NationStates Jolt Archive


DRIS Forms, Claims International Waters

Isle o f Skye
28-12-2006, 05:46
Skye News Service Newsfeed:

RIS and DFIS reunite, claim Sea of Skye as National Waters.

By Kade Connor

INFOGRAPHIC MAP: http://uploaded.interestingnonetheless.net/Acheron/IOS%20Map.GIF

DECEMBER 27, 2006. DUNVEGAN, ISLE OF SKYE.
The Republic of the Isle of Skye was separated two hundred years ago by a civil war. The civil war was ended by Armistice when the military forces of the Republic of Skye were unable to make any headway in dealing with the insurrection. The new nation, the Democratic Federation of Skye, claimed most of the islands west of the Isle of Skye.

The war was quite bloody, but a discussion of it here does disservice to modern events.

In recent years there have been calls to reunite the two nations. By democratic vote of both the Republic’s senate and the Federation’s parliament, the nations have reunited.

Murdoch Douglass, a reunification leader from the RIS was elected Chancellor, while Enda O’Rourke, a reunification leader from the DFIS was elected president. She is the first second to the commander in chief ever to preside over the former DFIS.

The nation’s new name is the Democratic Republic of Isle o f Skye.

Many details are being dealt with, such as unifying military logistics. Most of these are internal, but there is one major area that will affect other nations.

The new territorial waters, thanks in part to several new acquisitions, completely encircle a vast swath of once-international waters referred to as the Sea of Skye. The DRIS claims that since these waters technically reside within its borders that they are now property of the Isle of Skye.

The waters in question range from an average of 20 feet in depth to an average of several miles in depth. The body of water in question is just under eight hundred miles wide, and is only slightly larger than the Gulf of Mexico.

Isle of Skye territory includes island chains that encircle the whole of the Sea of Skye. The largest gap between these islands is at the north of the Isle of Skye itself. Here, it is 37 miles between the Isle of Skye and the Isle of Talisker.

These waters are not near any legal shipping lanes, though smugglers may have been using some of the newly acquired islands. The military is eradicating smuggler bases in the new acquisitions. All prisoners and dead encountered so far are confirmed DRIS nationals, but any nationals or citizens of other nations involved in the smuggling operations will be tried in the Isle of Skye and Imprisoned or Deported, depending on the results of international negotiation.

The Isle of Skye intends to allow any foreign scientific and civilian access, including merchant marine, to the newly acquired waters. Military encroachment past the noted boundaries on any mission other than SAR or Scientific Support will be considered an act of aggression, and may provoke war.

“We actually have very high hopes for international scientific co-operation,” Said Tormod M’Donald, Scientific Advisor to the Chancellor. “One of the plans involves an underwater research center and sub base, located in the deeper waters, from which teams of scientists from universities and research centers worldwide can explore the reefs near Uig. The whole point of this is international scientific co-operation.”

But the benefits aren’t purely scientific. “Tourism is a huge industry, and it behooves the Isle of Skye to get it’s foot in the door,” Thomas Gunn, Chief Economic Advisor to the Chancellor said. “There are a lot of tinpot dictatorships active in tropical islands, and foreign nationals should appreciate a place where they can enjoy wide swaths of nearly empty beaches and be reasonably assured that they won’t be kidnaped by guerillas or assaulted by gang members. We have one of the lowest crime rates in the world, and that should attract a lot of tourism.”

Environmental damage by visiting nationals will not be tolerated. All merchant and civilian vessels crossing into DRIS territory are subject to search by DRIS customs officials or the DRIS Home Guard. Oil prospecting in the new waters is strictly prohibited as it has the potential to damage the ecological resources of the Sea of Skye.

Any nations that do not recognize the DRIS claim to the central body of water are refused access to DRIS airspace and territorial waters, and thus cannot legally access the body of water in question. Many of our readers might worry that this would lead to military conflict with other nations.

“We’re not really concerned with foreign militaries.” Said Killian Murdoch, Grand Admiral of the Skye Navy, as he discussed how a war might go. “Anyone wishing to dispute our claim is going to have to supply his troops with food and water. We’re several thousand miles from any real military power. Logistics over such long distances are a real nightmare. Our submarines are hydrogen-burning rather than diesel burning, and the electric engines combined with the latest silencing technology make them quieter then most nuclear attack subs, after all, the nukes have to keep their reactors running and that causes noise. Our subs should be able to play merry hell with their logistics fleet, since there’s no real shipping in the area. We can be pretty well assured that any big ships in the area that don’t talk to our home guard radio system are hostiles. It will take a whole damn fleet of support ships to keep a large enough military to invade our territory going. I mean think about it. It will take the fastest military vessels at least a week to get here. Most of the freighters aren’t very fast, though, so they’ll be plodding along. It might take the fleet upwards of a month to get here. They certainly won’t leave their support ships undefended and plodding behind them, so it’ll take them about a month to get here. And then we’ll go for the logistic ships. If they run out of food, water, and ammunition, they can’t really fight, now can they? We might even be able to capture a whole mess of warships when their men run out of food and ammo. It’s just not worth it for a big military to show up and invade even if they have the money to do so. It’d be a total waste. They’d gain nothing but constant insurrection on the part of the people of the Isle of Skye and a big bank bill. There are no real resources here for them to profit from that wouldn’t be destroyed in the course of the war. A war would be pointless.”

Murdoch says that such a war is incredibly unlikely for other reasons. “We’re fairly certain that there are powerful nations out there who would come to our defense should a foreign power seek to attack us. We saw it happen with previous incidents in other nations, and we have no doubt that it will happen again. It’s especially likely to happen when we’d offer any defending nation logistical support, alliance, and free scientific access to our waters. They won’t need to pull in as much freight. We can keep any military that wants to protect us well fed and well armed while they’re defending us. Hell, we might even consider letting them build a naval base on one of the outer islands if they thought they’d like to establish a presence in the region. Anyone willing to go to war on our behalf deserves that kind of friendship.”