NationStates Jolt Archive

Victoria, the Resurgent Dream

It was a muggy summer day in Victoria, the capital of the Danaan Principality of Amory and one of the more significant cities in the newly emerging Commonwealth of Peoples. The small crowd of well-dressed men and women and the uniformed honour guard mostly ignored the light rain. It was typical of Amory's weather, which differred vastly from that of the rest of Ambara. But that was only part of it. They were all aware of the importance of today. It would be the first interministerial meeting of the Treaty of Courtland since the Commonwealth was formed. It would be the Commonwealth's first test as a discrete actor in international affairs. A lot hinged on first impressions.

Tab Bagg, the First Minister of Amory and one of the most unfortunately named men in the history of naming, turned his gaze to the sky. The dark-haired man in his mid-fifties had greeted a lot of visiting dignitaries in his day and had a sort of sense for these things. It didn't surprise him to see the Pantocratorian plane just coming in to view.

The Peacock Airlines flight chartered to carry the Pantocratorian Imperial Chancellor and Foreign Minister and their staff to the meeting set down right on schedule and taxied into position. About five minutes after it had come to rest and the stairs had been brought into position, the cabin door opened and some staffers holding umbrellas emerged, closely followed by Thibault Drapeur and Demetrios Raoul, whom they shielded from the rain for their trek down the stairs and towards the waiting delegation.

The small collection of delegates, turned towards Princess Plautilla, the temporary acting head of the Amory Regency Council. She smiled slightly as she moved forwards towards the Pantocratorians. "Welcome to Victoria, gentlemen."

"Your Highness," Drapeur began with a polite nod. "You know my deputy and Foreign Minister, Demetrios Raoul?"

"A pleasure, Your Highness." Raoul said, forcing a smile, even though the only thing he could think of right now was lighting up a cigarette. It had been a long flight and Peacock Airlines had a no-smoking policy.

"Likewise, Minister." Plautilla said. "Allow me to introduce the Right Honourable Tab Bagg, First Minister of Amory; the Honourable Ken Hallmark, Mayor of Victoria; Lieutenant General Moreton Darcy and His Excellency, the Honourable Count Dale, MP." She gestured politely to each man in the party as she introduced them.

"A pleasure, messieurs." Raoul grumbled as politely as he could as he shook hands and nodded where appropriate. Drapeur did likewise in a less brisk fashion.

"You gentlemen must be eager to rest after your flight." Plautilla said as she guided the Pantocratorians towards the state cars waiting at the end of the runway. The honour guard snapped to attention and lined the way as "God Save the Emperor" was played while they walked.

"Yes, very." Raoul agreed rather suddenly.

"I've never been to Amory before, Your Highness." Drapeur said, nodding in response to Plautilla's question and moving on to the next obvious topic of smalltalk. "Victoria is gaining an international reputation as the cultural capital of Ambara. I'm quite pleased to be holding this conference here."

"It is a beautiful city." Plautilla responded. "Of course, it doesn't have the cultural history of some of the cities in Marlund and Adoki and the new opera house they put up in Schubert, Sahor is supposed to be quite impressive."

"If you say so, madame." Drapeur replied, although he didn't agree.

"Do any of you gentlemen smoke?" Raoul asked the four men in the delegation hopefully.

The gentlemen shook their heads politely. Plautilla didn't press the point further. In truth, her comment hadn't been more than polite modesty anyway. As the party climbed into the cars, Plautilla explained "We're hosting the meeting at Acum Palace. The Knootians are already there. After you've had a few hours to rest, Prime Minister Sacker and Viscountess Kairis would like to receive you."

"I look forward to it." said Drapeur. "It should be a productive conference. The President of the Confederation and Chancellor of Excalbia and their foreign ministers are due this afternoon?"

"Was the Knootian Prime Minister accompanied by his wife by any chance, madame?" Raoul enquired, he and Drapeur exchanging the sort of knowing glance which indicated some sort of shared private joke.

"Late tonight or early tomorrow morning." Plautilla answered Drapeur's question before moving on to Raoul's. "I believe he was not travelling with his wife. Did either of you gentlemen bring family?"

