Haor Chall for Minister of External Affairs

Haor Chall for Minister of External Affairs


TNP and the world

As a feeder region, TNP has the potential to be a major player within NationStates. Unfortunately much of this potential remains unused, it is my aim, should I be elected to pursue a foreign policy which I believe will restore TNP to the place it should be in the world order.


But first, a little bit about my experience. I have served about half a term as Deputy Minister and then the rest of the term as MoEA during the first term under the current constitution. Unfortunately the MoEA at the time was inactive almost from the beginning of the term, however we were still able (I think) to achieve a lot and set the basics of how the MoEA and the Diplomatic Corp operates. I think there is still much to be done to extend this and continue to improve the way the MoEA operates. I also have served since then as a member of the DC, as ambassador to a number of regions- currently Nasicournia.


A Realistic Foreign Policy

While the running of the MoEA and the DC is, of course, very important the actual foreign policy they must implement is also crucial. The non-interventionalist, isolationist stance maintained by previous administrations whilst may have been appropriate at the time requires a new perspective.

Ultimately our guiding concern has to be the interests of The North Pacific and her citizens. I believe the only way for us to rebuild TNP as a world power is for us to make our presence felt. A more interventionalist policy, where it is in our interests, should be followed and I think we should make efforts to involve ourselves in any international summits or conventions that occur- attending such events does not commit us to anything but allows us to become more involved and more important in the world.

Improving the Diplomatic Corp

Leading on from that, I would also like to change the way we operate when attending conventions and also when dealing with other regions. Partly due to the inter-connectedness of NationStates it will often be the PM/MoEA or other cabinet member who negotiates with other regions, often because they know someone there or are involved in that other region themselves. Our Ambassadors will be given more flexibility to negotiate on our behalf, which also has the benefit of giving our Ambassadors more purpose than simply posting updates.

As far us updates go, I remain undecided whether weekly or bi-weekly is best. Whether there is enough happening (on average) for a weekly update I am not sure. However, another thought of mine was that if the MoC was to produce articles on a regular basis then we could alternate- with one week posting the latest MoC article and then posting an ‘in-house’ DC update the next.

As far as international conventions go, rather than the PM or MoEA going I would like to see us sending a delegation, consisting perhaps of a senior ambassador, a junior diplomat along to learn the ropes and perhaps a military attaché/advisor from the MoD/NPA depending on the importance of the convention and what it is discussing.

External Affairs and other ministries

Now this is something that I think is important. Previously each ministry has often been quite separated from the others, with little inter-ministry activity. There is the potential for a lot of joint work between both the MoC and the MoEA (updates, etc) and the MoD and the MoEA as it is our military power which, in NationStates, will form a substantial part of how powerful we appear within the world.

Every region and his brother

I see no benefit in opening embassies with every region and his brother(s), however I would like to change the way we look at Embassies. I would prefer that we open Consulates with most regions and then look at full Embassies as something we open with larger, more important regions (like the other feeders for example) or regions who we remain good relationships with that we wish to discuss more with. This also has the advantage of allowing us to implement the DC training program, with new, inexperienced, diplomats starting in a Consulate whilst our more senior diplomats work in our more important embassies.

By Jingo! That imperialism question

Well, its bound to get asked. As it stands, I am not personally opposed to The North Pacific becoming an imperial power. I think it has a lot of potential and would be very interesting to be involved with. However the current position of TNP within the world, and the quality of our military, means I would not consider an imperialist policy as feasible at the moment.

The North Pacific is a world power

I seek to take The North Pacific to new heights as a world power, to restore our international image and to build upon it. We have the potential to become a major force in the world and I think we should not miss the opportunity to do so.

Sir Chall. What is your opinion on the situation that led up to the resignation of Goal from the ministry? How do you believe you would handle a similar situation?

Deikura:

Sir Chall. What is your opinion on the situation that led up to the resignation of Goal from the ministry? How do you believe you would handle a similar situation?

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To be absolutely honest, I didn't realise there was a situation which led him to resign. As far as I am aware he left because he was no longer interested in TNP. If you could explain more what happened that I was unaware of then I will do my best to answer your question.

No problem. What is your view on the soverignty of the embassies and actions that should be taken if visiting diplomats are misbehaving?

Well, it does depend on the situation. While I think embassies are the sovereign territory of the region involved, they are required to follow IF Terms of Service. Therefore, if it was a moderation based decision that they had done something inappropriate action would need to be taken. Beyond that the only other thing to add, is a foreign diplomat cause trouble in someones elses embassy would not be tolerated, especially if said embassy was to make a complaint.

As for what action should be taken, I imagine it would depend on the seriousness of what happened. You do have to be flexible, depending on the exact situation. Again, if it is down to forum admin/moderation then I would leave it to them to deal with the individual and would only go so far as to speak (or get our ambassador in the other region to speak) with their government to have their diplomat replaced if it was very serious or if we had received complaints from other diplomats (in the case of posting in someone elses embassies).

I hope that answers your question.

Is there any region or group in NS that you would not have relations with if they asked to open an embassy/consulate, and why?

Your plans for greater flexibility by the DC are quite interesting. Do you have any plans to improve the day to day enthusiasm among the DC? After all negotiations with some regions rarely arise, and conventions can be few and far between.

flemingovia:

Is there any region or group in NS that you would not have relations with if they asked to open an embassy/consulate, and why?

