NationStates Jolt Archive

Via'di'arl, Al Khals

Though the minarets stand tall and the ancient canals still slither, green-flanked snakes through the yellow desert, something is amiss in Al Khals. The crescent flag of the Sultan has been hauled down and the oil-wells no longer spit their bile. In the streets of the centuries old pre-Muslim capital, shrieked invocations of the name of God are drowned-out by Arab-Socialist slogans and the name on everyone's lips is Qottar.

"Long live the President! Long live the Arab Republic! Long live Omar Qottar!"

Horns are blown and rifles fired into the sky as the self-proclaimed president arrives in his capital at the head of an armoured column that will become the core of his new Republican Guard. Riding an M48 tank captured from the Sultanate's woeful Royal Army, Omar salutes the masses and is showered with praise and petals.

Not far away, the bulk of the Sultan's court, the ruler himself included, is frogmarched into captivity. Hundreds of thousands of the country's self-made rich are long gone, only the bluebloods remained to face the fury of the people. Oil tycoons fled before the advancing Ba'athists, whose militias were swelled by the ranks of the unemployed and the peasants who had seen little benefit from the exploitation of petrochemicals found under their sprawling desert homeland, and now the nation was at a standstill.

After years of fighting, Al Khals should have been on its knees. But, in the immortal words on Omar Qottar as he, covered in dirt and sweat, burned by the sun and blasted by the sand, raised a pistol in the face of the Sultan and declared, "On the day of victory, no man is tired!"

Arabs smell

Zanski recognises this Ba'ath coup as rightful and would like to know if AL Khals is Syrian or Iraqi style-baathism.
we would therefore like to strike up an alliance.

Axmanland salutes all nations ruled in a sensible rational way (by a person at the top who kills anyone who objects)
and salutes all the major contributions the Arabic cultures have made to the world ( chemistry and ḥashīsh to name but a few)

a freighter of containers filled with aluminium and copper has been dispatched to your state to aid in reconstruction after your revolution

Slightly puzzled by some of the early international reaction to his coup, President Qottar suffers a moment of doubt as to the wisdom of becoming a statesman, before snapping out of it and ordering all thermonuclear warheads with a 2010 or earlier use-by date deployed against the tiny and hilariously weak republic of Highly Racist Empire. With that nation totally exterminated, Omar has breakfast before getting on with More Important Business.

Whatever else the Arab Republic may have going for it, Al Khals has lost much of its foreign intelligence. Those who worked abroad on behalf of the Sultan have made good their escapes or else applied for assylum, and the Ba'athists are yet to rebuild ties and databases after the out-going authorities torched archives. Attempts to set light to oil wells were less successful due to the surprising speed of the Ba'athist advance, though a minority are indeed burning out of control, along with old government offices, presenting another challenge for the new authorities.

Axmanland's gift to the revolutionary state is received with enthusiasm. Though the Al Khali economy has great potential, with advanced petrochemical infrastructure and impressive traditional irrigation of large tracts of land where rainfall is extremely rare, currency reserves are low after the brief civil war and the import of raw materials looks like being a problem. Copper and aluminium are keenly accepted with the thanks of the Party, which promises to remember the gift once petrochemical production is restarted.

Zanski receives a more formal communique from Via'di'arl, direct from the office of the new President.

Qottar explains that Arab Socialism in Al Khals is not a new phenomenon that has sprung from Syrian or other traditions, rather it was born along side Syrian and Iraqi Ba'athism, but was less immediately successful. This initial failure Qottar attributes to clever conspiracy between the western imperialists and neo-imperialist lackeys in the Sultanate. The President says that Ba'athism today is more important than ever owing to a new tide of western imperialism in the Middle East and the sickening outlawing of many Ba'ath Parties by foreign occupation forces. Nothing, he says, could be more offensive or more bare-faced in its oppressive intent.

In terms of left-right balance, the Al Khali Ba'ath Party is probably somewhere between traditionally pro-Soviet Syria and centrist Iraq. That is to say, fairly soft left. But this relative moderation should not lead one to mistake Al Khalis' pan-Arabic or anti-imperialist sentiments! Qottar signs-off with the words Wahda, Hurriya, Ishtirakiya! Or Unity, Freedom, and Socialism.

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/al_khals.jpg

CEO Jai Resi watched the news with a grim complexion. These backwards socialists overthrew a highly-organized capitalist dictatorship... why? Their wells have been shut off, the lifeblood of their economy flows no more...

...which provides an excellent opportunity.

"It had to be socialists, though, didn't it?" Jai asked himself in the dark of his office, "It couldn't be anything else. Damn excellent business possibilities in that nation though, assuming these aren't from the 'seize the means of production' school of thought.
"I just can't condone it. Damn it, communists killed my father. Not like they'd buy anything from the likes of us anyway."

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In a bold move today, the Resi Corporation has refused to acknowledge the existence of the new administration of Al Khals, stating that 'socialism is simply a wrong form of government'. CEO Jai Resi, in a press statement, went on to say that though the people of Al Khals think this change is for the best, they are 'essentially slashing their wrists and letting their economic lifeblood drain out'. After such a strong denouncing of the new administration, the Resi Corporation has declared an embargo on Al Khals, and has invited all other like-minded capitalist nations to do the same. There have been unsubstantiated rumors of further action to be taken by the Resicorp powers that be, but nothing solid to report on.

After hearing of your gracious reply to our gift and listening to your representative describe both your need for currency to stabilize your economy and understanding from what was said about irrigated land minister shadrack (grand vizier to high king Axman) has had a notion of how both our fine states could aid each other in a very beneficial way.

Axmanlands population consumes vast quantities of intoxicants of all kinds and as a desert nation you have large tracts of land that would not support traditional food based agriculture but could be put to growing poppy with very little effort

indeed in many desert areas tribesmen have traditionally growing poppy for thousands of years and in return for the opium gum gathered Axmanland could ship regular cargo's of copper aluminium or currency thus enriching us both.

to facilitate this might i suggest the exchange of embassies their are diplomatic quarters ranging from armed compounds and bunkers to pleasant villa's in the cool air of the mountains around our nations capital bellow is a link to the diplomatic corps.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=553984&highlight=Axmanland

and then when your state is ready to accept overseas embassies we could do the same


from the office of the high king Axman

TO: President Omar Qottar
FRON: Samuel Takagawa, President/CEO - Tolvanic Petroleum (TP)

RE: Oil Wells

Dear Sir,

After an extensive survey of our overseas holdings it has come to my attention that TP holds ownership rights to eighteen (18) oil wells in your nation. The limited number and quality of these wells leaves us with meager profit margins on these operations. Due to this, and your nation's recent instabilities, we at TP wish to divest ourselves of this investment. As a result we are prepared to offer these wells (including all existing infrastructure and all existing in country stockpiles of spares) for the modest price of $3 million USD.

Also, I would be remiss if I did mention that Reynolds, Boyd, and Chang (RBC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tolvanic Petroleum, offers the requisite expertise to upgrade and maintain your oil fields should desire to bring the fields under government control. I will happily send representatives to meet with you to discuss such an arrangement if you are interested.

Tolvanic Petroleum
"Powering the World"

To: President Omar Qottar
From: The Republic of Call to Power
Subject: An arrangement

Our Republic formally welcomes the new sovereign government of Al Khals and hopes that its people thrive under the careful watch of the Arab republic government far removed from the tyrannies of oppressive Monarchies.

Formalities aside, no doubt your nation will require considerable investment for the immediate future to which we will offer a donation of 120 Billion USD and 6200 metric tons of food aid on the understanding that petroleum products will be put up for export to the Republic of Call to Power once production resumes

Good luck
Minister of Foreign affairs
Jack Humbrii

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COMMONWEALTH OF ROTOVIA
OFFICE OF THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN

IMPERIAL COMMUNIQUE

With consult to the Privy Council, under command of King; we do offer the following statement.

TO: Office of Omar Qottar, President of Al Khals
FROM: The Lord Chamberlain, Commonwealth of Rotovia
SUBJECT: Royal contributions
CLASSIFICATION: Diplomatic communique, SECURa2 digital encryption applied

Under command of King, we do dispense the following funds from the Imperial Treasury of the Royal Household:

To the sovereign nation of Al Khals; $4.6 Billion (USD)

These funds are made available immediately, and without condition.

[signed]
Lord* Alexandra DuVoutte
Baroness of Trent, and of Hathington
First Baroness of the Privy Council
Acting Lord Chamberlain

*The English title "Lord" is used in place of the Rotovian title "L'Ord" (meaning "my master") which is considered gender neutral. Some Rotovian nobles may make use of the title "Lady" to distinguish gender for foreigners, but it is not a common practice.

Zanski's Autonomous Valuable Materials International (AVMI) would like to buy an oil field for $15 billion.
We would also like to invite you to our nation, which's natives, Gharrakans, are related to arabs.
we would also like to invest in the stability of your government by maybe sending a few hundred troops to aid your fledgeling socialidst government.

Well, that's to be expected... Jai thought, watching the news on the television in his office, We don't make a promising investment, so other less-principled nations try and jump on it.

Reaching down, Jai grabbed a jelly donut and nibbled on it, thoughtfully.
Well, I suppose we'll just have to devalue this resource and its current administration, then.

-------------------------------------------------

An unmarked black van with tinted windows approaches the Al Khals border under cover of night, slowly yet smoothly. The dusty desert road kicks up clouds of sand in its wake as the road it travels on winds up to the border crossing.

Inside the van are two men, clad in the garb of the region, who look foreign yet well-versed in local customs and respectful of the land in which they enter. The driver gnaws on the burnt stub of a cigar, unwilling to take his eyes off the road to fetch a new one, as the passenger does a quick survey of the back of the van to make sure everything is in place and well-hidden. Then, as they approach the border guard, he slides back into his seat and buckles up.

The van decelerates to a stop upon reaching the border gate, and the driver tosses his cigar butt out the window as he waits for a guard.

In the wake of the socialist revolution in Al-Khals, Credit Vetalia has announced its downgrading of all outstanding governmental debt to a rating of CCC, with several major banks disclosing potential losses stemming from the likely default of the Al Khals government on these loans. The debt market was generally unchanged on the matter due to the relatively low amount of Al Khals debt although there was a brief spike in the price of Vetalian 10-year bonds...

Credit Vetalia has also issued a statement regarding sovereign bonds. These notes, denominated in Vetalian rubles have been downgraded to a higher B rating consistent with the reduced threat to their inherent value and some confidence in the ability of the new government to service its obligations. However, as of their disclosure all Al-Khals debt is now classified as speculative grade.

The Resi embargo doesn't really surprise Qottar and his top officials, but it is still far from good news. Their concern is only for how long it will last, and how far it will spread.

When other nations begin to offer aid and what Omar happily perceives as bribes and flattery, his concern lessens, or is at least passed-off to less important people who can be given offices and titles and paid to have stress-related illnesses on the President's behalf.

Axmanland

This offer almost seems too good to believe. Many of Qottar's revolutionary allies have been calling for a Marxian-inspired cultivation of wasteland -in Al Khals' case, desert-, which Omar himself had considered unrealistic.

In response to Axmanland's proposition, however, the Ba'ath Party drafts a resolution for the mobilisation of an industrial army for agriculture, using the neglected 1,700 year old White Canal, which has begun to reshape its banks and to meander aimlessly, to irrigate an area of potentially several thousand square kilometres for the cultivation of opium poppies.

Qottar appoints a diplomatic team to establish an embassy in Axmanland, lead by a former Major in the rebel army, Said al-Dahabi, who will become ambassador to Axmanland.

While the security situation in Via'di'arl is far from clear, Qottar insists that all is well and the Ba'ath Party is in full control, and invites Axmanland to take-over the grounds of the former Resi embassy* to the Sultanate.

Tolvan

Meeting in the chaotic chambers of a bunker, designed to shelter the family of the Sultan's brother and recently discovered by Ba'ath militia, as its rooms are searched and files rifled through by Republican Guard intelligence officers, Qottar and top Party officials discuss the offer put by Tolvanic Petroleum.

Fariq (Lt.General- the President being Supreme General) Asim Abdelal, the new Al Khali Defence Minister hurriedly appointed by Qottar, is wary of the deal, saying that it might set a precedent that the Republic does not wish to follow, allowing foreign corporations to demand compensation, "for the repossession of resources plundered from the people".

Ultimately, the President orders that the $3million be paid to TP, and RBC be invited to send representatives and experts on the condition that the pay-off -however small it may have been- be kept quiet. In fact, the KSU, Qottar's secret police, totally unknown to the outside world because, before the final victory, they had existed only undercover amongst partisan units and have reported directly to Omar himself, is ordered to recover the sum from the Sultan's private wealth and divert it to TP during the chaotic process of wholesale nationalisation of the Sultan's multi-billion dollar fortune.

Call to Power

This offer is more keenly accepted by the Arab Republic.

In practice, though, no small part of the $120 billion will end up in Party hands, as aid flows in, private wealth is seized by the state, more private wealth is desperately snatched away by foreign investors and fleeing capitalists and royals, and numerous pre-revolutionary institutions collapse or are replaced.

Food aid, on the other hand, is quickly secured by Party militias and distributed to great fanfare. "The Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party provides for the people!" one officer cries as he tosses bags of grain from a truck, "The rich nations of the world are with President Qottar!" yells another.

More worryingly, there is no clear indication of just how long it will take for oil to begin flowing at a meaningful rate. Here and there a few tokenist projects are undertaken as former rebel forces turn on a small pump or break open a warehouse full of drums, always with cameras on hand to record the progress, but production appears to be in the tens of thousands of barrels per day at the very best, where as the Sultanate was turning out millions, and potential daily production capacities are frequently estimated to be in the tens of millions of barrels.

Presently, the Party is consuming most of the oil to operate a handful of powerstations in vital areas and to run government and military vehicles, while offering a few export gestures when it seems most important to do so.

Rotovia

This donation will be even more seriously plundered than the larger one from Call to Power, Party leaders and Generals seeing the gesture more as a gift to the new establishment than as development aid. Still, it has the effect of buying Rotovian officials limited access to the Arab Republic, as a special single-room office over-seen by Lt.General Abdelal is the only one issuing Party-approved visas worth a damn in the immediate aftermath of the revolutionary victory.

Zanski

There is more hesitation from the Ba'athists at this point, as Qottar and his advisers argue over how to deal with their petrochemical potential.

In the short term, a diplomatic exchange is approved, with Al Khali diplomats being briefed and dispatched to establish firm relations with Zanski. Hesitantly, Qottar approves the deployment of a small force from the nation, not more than 900 strong, to assist in hunting for elements of the former regime and to fly the flag of friendship. Qottar wants to be seen as a leader who will not shut Al Khals off from the world, as the Sultan long warned that the Ba'athists would turn the nation into a pariah state.

Resi and Vetali

I've been sat here for too long, and have to get going, but I'll get back to you soon enough. Watch this space!

*I just wanted to check that you don't mind too much, Resi, if I assume that you had an embassy to the Sultanate, which we are now handing over to Axmanland's use. It's probably not very important, I just wanted to add mention of that to show something of Qottar's attitude.

of course our troops will only be used to further your contries stability, and not for my imperial interests.

"We welcome our comrades into power in Al Khals and offer them immediate financial aid. As fellow Arab nation, we hope to vastly improve relations with Al Khals. Hallad's own Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party is itself part of the ruling coalition of the Arab Worker's Republic, the Arab Socialist Union. Hallad knows particularly well of how oil can be the life-blood of many Arab nations and has therefore made funds available to invest in the oil sector in Al Khals."

Talal Ghazi
People's Commissar of Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs
The Arab Worker's Republic of Hallad

In the throne room of the grand palace of king axman Boris Burgeon the minister for trade and industry ( a middle aged man with a receding hairline a slight paunch and fingernails bitten to the nub due to his love of stimulants) throws open the doors and enters dabbing at the sweat on his thick neck with a with a handkerchief

"Great news most wonderful wise and benevolent of rulers"
he exclaimed rearranging his bulk and allowing him to kneel before the high king "the great rulers of Al Khals have accepted your offer and are sending a trade delegation... if we handle this well show them all the respect a sovereign people should expect and we could all be up to our necks in raw opium by November"

After delivering such good news he risked raising his head and looking up at the high king...........Axman had come a long way since his early days as head of the largest drug cartel in the country standing at six foot three inches tall he was less powerfully built these days due to the many chemicals he ingested daily ravaging his system...........but the eyes sparkled and shone with the keen intellect of a crazed genius

"Excellent!" roared the king and began pacing up and down in front of the throne as he explained what he wanted done
"With this kind of volume we can have the refineries working day and night. We will be the largest producer of morphine and diamorphine in the region, even accounting for the vast quantities our own people will consume their will be plenty left over for export" he said rubbing his hands together in glee

"yes my lord" said Boris carefully calculating what his own cut would be " the international medical market"...............

"INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL MARKET" screamed king Axman pointing his leather gloved finger at the suddenly quivering minister " you fool in many states these chemicals are illegal rare and...........very very expensive"
Turning to a royal guard he began whispering " use our intelligence network and the contact book from the old cartel days, in the right hands an ounce of pure diamorphine is worth tens of thousands rather than a measly few hundred"

"aye my lord" said the guard clasping his arm across his body in salute but as he tuned to go king Axman grabbed his arm, the guard was startled by the fierce strength in those long bony fingers
"one more thing" said the king peering suspiciously at his minister for trade "I don't trust him hes fat, he wobbles when he walks and i think he's trying to steal my thoughts"
the gaurd simply nodded understanding what needed done
"i live to serve my king" was all he said

"good,good"mumbled the king distractedly nodding in an offhand way "and tell my oldest son he has been promoted to the diplomatic corps i need to show the Al Khals that we value this agreement and sending my own son is the best way to do it"

as he walked to the door the guard drew his sword and hacked at the ex-minister for trade brutally dispatching him with an overhand slash to the neck and stooping down to drag the body out with him

"good good said king Axman" running his hand through his long lank black hair "now bring me a sample of that Al Khal opium ...... one really shouldn't be prepared to sell something without being VERY very familiar with it".

Resi

Armed with a Škorpion vz.61 machine-pistol on his hip, while his partner hangs back with a vz.48b submachine-gun slung around his neck, leaning on a mud-walled shack that serves as their checkpoint headquarters, a border guard in olive drab fatigues recently stripped of their royalist badges, which are yet to be replaced by emblems of the Republic, approaches the left hand window of the van. He speaks in Arabic to quiz the duo on their intentions. Why are they coming to Al Khals when it is having a revolution, he asks, peering inside the cabin and chewing hard on some gum.

Vetalia

Those concerned by the possibility of the new government failing to uphold some of the obligations of the old one are not unjustified in being so. The Ba'athists have won no small amount of support for their cause by calling the Sultan a western lackey who did not think twice about labouring the Al Khali people with his debts, and in order to justify this campaign it is likely that the new Arab Socialist administration will have to take some risky action -or inaction- with respect to international finances, even if the Sultanate's dealings weren't always as dodgey as they may have made out.

On the other hand, foreign aid in the form of currency does mean that Qottar's government isn't exactly flat broke, and at this stage it is impossible to say exactly which way things will go.

Hallad

Halladi approaches to the Arab Republic are interesting at the least. The possibility of finding an established ideological ally is appealing, especially if it is one that can help to lift the economy in the proper way. Of course there is always a danger that those of generally like mind can become all the more bitter as enemies for uncovering those most minor of differences, and so initially Via'di'arl dispatches embassy staff to Hallad and invites a friendship delegation to foster early relations.

axmanland

It might seem that the son of a reigning monarch would be the least welcome of guests in a formative Arab Socialist Republic that had only days earlier deposed its own iron-fisted Sultan, but the heir to axmanland's throne would find the Al Khali Ba'athists surprisingly accommodating. The nation has more than its share of palaces, upmarket hotels, and other establishments fit for a prince, and a combination of the collapse of one strong-arm administration and the inexperience and relatively social liberalism of the formative government made for an unusually loose time in this predominantly Muslim land.

In parts, people were drinking, dancing, expressing affection in public, and various city districts were in full party mode, though many people were really quite unsure as to how to enjoy themselves. A drug addict could do well. Or very, very badly.

["'one more thing' said the king peering suspiciously at his minister for trade 'I don't trust him hes fat, he wobbles when he walks and i think he's trying to steal my thoughts'" That has to be the most amusing thing I've read today.]

"We're mercenaries," the man who recently spat out the cigar claims, reaching into a cigar box on his dashboard for a new one, "Blackwater, you know."
He flashes the boarder guard a legitimate-looking ID and credentials. His name, "Gerald Tahoe", is printed in bold across the top.
"We're here looking for work, and figured this should be a pretty easy area to find a job in. I'm sure your new government would be more than happy to hire us rather than risk some of your own valuable men in mopping up loyalist factions here and there. So, we're here to meet with some people and figure out something that would benefit both us and your new management."

The man next to Gerald nudges him slightly with his elbow, and Gerald seems to remember something.
"Oh, er, yeah," he coughs, "I brought my old M-16, and Leeroy here brought his own Beretta 98's. We have licenses for them and everything, kind of need them in our line of work."

State Communique of the People's Republic of Socialist New Oceania

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To: President Omar Qottar of the Arab Republic of Al Khals
From: The Central Committee of the Party of Ingsoc, People's Republic of Socialist New Oceania

The Central Committee of the Party of Ingsoc, which is the highest organ of political and executive power in New Oceania, supports and expresses it's solidarity with the victory of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party in it's just revolution in Al Khals.

New Oceania celebrates another victory in the global march towards socialism and collectivism in our revolutionary struggle against the rule of capital and the bourgeoisie and the degenerate ideology of human individualism.

The Central Committee of the Party of Ingsoc wishes to establish party to party relations between the Party of Ingsoc and the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party of Al Khals.

The Central Committee of the Party of Ingsoc wishes to establish diplomatic relations with Al Khals and to sign a treaty of mutual defence and friendship to develop economic, defence, political, diplomatic, cultural and social co-operation between our two great socialist and collectivist societies.

"The Republic surely does not wish to our two nations to become ideological adversaries. In order to foster good diplomatic relations, we wish to send a diplomatic envoy to Al Khals to meet with representatives so that more official relations between our two nations can be formed. We certainly have interest in trade agreement and more permanent diplomatic representation in Al Khals -- a consulate or perhaps an embassy."

Talal Ghazi
People's Commissar of Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs
The Arab Worker's Republic of Hallad

Resi

The border guard is obviously a little suspicious at this point, and he takes his time in scrutinising the documents. With the current upheaval, he seems hesitant about his rights and responsibilities. As he wonders at the wisdom of approaching the borders of a state in revolutionary turmoil and declaring posession of military-grade arms, his free hand wanders on to the butt of his still-holstered machine-pistol, the other still thumbing through identification documents.

Noticing this, his idle comrade straightens up and ceases to lean on the wall. His early Cold War era Czechoslovakian submachine-gun moves from being slung loose around his neck to hanging from his right shoulder with one hand resting on the receiver as if to reassure the holder that it is still there.

