The North Star - Issue IV, February 3

Marcus Antonius · Jan 27, 2019

January 2019 General Elections

by Marcus Antonius, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Communications

The January 2019 elections were a spectacular event with a large turnout of candidates. Eluvatar and Owenstacey served as Election Commissioners.

Delegate Results

The candidates for Delegate were St. George, Bluie Gamer, abc, Bobberino, BMWSurfer, Pallaith and Praetor.

St. George (Mad Jack) once served as Delegate previously in Osiris in 2012, but had a DOS status that prevented him from accessing NS for the last several years. When, a few months ago, he successfully appealed that decision with the NS mods, there was significant hype around the potential for a campaign of his for the delegacy. His platform was impressive and certainly gave Pallaith a run for his money in gaining 36.36% of the region's voters.

Bluie Gamer was going to run in the last election but was struck by the 'forum apocalypse'. He ran a joke campaign in which he advised the region not to vote for him, but still succeeded in securing a solitary vote.

abc has been a member of TNP for two years and has held the positions of Speaker and Minister of Home Affairs. He received some criticism from his term as Speaker when he 'vanished,' leaving Wonderess to essentially take over the office. This may reflect why voters only gave him the one vote.

Bobberino ran a joke campaign in which he declared himself 'Spammer in Chief!'. He still managed to attract four votes.

BMWSurfer, our hard working Minister of Home Affairs, Deputy Minister of World Assembly Affairs and relative 'newcomer' to TNP, managed to sway six votes. His campaign made light of his plan to have “Some people will be on my cabinet, some animals,” referencing some peoples' choice of forum avatar and NS flag.

Praetor's campaign was well thought-out, and provided a deep level of suggestions for future delegates. It was intended to be a model campaign. Praetor withdrew his bid for Delegate on the first day of voting as he never intended to actually run, not having the time to dedicate to the role.

Pallaith - serving as Vice Delegate and Security Councillor - was always going to be a very strong contender for the delegacy. His commitment, work ethic and the fact he has been Delegate on two previous occasions, proved a popular choice for the voters. He claimed victory with 52.73% of the vote.

The new Delegate of TNP is Pallaith, having secured 58 of the 110 total votes cast.
St. George came second with 40 votes. BMWSurfer, third with 6 votes. Fourth place went to Bobberino with 4 votes. The last place positions were shared by abc and Bluie Gamer with 1 vote apiece. There were 7 Abstains.

Vice Delegate Results

180403_3694909_Staying_Alive_anvver_1_1500x844_1206807107660.jpg

The candidates for Vice Delegate were Brendog, Sil Dorsett, SiberianFedRep, Bobberino and Bootsie.

Brendog - a former Minister of Home Affairs - has previously pursued the Vice Delegacy. He provided a sound but intriguing campaign in relation to the running of the Security Council. This achieved him 14.16% of the vote.

SiberianFedRep received no votes, having abandoned the region prior to the start of voting. While his campaign was clearly beneath the standard of a serious candidate in the election, it is important to emphasize that TNP makes an effort to seriously consider the campaigns of experienced newcomers, even if they're not familiar faces.

Bobberino not only threw his hat into the Delegate race, but also the Vice Delegate race. He did not submit a campaign thread for the VD race, but still managed to achieve 9.73% of the vote. His joke delegate bid has already been discussed above.

bootsie has been on the Security Council for three years and has served as Vice Delegate. As Sil Dorsett, a fellow Security Councillor,
was running for the Vice Delegacy as well, bootsie tactically withdrew from the contest so as not to split the votes between them.

Sil Dorsett is a current member of the Security Council. He has been involved in TNP for over two years and has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of World Assembly Affairs. Voters agreed that he was indeed 'The Right Person in the Right Job.' With the withdrawal of bootsie, the race for Vice Delegate was left open for Sil Dorsett to bring home 76.11% of the vote.

At the end of voting, Sil Dorsett is the new Vice Delegate with 86 of the 113 votes cast. Brendog came second with sixteen votes, and Bobberino gained third place with eleven votes. There were four abstains.

Attorney General Results

There were only two candidates for the position of Attorney General: Yuno and Crushing Our Enemies.

Yuno is relatively new to TNP but she didn’t want COE running against himself. To prove herself knowledgeable and understanding of TNP's Legal Code, Yuno summarized the aforementioned document in her campaign. This impressed some voters as she achieved 27.96% of the votes.

