Foreign Office
Harshhaven, Minister of Foreign Affairs
New Inquisition Foreign Office Update
February 26th, 2011
Reich Chancellor: Tyranna
Reich Elector: Dominius Aurelius
Deputy Reich Chancellor: Joshua IX
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs: Harshhaven
Secretary of State for Military Affairs: Dominius Aurelius
Secretary of State for Home Affairs: Gun Nutty Buddies
Secretary of State for Culture Affairs: Nash
TNIAF Dominant
The TNIAF (The New Inquisition Armed Forces) has continued to go from strength to strength under the leadership of Commander OnderKelkia, with a series of impressive achievements recently. Improved co-ordination and training has led to a consistent string of victories during the past couple of months. A very high proportion of attempted operations have been successful, with delegates overthrown, FRA liberation attempts defeated with ease, and several regions taken in one update on a couple of occasions.
We continue to take pride in our military - protecting our right to invade regions, and cementing our status as a Premier military force in Nationstates. Our most frequent enemies, the FRA, cannot match our strength and skill - and with increased co-operation occuring with our raider and imperialist allies especially the LKE, TBH, LWU, Europeia and Unknown - our cause will continue to go from strength to strength.
Here is a selection of some of the main successful TNIAF operations in February alone:
- New Dragonia
- Marxist Leninist Party
- Leiran
- United Antarctic Commonwealth
- Universal Spaces
- The Blight
- Unicorn Central
- Cilicia
- Zootai Volcanic Islands (Assisting LWU)
- North
- Constanta
- Communist
- London Below
- Somerset and Dorset Republic
- Geneticor (Assisting LKE)
- Erisopia (Assisting LKE)
- The high ground
- The Bloody stump
- Scotland (Reinforcing Europeia)
- The Northwestern Territories
- The Warific
Confirmation of three additional victories yesterday, March 4th, was posted by Commander OnderKelkia
Dominius Aurelius was elected Reich Elector on February 19th after a closely-fought (1 vote difference) election with Frenchman at Heart, who was immediately appointed as Vice Reich Elector. The election was triggered after the previous Reich Elector, C.I.Cerebella, stepped down from the post after many months of service.
From a legal perspective the key role of the Reich Elector is to ensure the legislative process can be completed if the Kaiserin is unable to do so, but on a wider front the Reich Elector is a leadership figure within the region who seeks to promote regional stability and activity through various initiatives.
TUK Inquiry Reports Findings
In November 2010 the seizure of internal control of the region 'The United Kingdom' (TUK) from its elected Government by its Former King George shocked and appalled most UCRs across Nationstates. It was apparent that the seizure was a disaster and spelled the end of TUK, and TNI's response of support to the new regime, apparently due to its non-FRA alignment, became a target for the frustrated masses.
After the TNI government 'U-turned', at first demanding democracy be reinstalled, and then declaring its full opposition to the new TUK regime, many in TNI wondered just how and why their Government got it so wrong. An Inquiry, of 6 senior members of the region to be Chaired by North East Somerset, was set up by Reich Elector C.I. Cerebella, to look into the matter in December.
It reported its findings in late January, claiming the Kaiserin was responsible for misleading the Government to support the new TUK regime, the Reich Chancellor showed poor leadership throughout the crisis, and the Foreign Office proved incapable of putting forwards a coherent message. It criticised the failure of ISIS (The Imperial Security and Intelligence Service) to become involved, and lamented the failure of TNI's government to more actively attempt to work with King George to reinstall democracy when there was still an opportunity to save TUK. Since the crisis, measures have been taken to prevent reoccurrence and bolster TNI diplomacy.
The Chairman's Statement is shown below, and the Full Report can be viewed
here.
Closing statement from the Chairman
I think the Inquiry's findings outline the relative complexity of the situation with regards to what went wrong. It was not so much an error by an individual, as a chain of events which led to one of the worst possible outcomes that TNI could have expected from the events put before us. Ultimately, one must inevitably find the leader of government - the Reich Chancellor - responsible for the government's poor performance, and the Monarch - our Kaiserin - responsible for causing the fiasco to start with. I think when you put an inherently weak leader at the top of government in TNI, and he fails to seek advice from the right people or get a grasp upon a situation as it spirals out of control, then you are always going to be entering dangerous waters.
But what surprised everyone is just how the situation managed to be handled so badly, over such a long period of time, before it was salvaged - just how slowly the government reacted and how poorly they cleaned up the mess created by their decisions. And furthermore, just how the government failed to grasp opportunities to recover from the situation, always taking what it deemed to be the easiest option, rather than the right one.
Inevitably one realises that had a competent and active Foreign Secretary been in government, this would have never been the fiasco it was. The Foreign Secretary failed to take any responsible action throughout the period, and clearly did not have an adequate grasp of TNI affairs. Failure to replace him was critical. One also realises that if the Director General of ISIS had been more proactive and able to address the matter at an early stage, the Kaiserin would have not been able to lead us all on this wild goose chase. What we do know is, all the safeguards failed, and as with any disaster, we have to address both the causes and fix the safeguards, to prevent reoccurence.
