February update: brainstorming and drafting

I want to switch to more frequent, monthly updates, even if they turn out to be somewhat shorter than our usual ones. For this reason, I would like to release one before the end of the month.

Please submit here suggestions for content. Once there is a sufficient number, I will switch to drafting.

Two things that come to mind immediately are:

1) Recognition of and re-opening of relations with Osiris.
2) New WA voting policy.

The recent Justice election would be another thing to mention. Maybe also the new admissions to the Security Council.

EDIT: Apologies for the double post.

We have held an event with Lazarus, although due to them appointing an Empire member as a senior official I've had to stay away. So something from that event.

Before anyone mentions it, I would leave the recent event with H&H out of the update.

Another possibility is a section covering our WA activity. Both our votes, and resolutions drafted by TNPers. I am looking at Aba here .

Alright, since it looks like there aren't any other comments, here is the list:

• Recognition of and re-opening of relations with Osiris.
• New WA voting policy.
• Justice election.
• Event with Lazarus.
• Tentative: WA voting activity.
• Tentative: legislative activity.

Table of contents

• The North Pacific recognizes the Osiris Fraternal Order.
• Delegate announces new World Assembly voting policy.
• The North Pacific-Lazarus cultural exchange.
• The view from the Speaker's Office.
• The North Pacific in the World Assembly.
• The North Pacific Government directory.

The North Pacific recognizes the Osiris Fraternal Order

On January 29th, 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement announcing that the Government of The North Pacific ("TNP") formally recognizes the Osiris Fraternal Order ("OFO") as the legitimate government of the region of Osiris. In addition, the Government accepted and reciprocated an earlier request by the OFO for an embassy exchange, therefore establishing formal diplomatic relations between the two governments for the first time.

In the statement, the Government expressed its satisfaction with the progress the OFO had made in fulfilling their commitments towards establishing a democratic and constitutional government, and transitioning control of the regional delegacy to a democratically elected delegate. Furthermore, the Government recognized the positive effects the efforts of the OFO in the two months since its creation had on the region and its community, in particular towards establishing a prosperous and secure native community in Osiris.

The Government of The North Pacific enjoyed a cordial and productive relationship with the Kemetic Republic of Osiris, the region’s government until September 2013, culminating in the ratification of a bilateral alliance in summer 2012. The alliance was rendered void by the dissolution of the Kemetic Republic, since which and until the release of the above statement the two regions had no diplomatic relations. It is the hope of the Government of The North Pacific that, with the robust leadership of Osiris provided by the OFO, the two regions will rekindle the amicable relations of the past.

The full text of the statement of recognition can be found here.

Delegate announces new World Assembly voting policy

Delegate mcmasterdonia announced on February 17th, 2014 a change in the way he determines how to vote on World Assembly resolution. Under the new policy, the Delegate’s vote is determined by the outcome of a poll on the regional forum, where only Regional Assembly members with WA nations in the region or deployed with the North Pacific Army are eligible to cast votes. In contrast, the previous voting policy permitted all Regional Assembly members to vote on the offsite poll.

Explaining the reasons for the change, the Delegate stated his intention to reward those members that choose to enlist their WA nation in the services of The North Pacific, either by stationing it in the region to contribute to its security, or by joining the North Pacific Army. Furthermore, the Delegate mentioned that he believes that the change will encourage more members to make the same choice, as well as boost participation in the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs.

The Delegate of The North Pacific is provided by law with complete discretion in determining the regional vote and voting policy. Traditionally, this involves the use of an offsite poll, though the voting eligibility criteria have varied over the years. The previous policy had been in place since mcmasterdonia’s first term as Delegate, in November 2012. The current policy had also been employed by Delegate Eluvatar in September 2012, as well as for several years up until summer 2012.

The full text of the announcement by the Delegate can be found here.

The North Pacific-Lazarus cultural exchange

February 2014 featured a cultural exchange event between The North Pacific and the People’s Republic of Lazarus. The event was hosted in the latter’s forums and included OOC discussion and spam games between members of the two regions.

Of particular interest were the so-called "Trophy Events", a set of contests between the two regions ranging from poetry and trivia to spam games. The stakes were high as the winner region would get to determine the opposing region’s delegate’s pre-title and flag. As of the the time of the authoring of this article, the winning region had not yet been determined.

The Government of The North Pacific thanks the People’s Republic of Lazarus for their hospitality, and for the effort and time they put into organizing this event.

The view from the Speaker's Office

The Regional Assembly has had a busy month, with discussions on electoral procedure, court legislation, and membership matters.

On the first front, flemingovia proposed a bill that adds the option to reopen nominations to all electoral ballots. The bill was received positively and quickly ratified by the Assembly. A further amendment, introduced by Crushing Our Enemies, is currently under discussion, to address implementation issues overlooked in the original bill. Moreover, an omnibus bill closing several loopholes in electoral law has been proposed by r3naissanc3r, and is currently at vote.

On court legislation, Justice Romanoffia has proposed the addition of a civil code to the regional statute, in response to extensive discussion in the prior months regarding the civil jurisdiction of the regional court. The bill is currently at vote. r3naissanc3r introduced a bill addressing prosecutorial matters, and in particular to allow private citizens to prosecute complaints the Attorney General has declined to proceed on. The bill is currently under debate.

Finally, the Assembly has been discussing the the Vice Delegate’s power to block applicants from admission to the Assembly. Cormac submitted a bill to expand its scope, permitting rejection of applicants for reasons besides the regional security grounds that current legislation prescribes. A number of Assembly members have supported requiring an Assembly vote before the Vice Delegate can lift an already existing block on an application. This discussion arose in response to decisions by Vice Delegate Democratic Donkeys to block a membership application by Empires of Narnia, and lift a previous block to Treize_Dreizehn’s application.

The Regional Assembly is The North Pacific’s direct legislative body, and is open to everyone with a nation in the region. You can apply to join here.

The North Pacific in the World Assembly


The North Pacific continues to have an active and prominent involvement in the NationStates World Assembly. The regional Delegate currently commands the strongest vote in World Assembly resolutions. As a result the Delegate in consultation with his Minister for World Assembly Affairs, Abacathea work closely with the members of the region to ensure this voting power is utilized to its full extent and in the best interests of the region. We sat down with Abacathea who had just stumbled out of the infamous World Assembly strangers bar and asked him his thoughts on the month just finished.

"In truth it's been a whirlwind of a month, we've had two resolutions discarded SC side, one of which was a *hic* genuine mistake and could have happened to any of us, and then there's Auralia's fall from grace. Which in truth, is quite saddening. Say what you want about the guy, he was an active contributor, not only WA side, but regionally as well, he'd regularly frequent TNP and further debates and this was always welcome as it encouraged activity."

Abacathea was recently commended by the World Assembly. Here is what he had to say on the subject.

"Ah, you're talking about the Commend? Say why is there two of you? Where'd the other one go? Ah yes, well in truth I feel that it is something that really strengthens TNP more than myself. Regions such as International Western Union, which fostered me and raised me, TNP which encouraged me, and Osiris which outright refined me all deserve the kudos for this more than I, but it does lend itself to improving the work I can do as a Minister. TNP is such a massive battlefield to try and work around but it's been a pleasure, and we're seeing consistent and steady increases in the active WA memberbase as of late. So we're evidently getting there progressively."

And what about the change in the voting policy?

"I swear I thought she was 18... ahem... I mean, yeah, well that definitely helped things, requiring members who want to have their vote heard along with McM's massive voting power to be TNP WA active has really helped spur the activity levels for the Ministry. We envision by the summer to be really hammering at full strength here. So watch this space!"

And there you have it folks! The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs is a regular contributor to resolution discussions in the World Assembly forums. The Ministry strives to keep all WA nations in the region informed on every resolution at vote, and fosters authoring endeavors among regional members. If you are interested in becoming and member and getting involved, apply here.

The North Pacific Government directory

Executive
Delegate: mcmasterdonia
Vice Delegate: Democratic Donkeys
Minister for Foreign Affairs: r3naissanc3r
Minister for Communications: Kiwi
Minister for Defence: Blue Wolf II
Minister for Culture and Entertainment: Lord Ravenclaw
Minister for World Assembly Affairs: Abacathea

Legislature
Speaker of the Regional Assembly: Zyvetskistaahn
Deputy Speakers: Lord Nwahs

Judiciary
Chief Justice: Leekem
Associate Justices: flemingovia, Romanoffia
Attorney General: Kiwi

Security Council
Chairman: Democratic Donkeys
Members: Great Bights Mum, Former English Colony, BlackShear, Grosseschnauzer, Romanoffia, mcmasterdonia, Democratic Donkeys, Lennart, Lord Byron

The North Pacific March Update is produced and distributed by The North Pacific Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thank you for reading!

Please proof-read, factcheck, and comment on the above draft of what is now the March update.

Note that I ditched the judicial election, as we are already having a new one. I was also contemplating having sections on military activity and fake news, but the update is already longer than I would prefer so those also got the boot.

I need some help writing the second to last section, on WA activity. I have written the conclusion of that section, which is basically an advertisement for the WA aspect of things in TNP. But I am not knowledgeable enough to write about the actual voting. Also, the section on the NP-Laz event is somewhat weak, so any additional meat you can suggest is welcome.

Finally, take note of the new format and let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

No issues here! The image of Julia Gillard (Mcm!) amuses me greatly.

It looks brilliant. I am very impressed.

Bootsie is no longer Deputy Speaker. He is Deputy MiniCult.

Oh yes, so he is. I missed that on the Government list. *blushes*

Also Lord Byron is on the Security Council.

I think I need to update the government page again.

Wow, Aba got here late to the party, sorry r3n! Realistically though, not alot has happened our end this month though! I could whip something

Fixed Bootsie. Also updated the SC list to remove FEC and add Lord Byron. To the best of my knowledge, the government directory should be accurate now.

EDIT: mcm ninja'ed me wrt to the SC.

EDIT2: Thanks Aba, we already talked about this on IRC, so I'm not reposting here.

I edited in text from Aba for the last section.

Let me know of any further comments. I intend to release this tonight.

Not sure if FEC was actually removed from the Security Council....

Yeah, looks like nobody is...

I'll just add her back.

Before I release this, mcm can you please fact-check the last paragraph of the WA voting policy section? I wrote from memory only, and my statements may be inaccurate.

I expect that this part of the update will draw comments from Unibot as he's been commenting on this in various IRC channels. So the content should be accurate to avoid giving away any easy attack points.

Yes. It looks good to me. What has he been saying?

Let's talk about it on IRC.

I will post this publicly after my meeting, as I need to edit the IF version.

Proofread, edited the culture part, and published. Thank you all for your help.

If you have any ambassadorial assignments, remember to post the update in your embassies and report here.

Apologies for the multiple posts.

From now on, I will also be posting our updates in the form of NS dispatches. It would be good if you could upvote this, so that it stays near the top of the list for a while: http://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=227338