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I don't believe so. In my view, we should try to make emphasise the distinction between embassies and consulates. Regions with who we aren't especially close to, or we don't necessarily agree are more than welcome to establish consulates (whether they be defender/invader organisation/regions or whatever). Consulates provide a means for us to communicate with regions, like I mentioned above, so that perhaps we may find ways to prevent any disputes between us and perhaps with better communcation we might find that our previous disagreements or distance with them were unfounded, or at least, might change. Consulates, to me, don't suggest any commitment by either side than to talk to each other and I think that is a good thing. There may be cases when a region might apply for an embassy and I might suggest to them a Consulate would be better perhaps (or vice versa) but there are very few cases which I would refuse.

The only cases I can think which we might refuse a Embassy/Consulate are governments which we do not consider to be the legitimate government of the region. However, I would make clear that they can have a special interest section within another regions embassy. If the case of some form of negotiation was then wanted between us and that government (special interest section or not) and we decided to attend then a special envoy (as I mentioned for summits and conventions above) would probably be sent.

I hope that answers your question satisfactorily!

Yep. Good answer.

Namyeknom:

Your plans for greater flexibility by the DC are quite interesting. Do you have any plans to improve the day to day enthusiasm among the DC? After all negotiations with some regions rarely arise, and conventions can be few and far between.

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That is a very good point, an one that isn't easy to address. Unlike the NPA I think it has to be accepted that there won't neccessarily be something for DC members to do every day. However, the things that can be done: Firstly, DC members can look at being Ambassadors to more regions, although I would be careful with that as I wouldn't want them to be going to too many. I imagine something like 3 tops, as a very rough guesstimate guideline. I think we can perhaps have more internal discussion so that there would be, for instance, a topic on TWP in the DC forum area for discussion amongst our diplomats- as the people with the most knowledge in this area- which not helps in terms of activity but I think would be quite helpful as MoEA to have the considerations of the DC before foreign policy decisions.

Also I would like to see TNP hosting more conventions, summits, even just friendly meetings with other regions which will give the DC something to do, in terms of being involved in preparing as well as being involved in those sort of things.

It is also the reason I like the idea of "in-house" updates, that also gives something for DC members to contribute to. Perhaps, in-line with the idea of having more "senior" ambassadors, a training program of sorts could be looked into. Also, in the case of Flemingovias thoughts regarding a "school of NationStates" it would be good to have our DC involved with the foreign affairs aspect of that.

So.... Any more questions..?

The non-interventionalist, isolationist stance maintained by previous administrations whilst may have been appropriate at the time requires a new perspective.

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What situation(s) would you deem worthy of an action resulting in intervention?

Bearing in mind that the NPA is a defender organisation and is "intervening" in regions all the time... Effectively there are two things, firstly (and I know this is more a MoD thing) I think it would be good if there was more information about what the NPA is doing/where it has defended/etc- not only from the perspective that articles about that sort of thing (produced by the MoC or whatever) will help the NPA but from my perspective it gives us something to actually use in the sense that it would give us some way of showing TNP's military capabilities.

I don't mean that we should force our way in and tell regions how to run themselves, but perhaps a greater, and more public, response to requests for help- and to reinforce our image as being willing to help- again as a way (from my perspective) of building up TNP's world image although I believe it would have additional benefits as far as activity goes within the NPA as well.

Since nobody's actually asked it yet (surprisingly enough)...

ADN. Yea, Nay, or We'll See?

What is your view on francoism?

Do you truly feel that the userites are such a risk to the feederites or us?

Hersfold:

Since nobody's actually asked it yet (surprisingly enough)...

ADN. Yea, Nay, or We'll See?

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Sorry for the time its taken in replying, I was on a first aid course yesterday and we've spent most of today out walking.

Hersfold, personally I do not believe it is in TNP's interests to join the ADN. However, if the RA were to vote for it then I would do so. I think that if TNP is to become involved in any alliance/organisation it should be as a leading member, which -in all honesty- we certainly aren't in the position to be at present.

mr_sniffles, an interesting question- especially in light of your succinct description of Francoism for Public Relations HQ. If you don't mind I'll respond tomorrow morning when I have the time to write a full answer.

No problem, HC. Thanks for the response.

mr_sniffles:

What is your view on francoism?

Do you truly feel that the userites are such a risk to the feederites or us?

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Francoism is an interesting idea, as you mention in PRHQ's thread, it is an attempt to transfer a real-world economic theory to NationStates (a game with no interacting economics). In that sense I think it is probably successful, see here for more information. I imagine whether you agree or disagree with Francoism depends a lot on your real-world politics (whether you are left/right on the political spectrum) and also the biases of various in-game institutions and organisations.

I suppose it depends exactly what you mean by "risk". Logically speaking, both Feeders and UCR's are motived by their self-interest which in the semi-economic aspect of Francoism they do potentially have conflicting interests. By and large, there are probably enough nations born into the feeders to supply both the feeder regions themselves and the UCR's. The Francoist argument would be that the UCR's recruitment, however, is taking potentially active nations (which are more important than the vast majority of nations in the feeders with no interest in government activity) away from the feeders.

Also the actions of certain large user-based organisations in the past have, some would suggest, prove they are out to 'conquer' feeders for their own interests. Again, the fact stands it is inherently logical for them to act in what is in their best interests although those run counter to the self-interests of a sovereign feeder. Which you think is "right" depends entirely on where you are yourself I imagine.

If you have not already done so, could you let us know what other regions you have interests in, and at what level?