"I think I'll have to ask you to wait while I call Command." Says the inspecting officer, "It may be a while, some of the phonelines are out of operation due to the revolution, and there are new proceedures with the radio."

He begins to head back to the checkpoint's small building, taking the offered papers with him and glancing back over his shoulder.

Socialist New Oceania

Via'di'arl's new boss seems happy to open relations with the People's Republic, and opens up embassy grounds while putting together his own diplomatic team. Qottar stops short of agreeing to any binding defence agreement, not yet knowing much of the potential enemies he may make by aligning with the Party of Ingsoc.

Preliminary trade links are another matter.

Hallad

The Ba'ath Party's responses continue to be generally positive towards Hallad, and Al Khals is indeed prepared to exchange ambassadors and work on greater ties between the Arab Republic and the Arab Worker's Republic.

[Sorry that things were a little brief, today!]

Via'di'arl, Al Khals

Via'di'arl, ancient pre-Muslim city of the mysterious canal builders who shaped much of what would become the Al Khali Sultanate and, recently, the Arab Republic of Al Khals. Date palms and crumbling palaces line the banks of man-made waterways that rake the low-rise sprawl like tilled furrows, from which life springs.

Few of these urban crops rise higher than the minarets, save perhaps some distant refinery stacks, dormant since the revolution. The city, too, is oddly quiet. There has been no call to prayer today, and there is little traffic of any kind, not even pedestrians or a one of the nation's seven million camels. The Ba'ath Party is still cultivating its rule, and for the general population it is a harvest of uncertainty that sustains the status quo.

In one of the city's more affluent neighbourhoods, what once was the Royal School of Economics plays host to a vast assembly. Party faithful and revolutionary heroes, along with tribal leaders still influential in these hesitant days of Republican infancy crowd by the hundred into a hall where they are seated before a low stage. Upon this a handful of the Arab Republic's movers and shakers, but no Omar Qottar, he has a relatively inconspicuous place in the front row of seats on the floor.

Most of those on the stage are engaged in violently quizzing a single fellow stood between two uniformed Ba'athists at the front of the main aisle.

"Will you stand here and bring more shame on your people by such denials in front of so many of our brothers?"

"But these things are not true! I have supported the movement for all of my life! I was at T'krat! Brothers! I am Faysal al-Mahdi! Wahda! Hurriya! Ishtirakiya! Brothers!"

The man's voice was breaking as he was frog-marched back up the aisle and out into the courtyard, invisible from this location, still protesting his innocence and crying out the Party's motto. The scene was recorded for posterity by a twenty-odd year old television camera, which captured images of President Qottar's quiet expression of disappointment as he bowed his head and appeared to cover his face as if shedding a tear while two loud cracks rang out, Vz.58 assault rifle reports to those in the know.

Qottar looked up, stoney faced once more as another name was called-out by one of the figures on stage, and guards returned to haul a second person from the assembly and bring him to the front where he would be denounced in turn.

Needless to say, there were no plans to release the recorded footage any time soon.

Muslims, not just muslims, COMMUNIST muslims. If there was one thing that filled a Nicksyllvanian with disgust more then a muslim, or a communist, it was the combination of both into a perverse abomination. And being that it is the sacred duty of the Nicksyllvanian master race to eliminate such abominations, a prudent response needed to be organised. The prospect of oil was only icing on the cake.

Attention filthy Communist dogs
The Ever Glorious Greater New Nicksyllvanian Empire will not recognise this illegitimate communist state following our foreign doctrine of not recognising any communist state. Furthermore, for the unrightful takeover the Nicksyllvanian Empire is suspect of the abilities of the new government to suitably develop their nation, and be capable of contributing positively to the global economy in the same manner as the previous government.
While we find your regime utterly despiable, we cannot ignore the suffering of your people, hence as a humanitarian effort, the Nicksyllvanian Empire requests access and drilling rights to Al Khal oil for the Imperial Nicksyllvanian State Corporation, to develop infrastructure and provide employment for you starving population.
Failure to take advantage of our generous offer will result in the military and economic blockade of Al Khad, and the possibilities of hostile actions undertaken upon your nation.

Kommissariat of Foreign Affairs, Adolf von Schiller

While other countries were busy formulating Heated Demands and Statements, the Kapitalistic Kommunes of Moorington leap frogged from surprise- to action. Moorington is not a country that enjoys sending its boys (and a handful of girls) over into distant territories so that vaguely defined, and even less valuable Principles can be Supported- so when any action, any action at all, is taken, it is done with a sesame coat of caution, a light sprinkling of foresight, and battered in a coat of brilliance.

One famous politician once said, "See, now Moorington... Moorington doesn't stand 'for' things. No, we don't get into ideology fights... What we do, is stand 'on' things. No... Don't laugh, that's what we do. We leave talking and pompous processions for other states... Like Abream- what we do is get down in there and beat the stuffing out of whom ever."

In other words, Moorington, when it does throw itself into the ring, does so with a complete and total determination to win; she did not want to see another sunrise, without the head of every single Ba'ath Socialist stuck onto a pike -a barbaric tradition, remnant, of when the knight was the equivalent of a wrecking ball still done in the modern army- and she was willing to go the distance on this one, the tide of Moorish aggression would break... And flood Al Khals with total war.

The first response from Moorington was small, a selection of Special Forces teams were loaded up onto helicopters for a short flight, across the desert sands, to the capital. As the helicopters touched down on the ground- on the outskirts of town, several pagers and cell phones throughout the country rang- while Al Khals was not nearly as infiltrated as many in the high command wanted, there were still many competent 'cells' within Al Khals which were now under the direct command of Otto Theodoric Trugen von Ludendorf, CinC: Al Khals.