Crushing Our Enemies was the sitting Attorney General and was seeking re-election to the office. Four months ago, he promised to center his work as Attorney General around the values of Compassion, Objectivity, and Efficiency. The voters of TNP acknowledged his appeal and he won, accumulating 67 of the 93 cast votes of which there were 23 abstains.

So, Crushing Our Enemies has been re-elected as the Attorney General.

Regional Speaker Results

Wonderess (the former Speaker) as well as Artemis and Dinoium entered the fray for election for Speaker. This particular race became quite controversial.

Wonderess completed one term as Speaker after succeeding ABC for the role in the last election. He was very keen to be re-elected as he wanted to publish a successor to the Regional Assembly Digest, a comprehensive summary of RA activity that had fallen by the wayside in his last term.

Artemis (also known as Oracle and as Sundred) served as a member of the Security Council, Election Commission, and Deputy Speaker at the time of the election, and is a former Minister of Culture. His campaign cited his plan - if elected - to surround himself with active Deputy Speakers, and hopes to blend the make-up of the Deputy Speakers with experienced members as well as newer individuals to help train future speakers.

Dinoium has had experience as a Deputy Minister of Communications, Deputy Attorney General, Ambassador and has served on the Speaker's Staff. When the voting started, it became obvious that it was going to be a very close race indeed. At the cease of voting, there were only four votes separating the first and last places.

Wonderess - the incumbent - was defeated, taking 34 of 108 total votes. There were nine abstains. Artemis and Dinoium could not achieve a clear majority with 36 and 38 votes achieved respectively at the cease of the voting period. This then led to a runoff vote, which is further described in the section below.

Speaker Runoff Results

The runoff vote between Artemis and Dinoium got off to a good start and it very quickly appeared as though Dinoium was going to secure the victory. However, a few days into the campaign, Dinoium had a change of heart having been dropped as a Deputy Minister of Communications. Preferring to once again pursue that role, he wished to concede the Speaker race. There was some speculation as to his intent, given that such an action is illegal. A candidate cannot concede once the voting has started. Dinoium would have had to drop his citizenship or not take his oath if elected. If he dropped his citizenship, the voting process would have to be re-started. If he was victorious in the voting and was awarded the Speaker position and then not taken his oath, this would have triggered a Special Election a week after the Oath Taking period had lapsed. All that said, Dinoium later stated that he had merely attempted to admit defeat and encourage his supporters to shift their votes to Artemis. Whatever the case, this situation did not result in a legal dilemma, as at the close of voting, the votes were as follows: Artemis: 44 and Dinoium: 30, with one abstain.

Artemis is the new Speaker.

Minister and Deputy Appointments

Pallaith appointed:
Darcania as Minister of Defense
BMWSurfer as Minister of Home Affairs
Tlomz (Kranostav) as Minister of WA Affairs
El Fiji Grande as Minister of Communications
Brendog as Minister of Foreign Affairs
MadJack (St George) as Minister of Culture

Artemis appointed:
Ark, Bobberino, bootsie

Regional Assembly Highlights

by Marcus Antonius, Deputy Minister of Communications

Regional Assembly January 2019

Speaker of The Regional Assembly: Artemis
Deputy Speakers of The Regional Assembly: Ark, Bobberino and Bootsie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At Vote
None

Passed
Nessuno's Security Council Application, put forward by Pallaith.
Status: Passed
Summary: The Security Council, having previously nominated Nessuno's back in 2015, discussed his application. Siwale provided a detailed statement in support of Nessuno and the Security Council passed the nomination and it went to vote. The vote passed in Nessuno's favour with only one opposed.

– Votes in Favor (21)
QuietDad
Great Bights Mum
artiza
Pallaith
Crushing Our Enemies
Brendog
Siwale
BluieGamer
Dinoium
Syrixia
Artemis
Sanjurika
Andrenne
Drusselstein
Loh
Marcus Antonius
Praetor
St George
Yuno
Wilkshire
Darcania

Votes Opposed (1)
Sil Dorsett

Abstentions (7)
Gladio
Nessuno
Wonderess
Eluvatar
El Fiji Grande
Haor Chall
Nap

COE's Security Council Application, put forward by Pallaith.
Status: Passed
Summary: The Security Council had nominated Crushing Our Enemies for a seat on the Security Council. The vote for his admission was a majority, with 9 ayes, 0 nays, and 1 abstention. The application then went to the Regional Assembly for discussion and voting to take place. During the discussion a very interesting and reasoned answer was given by COE in relation to 'Reckless Endorsement Gathering". The RA vote was 28 ayes and 1 abstain.

