Sarzonia
22-03-2005, 06:16
OOC: Mature language warning.
Donnie Collins was leisurely watching the clock tick down toward closing time in Mac's General Store. The quaint little store in the small village of Morisca was an oasis from the hustle and bustle of Nicksia nearly 100 kilometres away. Even the ten kilometres to the south where the border to the southern state Bausch lay seemed to be a giant dividing line that provided a shield keeping the idyllic little town away from the urban sprawl that waited in Grovesmont.
The radio was playing a song by the Doors and Collins was only half paying attention. He wasn't a huge fan of the band and he was waiting for the news report to tell him how much traffic lay between Mac's and his house near the lake. All of a sudden, he was jarred from his reverie by the abrupt end of the song and a cut in by a newscaster.
"This just in, the President has announced an embargo has been placed on the country by Credonia in response to..."
Collins sat bolt upright. This isn't good, he thought. Ninety percent of my goods are Credonian. We get about 70 percent of our business from Credonian nationals and expats. We're screwed.
He listened closely to the report, firing up his Internet browser and reading the stories from the Associated Sarzonian Press.
"Shit. Fuck."
****************************************
Meanwhile, Senior Vice President for External Affairs Mark Lorber was working late. His wife would have to wait for him to arrive; what he was doing now was too important. He was in a conference call with Sarzo and Benatar Governor Travis Cornwall.
"Yeah, but what the hell do you want me to do about it," Lorber said. "It looks like Sarzo bit himself in the ass this time."
"Look, Mark," Cornwall cut in. "Remember that Credonia started the whole mess by demanding concessions from Praetonia. Praetonia was within its rights to act the way they did."
"But an embargo? They hurt the country that imposes them worse than they hurt the country they're imposed on."
"If the country in question is a major trading partner," Sarzo said. "Mark, you said yourself that Credonia isn't a major trading partner of ours. We'll make that up by increasing trade with our other allies. This embargo of ours is really a symbolic gesture more than anything else."
"They may be insignifcant to you," Cornwall said, "but they provide a fairly large chunk of revenue to our state government. It could put us in an operating deficit."
"Look, I know that," Sarzo said. "Don't think that didn't come to mind. But we have a chance to make a much larger statement than just a symbolic gesture that cuts off one of our fingers. If we can assemble a compact of countries that are equally angered by Credonia's actions in that conference that never happened, we can make a much larger statement to the world and force Credonia's hand."
Lorber raised his eyebrow. "A compact?"
"By organising a compact, we can get several countries to place their own embargoes on Credonia and then, to tighten things even more, we can announce that as a group that we sever relations with them."
"Wow that... drastic," Cornwall said.
"We sent Kathy to Credonia in good faith against our own better judgment to listen to their efforts to mend fences with OMP countries, even though that was a matter that should have been resolved between Freethinkers Defence Industries and Credonia itself," Sarzo said. "When we got there, we got the door slammed in our faces and she wasted a day and a half of her life going to a conference and then having to go back home."
"I see your point. How do we announce this Compact?"
"It's going to affect you more than any other state in Sarzonia," Lorber said. "Why don't we announce it in Nicksia?"
"No, better yet, what about Morisca," Cornwall offered.
"Morisca," Lorber asked.
"That town is going to feel the sting more than any other town in Sarzonia," Cornwall said. It makes sense to announce it there because of its far-reaching effects."
"Very well. Let's do it."
"On my way," Sarzo said.
****************************************
Compact of Benatar
Be it announced that:
* The Incorporated States of Sarzonia and her Several Allies, in
an effort to display good Faith in negotiations with the United
States of Credonia, agreed to attend a Conference with other
Members of the Organisation of Maritime Powers
* Before said Conference was scheduled to Begin, the United
States of Credonia made unreasonable and immature Demands
on the Democratic Imperium of Praetonia in response to that
Government's attempts to avoid the onset of diplomatic hostilities
* In response to the Efforts of several Nations to negotiate a
Peaceable end to the recent renewal of diplomatic Hostilities,
Credonia chose to pursue a Policy of diplomatic and economic
Retaliation in an effort to Injure the Commerce of the several
Nations in attendance
* We note that the United States of Credonia canceled the
conference with the Organisation of Maritime Powers in spite of
the Governments of many of its member States sending their
several Diplomats in an effort to broker a reasonable Accord of
Understanding.