"No." Drapeur answered simply, a twinkle in his eye.

"My wife doesn't like to fly." Raoul replied, seeming a little deflated by Plautilla's response to his query.

"His Highness is in Pele seeing to some business." Plautilla mentioned, glancing briefly out the window of the car.

Victoria, The Resurgent Dream

After they'd had a few hours to freshen up, Drapeur and Raoul were shown into the Lady Georgiana Sitting Room where Viscountess Kairis (still more popularly known by her proper name of Minerva Karamanlis) and Sarah Sacker were sitting. Sarah Sacker, as Prime Minister, was the Resurgent Dream's official representative at this meeting. Kairis, although an elder stateswoman in the Resurgent Dream, held the Presidency of the Commonwealth of Peoples and no official position in the Danaan Government and correspondingly had no official role in these interministerial conferences under the existing provisions. Both ladies stood as their guests entered.

"It's good to see you again, Dr. Drapeur." Sacker said, offering him her hand.

"Prime Minister," Drapeur said, taking Sacker's hand. "You've not met my deputy, Demetrios Raoul."

"A pleasure to meet you, Prime Minister." Raoul said. He was much more relaxed now that he had gotten his nicotine intake back up to its customary level.

"Likewise, Minister." Sacker said, now offering her hand to Raoul.

"And of course we know your predecessor, although I don't think I've been formally introduced to Madame la Vicomtesse as such." Drapeur said, acknowledging Kairis.

Kairis smiled as she offered her hand to the two gentlemen in turn. "It is good to see both of you again. I trust you had a pleasant flight."

"No. Too long." Raoul smiled.

"Peacock Airlines has banned smoking even on charter flights." Drapeur explained with a dry half-smile.

Kairis smiled slightly. "I see."

"How was your meeting with Prime Minister Daatman?" Drapeur enquired.

"He had a good flight, although I do think he finds the speed with which our country has changed of late somewhat hard to keep up with." Sacker said, gesturing for the guests to sit.

"I get that impression of Monsieur Daatman too." Raoul mumbled, bemused and unable to help himself. The Pantocratorians sat down.

Kairis and Sacker sat as well, crossing their legs lightly. "I suppose I really shouldn't say just our country, not in this context." Kairis said.

"Indeed not." Drapeur agreed.

"Except for Finara, Pantocratoria hasn't had much contact with the other Commonwealth members." she continued.

"Not extensively, no." Drapeur nodded.

"The Resurgent Dream is in something of an interesting position with regard to all of our foreign treaties." Sacker clarified. "Our foreign policy has been, to a large extent, subsumed by our participation in the common foreign policy of the Commonwealth. However, at the same time, there are a great many preexisting treaties, such as the Treaty of Courtland, to which only the Resurgent Dream is a party."

"Which is why the primary agenda item of this meeting will be the Commonwealth taking over the Resurgent Dream's responsibilities in the treaty, we know." Raoul nodded.

Sacker smiled briefly and shifted slightly in her chair. "The world certainly has changed since the original Treaty of Courtland, hasn't it?"

"I think that's highly dependent on the region, to be perfectly honest, Prime Minister." Drapeur replied. "The Excalbian Isles have been peaceful for the first time really since... well, since before the military takeover in Upper Virginia under General Altman. Things nearly flared up just at the time the treaty was signed but settled down again, mercifully. Knootoss, well, I've never seen it with a lower profile. This continent on the other hand has seen an awful lot of change, for the better, which makes a nice change from the rest of Ambaran history."

"It certainly does." Sacker said. "But the end of petty Ambaran tyrants and of certain geopolitical tensions between relatively democratic and civilized states seems also to have coincided with the emergence, or at least revival, of rogue states possessing a far greater capability to seriously threaten the peace of the world. The behavior of the Prussian states during the Finaran crisis..."

Raoul grimaced, nodded and added a name. "Midlonia."

"And the others." Kairis said. "There are a number of states in that region which combine militarism and an advanced state of military organization and technology with a fundamentally irrational view of the world and what can only be described as a failure to understand what is actually going on in a given situation."

