Statement on the banning of Haafingar and Hjaalmarch

Earlier today I ejected and banned Haafingar and Hjaalmarch (who will henceforth be referred to as "Haafingar") from The North Pacific. I am issuing this statement to explain the reasons for this decision, which at first may appear to have come out of the blue.

This evening, I was contacted by Venico, former Delegate of Osiris and co-founder of The Brotherhood of Malice. He informed me that had been approached by Haafingar with a request for assistance in toppling the Delegate of the North Pacific. Haafingar originally contacted Venico using the nation MysteriousMe, only to confirm later during a mutual Skype meeting that his WA nation was Haafingar and Hjaalmarch.

Venico provided screen shots of the telegram exchanged he had with "MysteriousMe", as well as the log of the Skype conversation. The evidence is conclusive, and is available for everyone to review here: http://imgur.com/a/l5CER#4 (screenshots), http://pastebin.com/yqqkjDRd (Skype log).

When he returned to the game approximately two months ago, Haafingar declared he had changed for the best and only had positive intentions. He has since positively contributed to regional activity, most notably by maintaining a frequent presence in the Regional Messaging Board, while appearing to respect our regional laws. It is now evident that these were all a pretense, and merely a cover up for a devious plot to usurp the region.

Attempts to undermine the elected Government and topple the elected Delegate cannot be tolerated. It is imperative that we remain alert to preserve constitutional order in the region, and take immediate action to eliminate any threats it faces. This is particularly true nowadays, when our region is confronted with threats of unendorsement campaigns because of our military deployment in of St Abbaddon, and as senior members of the Security Council and the line of succession are on a leave of absence. With these thoughts in mind, I was compelled to act immediately and decisively, and address the situation before it escalated.

In conclusion I would like to thank Venico for immediately informing me of this threat to the Delegacy of the region. I appreciate his support and the concern that he and his region The Brotherhood of Malice have shown for the security and prosperity of the North Pacific. I will be requesting in-game and forum embassies with the Brotherhood of Malice as a sign of The North Pacific’s appreciation for their assistance.


Delegate of the North Pacific

While I agree that the evidence is damning, he was still quite a large number of endorsements away from you, and not an urgent threat. Why did you feel the need to bypass legal proceedings in this matter? Did you consider his presence in the region a genuine emergency?

Naughty boy.

McM asked my advice before banning H&H, so I will tell you what I said to him, more or less:

I am a great believer in the old Shakespeare adage, "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly" (Macbeth, Act 1 scene 7).

H&H could have bumped along just under the endorsement limit for ages, building up influence as he went along, until he reached the point (perhaps after a delegate election when the new delegate's influence count was weak) where he could make a play for the delegacy with outside support AND HIGH INFLUENCE.

There is no doubt of his intentions. He would have needed banning eventually. The only question was one of timing. As I said, 'twere well it were done quickly - especially in these days of influence.

The Court has the power to authorize the delegate to ban a nation immediately, and try that nation for a crime. Is there a reason that regional security could not wait for such an indictment to be issued?

Yes I did consider this to be a genuine emergency. This was for a combination of reasons. First, Haafingar and Hjaalmarch had been gaining endorsements at an alarming rate and was already approaching the Vice Delegate. Second, our ally The South Pacific was just yesterday targeted by a severe and coordinated unendorsement campaign because of their deployment in St Abbadon, and there have been threats against us for the same. Given that both Former English Colony and Great Bights Mum are away led me to view this as a cause for genuine concern.

I should mention that the Security Council had already been discussing this, and both DD and myself had reached out to him about his endorsement level.

In the past we have faced strong endorsement campaigns, for instance when Delegate Eluvatar was in his first term of office. He dropped nearly nearly 100 endorsements within a few short hours and it was difficult to fight against that campaign once it had gained significant momentum (he had only been away for just over 24 hours at that point iirc). I was concerned that if Haafingar decided to make his move while we were already being targetted because of St Abbadon (as we were listed as likely targets) that the region was facing a genuine security risk.