In response to these Actions by the United States of Credonia,
the Incoporated States of Sarzonia do hereby announce the
following Measures:
* We do hereby impose in direct name a full and complete
Embargo against Credonian Merchandise and Services
* We Recall all Citizens, diplomatic Personnel including but
not limited to embassy Personnel and Consular Staffs from
Credonia or her overseas territories
* We Expel all Citizens, diplomatic Personnel including but
not limted to embassy Personnel and consular Staffs from
Sarzonia and her overseas territories and colonies
* We announce that all diplomatic Relations, treaties of
Alliance and Non-Agression are hereby Abolished and
declared Null and Void as of this Date in the Year of Our
Lord 2005.
* Any and all signatory Nations also Agree to enact the
same Policies regarding Credonian Trade or Relations.
We announce these measures with regret. We sincerely hoped that the conference could have resolved both overt and underlying issues that have come between member countries in the Organisation of Maritime Powers and the United States of Credonia. However, the impetuous actions by Credonian President Kaimoni Sutton have forced our hand.
Therefore, I announce and affix my signature as the head of state for the Incorporated States of Sarzonia and I encourage Sarzonian allies and friends to do the same.
Michael A. Sarzo
President
Incorporated States of Sarzonia
Mark Lorber
Senior Vice President for External Affairs
Travis D. Cornwall
Governor, State of Benatar
[b]Signatory Nations
Incorporated States of Sarzonia
Grand Duchy of Hamptonshire
Capitalist Republic of Pacitalia
Nomadic Peoples of Pacific Northwesteria
Donnie Collins was leisurely watching the clock tick down toward closing time in Mac's General Store. The quaint little store in the small village of Morisca was an oasis from the hustle and bustle of Nicksia nearly 100 kilometres away. Even the ten kilometres to the south where the border to the southern state Bausch lay seemed to be a giant dividing line that provided a shield keeping the idyllic little town away from the urban sprawl that waited in Grovesmont.
The radio was playing a song by the Doors and Collins was only half paying attention. He wasn't a huge fan of the band and he was waiting for the news report to tell him how much traffic lay between Mac's and his house near the lake. All of a sudden, he was jarred from his reverie by the abrupt end of the song and a cut in by a newscaster.
"This just in, the President has announced an embargo has been placed on the country by Credonia in response to..."
Collins sat bolt upright. This isn't good, he thought. Ninety percent of my goods are Credonian. We get about 70 percent of our business from Credonian nationals and expats. We're screwed.
He listened closely to the report, firing up his Internet browser and reading the stories from the Associated Sarzonian Press.
"Shit. Fuck."
****************************************
Meanwhile, Senior Vice President for External Affairs Mark Lorber was working late. His wife would have to wait for him to arrive; what he was doing now was too important. He was in a conference call with Sarzo and Benatar Governor Travis Cornwall.
"Yeah, but what the hell do you want me to do about it," Lorber said. "It looks like Sarzo bit himself in the ass this time."
"Look, Mark," Cornwall cut in. "Remember that Credonia started the whole mess by demanding concessions from Praetonia. Praetonia was within its rights to act the way they did."
"But an embargo? They hurt the country that imposes them worse than they hurt the country they're imposed on."
"If the country in question is a major trading partner," Sarzo said. "Mark, you said yourself that Credonia isn't a major trading partner of ours. We'll make that up by increasing trade with our other allies. This embargo of ours is really a symbolic gesture more than anything else."