Fundamentally irrational? Raoul thought. He nodded. "Allanea."

"I think we've an opportunity in the form of the proposed agenda item we put forward, the North Atlantic Governmental Advisory Committee on Human Rights, to turn the Treaty of Courtland into a positive instrument in assisting us to form foreign policy." Drapeur said. "Naturally we shouldn't talk about it before the conference proper, but I think initiatives like this have the capacity to transform the Treaty of Courtland from a diplomatic band-aid necessitated by tensions over Knootian and Confederation policy into a force for good."

"I certainly hope so." Sacker said. "We're looking forward to the conference proper."

Victoria, the Resurgent Dream

As the night wore on, the rest of the delegates were received in much the same manner as the Pantocratorians had been. They were met at the airport by a local delegation. Their national anthem was played. They were then driven back to Acum Palace where they were given a few hours to get settled before meeting briefly with Sarah Sacker and Viscountess Kairis. The two Danaan women mostly played the role of hostesses in these conversations, although it was inevitable that their conversation at least pass over major issues of the consultations. Because the delegates were arriving so unevenly throughout the night, there was no formal dinner that evening and the guests were served in their rooms.

The delegates shared what was referred to as a traditional full breakfast by the people of Amory. It consisted of fried bacon, fried eggs, fried bread, sausages, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, black pudding, and sautéd potatoes served with orange juice. The delegates’ staffers were served the same sort of meal in a larger but less formal dining hall. Kosher, halāl and vegetarian meal alternatives were available for anyone who had requested them beforehand.

After breakfast, the first meeting was held in the St. Edward Conference Chamber. Each participating state had three seats, allowing the Chief of Government to sit in the center and have two other members of his party flanking him. Because the Commonwealth of Peoples did not yet have official standing at the meeting, Viscountess Kairis was seated to the right of Prime Minister Sacker as though she were an advisor to the Danaan Prime Minister. To Sacker’s left sat Manfred Kaelin, the Danaan Foreign Minister.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I hope that you all had a pleasant evening. The Resurgent Dream would like to welcome you to Victoria and to thank you for choosing us to host this meeting of Chiefs of Government in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Courtland. A number of potential agenda items have been proposed by various signatories so I think we should start by voting on the agenda.” Sarah Sacker said with a polite smile after everyone had been seated. Almost as soon as the words had left Sacker’s mouth, a staffer was passing out a proposed agenda listing the Resurgent Dream’s position under the treaty passing to the Commonwealth as a whole, the Pantocratorian human rights proposal and finally a more standard discussion of how the implementation of the Treaty of Courtland had gone so far.

Victoria, The Resurgent Dream

"Pantocratoria moves that the proposed agenda be accepted." Drapeur said after giving the paper a cursory look-over. He didn't really see why the agenda couldn't be arranged, agreed to, and accepted beforehand by their departments. Raoul, on the other hand, had already looked into the process which would allow that to happen, but had been advised by his staff that the Knootian foreign ministry would insist on a preliminary meeting between senior public servants at which the final agenda would be set and agreed upon, if not on several such meetings, and ultimately decided that it wasn't worth the bother.

St. Edward Conference Center
Victoria, the Resurgent Dream

Lord Yornis Halton and the Excalbian delegation had arrived the evening before the conference began. The notoriously taciturn Imperial Chancellor had seemed even quieter than usual. Indeed, Lord Yornis himself felt his own mood was unreasonably somber.

There was, he reasoned, every reason to think Excalbia stood at the threshold of a golden age: last year’s ill-advised plot to usurp the Emperor during his illness was already a distant memory; the Crown Prince had proven a capable Regent and was ably managing the day-to-day business of the Sword; Upper Virginia had successfully held its first democratic election in nearly a century and seated a National Assembly; Saxmere had its autonomy and the Confederation had its territorial integrity and unity. Even the Knootians had been uncharacteristically quiet.