I believe the chance of the present government, with a different Reich Chancellor and a different Foreign Minister, of making the same kind of mistake, are small. Indeed, if the findings of the Inquiry are implemented properly and quickly, I am confident that the chances will be smaller still, and for my peace of mind and yours, I hope that occurs. But we must always be vigilant. One final safeguard that failed, that is much harder to rectify with legislation, is the Cabinet as a body. In the Cabinet we have the Ministers, as well as various others with access such as myself for administrative, or advisory purposes. Had all these people been paying more attention and being more proactive, again the fiasco could have been avoided. I will make it my personal resolution to do everything in my power to ensure we never see a repeat of this appalling fiasco.
Thankfully, though we still have to clear the mess left behind, and indeed the legacy of a long standing complacency regarding our external relationships and image, this event is now behind us. I hope the two key culprits behind it will learn their lesson and not put themselves in a position where they can cause so much damage to TNI through their incompetence again. I hope the recommendations of the Inquiry are heeded and implemented exactly as described to plug the holes in our safeguards. I hope the current government will continue to repair the damage, and that we will emerge from our hour of darkness, into broad, sunlit uplands.
I thank all the members of the Inquiry for accepting their positions; and for their contributions, time and effort in producing the above extremely thorough and well considered document. Although it took considerably more time than we first anticipated, I think the quality of the document speaks for itself, and the unanimous signing of the Final Report is a testament to it's accuracy.
North East Somerset, Prince of The New Inquisition.
Intelligence Reforms
Following on from the TUK Report recommendations to revisit the structure of ISIS, the long running Reichstag debate on a new Intelligence Bill was given direction and promise. The newly amended Intelligence Bill created a position for an Independent Executive Director whom is not the Kaiserin, and promoted a more reliable and consistent interface between the ISIS and Government with a new Governing structure.
On March 1st, subsequent to the new bill being signed, and with the approval of the Reich Chancellor, Reich Elector and Monarch - North East Somerset was appointed to the position of Executive Director of ISIS. He has extensive experience in NS intelligence working at a senior level for several major regions and organisations in this area since 2004.
By-elections see old faces return
By-elections for vacant seats in the Reichstag saw the re-election of two old faces to the chamber: Harshhaven and Gun Nutty Buddies. Despite running against one another for a single seat, with further candidates no doubt deterred by the presence of the high profile figures, the vacancy of a further seat saw both contestants elected after a judicial clarification.
A second by-election saw another two political heavyweights, and both former Reich Chancellors, seek election. C.I. Cerebella beat Alexander Olaubius to secure a position as delegate. The new delegates will be working on new reforms to the Region’s Constitution, including amendments to give back some powers to the appointed upper chamber, the Herrenhaus, with some caveats.
Cultural Activities
The Battle of Political Figures proved to be a major highlight of late January. The results of the 3rd Round following where we left off in the last update were:
Sir Winston Churchill 10 - 5 Vladimir Lenin
Gaius Julius Caesar 12 - 3 Constantine
Napoleon Bonaparte 9 - 6 Ronald Reagan
John F. Kennedy 12 - 3 Harry S. Truman
So there were fairly comfortable victories across the board in Round 3, and apart from some discussion on Truman and the nuclear bombing of Japan in WW2 there was little controversy. However the next Round evoked more discussion, particularly the Churchill vs Bonaparte battle, which was very close and provoked a good discussion and voting turnout.
Sir. Winston Churchill 12 - 11 Napoleon Bonaparte
Gaius Julius Caesar 11 - 7 John F. Kennedy
There was a passionate final as TNI members Julian Anumia and North East Somerset put their cases forwards for Caesar and Churchill respectively, both sporting an avatar of their political hero. The debate soon became extensive with Tyranna also wading in to discuss a series of "What if" scenarios regarding how different the world would be without Caesar. After a tense and very equally matched vote, Churchill narrowly prevailed.
Sir. Winston Churchill 10 - 9 Gaius Julius Caesar
Churchill with his iconic V for Victory!
Following the success of the competition, our allies Europeia undertook a similar tournament for the most quotable historical figures. It also proved highly successful and went down extremely well there. It was interesting to note Napoleon and Churchill featured in the top 4 of both competitions.
Other official Cultural activities undertaken recently include "Guess the Lyric" which appears to have been won by Gryfynn with Nash a close 2nd, and "Ultimate Showdown" which is about to start.
TNI Minecraft
Minecraft has taken off in TNI in a big way with a new Regional Society forum created for the purpose. The game is proving popular in TNI with over 300 posts made in forum area in the short period it has been established, as members scramble to organise the elaborate civilisation that has been constructed. Vast amounts of time and resources have been put into the building of the capital city Scone, the coastal city of Sevilla, and an underground rail link between them. A whole economy has been instigated with a system of taxation, a market for exchange of goods, and banks and businesses to provide services.
A new TNI server has been set up and paid for by TNI Minecraft members in order to facilitate the increased demand put on the system, with over 10 users. The TNI Minecraft forums are well worth a visit, become a TNI citizen and post on there to get involved.
March 31st to April 14th: TNI’s fifth birthday celebrations!
TNI is turning five years old very soon, and your Region is invited to join us in celebrating. Nash, the Culture Minister, includes the following invitation to you:
