted a note down and handed it to an aide.

"For you have brought up a very important part of the CSEMS and this conference. We have discussed the economics part which would lead us to the military part. Our alliance was built upon the fact that we would mutually support any nation that so requested it."

The large-screen TV turned on and a picture of General Pointer appeared. "Your Excellency, what can I do for you today?"

"Well Rich, it looks like there might be a military problem on Mars. The good people of Genworks are worried that a coup will take place in their valley. What assets can we use to help them?"

General Pointer thought it over for a few seconds and then replied. "Well, we have all of our ships ready, from the small interceptors to the large Moroni battleships. We've also got two companies of Marines we can deploy."

"Thanks, General. I'll keep you informed." Emperor Cav turned to Arlock and pointed at the screen. "Those forces will stand ready to defend you if necessary. We can have more troops in a few weeks if you need, but we have to train them for non-Earth fighting."

OOC: Yep, on Mars

IC: Arlock, surprised at the generous offers, at first didn't know what to say.

"Thank you! I must..." his communicator beeped again, and he read the teletype.

He was surprised again at what the report said, and lay his communicator on the table.

"There has been a development. The Holy Empire of The Annabella Islands, or HEAI, has declared that it will be moving to a new reigon and has already begun the move. My Viceroy says that Mizjellybean is being persuaded to join The HEAI, which would weaken the alliance of the reigon extrodinarily.

"It seems that the HEAI would be the master of the puppet of Russiana, which is well defended. The Duchess of Russiana is not responding to the Viceroy's calls, and an undercover reporter released to DG-TV's News that the Duchess seems unaware of any action being taken outside her palace walls.

"I have a message from President Conor Anderson of the DCU, in holographic form..."

Arlcok pushed a button on the communicator and a head with curly red hair and large glasses appeared in the blue lines of a Genworks hologram, flickering every so often. It spoke in a badly recorded voice.

"I am Conor Anderson, leader of the Capitalist Nation of the Dominion of Counter-Utopia. Though you may disagree with our ecenomic policies, we wish nothing but friendship. But know we are Capitalists, not Imperialists. We will not stand for this puppetry. The DCU is prepared to go to war to reform Russiana and establish a democracy. If the people's voices are heard and are friendly towards The Valley's nations, we will allow Genworks to establish Socialism if desired."

President Anderson's head disappeared.

"He speaks the truth about wanting to help," Arlock said, putting the communiucator back in his pocket, "I know him very well. His country is small enogh that Capitalism just works."

OOC NOTE: I discussed this with Conor during lunch today, and this is his real stance. He just can't come to the computer today.

"In any case," Arlock said, "I am bringing Mr Tanaka into this."

After Arlock hit a few buttons on his communicator, Tanaka stepped into the room, bowing to the officials and taking a stance next to Arlock.

"Tanaka," Arlock said, "We want a full show of political power. We don't want to scare the Russianans, we want to inspire them. Teletype our allies in the Valley, have them assemble small Air and Ground troops. We will do the same."

He turned to those gathered at the table

"If any here would wish to call us allies, we would welcome any amount of force able to appear, no matter how small. If we can the feeling that the Russianans are being liberated by a larger community of allies, they will not resist. By now they must already feel the opression, and we will free them. I don't want a shooting war, but don't go in there unprepared."

"How small of a group are we talking?" Tanaka asked, "I mean, The Duchy isn't known for it's military weakness."

"With troops at least from the PRLC, DCU, DDC, FD, and us we should be able to handle them," Arlock said after some thought, "and if those here would wish to aid, then no Russianan would be crazy enough.... I hope.

Ambassador Petrov stood up. Mr Arlock, I have just received word from the Prime Minister that he would like to help Genworks, if you would like, we can send the HSC Hammer of the Proletariat with it's full compliment of Marines to assist...

President Suvarov and Admiral Spiridov relayed messages to each other while this was happening. Briandom did not have a space army or anything that would help them in a Martian war. The president made a statement anyway.

"Mr. Arlock, while we have not invested a lot of money into a space program, we can offer you monetary assistance in this matter. Any amount of money needed to help you is acceptable. Also, if you have any assets on Earth, we will use our forces to protect them. If you have nothing on this planet, accept our condolences and regrets that we cannot help you more."

Tanaka had just re-entered the room when Briandom's representatives had made thier announcements.

"That may not be necessary," Tanaka said, "The Annabella Islands has moved to Earth. Russiana is presumed next, and, according to our intelligence and interceptions, the Queendom of Mizjellybean is trying to be persuaded to move as well.

"Mizjellybean is one of the richest countries in the valley and thier absence will weaken the Valley Alliance. This would also put them in a unique tactical position, as Mizjellybean has considerable intelligence on us, but we know nothing of the HEAI or Russiana and little about thier reigon. The HEAI has shown nothing but animosity towards us and is attempting to sell Uranium on the black market.

"I am returning to the Valley to organize and lead the Valley Alliance troops myself. The Fiefdom of Draconas, People's Republic of Lindsay Coleman, and Dominion of Counter-Utopia have already given us troops. Our two interplanetary cruisers have had no missions since shakedown and the DGAF-SC is preparing with the DGAF-WC to get the ships prepared for combat. I will be on Mars in twenty hours and will remain in radio contact with this conference and our troops the whole while."

Arlock nodded and Tanaka left.

"I fear Annabella's memory is too long," Arlock said, sighing and removing his glasses. He rubbed his face and put his glasses back on, "Annabella's been angry with me since we broke up our relationship more than fifteen years ago. When I founded a country she must have seen it as a way for some kind of personal revenge.

"Now she's dragging two other countries with her. The Duchess and the Queen have never acted this way. I don't know why, but they follow Annabella..."

Over the communicator Tanaka radioed in, "John, we've broken orbit. DGAF-SC reports that our orbital defence is incapable of targeting the enemies until two days from now. DG-S Arlock and DG-S Comrade are preparing as we speak. They're coming about the 2nd Parallel of Mars and thier photonic cannons are being powered up. Estimate to full power... a day. Engineering crews are getting more Shipmen into the crafts via Maakos, but the going is slow.

"Maako FC-1 Wing and BC-1 Wing Divisions show ready to break orbit when commanded. Maako CC-2 Command is loading up the Allied Troops, but organization is tough. Language barriers are yet to be broken with Draconians, and the DCU and DDC troops have not been given complete orders. I'll check back with you when I can, Minister Tanaka out."

Arlock nodded and switched off the communicator.

"Now gentlemen, the Russianans and Annabellans will not go quietly. The trick, however, is no civillian bloodshed. If one civillian is lost, the world community will refuse to see this as liberation.

"As much as I'd love to stay and continue this conference, I fear I must begin preperation. I must find a place when I can communicate with my country and allies. Any suggestions?"

OOC NOTE:
DGAF-SC = Dominion of Genworks Armed Forces -- Space Combat
DGAF-WC = Dominion of Genworks Armed Forces -- Wing Command

FC-1 = Fighter Class 1
BC-1 = Bomber Class 1
CC-2 = Carrier Class 2 (the delegates arrived in the first model, the second holds more)

All information on the currently role-play inactive Annabellans is from her actions towards fellow NationStates players at school.
"Hey, anyone wanna buy Uranium?"
Rouse....

OOC: I'm starting a new thread on this -- "The Russiana Incident" -- in International Incidents

"This is very disenhartening information. I suggest that we recess so that we can communicate with our respective governments about this matter."

"This is very disenhartening information. I suggest that we recess so that we can communicate with our respective governments about this matter."


Emperor Cav nodded his head. "Agreed. In your rooms you will find all the resources necessary to speak with your governments. STU Phones, wireless internet, the works. We will meet back here when the Genworks situation is dealt with."

we try not to deal with any space stuff, including anything on mars. as such, we can't offer any assistance or the like. all we can do is IC ignore it.

"I understand there will be no further conferring until the incident is resolved?"