"They may be insignifcant to you," Cornwall said, "but they provide a fairly large chunk of revenue to our state government. It could put us in an operating deficit."
"Look, I know that," Sarzo said. "Don't think that didn't come to mind. But we have a chance to make a much larger statement than just a symbolic gesture that cuts off one of our fingers. If we can assemble a compact of countries that are equally angered by Credonia's actions in that conference that never happened, we can make a much larger statement to the world and force Credonia's hand."
Lorber raised his eyebrow. "A compact?"
"By organising a compact, we can get several countries to place their own embargoes on Credonia and then, to tighten things even more, we can announce that as a group that we sever relations with them."
"Wow that... drastic," Cornwall said.
"We sent Kathy to Credonia in good faith against our own better judgment to listen to their efforts to mend fences with OMP countries, even though that was a matter that should have been resolved between Freethinkers Defence Industries and Credonia itself," Sarzo said. "When we got there, we got the door slammed in our faces and she wasted a day and a half of her life going to a conference and then having to go back home."
"I see your point. How do we announce this Compact?"
"It's going to affect you more than any other state in Sarzonia," Lorber said. "Why don't we announce it in Nicksia?"
"No, better yet, what about Morisca," Cornwall offered.
"Morisca," Lorber asked.
"That town is going to feel the sting more than any other town in Sarzonia," Cornwall said. It makes sense to announce it there because of its far-reaching effects."
"Very well. Let's do it."
"On my way," Sarzo said.
****************************************
Compact of Benatar
Be it announced that:
* The Incorporated States of Sarzonia and her Several Allies, in
an effort to display good Faith in negotiations with the United
States of Credonia, agreed to attend a Conference with other
Members of the Organisation of Maritime Powers
* Before said Conference was scheduled to Begin, the United
States of Credonia made unreasonable and immature Demands
on the Democratic Imperium of Praetonia in response to that
Government's attempts to avoid the onset of diplomatic hostilities
* In response to the Efforts of several Nations to negotiate a
Peaceable end to the recent renewal of diplomatic Hostilities,
Credonia chose to pursue a Policy of diplomatic and economic
Retaliation in an effort to Injure the Commerce of the several
Nations in attendance
* We note that the United States of Credonia canceled the
conference with the Organisation of Maritime Powers in spite of
the Governments of many of its member States sending their
several Diplomats in an effort to broker a reasonable Accord of
Understanding.
In response to these Actions by the United States of Credonia,
the Incoporated States of Sarzonia do hereby announce the
following Measures:
* We do hereby impose in direct name a full and complete
Embargo against Credonian Merchandise and Services
* We Recall all Citizens, diplomatic Personnel including but
not limited to embassy Personnel and Consular Staffs from
Credonia or her overseas territories
* We Expel all Citizens, diplomatic Personnel including but
not limted to embassy Personnel and consular Staffs from
Sarzonia and her overseas territories and colonies
* We announce that all diplomatic Relations, treaties of
Alliance and Non-Agression are hereby Abolished and
declared Null and Void as of this Date in the Year of Our
Lord 2005.
* Any and all signatory Nations also Agree to enact the
same Policies regarding Credonian Trade or Relations.
We announce these measures with regret. We sincerely hoped that the conference could have resolved both overt and underlying issues that have come between member countries in the Organisation of Maritime Powers and the United States of Credonia. However, the impetuous actions by Credonian President Kaimoni Sutton have forced our hand.
Therefore, I announce and affix my signature as the head of state for the Incorporated States of Sarzonia and I encourage Sarzonian allies and friends to do the same.
Michael A. Sarzo
President
Incorporated States of Sarzonia
Mark Lorber
Senior Vice President for External Affairs
Travis D. Cornwall
Governor, State of Benatar
[b]Signatory Nations
Incorporated States of Sarzonia
Grand Duchy of Hamptonshire
Capitalist Republic of Pacitalia
Nomadic Peoples of Pacific Northwesteria