As the helicopters were dropping off their payload with as much caution as they could muster, throughout the country Moorish cells were un-covering their long dormant weapon caches. Slowly built up over the years with Moorish money, and Al Khals' significant black market exchange- the cells themselves were generally limited to only 3 to 5 members, and thus these arms caches shouldn't have exceeded more then a handful of AR's and RPG's. However, these Arabs being these Arabs, and free Moorish money being free Moorish money, these resourceful agents had gone on a exciting and wild spending spree, apparently- if Moorington knew what is had been funding, likely more than a few exclamations of 'Dear God' and 'My ass is covered' would be hard throughout "Krieg Strasse."

For most caches included anti-tank mines, Stinger missiles, a selection of BAR's, SAW's, a mighty collection of C-4/Semtex, several hundred magazines for pistols, AR's, along with several dozen pistols, AR's (AK-47's being the most common, but with a collection of others, including Belgium's relatively new AR model), RPG's, grenades, and even throwing knives. This of course was the 'Average.' Most had something exceedingly Special, something they were most Proud of, their real coup; several cells had various calibers of artillery, one had a brand new Russian T-80, a few had a good motor pool of American Hummers and South African APCs, and one even had a aging, but still quite serviceable, disassembled Soviet SAM site under a tarp in their backyard.

The first, and likely only warning, that the Al Khal government could've noticed, was the elimination of one of their radar installations along the chosen route of the helicopters- taken out with the help of several of the cells, and liberal use of RPGs, AK-47s and C-4. That and a message sent which begged Omar Qottar to give up; a Muslim tradition of giving one chance for peace before death that the Moorish government allowed.

"We of Hallad consider the people of Al Khals our comrades and muslim brothers, and we should like to note that the Republic will not, and will never, take kindly to western involvement in Arab affairs. If Nicksyllvania seeks to start an oil war, then Hallad will come to the aid of its comrades in Al Khals. We will respond with overwhelming military force in the defense of Al Khals."

Premier Hasan Muhammad
The Arab Worker's Republic of Hallad

SIC:

A small dark grey van approaches the borders of Al Khal from the north, and stops at the border to wait for the border guard. The driver had a valid passport for entry, and he was chewing Wrigley's Big League Chew gum, and what the guards could not see in the back were 4 men, wearing unmarked uniforms, carrying small radios, and cameras, and also .32 ACP silenced pistols. This was an infiltration project of the highest degree. They also carried small packs of C-4 in the back.

The driver however, looked like a normal Al Khal citizen, and in fact was recruited for this purpose. It would not attract suspicion, he would just hand his passport, and they would drive on through.

New Nicksyllvania

The Al Khali Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party's response to von Sciller's approach was... absolutely nothing. Outwardly, at least. Within the Arab Republic, the KSU, Qottar's shifty ultra-loyalist revolutionaries-cum-secret-police, added a new element to a secret black-list, making it not just legal but essentially obligatory to abduct, detain, and interrogate anyone even suspected of association, even by proxy, with anyone or anything linked to New Nicksyllvania should it ever fall within the Unit's power to do so. There was not a peep of a diplomatic reply.

Moorington

It had to be said that however imposing was the Al Khali landscape and the massed ranks of the Arab Socialist militias and nominally sympathetic tribes, the Sultanate hadn't exactly left Qottar's Republic a great inheritence in terms of modern military equipment. The Sultan never saw much need for it. He felt safe so long as he kept supplying the petrochemicals that potential aggressors wanted, and kept the Socialists quietly in check, for which he had little need for extensive radar coverage over thousands of square kilometres of desert or advanced air-defence fighters or missiles.

As such, taking out one radar post along the way does indeed enable the helicopter insertion to succeed so long as pilots are good enough to navigate safely and accurately through the dunes and mountains to remain beyond detection. Resistance around the scene of the attacked installation amounts to a lot of shouting and a bit of wild firing from the hip, and quickly melts away.

Qottar was not quick to receive and consider the request for his surrender, having rather a lot of business on his plate already. When he did receive it, he did not take it seriously until reports of the attack on the radar station began to come in, and KSU operatives reported unusual helicopter sightings by some nomads and caravan traders coming into the capital. The President quickly retreated to one of the Sultan's old bunkers, essentially a sunken palace, and Fariq (Lt.Gen.) Abdelaziz Mahamat's Republican Guard 1st Tkrat, “Habob Division” was put on alert and sent on to the city streets along with paramilitary units.

Sixty M1A2-AK Al Khali Abrams battle tanks and ninety Khali infantry fighting vehicles similar to the Turkish ACV-300 were soon on the streets as the best that the Republican Guard could muster from the Sultanate's stockpiles, but nobody really knew what they were looking for or how real was the threat.

Hallad

Increasingly troubled by international hostility, which while not entirely unexpected is a realistic threat to his brand new administration, President Qottar sends to Premier Hasan Muhammad fresh word of his willingness to strengthen ties and to work, "economically, militarilly, and politically in harmony with the Arab Socialist brotherhood as represented by Al Khals and Hallad" and invites Halladi observers and advisors to work with the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party as it tries to put the nation, its economy, and its military back on their feet.

Calizorinstan

Northern Al Khals is mostly remote from the shifting sands further south, divided from them by semi-tropical strips and characterised by dry, dusty highlands in which peaks break what little cloud the nation gets and cause the rainfall between north and south. Here may be found Qottar's small home town of T'krat and a bedrock of Ba'athist support. The secular militias were born here and sheltered in the hills before mustering strength enough to push across the sands and strike at the Sultan.

Depending on how one goes about it, the border can be a deathtrap or a revolving door. Goat tracks have been used for centuries to cross back and forth as sheperds seek what little pasture is to be found, and, being poor as they are, isolated from the relative prosperity of the southern cities, many here are not above taking bribes. On the other hand, the misfortune to come across a fanatical Ba'athist here is shared by many who bear the Republic ill will, and tribal justice is still often meted out with medieval ferocity.

Having stopped at a checkpoint, the incoming party has perhaps a small window through which the proper assurances -in the past these were printed on yellow-green paper, now, with the Sultan's currency out of favour, they come in the form of consumer electronics, gold watches, jewels, and so forth- may be passed before the border guards lose patience and turn foul.

