NationStates Jolt Archive


Morsetania Announces Major Military Cuts

Morsetania
13-05-2004, 00:20
Just one day after the end of its bloody eighteen-year war of independence, Interim President and founder of the Federation of Morsetania Andrew Morse announced a serious reduction in the size of its standing military forces.

"Now that we've secured our independence, I see no reason to further maintain such a large standing army," said Morse, who led his nation's forces during its battle to gain freedom from Sweden, who had been occupying the tiny isolated nation for the last 230 years.

Morse signed into law a bill today that will reduce the size of Morsetania's armed forces by 25 percent over the next five years.

"I think it's a good move," says Minister of Justice Edward Glank. "Now, we have more financial resources available to combat our crime problem," He added, referring to the 35 percent increase in violent crime in Morsetania's four largest cities over the last ten years.

Not everyone is happy with this decision, however. Some, like Commerce Party Presidential candidate Jhon Zermartis, is merely a ploy to gain votes in the nation's first elections, which will take place at the beginning of next month.

"This administration is willing to put our nation in danger of attack just to gets some votes from the anti-war crowd," says Zermartis, an army veteran. "It's unbelievable."

Morse, however, insists this is not political. "We're a new nation. We have no enemies of yet. This move is strictly to reduce the size of government. After all, a desire for less government was one of the reasons we rebelled against the Swedes."

According to a report from the Finance Ministry, the military cuts will save the taxpayers of Morsetania an estimated $47 million per year over the next ten years.

Only time will tell whether this move is in the best interests of the tiny fledgling republic.