Finally I was at work at the time, I knew that I would be unable to access the forum and was using phone IRC and was only able to visit the NS site for a very short time. I discussed the situation at length with Flemingovia and asked for his advice on the matter, he agreed to post the message for me on the forum as I was unable to do so myself.

H&H has been rapidly gaining endorsements for some time now. Why wasn't standard Security Council procedure followed, regarding the number and spacing of contacts, etc before summarily banning?

In a genuine emergency, the Bill of Rights allows you to take any action "as consistent as practicable" will our laws to resolve the situation. It seems like the government could have practicably been more consistent to me.

EDIT: It's also worth mentioning that unless an indictment to remove him from the RA is issued by the court, he will remain an RA member in good standing, since he did not voluntarily leave the region.

Actually, the Security Council had been making recommendations to the Delegate and Vice Delegate, and there was a difference of opinion as to where to use a statutory trigger under the Regional Security Law.

I personally believe that some sort of clarification of the role of the endo levels of the SC membership may be needed as it was one of the areas of concern I had when the in game changes in influence was announced and implemented. McM and I disagree at first blush to the need, but this turn of events suggests that a further discussion may be warranted after all.

As to the Delegate's decision to act, and speaking as a member of the Security Council, I support the action.

It is not as if McM is trigger happy with the ban button. Having been delegate myself, I know that sometimes being in the hot seat means having to take the hard decisions, and take them fast. That's leadership.

Sometimes being a delegate means more than following procedure, whoever wrote it.

As Flem said, he was growing in endorsements and also in influence; with these evidences at hand it was the right time to make a move. In the SC we kind of expected that, didn't we?

I applaud and fully support this decision.

flemingovia:

McM asked my advice before banning H&H, so I will tell you what I said to him, more or less:

I am a great believer in the old Shakespeare adage, "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly" (Macbeth, Act 1 scene 7).

H&H could have bumped along just under the endorsement limit for ages, building up influence as he went along, until he reached the point (perhaps after a delegate election when the new delegate's influence count was weak) where he could make a play for the delegacy with outside support AND HIGH INFLUENCE.

There is no doubt of his intentions. He would have needed banning eventually. The only question was one of timing. As I said, 'twere well it were done quickly - especially in these days of influence.

Click to expand...

Quoting Shakespeare, I think I'm in love!

I have lodged an indictment with the court. I had hoped to speak to the Attorney General before doing so.

Haafingar has been unbanned pending the verdict of the court on the indictment. I have done so due to the irregular way in which the law was applied on this matter, even though I feel that he deserves to be banned.

I agree with Grosse that some review of that law is required in the near future.

I'm off for the night. 2.30 am. It's been a while since I have been up this late on NS.

I hope that I was able to help, and that TNP will remain safe from threats.

Thank you very much, Venico

I'm glad to see that the appropriate steps have been taken to protect the rights of the accused. I support the actions of the delegate.

I also support the actions of the delegate and big thanks to Venico for informing us about the threat Haafingar posed.

I'm concerned.

Was H&H a lone wolf, if you will, or could it be that he is the member of an organization sent to TNP for the purposes of overthrowing us? This deserves thought.

Blue Wolf II:

I'm concerned.

Was H&H a lone wolf, if you will, or could it be that he is the member of an organization sent to TNP for the purposes of overthrowing us? This deserves thought.

Click to expand...

I was thinking the same.

It's always safe to assume that there is a possibility that this was not a lone wolf. The fact that H&H was poking around for support in his scheme might indicate that it is not a lone wolf attempt.

He was clueless as how to do most of it really. If he had any competent support he wouldn't be coming to strangers. He might use intermediaries to garner support but by my judgement he was a lone wolf looking to reclaim former glory. I'll quote the part where he identifies who he truly is.



If you guys want I can release the whole Skype conversation. Most of it was fluff but if you think it'll help I can.