NationStates Jolt Archive

Danaan News Channel

A balding reporter smiled into the camera. "Today is the date set for the beginning of the new Parliamentary election campaigns, the elections automatically triggered when Prime Minister Lacau called an emergency session of Parliament without a proper quorum. A new Parliament should be ready in time for the Coronation of High King Owain. This will be the first time the country has had Parliamentary elections since the recent disaster and, like almost everything else, there have been some notable changes to the party structure. This year, four instead of nine parties are contending for power."

The camera showed footage of an angry looking man, young for a politician, with rough, Anglo-Saxon features. "The Nationalist Party, led by Thomas Baxter, has been growing steadily, arguing that immigration and an excessive permissiveness caused the recent disaster and continue to cause a decline in national life. The support this party seems to be gaining is surprising given traditional Danaan ideas and can perhaps be attributed to the shock of the recent disaster."

The next footage was of an older man of Welsh extraction, walking with a slight limp. "The Patriot Party of Rhodri Llewellyn is casting itself as the party of national defense and stronger law enforcement and terror prevention. No stranger to the military, Llewellyn was wounded in the Balor War. The Patriot Party is the biggest supporter of the war in Marlund and is the only party willing to call it a war. Officially, Danaan troops are in Marlund as 'foreign aid' to the Marlundish government."

The screen then showed an attractive, professional woman of clear Greek extraction. "The Liberal Party, supporting personal liberties, Keynesian economics, greater rights for women, and a more balanced foreign policy, is generally considered the least ideologically driven and the most pragmatic party out there. Under the leadership of Minerva Karamanlis, the Liberals are winning by a landslide in early polls."

The next image was that of a grey-haired Jewish man speaking to workers on the picket line. "The Labor Party, hailed as the nation's first responsible leftist party by many enemies of the old Anarchist Party, is doing rather well under the leadership of Abraham Goldfarb and stands to gain quite a large minority in Parliament."

The large press room was filled with members of the press, both foreign and domestic. While all the parties had been giving and would continue to give interviews with the media during the campaign, this was the obligatory joint press conference where all the party leaders would answer the questions of the international press. It was a fairly odd set-up, when one reflected on it. However, it had become customary in the world and the Danaan High Kingdom was no exception.

The young woman managing the event smiled out at the crowd. "I want to start off by thanking Mr. Baxter, Mr. Llewellyn, Mrs. Karamanlis, and Mr. Goldfarb for being with us here today. It has been a long and hard campaign already for them and the end is still several months away. Who has the first question?"

Nine members of The Watcher's Council were quickly dispatched to moniter the Danaan Elections.

"Virginie Merlot, Peacock Daily News," started a pretty young woman in a light pink dress. Pantocratorian television cameras recorded the candidates as she asked her question. "Could each of you describe your party's position on the military action, peacekeeping mission, foreign aid, war, whatever you'd like to call it, in Marlund, and on the role of the various nations involved in the continent of Ambara as a whole?"

Baxter spoke first, wearing a rather angry smirk on his face. "Well, the long and short of it is that we're at war with Marlund. They're killing our soldiers even at this moment. If the government wasn't so wishy washy about spreading peace and love everywhere, the Insurgency would be no problem. Let's stop worrying about reconstructing Marlund and worry about deconstructing it first. The insurgents are bandits. They don't stand a chance in a full scale war. As for the other nations of Ambara, they're partners in this war and entitled to their fair share of the spoils. Pantocratoria already has Pantocratorian Ambara. I'm sure something fair can be arranged for Adoki as well."

Llewellyn shook his head. "If we abandon the people of Marlund, then what's the point of being there? We're fighting terrorism. We have to fight it harder and more efficiently and we have to be willing to take casualties. Marlund is the primary battlefield in the War on Terror and it is a war civilization cannot afford to lose. As for the roles of nations, the effort in Ambara must be a Danaan led effort. It was Armonvale harbor that terror targeted in its greatest attack. These terrorist hate us. They hate our way of life. They hate freedom and they hate representative government. The task falls to us to provide leadership in fighting back."

Karamanlis began calmly. "The situation in Ambara is simple. We have a society devastated by slavery, the brutal abuse and oppression of women, genocide, ignorance, illiteracy, and an overall regime of medieval theocracy. We have to help these people to rebuild, not only because it is the moral thing to do but also for our own security and the security of the region. Rebuilding involves fighting terrorists in the shortterm and helping the legitimate government of Marlund develop the capacity to fight terror and suppress rebellion in the long term...

"Legitimate government of Marlund' is, in my opinion, the key term in assessing the role of all nations in Ambara. There is a government in place now, a constitutional monarchy, which governs justly over now free men and women. This government is a sovereign government and we, meaning not just the Resurgent Dream but Pantocratorian and Adoki as well, are there to help them. Our goal should be to lift the people up, to make them feel like the masters of their own lives and their own destinies. One of my main priorities with regard to Marlund is to eradicate the attitude in many allied commanders that they are an occupying army and to instill a deep seated respect for the people they are there to help and their government."

Goldfarb smiled slightly. "You can't speak of rehabiliation as though it's simply a matter of changing attitudes. In fact, I'm not sure the attitudes of all the officers there can be changed. Attitudes, especially to the freedmen, are beyond poor. Some of the more aristocratic Danaan officers and most (I mean no insult to your homeland, Viriginie) most of the Pantocratorian officers seem to fall right in to life in the big house on former slave plantations, where more than one military headquarters is set. I think we need to cut back on the military presence by a good deal and start sending in more real social workers. Beyond that, we need to train people to be modern wage workers, to perform skilled labor, and to bargain collectively...

"As for the role of the nations in Ambara, well, I think everyone can contribute. I just want to make sure people are contributing to the welfare of the Marlundish people and not to a new neocolonial set of masters."