Members voting Aye:
QuietDad
Great Bights Mum
Pallaith
Sil Dorsett
Siwale
mcmasterdonia
Prydania
Nessuno
BluieGamer
Dinoium
Syrixia
Artemis
bowloftoast
Bobberino
Sanjurika
Drusselstein
Loh
John Maynard
Marcus Antonius
Praetor
Haor Chall
Pasargad
Xyre
St George
Yuno
Wilkshire
Dreadton
Darcania

Members Abstaining:
Eluvatar

In Discussion
Delegate and Vice Delegate Article Amendment, put forward by Dinoium.
Status: In Discussion
Summary: Dinoium proposes changes of Article 3: Delegate and Vice Delegate of the Constitution of The North Pacific.

Amendment to the Rules of the Regional Assembly, put forward by Artemis.
Status: In Discussion
Summary: During the past several months, Artemis had seen some comments about amending the rules of the Regional Assembly. Therefore, he would like to present a draft for consideration of some changes. None are too drastic and would be beneficial.

Making sense of who are government officials, put forward by Haor Chall.
Status: In Discussion
Summary: It seems very odd that Deputy Ministers are not currently seen as government officials, which is causing some confusion. Haor Chall proposes changes to the Legal Code, Chapter 6 and Constitutional Amendment, Article 7.

North Pacific Army Bulletin January 2019

by Malphe, War Correspondent

Minister of Defense: Darcania
Deputy Ministers of Defense: Malphe, Bobberino

Unfortunately the crown we usually give to the Minister was too small for their head but they found a way to make it work.

Entering into 2019, newly elected delegate Pallaith appointed long-time NPA member and former MoD Darcania as Minister of Defense, who then appointed Bobberino and Malphe as his deputies.

Darcania is one of the oldest NPAers still active and has the experience of over three years and a short time already as MoD in 2017 under his belt. He has also served as Chief of Staff under Eluvatar and Deputy Minister of Defense under both Zazumo and Lozinak. Deputy Bobberino has been a member of the NPA since early 2018, entering during now deputy Malphe's term who has been a member (with bouts of inactivity) since early 2016.

Whilst no large operations have yet been undertaken as of 27/01/2019 excepting a small tag of a fascist region, the Minister has been busy reorganizing the roster of the NPA to automatically update any soldier's number of operations undertaken. This term has also seen the return of Gladio to activity within NPA, although still WA locked he has triggered for a simple tag operation where he hit 3 out of the 3 targets, despite not having triggered for almost a year.

We're optimistic this will be a very good term for the NPA!

World Assembly Digest

by El Fiji Grande, Minister of Communications

General Assembly
Improving the world one resolution at a time.

Preventing Groundwater Contamination
Status: Passed
Delegate's Vote: For
Final Vote (World): For: 13,534 Against: 2,184
Final Vote (TNP): For: 511 Against: 62 Percentage of WA nations voting: 39.2

Recommendation: This proposal is a bit convoluted and not very clear in its intent. It fails to cite any parameters for the proposed project and gives only vague indications of the project's eventual benefits to member nations. Without these things, the project has the potential to become a vast and costly white elephant in space, indefinitely hemorrhaging funds into the nearest singularity. Most problematic is the requirement to a mandatory, open-ended spend for all WA nations, many of whom have no interest in space exploration at all. This lack of clarity in authorship, and perhaps an ambition that has outpaced practical realities, renders the project difficult to envision, and the proposal difficult to support.

For this reason, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote Against this proposal.

Debtor Voting Rights
Status: Passed
Delegate's Vote: For
Final Vote (World): For: 9,613 Against: 6,991
Final Vote (TNP): For: 457 Against: 157 Percentage of WA nations voting: 42.1

Recommendation: The proposal very simply and elegantly protects the voting rights of debtors. This is important as democratic member nations should not constrict the rights of citizens to elect representatives and/or the ability to vote upon other democratic processes based on their financial status or grievances.