And yet, Lord Yornis thought as he absentmindedly drummed his ring finger on the conference table (a bad habit he had picked up in the Naval Academy), he could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Perhaps it was the friction within his national unity government. He looked to his left, where Sterling Wentworth sat in nervous silence, almost like a pupil waiting to be taken to the head master’s office. The Liberal Party Defence Minister had proven himself to be something just short of incompetent. And yet, no other leaders had emerged on the Liberal side who could be trusted to take his place – at least none whom the Prince Regent would trust. The worst part, Lord Yornis thought as he looked at the former teacher’s union leader, is he was sure Wentworth knew he was a poor choice for the post but could not think himself a way out of it.

The Chancellor turned to his right and was greeted by a slight smile and nod of the head from his old colleague, Sir Albert Cummings. Sir Albert was the polar opposite of Wentworth: loud, opinionated, known for indulgence and, despite it all, competent. Beyond Sir Albert sat the Confederation delegation. Despite the peace – and prosperity – brought by the Treaty of Courtland, Lord Yornis knew that, in some small ways, the Treaty had helped President Tom Caine survive his greatest political crisis.

Lord Yornis sullenly returned the grinning jackass’ nod. Caine was, in Lord Yornis’ opinion, an empty shell, prettied up with camera-ready make-up and filled with platitudes. That, however, was not what bothered the Chancellor; rather it was the fact that those platitudes seem to lull people into turning a blind eye to the way he turning the C.S.S. into a puppet of the Invisible Hand. If anything, since the Treaty, the Order had grown bolder and more powerful in the Confederation and was even extending its reach to Upper Virginia.

And Upper Virginia! Before the Chancellor could worsen his mood by cataloging the troubling signs he saw to the North, Prime Minister Sacker called the meeting to order.

When copies of the agenda were distributed, Sir Albert accepted a copy for Excalbia and briefly glanced at it before passing it to Lord Yornis with a nod. The Chancellor gave it a quick look. “Excalbia second’s Pantocratoria’s motion to accept the agenda as is.”

As the Excalbian Chancellor had been stewing in his own worries, President Tom Caine had been smiling and giving every impression of idly taking in the scene. In truth, he had been searching each face, trying to read the mood of the delegates and to extrapolate from it the mood of their nation and their nation’s thinking on the Treaty and the conference. For Caine, politics was no different than pitching a new product to a room full of skeptical customers; you had to read their needs, make them think you cared about those needs and, then, convince them you had the solution to that need.
Caine barely glanced at his own delegation. Foreign Secretary Janice Rundeles sat to his right and Commerce Secretary Anton Binks sat to the left. Both were Order loyalists, so he knew where they stood and did not need to waste time studying them. He did steal a glance behind him to the Confederation’s backbench, where Rihards Krauklis, his Chief of Staff, and Shannon Coles, his Press Secretary, sat. His eyes lingered for a moment on Shannon and smiled at the memory of his wake-up call.

As soon as the Resurgent Dream’s Prime Minister spoke, however, his attention turned back to the conference. He studied the agenda as it was passed out. He raised an eyebrow at the issue of human rights, but said nothing. It was better to agree on the agenda, regardless of any reservations, and get down to business.

Jan Willem Daatman had made himself comfortable in the seat, readjusting his glasses slightly to put them on the tip of his nose as he addressed the conference, casually.

"We accept the agenda as it is" he said simply, offering the slightest of smiles.

Lord Yornis nodded, relieved that the Knootians did not plan to make an issue of the agenda.




OOC: Welcome back, Knoot!

Sacker smiled. “If we are agreed, then I suppose I should proceed with the Resurgent Dream’s petition to have Danaan membership in the Treaty of Courtland transferred to the Commonwealth as a whole. There are a number of reasons for this request. The first is the most obvious. With the advent of the Common Foreign Policy, the Commonwealth is to act in almost every way like a single, discrete actor in the international arena. Likewise, the Commonwealth’s economy is increasingly integrated and seven of the ten member states are bound by a common currency. The Commonwealth has a common defense policy and its bodies are authorized to recognize or refuse to recognize foreign states, conduct diplomacy and use force. In almost every area dealt with by the treaty, the Commonwealth now functions as a single unit. In terms of the propriety of the Commonwealth as a whole rather than the Resurgent Dream being the body dealt with by the treaty, the case seems to me to be fairly clear cut. The issue, therefore, is not the propriety but the advisability of the Resurgent Dream’s request to have her membership transferred to the Commonwealth as a whole…