The problem was that the new Arab Republic wasn't sure if it wanted to continue to recognise documentation from the Sultan's era, and the Arab Socialist movement was especially suspicious of those who had the means and need under the Sultanate to travel abroad. Anyone returning now, it seemed, was likely to have gone abroad on business, to flogg Al Khali resources to neo-imperialists in the west, and so they were all to be treated as potential enemies of the revolution.

As with the individuals from Resi, the Calizorinstanis would face a significant delay and a lot of scrutiny from armed border guards, mostly in ill temper due to the delay in organising their pay packets after the fall of the Sultanate.

"I would be delighted to do all I can to get Al Khals back on its feet."

Premier Hasan Muhammad
The Arab Worker's Republic of Hallad

Given that Hallad had very few allies ideologically similar to itself -- it had socialist allies, of course, but Arab Socialists were hard to come by in this day and age -- the National Worker's Assembly voted immediately to send an aid package to Al Khals. The aid incuded $400 Billion in loans, with the prospect of more at a future date, and the allocation of surplus military equipment to Al Khals. Older equipment was rounded up immediately, and on its way within the day. Among it were a dozen Desert Raider medium tanks, which were Halladi copies of the T-80 with extensive modernisation, three dozen Halladi S100 'Hawk' armoured personnel carriers, and around two dozen Halladi 'Merekat I' infantry fighting vehicles. Also, various towed artillery was included in the package, including older, somewhat outdated anti-aircraft artillery.

On route to Al Khals immediately in a Halladi governmental jet were a team of Halladi tactical advisors, some thirty officers, and a Halladi diplomat and his staff.

The Imperial Empire of Talemetros, wishes to open talks with al khals and to invest in the oil industry, in exchange for a 20% share, and exclusive right to build new wells we will pay 340,000,000 million dollars each year

Calizorinstan

Northern Al Khals is mostly remote from the shifting sands further south, divided from them by semi-tropical strips and characterised by dry, dusty highlands in which peaks break what little cloud the nation gets and cause the rainfall between north and south. Here may be found Qottar's small home town of T'krat and a bedrock of Ba'athist support. The secular militias were born here and sheltered in the hills before mustering strength enough to push across the sands and strike at the Sultan.

Depending on how one goes about it, the border can be a deathtrap or a revolving door. Goat tracks have been used for centuries to cross back and forth as sheperds seek what little pasture is to be found, and, being poor as they are, isolated from the relative prosperity of the southern cities, many here are not above taking bribes. On the other hand, the misfortune to come across a fanatical Ba'athist here is shared by many who bear the Republic ill will, and tribal justice is still often meted out with medieval ferocity.

Having stopped at a checkpoint, the incoming party has perhaps a small window through which the proper assurances -in the past these were printed on yellow-green paper, now, with the Sultan's currency out of favour, they come in the form of consumer electronics, gold watches, jewels, and so forth- may be passed before the border guards lose patience and turn foul.

The problem was that the new Arab Republic wasn't sure if it wanted to continue to recognise documentation from the Sultan's era, and the Arab Socialist movement was especially suspicious of those who had the means and need under the Sultanate to travel abroad. Anyone returning now, it seemed, was likely to have gone abroad on business, to flogg Al Khali resources to neo-imperialists in the west, and so they were all to be treated as potential enemies of the revolution.

As with the individuals from Resi, the Calizorinstanis would face a significant delay and a lot of scrutiny from armed border guards, mostly in ill temper due to the delay in organising their pay packets after the fall of the Sultanate.

As the first border guard approached, the driver fished out his passport and handed it to the guard. What the guard didn't see, is the driver had a concealed OSS silenced pistol. If they had to, they would silently kill the guard. But, the driver figured he had ways to get through. He knew they'd be heavily scrutinized by the border guards.

The rather abrupt overthrow of the Al Khali Sultan threw the Totalitarian State of Red Tide for a bit of a loop. Red Tide had imported hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil daily from Al-Khal, but the sudden overthrow of the Sultan and the cut-off in production had sent Red Tide reeling. The Red Tidean Rubles international value, already low due to Red Tides inherent economic weakness, dropped again following the Coup.

The Red Tidean Government knew that in order to keep it's war industries and agriculture humming along, it would have to have oil. Therefore a decision was made...

Official Statement from TSRT Government
"The Totalitarian State of Red Tide congratulates the Al Khali Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party in achieving power and officially recognises it as the legal government of the Arab Republic of Al Khal. The State inquires as to the possibilaty of a diplomatic visit by the Red Tidean Foreign Minister to discuss various topics of concern that involve the Totalitarian State and the Arab Republic.

We hope to hear from you soon."
End Message

Moorington

It had to be said that however imposing was the Al Khali landscape and the massed ranks of the Arab Socialist militias and nominally sympathetic tribes, the Sultanate hadn't exactly left Qottar's Republic a great inheritence in terms of modern military equipment. The Sultan never saw much need for it. He felt safe so long as he kept supplying the petrochemicals that potential aggressors wanted, and kept the Socialists quietly in check, for which he had little need for extensive radar coverage over thousands of square kilometres of desert or advanced air-defence fighters or missiles.

As such, taking out one radar post along the way does indeed enable the helicopter insertion to succeed so long as pilots are good enough to navigate safely and accurately through the dunes and mountains to remain beyond detection. Resistance around the scene of the attacked installation amounts to a lot of shouting and a bit of wild firing from the hip, and quickly melts away.

Qottar was not quick to receive and consider the request for his surrender, having rather a lot of business on his plate already. When he did receive it, he did not take it seriously until reports of the attack on the radar station began to come in, and KSU operatives reported unusual helicopter sightings by some nomads and caravan traders coming into the capital. The President quickly retreated to one of the Sultan's old bunkers, essentially a sunken palace, and Fariq (Lt.Gen.) Abdelaziz Mahamat's Republican Guard 1st Tkrat, “Habob Division” was put on alert and sent on to the city streets along with paramilitary units.

