NationStates Jolt Archive

Mer de Noms, Mer des Ennuis – Today, the Space Union Defence Industry was indicted on nearly 14,000 counts of grand larceny, totaling $2,123,980,000,000 in damages, in addition to breach of contract. Arch Arsonist Carpathia Ziemowit, in a speech made in The Square of Victory, had this to say.
“Today, we received word from SUDI that our order would be canceled. We are currently not in a state of war with Space Union, nor have we received a declaration of war from any countries, much less any of Space Union’s allies, so this comes a total shock. Today, were were informed that we would not receive delivery on sorely needed airplanes for the Mer des Ennuis Air Force, and that, worst of all, they would not refund us the two trillion dollars in payment. Like all criminals, SUDI will be dealt with most harshly. This is an affront to our honor as a country, and shows Space Union Defence Industry’s true colors. I have ordered the arrest of all SUDI employees in the country, and I am confident justice will be served.”

If found guilty in the trial, it is expected that the contractors of SUDI will be subject to execution.

OOC: In IRC, Space origionally refused to refund my money, thus the trial. Here is the relevant IRC line:
Mer_des_Ennuis: i trust i'm getting a refund on the lack of planes delivered?

Space: no as this is a war between us and SUDI has been ordered by the SU government to not refund you

Mer_des_Ennuis: i was under the impression from the IC posts that this was NOT an offical sudi action

Space: SU government has final say in corporate dealings with other nation's militaries, though, it only uses it when the government is at war with that nation

I'd rather have negotiations to that effect put IC, rather than OOC, if only to justify a total cut off from SU.

After a somewhat rushed trial, SUDI employees/contractors were found guilty of breach of contract. Negotiations will be held alongside immigration hearings in the coming weeks. If found inelligble for deportation, guilty workers will be imprisioned for up to 40 years time. The sentence was increased due to a lack of service and support for several thousand government planes, as well as the loss of 36,268 super computer cabinents, estimated to be worth $3,626,800,000 in production costs alone.

OOC: skib, sorry about that. You are free to negotiate other terms on behalf of them. I'm not sending them to work at the napalm proving grounds, so they will be in pretty good condition in minimum security federal prisions.

OOC: Sorry Mer didnt get a chance to discuss it with Space until you guys appearently had reached this point.

So I suppose I will be in ICly.

IC:

The ErininArms International Syndicate now working in merger with SUDI will be dispatching council to represent their interests in this matter.

Skgorria extends sympathies to Mer des Ennuis and offers the sum of $50Billion towards the purchase of aircraft. Sadly we do not have the economic resources to aid you further, but we know what it is like to be caught short of equipment at a valuable time.

The Federate of Space Union, Satpul Singh, and the CEO/Chairman of Space Union Defence Industries sat at the table across from the Mer des Ennuis officials. They had just arrived shortly a while ago after receiving the news that the government had seized the SUDI employees and sentence them to jail unless negotiations could be reached. When the Federate had heard about this, he immediately joined the CEO in coming to the conference. In seizing the employees, he had not only attacked the corporation of SUDI but also had attacked the nation of Space Union. This had gone from a corporate affair to a national affair.

"I'm greatly displeased from what I've recently heard," began Sim, "This began as a corporate dealings and should have stayed so. When we terminated this contract on the basis of your misconduct, we did not breech our contract. If you read our policies, SUDI only deals with nations that are friendly and allied to Space Union. If you become unfriendly, by going against Space Union's main core goals, we will not conduct business with you. In this, we were rightfully allowed to terminate this contract. But your nation took this over board. You seized our employees and have them pretty much hostage and bartering chips."

"Therefore we give you one solution, return the employees immediately to Space Union. If you do not comply with this, we will take whatever action is nessessary to do so. We would rather have this peaceful rather than with bloodshed. Do you not agree?"

The chief Mer des Ennusian negotiator, Vlad Serghei, was a patient man. He and his team, compromised of two women, wore near identical black suits, and all had leather briefcases. He plopped his case on the table before him, and removed a small dossier from the inside.

"We are not sure where the accusation of war crimes comes from, and indeed, the Arch Arsonist would be extremely displeased if these accusations were indeed grounded in truth."

He passed the dossier over to Satpul Singh.

"In order to view the contents of this folder, you are going to have to have your classification level raised, and you cannot, under any circumstances, reveal this to anyone, under what would normally be penalty of imprisonment, for the next 20 years. Do you accept?"