“Firstly, it is clear that the Commonwealth possesses territory in the North Atlantic. Not only does the Resurgent Dream continue to hold the same North Atlantic territory as she held at the time the treaty was originally signed, but the nations of Nabarro Abarca, Laneria, Hipolis and Finara are located entirely in the North Atlantic…

“Secondly, the Commonwealth has a clear dedication to sentient rights and democracy. Five of the Commonwealth’s members have long histories as liberal democracies of one sort of another. Three are newly formed states which have practiced a liberal democratic form of government since their inception. Two others have historically experienced tyrannical governments but are now building and strengthening liberal democratic institutions. The Commonwealth as a whole is bound to respect for sentient rights by the New Amsterdam Treaty….

“Finally, the Commonwealth, more so than the Resurgent Dream herself, is in a position to contribute constructively to the further development of international cooperation and engagement in the North Atlantic and to building multilateral international mechanisms and agencies capable of solving differences between free, civilized peoples. The Commonwealth and the Resurgent Dream consider the principles embodied in the Treaty of Courtland to be a laudable base for international relations among free peoples in the North Atlantic and furthermore wish to expand them as far as possible.”

"Under the terms of the treaty, Article Two, Section Four," Drapeur began. "Any sovereign state wishing to become a signatory to the treaty may only do so with the unanimous consent of every nation. If we were to take the term sovereign state literally and infer that only individual states, not supranational bodies, may sign the treaty, then each Commonwealth nation in the North Atlantic would have to be admitted separately and each would be entitled to its own vote and so on. On the other hand, if we were to take the spirit of the treaty into account rather than a more literal reading of this particular section, the Commonwealth would be better admitted as a whole, since its member states will all vote as a block anyway. For this reason, Pantocratoria supports the Commonwealth as a whole being admitted to the treaty in the place of the Resurgent Dream by itself, and calls on all other member nations to do likewise. I'd also say this, I think we should consider a clarifying clause in regards to the Commonwealth whereby if any Commonwealth member state should leave the Commonwealth in the future, it must be accepted as a member state of this treaty separately if it wishes to re-enter the Treaty of Courtland."

"I concur with the interpretation of my Pantocratorian counterpart" Daatman said with a brilliant smile on his lips. "And the Dutch Democratic Republic finds itself somewhat torn on the issue. We entirely follow the line of reasoning set out by Pantocratoria, and are therefore inclined to support the Danaan proposal. However, I am still somewhat worried by the fact that there are.... as I understand... some provisions within the Commonwealth that allow member states their own diplomatic relations?"

He paused a moment, smiling a little still.

"We would like to see that point clarified, especially with regards to ties that may exist between Commonwealth members and the Reich."

A flicker of surprise crossed Sacker’s face at Daatman’s question. She whispered something to Kaelin who then whispered to one of the aides sitting behind the Danaans. “The Commonwealth has made a number of allowances for the previously existing foreign policies of specific members. Most of these regard the Resurgent Dream. For example, Danaan as well as Commonwealth embassies are still maintained in New Rome and Citadel Excalbia. The Resurgent Dream continues to be a member in its own right of this treaty, of the VERITAS agreement, KIST and of a number of other treaties and international organizations, although, in every case except that of VERITAS, negotiations are currently underway to transfer the Resurgent Dream’s membership to the Commonwealth as a whole. In addition, nations are allowed to establish their own passport controls, immigration regulations and trade regulations as far as they are concerned with external powers. The policies chosen with regard to these issues vary fairly widely but the free trade provisions of this treaty, which I think might be the principle cause of concern, would apply to all Commonwealth member states regardless of their general regulations if the Commonwealth was to become a signatory to this treaty. As far as ties to the Reich are concerned, I’m not entirely sure what is meant by that unless the Prime Minister has some specific policy, incident or agreement he’d like addressed or some evidence of some sort of covert arrangement he’d like to introduce. It is certainly true that no Commonwealth member state is a signatory to any formal treaty including one or more Reich nations or with the Reich as a body and that no Commonwealth member state even has state-to-state contact with one or more Reich nations or with the Reich as a body independently of the Commonwealth Secretariat on External Affairs.”

As Sacker spoke, the aide Kaelin whispered to had left the room. He returned momentarily with a document which he passed out to the various officials. “This is the Provisional Agreement of the Interministerial Council on Relations with Totalitarian, Aggressor and Terror-Sponsoring States which restricts the immigration, commerce and travel regulations of member states in their dealings with all such external powers as are described as totalitarian, aggressor or terror-sponsoring, a category which certainly includes all Reich states. As you can see, the agreement forbids the export of military or dual use equipment to such states, forbids all access to the Commonwealth to the militaries of such states, provides for a number of Commonwealth-wide counterintelligence measures, guarantees asylum to persons fleeing from such states and so on.”

Kaelin leaned forward with a small smile. “I believe what Prime Minister Daatman is referring to is a certain difference of opinion within the Commonwealth on how to approach such states. The Commonwealth has two basic approaches to totalitarian and extremist states. When a containment approach is used, the Commonwealth opposes the spread of a given state’s influence wherever possible, sometimes through force, seeks to isolate the state within the international community and places strong economic, travel and political sanctions upon the state. Cultural, intellectual, personal and economic contact are restricted or banned. The basic assumption behind this sort of approach is that the nation cannot be engaged constructively in any significant way. Totalitarian forces are completely in control and no meaningful expansion of personal or democratic rights within the context of the current regime is plausible. The nation is unalterably hostile to the principles of the free world at least for the foreseeable future…

“The other extreme is what is, for historical reasons, usually referred to as Ostpolitik. In this approach, the Commonwealth avoids enabling, encouraging or supporting crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes as well as entering into any kind of formal partnership with those who engage in such behavior. However, it does establish economic, personal, cultural and humanitarian contacts as well as such state-to-state contacts as are necessary to negotiate such contact. The idea is to strengthen civil society, give people a taste for social and economic freedom, strengthen independent humanitarian organizations and generally prepare the way for a peaceful transition to liberal democratic forms of governance…

“Obviously, the Commonwealth rarely relies completely on one method of dealing with a hostile state. There are few, if any, states where it is practical to have no direct, non-military contact at all either with the state itself or with any of its people. Those states where such a policy is adopted are usually so fundamentally alien that the policy is forced upon us. Likewise, there is no totalitarian or extremist state so close to transitioning to democracy or in whose future we have such confidence that we will not seek to prevent the spread of its influence, by force where appropriate. The Commonwealth instead pursues a combination of both strategies, seeking to strengthen civil society within totalitarian states while also containing and placing pressure upon the totalitarian state itself. Of course, there are quite a few nuances…”

Sacker smiled slightly at her Foreign Minister but still cut him off. “What my Foreign Minister is trying to say is that the Commonwealth pursues a policy which might be compared to a nation’s policy on crime. The Commonwealth believes that the democratic West must combat and contain crimes against peace, crimes against humanity (or sentience if you prefer) and war crimes but it must also help create and enhance the possibility of liberalization and democratization in the totalitarian world. Those differences that do exist within the Commonwealth (and I assume the Prime Minister chiefly has in mind the more open character of Finara’s intercourse with Iesus Christi) are differences of emphasis rather than of fundamental principle. They are certainly not differences of allegiance. The Commonwealth is currently seeking to arrive at a more uniform approach internally and to cooperate in a multilateral fashion with other Western democracies to seek a common approach internationally. The Commonwealth looks forward to the discussion of the Pantocratorian proposal that this conference, the North Atlantic Governmental Advisory Committee on Human Rights, as a chance to begin just such a process. We certainly have high hopes for this meeting.”

"I think that was fairly comprehensive." Drapeur spoke up. He looked across to the Knootian delegation. "Since we've heard the Commonwealth's foreign policy approach to totalitarian regimes, maybe you, Prime Minister, would like to explain Knootian policy on the matter, especially if you feel that it is in some way contradictory to the Commonwealth being accepted as a signatory to the treaty?"