Sixty M1A2-AK Al Khali Abrams battle tanks and ninety Khali infantry fighting vehicles similar to the Turkish ACV-300 were soon on the streets as the best that the Republican Guard could muster from the Sultanate's stockpiles, but nobody really knew what they were looking for or how real was the threat.

Moorington's Special Directive Units -SDU for short- were all young men and women at the peak of the physical, mental and emotional strength. Their training, even by the standards of truly phenomenal Special Forces in other countries, was exceptional and by all accounts- more then enough to blend in easily into the country, with a selection of cells more then eager to be 'part of' the action and bring them into their large extended families as a obscure relative of some sort.

Inside the family compounds of Al Khals, were family took precedence over state and the proletariat, the Special Directive Unit task force was armed with a wild assortment of the aforementioned weapons- which was also a necessity for an inconspicuous identity in the streets of the capital; the people who didn't carry a gun stood out much worse then those who drove around in armored caravans of Sports Utility Vehicles,

Obviously, Moorington's first interest is in the economics of the operation- mainly, there would be minimal damage of certain industries that needed protection (oil being the main one) and others that were deemed 'acceptable economic losses' (like telecommunications). Also, the plight of the 'common man' was not taken into consideration- it was briefly brought up, but quickly shot down as one strategist bluntly put it "this is the common mans fault, and he should be taught that for every action, there is a equal and opposite reaction."

Therefore, infrastructure, general terrorizing and other such tactics were green lighted, and encouraged.

The first targets were chosen with care- for their vulnerability mostly, not for their contribution to one side or another. For what this attack lacked in 'actual' damage to the war effort of Qottar it would more then make up for with its sophistication and engineering. A staggering selection of 2 small eateries, 1 bus, 2 cars, a marketplace, a police station, and a guard post were all selected for bombings- all relatively vulnerable, and especially so with the revolutionary graffiti still wet with the blood of the Sultan.

The bombs were all going to be generic, but rugged, well bit contraptions of death- they were intended to get the most bang for the SDUs' buck; as little hassle as possible. So with the greatest care possible, several members went about the city, and with great caution- laced their deadly cargo across the city.

((Hey, an idea for your next post- could you RP one of your policemen, or two, finding the bomb at the police station and... The marketplace? Defusing them, as all the others go off or something of the sort? I'd think from then on, we'd have a good start- at least a good bang.))

While Halladi co-operation is welcomed into the new Arab Republic, Qottar orders his military-industrial base pursue domestic production of an Al Khali Desert Raider tank derivative in the near future to arm the regular army while the Republican Guard takes control of all Abrams variants in Al Khals.

Of the offer from Talemetros, "340,000,000 million dollars each year"...well, that's three hundred and forty trillion dollars per year. The entire GDP of nation of ten billion people with a per-capital GDP of $34,000 yearly. If that is the intended offer, there is no way that Via'di'arl can turn it down. If it is a typographical error or some other mistake, things may be different.

Calizorinstan

"My friend" says the guard, "you have been outside Al Khals since before the revolution? What have you been doing? Why are you coming back now?"

There were right and wrong answers and actions at this stage. By now it was apparent that, as elsewhere, this border post was staffed by at least two men full time, armed with machine-pistols or submachine-guns.

Red Tide2

The Ba'ath Party looks upon Red Tide's reaction as satisfactory. There had been much debate amongst revolutionaries over the standpoints that may be taken by potential enemies of the movement once it took power. Some felt that the world would come down on Al Khals, others that leaders do not become leaders without showing at least a little pragmatism. In this case, those supporting the latter idea appear to be vindicated.

The Red Tidean Foreign Minister is issued a special permit to make a diplomatic visit to the Arab Republic, and invited to T'krat, Omar Qottar's remote home town in the north. The reason for this being chosen over Via'di'arl is not made clear, though it may have something to do with the security situation.

Moorington

Actually, I'm going to have to get back to you, sorry!

Moorington

Actually, I'm going to have to get back to you, sorry!

Okay, you hax0r.

Via'di'arl

A sudden increase in the lock-down of the Republican capital was the signal that members of Lt.General Abdelaziz Mahamat's Habob Division Republican Guards had discovered a suspected car bomb in a residential district.

The discovery did not avert the detonation of a second car bomb, nor an attack on a police station, as several explosions rumbled through the ancient city.

One blast took the front off two houses outside one of which the car was parked, trapping the entirety of an extended family while neighbours were showered with breaking glass and choked with black smoke. The city's post-revolution lock-down meant that the houses were full at the time of the explosion, and emergency services were hampered by paranoid military controls in the aftermath. State media was soon reporting up to a dozen deaths in the one incident, with two more family members apparently still missing in their collapsed homes.

The old Al Batha market, being by the military used to distribute rations, was evacuated moments before another device detonated, leaving hundreds fleeing while fire ripped through several unoccupied stalls. Several people were injured in a stampeed worsened by the Republican Guard's attempt to contain the situation by shutting-off potential exit points, and shots were fired, the military says, into the air before order was restored.

One police officer was killed and two injured -one of whom has been taken to the central hospital in a life threatening condition- during the concurrent bombing of their station.

It was only at a military checkpoint in the western suburbs that alleged bombers were engaged by security forces after a suspicious device was discovered and attributed by one officer to a couple of men who had only seconds earlier passed through the checkpoint. A dozen regular soldiers on hand were joined by an armoured vehicle of the Republican Gaurd, which was posted near to the strong checkpoint, in firing on what became a small crowd of people as the alleged bombers attempted to flee into its midst. Five were reported killed, and it is not yet clear whether the bombers -alleged or real- were amongst this figure.

The Party's reaction to this sudden string of attacks in the capital is yet to become clear, but it is evident that President Qottar takes a very serious view of the security situation, and more forces are being drafted into the capital.

Just a little bump.