The reply came after a second of consideration: “Yes”

“Very well.” Serghei said, before showing the first satellite picture of a small town that was hit by napalm, both before and after. “This town, designated 0125, could be a case study for the examples where there was firebombing. As you can plainly see, before the bombs were dropped, that there were rudimentary AA devices defending this town. Short-lived yet long-burning napalm was used to incinerate the site. Should harden silos have been present, they would have been fused shut. However, our napalm bomblets were not guided, and some went astray hitting these small towns. In addition, urgency was increased once a neutron bomb detonation was detected, and we were forced to hit more sights than originally intended. However, civilian casualties were light, and ground forces report that most buildings were not destroyed due to fireproof construction. You are, as an armaments manufacturer, aware, that comparatively light firebombing of this sort is an inefficient method of inflicting casualties. Furthermore, the 5th ranger battalion reports that many civilians have been in a state of anarchy, and our mission has changed to nation building. With this intelligence in mind, we do not see how we have been unfriendly to Space Union or its assets, and we feel we have been slighted by the unlawful termination of our simple contract.” Serghei took a breath, and turned the page, showing the effective contract.

“You see Mr. Singh,” continued Monika Madara, “Your employees are in a mess. The contract is a classic purchasing contract. In exchange for your planes and reasonable service and support, we sent you money and materials. However, you unlawfully terminated the contract without renegotiations, and in the process violated section 41 of the legal code. Since your corporation is a legal entity, your employees were thus guilty of the breach, and we are within our full legal right to arrest and prosecute them. If there was a standard international court of justice, we would have done the same there, and we are confident the results would have been the same. While many nations without a sense of legality would have merely shot them, we are open to negotiations.”

Another woman named Aleksandrina Milena finished: “Our terms are simple. You have insulted the government of Mer des Ennuis by accusing us of causing easily avoidable death and destruction to civilians, and we demand a full apology. Furthermore, we ask for service and support to the airplanes we already have received. Finally, we ask for the 36,268 cabinents we have sent before, in addition to the 5 sent as a gift of good will, returned to us within two weeks of the end of negotiations. If you do this, the Arch Arsonist has stated he will pardon your employees, provided the government of Space Union takes no hostile actions against Mer des Ennusian assets during this time period.”

'Mer des Ennuis delisted,' - Foreign Office
Mer des Ennuis removed from juducial independence list after corporate prosecution bungle

http://ssl.brookes.ac.uk/llm/images/ladyofjustice2.jpg
As the SUDI contract debacle looks set to poise two nations on the bring of war, rights groups wonder if Lady Justice has departed the shores of Mer des Ennuis.
___________________
From 'The Parliamentarian'
Front Page

The Foreign & Colonial Office has removed Mer des Ennuis from its list of 'Countries in which the Rule of Law is not Usurped by Government Whim and the Independence of the Judiciary Remains'.

The list is viewed as a gold standard by some civil rights groups at home and abroad. In a damning statement released by the Foreign Office Mer des Ennuis has been struck from the list following an incident corporate incident involving Space Union Defence Industries, Space Union's primary defence company. The incident began after the aforementioned SUDI cancelled a contract with Mer des Ennuis and refused to refund money paid before delivery. The Foreign Office claims that the same Mer des Ennuis proceeded to 'Initiate a groundless criminal action against thousands of employees of SUDI in a manner that would disgrace a banana republic."

The accused were allegedly tried under a military tribunal with no jury or observers present, in which "the pre-determined verdict was rushed through with no recourse to due process for purposes of political expediency in order that the employees might be used as bargaining chips by Mer des Ennuis," said the Foreign Office. The people involved were held responsible for the actions of the company by which they were employed, a verdict described as "nonesense" by the Lord Chancellor, who went on to explain that "the employees of a corporation cannot be held accountable for its crimes. A corporation is a legal individual in and of itself - what's happening in Mer des Ennuis is analogous to the employees of a fish & chip restaraunt being tried for a theft committed by its owner in his absense - it's an absurd injustice."

Civil rights groups are left deciding what course of action to take. Many are already considering boycotts of Mer des Ennuis-produced goods and some are calling for the country to be embargoed. The government has, however, stated that it intends to take no position in the brewing conflict between Space Union and Mer des Ennuis at this point. With Space Union looking set to attempt a forced rescue of men and women increasingly being seen as hostages rather than prisoners, the situation could easily escalate to an all-out war. Although it is possible HMG will take a position against Mer des Ennuis in this conflict, it seems unlikely with the whole situation being seen as increasingle absurd.

In closing, the Foreign Office stated that "HIs Majesty's Government no longer sees fit to include Mer des Ennuis on a list symbolising honour and justice when the current government is clearly devoid of such virtues." It is not currently known how this development will be received in Mer des Ennuis, or even if it will be reported at all.

The Mer des Ennuis negotiation team stood up, flipped off the people in the room, and walked out. Later that day, the SUDI workers would be released.