OOC: Mainly posted to give Knoot an opening to talk about his foreign policy as he mentioned he'd like to do on MSN.

Daatman frowned thoughtfully a moment, bowing towards an advisor to exchange a whisper of his own before replying to Drapeur.

“Well I certainly see no profound incompatibility between Knootian policies and the policies such as those you described. Certainly a mix of carrots and sticks is the best possible approach when one wants to influence states such as the ones we discussed. I do believe it would be too difficult to capture Knootian foreign policy in one single, consistent mold or ideology, especially over time. However you will find that our opposition to cruel and totalitarian regimes has been consistent whichever Knootian government is in power. This extends particularly to the Reich and the Aperinian regimes.”

He continued, sneering a little.

“We do not, however, believe that establishing anything akin to normalised relations with the Reich is an effective way to trigger reform. In the past we have had an ambassador to the Reich, and he mysteriously dissapeared. We suspect he was held prisoner in Iesus until his likely being tortured to death. That covers the extent of our politics of engagement.

Now, I should not wish to offer the impression that we base our foreign politics merely upon incidents such as these, regrettable as they are, but they are indicative of the cruelty and sheer irrationality of the Reich regimes. That is why I hope to impress upon the Commonwealth the importance of a united front. I am glad to hear that this is your take as well.”

He smiled slightly and inclined his head.

“Perhaps we can discuss the issue of the Reich further in a North Atlantic context? Particularly, Knootoss intends to make a proposal with regards to an Atlantic Shield. But...” he paused, shaking his head a little as if allowing himself to be carried away “before I go off-topic, I should wish to confirm that I am convinced that the Confederation can be considered a member of the treaty under the interpretation you put forward.”

There were some quietly confused looks exchanged between various members of the Pantocratorian delegation. Raoul sniggered and Drapeur winced, looking in the other direction as if vaguely pained.

"Prime Minister... under any reading of the treaty..." Raoul began. "The Confederation of Sovereign States, as a signatory... is... a member of the treaty, as President Caine's presence here would indicate..."

I swear the lights are on but nobody's home. Raoul added quietly.

"Putting aside the Prime Minister's slip of the tongue, and I am sure he will agree with me that English is a terrible language for those of us who are not native speakers..." Drapeur excused. "I have no objection to that discussion, but I'd rather deal with the agenda we just agreed to first, so can we deal with the matter at hand, the Commonwealth's admission into the treaty as a signatory in its own right, and then with the other items on the agenda, and then with this discussion of the Reich in a North Atlantic context if you please?"

"Are we to take it then from your answer, Prime Minister, that on the matter of the Commonwealth's admission into the treaty as a signatory in its own right, you've no objection?" asked Raoul.

((bastard :P ))

"I meant the Commonwealth of course" Daatman answered, flushing slightly. "I beg your pardon."

A pause.

"And you understood me correctly then."

Sacker smiled slightly as the various Heads of State agreed. She turned expectantly to the Presidents of Upper Virgini and the Confederation and the Chancellor of Excalbia, waiting for their consent before moving on.

Lord Yornis Halton nodded as he followed Dr. Drapeur’s analysis of the legal question surrounding the Commonwealth’s accession to the Treaty of Courtland. The Pantocratorian chancellor could talk paint off the wall, Lord Yornis thought, but he was thorough in his analyses – and generally accurate.

The Excalbian chancellor turned towards the Knootian prime minister as he responded to Drapeur. He was relieved that Daatman was prepared to accept the Pantocratorian’s logic and endorse the Commonwealth accession to the treaty. He was not surprised, however, when the Knootian began to raise other issues and ended up trading barbs with Danaans and the Pantocratorians over prime minister’s verbal blunders.

Rather than add fuel to the fire, Lord Yornis waited patiently until the issue had played itself and the conference was back on agenda. He was poised to speak when the annoyingly cheerful voice of President Caine cut him off.

Tom Caine smiled as he spoke. “The Confederation is pleased to accept the Commonwealth as a party to the Treaty of Courtland in place of the Danaan High Kingdom.”

