NationStates Jolt Archive

*The First Assembly of the Greater Harlack Defense Force had agreed to meet in the ancient capitol of Cyris when the force was formed a few years ago. The organization was finnaly together and their state of the art command building, complete with press rooms and deep underground reinforced bunker and tunnel networks. The Assembly was meeting for the first time in the main conference room and foreign dignitaries from every nation involved in the conflict that created the force in the first place was invited. The first of a series of speakers was from the Imperiam:

"If that's the way the international community feels, we obviously need to prepare for war." says Moribund Carnadine, Spokesman of the Imperiam. "Imperiam Proper will not stand by and allow our soil to be defiled by the foreign horde. We simply will not." He said, pounding his fist on the wooden podium in front of the assembled commanders and dignitaries. "We will press the newly formed Greater Harlack Defense Force to retalliate against those Commonwealth fools, those who would invade our land and kill our children. Those, those things, they will be purged! We will strike back!"

's Gravenwezel Castle, Commonwealth of DeVlaamseLeeuw
Admiral Janssen, Chief of Staffs of the Commonwealth walked in, laughing.
"Master Count," he said, still laughing, "those Harlack guys are still as funny as ever. Have you heared about the speech of the Greater Harlack Defence Force?"
"No," the count replied rather curiously, "what did they say?"
"They said they would retaliate our attack on Harlack Mensa." Adm. Janssen burst out in laughter again.
"Now this is serious Jan," the count said seriously, "If their entire region gangs up on us, we are in the minority. They can have a standing army of more than 20 million troops, against our 4 million."
"Well Sir, at this very moment it's 200,000 against 4 million, with budgets of 5 mil against 600 mil. I think they should all reconsider attacking us."
"This outragous threat is not to be taken lightly," the count said with a little fury in his eyes, "and I'll speak to Küsterholz about it."

ooc - this is a comment by one member of a multi member force and certainly not a threat to you. I think you should stop taking things so personnally. This is a game, after all.

*The First Assembly of the Greater Harlack Defense Force had agreed to meet in the ancient capitol of Cyris when the force was formed a few years ago. The organization was finnaly together and their state of the art command building, complete with press rooms and deep underground reinforced bunker and tunnel networks. The Assembly was meeting for the first time in the main conference room and foreign dignitaries from every nation involved in the conflict that created the force in the first place was invited. The first of a series of speakers was from the Imperiam:

"If that's the way the international community feels, we obviously need to prepare for war." says Moribund Carnadine, Spokesman of the Imperiam. "Imperiam Proper will not stand by and allow our soil to be defiled by the foreign horde. We simply will not." He said, pounding his fist on the wooden podium in front of the assembled commanders and dignitaries. "We will press the newly formed Greater Harlack Defense Force to retalliate against those Commonwealth fools, those who would invade our land and kill our children. Those, those things, they will be purged! We will strike back!"Dr. Oxnard, the delegate from Harlack Mensa, rose and made a calming gesture.

"Let's not have more talk of war," he said. "The troops from De Vlaamse Leeuw have left our soil, and that's good enough for me. We have a great many things we can attend to that are of much greater importance than retaliation for an attack that failed. Besides, I would think the history of the last century would have taught us that peace is preferable to war."

He arranged his glasses and took up a sheet of paper. "As promised, Harlack Mensa is willing to staff the intelligence services of the new mutual defense force. We have named Dr. Samuel Matthias, a senior member of the faculty of our Department of Mathematics, to head up this effort."

Grumbles were heard around the room from some of the military delegates. Julian Oxnard looked up sharply when he heard one less discreet fellow snort, "Mathematics?!?"

"Why, yes," Oxnard replied. "Mathematics. Mathematics as in cryptography, mathematics as in statistics, mathematics as in game theory and operational analysis. I'm sure that, as experts in military history, you're all aware of how America's CIA and its NSA were staffed by mathematicians holed up in what was known as the 'Puzzle Palace", right?"

At this, there was silence. Dr. Oxnard continued: "We've also had some success at recruiting field intelligence agents from among our honors graduates." More grumbling, met immediately by a harsh glance. "In addition to the fact that our honors graduates are required to be fluent in five modern languages and two ancient ones," he said, as the grumbling began to taper off, "All of the candidates are excellent atheletes, with many being prizewinners in rowing (http://www.rediff.com/sports/2000/aug/12row.htm) and pentathalon (http://www.rediff.com/sports/2000/aug/12pent.htm). Most come from the same fraternities, in a fashion similar to the way in which Yale graduates played a prominent roll in building America's CIA."

"Per our agreement," he concluded, "Harlack Mensa will fund the intelligence organization that it creates with these personnel to the tune of $359,789,695.16, or some 20% of its current defense budget, with that amount increased each year as our defense spending increases."

"Now what are other nations willing to contribute to our common defense?" he asked.