Lord Yornis drew in a sharp breath. “Excalbia accepts Dr. Drapeur’s analysis of the issue and supports the proposal to transfer the Danaan High Kingdom’s membership in the treaty to the Commonwealth as a whole. We also second Dr. Drapeur’s recommendation that a clause be included in the proposal to clarify that a member state withdrawing from the Commonwealth would not inherit membership in the treaty and that such a state’s future membership would have to be considered separately and independently.”

When he finished speaking, Lord Yornis turned to the Upper Virginian delegation, which was seated next to the Excalbian delegation.

President Becka Harrison nodded. “Upper Virginia joins Excalbia in accepting the proposal with Pantocratoria’s clarification.”

"If we're all agreed, then I would propose that Viscountess Kairis formally sign on behalf of the Commonwealth at the end of this conference. A few technicalities relating to the Commonwealth's structure can also be addressed at that time. In the meantime, I believe the Pantocratorian proposal on human rights was next on the agenda?" Sacker replied, looking to Dr. Drapeur.

"Thank you, Prime Minister." Drapeur began. "We've distributed briefs to various departments and ministerial staff so hopefully you've all had the chance to review the bulk of the detail on this matter, but I'd like to speak on it at a higher level to explain the reasoning and the benefits. What we're proposing is the formation of a special intergovernmental, interdepartmental committee of senior public servants, assigned a joint cross-nationality staff to assist them, called the North Atlantic Governmental Advisory Committee on Human Rights."

"This would be a standing advisory committee charged with investigating the human rights situations in various nations and surrounding various international issues relevant to the formulation of foreign policy by signatory states." Drapeur elaborated. "The committee would examine various situations and states which seemed to it to be most relevant to our respective foreign policies, and that process could be assured to be independent and not overly influenced by a single state's foreign policy priorities by the committee members being appointed from every signatory in equal proportion. Employing its own staff and resources provided to it by each signatory, the committee would conduct an investigation into the human rights situation, and make a report which would be issued to every signatory's government. It may make recommendations or it may simply be observations, at the discretion of the committee, and any recommendations it makes would be non-binding. The purpose of the reports would be to simply inform the formulation of foreign policy, and after all, consultation on matters of foreign policy was something which we agreed to in the treaty itself."

"That, in essence, is the proposal." Drapeur concluded. "I'd be happy to answer questions, and I'd like to know your opinions."

"The Resurgent Dream supports this idea." Sacker said. "However, I would like to know exactly how this proposal plans to deal with an issue that bedevils every body seeking to provide and analyze information regarding human and sentient rights, namely, that of relative transparency. For the most part, it is precisely those countries with the worst practices regarding human rights which make it hardest to gather information. It is a simple matter for a properly equipped body to document every case of alleged use of excessive force by law enforcement in any signatory state or in any other relatively open society. It is a simple matter to document alleged grievances regarding Pantocratorian or Commonwealth military behavior in Finara or Marlund or regarding Excalbian or Pantocratorian behavior in Upper Virginia or about Knootian behavior in Columbia or about any issue regarding the use of force by any free society which might raise real or imagined human rights concerns. On the other hand, it is almost impossible to thoroughly document what goes on in the Reich or Greater Prussia, at least in the case of most of their members. Every private human rights organization has a much more extensive dossier on relatively free and open societies than on totalitarian states simply because these are the societies where information is available, where states policies can be criticized openly, where investigations can be conducted freely and where human rights violations are considered aberrant enough to raise attention. Does the Chancellor plan to simply accept this as an intrinsic limitation on his proposal or does he have a means of remedying the situation?"

"Well if it is a matter of resources, then I suggest we'd get as good reports about those sort of places as we'd be willing to pay for." Drapeur replied. "Yes, it is more difficult to get accurate and detailed reports on the human rights situations inside many totalitarian regimes. I put it to you, however, that often times we will know enough to inform our policy making in regards to such regimes. Without citing specific examples, those of us here assembled often already form our policy regarding totalitarian regimes assuming the worst."

"Well, I for one support this wonderful initiative" Daatman offered, with a smile.

((bump))

"We agree as well." Sacker said.