*The list of supplies and equipment was presented by each member nation after that, it was sizeable, but the best equipment came from South Harlack.*

"We will provide six outdated submarines for conversion and updating and more importantly, two Ohio Class Nuclear Submarines as well as a growing satelite network for operations control and intelligence gathering."

*In addition, the elected general of the GHDF, Alexnander Lushenka provided the assembly with the following statement:

"We have an extremely large military budget to put to use, around the tune of sixty five trillion dollars and as such, we have already put much of this money to use designing new, fully modernized military vehicles and equipment. As for the move to counter-invade another nation, I must remind everyone that this force has the word "Defense" in the name for a reason."

A graduate student approached Dr. Oxnard, whispering in his ear. At the first opportunity, the professor sought recognition from the chair, and getting it rose to speak.

"I would like to now hand my responsibilities over to Dr. Matthias, who - as I stated earlier - will be heading up our intelligence efforts and would be an excellent choice for Greater Harlack's first Joint Intelligence Director. As for me, since my forte is in moderation and negotiation, it would seem that the University has a need for me elsewhere..."

And with that, Dr. Oxnard departed, turning his chair over to Dr. Samuel Matthias.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julian Oxnard and the graduate student hurried towards the offices that had been assigned to Harlack Mensa.

"You're sure they've been properly prepared for our use?" Dr. Oxnard asked quietly.

"Yes," replied the student in a soft voice. "I double-checked all the wards myself."

"Good. Then I will depart from the most secure area within the complex," said the professor.

And with that, they ducked into Harlack Mensa's assigned offices.

A graduate student approached Dr. Oxnard, whispering in his ear. At the first opportunity, the professor sought recognition from the chair, and getting it rose to speak.

"I would like to now hand my responsibilities over to Dr. Matthias, who - as I stated earlier - will be heading up our intelligence efforts and would be an excellent choice for Greater Harlack's first Joint Intelligence Director. As for me, since my forte is in moderation and negotiation, it would seem that the University has a need for me elsewhere..."

And with that, Dr. Oxnard departed, turning his chair over to Dr. Samuel Matthias.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julian Oxnard and the graduate student hurried towards the offices that had been assigned to Harlack Mensa.

"You're sure they've been properly prepared for our use?" Dr. Oxnard asked quietly.

"Yes," replied the student in a soft voice. "I double-checked all the wards myself."

"Good. Then I will depart from the most secure area within the complex," said the professor.

And with that, they ducked into Harlack Mensa's assigned offices.

OOC: If you'd like, you may follow Dr. Oxnard to here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=406603) ;)

"Are there any proposals currently on the floor for a method with which to establish an intelligence network at home and abroad?" *The South Harlack official questioned.*

"Are there any proposals currently on the floor for a method with which to establish an intelligence network at home and abroad?" *The South Harlack official questioned.*Dr. Matthias had a soft, dry voice, complementing his impish smile.

"It is common for young men and women fresh out of the University to travel - a centuries old tradition called the Grand Tour. This provides a good cover for the wanderings both across Greater Harlack and overseas to make the contacts needed to start an intelligence network.

"Then, too," he said, "Students get involved in interesting causes for very short periods of time, and this can often lead them into acquaintances with people that, when viewed ten or twenty years later, seem quite improbable - and are therefore quite likely to elude an adversary.

"Finally, students do often study abroad. This provides another opportunity to meet people and make contacts. One of the things I propose is that we recruit people we know will undertake such studies, so that they may eventually recruit others on foreign soil."

*The South Harlack delegate nodded slightly.* "Perhaps we should focus some of our recruitment efforts in the Middle East, there are several organizations there that are quite good at gathering intelligence, if we could use them to our advantage without their knowledge."

Calls of peace from the pacifist fell on the Imperial delegate's deaf ears.

"If you won't have this mighty council react when we are invaded, when?"

It was a simple question, said in ice cold tones as the delegate gazed fiercely at the pacifist doctor.

Calls of peace from the pacifist fell on the Imperial delegate's deaf ears.

"If you won't have this mighty council react when we are invaded, when?"

It was a simple question, said in ice cold tones as the delegate gazed fiercely at the pacifist doctor."We did react," replied Dr. Matthias, speaking softly. "We came together to repel the enemy and then came together to form this defense force. I would think that represents quite a solid reaction."

He took a sip of water, and then continued. "Now, if you think that's not enough, I'm sorry. As far as Harlack Mensa is concerned, the matter is resolved - and keep in mind that it was our district that was invaded. Going further is uncalled for, not to mention dangerous.

"Have you considered that any attack on DeVlaamseLeeuw would invoke a response by the entire HomeOfTheBrave region, just as their attack on us provoked a response on the part of all of Greater Harlack? We would never be able to overcome such an alliance, and would risk a counterinvasion that would be much more difficult to repel.

"Endless war," finished Dr. Matthias, "Does not serve the interests of Greater Harlack."