In accordance with the brief reasoning stated above, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For this proposal.

Repeal "Debtor Voting Rights"
Status: Passed
Delegate's Vote: Against
Final Vote (World): For: 10,937 Against: 5,078
Final Vote (TNP): For: 316 Against: 218 Percentage of WA nations voting: 40.0

Recommendation: Foundationally, the target proposal remains sound. That it does not address every conceivable scenario where it may be skirted by nefarious governments does not preclude the possibility of future, enhancing proposals to address those vulnerabilities. The recent passage of GAR#450 (Don't Kill the Poor Act) addressing an oversight in GAR#38 (Convention Against Genocide) shows how scenarios not considered at the time of passage of a law can be later addressed, without a wholesale repeal and replace. Although the ideas outlined in this repeal and the ideas outlined in DVR are linked, they remain separate issues: One relating to debt and imprisonment. One relating to debt and voting rights. As a result, and provided any supplementary legislation enhancing DVR does not tread on precisely the same ground, the concerns raised in this proposal can be addressed without the repeal. While some may see DVR as incomplete, incomplete is not the same as defective. In what it sets out to do, DVR still makes it very clear that no nation shall bar member nations from invoking a person's debts as reason to deprive that person of the right to vote. Legislation relating to debt and incarceration can, and likely will, come later.

For this reason, The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote Against this proposal.

Freedom to Seek Medical Care II
Status: Passed
Delegate's Vote: Against
Final Vote (World): For: 8,069 Against: 7,770
Final Vote (TNP): For: 196 Against: 410 Percentage of WA nations voting: 41.4

Recommendation: This is the second incarnation of this proposal. The first was submitted for vote roughly one year ago, and little has changed between that version and this. The Ministry cited a significant problem with version one (FTSMC), in that it created potential conflicts with standing legislation GAR#389, relating to the closure of national borders, and the prohibition of temporary emigration at times of quarantine during epidemics. Should the need arise to repeal and replace GAR#389 with a more comprehensive version, the passage of FTSMC would have rendered that legally impossible. The loss of that ability to declare quarantines, and close national borders, would present an unacceptable risk to the greater public health of the WA, writ large. While the Ministry, then, supported the premise of FTMSC, it could not support the proposal without a suggested, minor edit to language, alleviating that problem. In the current version, those recommendations have gone ignored, the troublesome language remains, as does the potential conflict. It appears the author simply sat on the proposal for a year, made minor amendments that did not address previous concerns, then added a "II" to the title in hopes that voters would forget. This shows a certain complacency, which is further highlighted by the garbled text that appeared in the previous version and remains uncorrected a year later. For these reasons, The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote Against this proposal.

Repeal "Safeguarding Nuclear Materials"
Status: Failed
Delegate's Vote: Against
Final Vote (World): For: 4,846 Against: 10,862
Final Vote (TNP): For: 65 Against: 496 Percentage of WA nations voting: 39.3

Recommendation: In citing our previous support of the target of this repeal, it should be noted that the target allows all WA nations to procure and trade nuclear weapons without WA interference. This is important as very real and powerful nuclear threats do exist outside of the WA sphere of influence and it is paramount that WA member nuclear programs are not subject to limitations that may prevent a response or act of aggression by a foreign power. Furthermore, the target resolution provides denuclearization services free of charge to nations who cannot defend or no longer wish to maintain their own nuclear program.

In accordance with the items stated above, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote Against this repeal.

"Safeguarding Nuclear Materials" aims to protect member nations' rights to possess nuclear weapons and use them in cases of defense and war against hostile forces. We wish to remind the WA nations of the region that there are no limitations on what nuclear armaments non-WA member nations may produce and how said nations may use them, and that two former resolutions regarding nuclear materials within WA member nations have been repealed. This creates a situation in which a single resolution limiting the nuclear power of WA member nations could cause detrimental and most certainly fatal military disadvantages for WA member nations against non-WA member nations. Additionally, this resolution ensures that member nations can call upon the Nuclear Energy Safety Commission to secure technology and scientific knowledge as well as provide denuclearization assistance to nations unable to defend said items from hostile forces.

For these reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote for the resolution.

Right to Self-defense
Status: At Vote
Delegate's Vote: Against

Security Council
Spreading interregional peace and goodwill, via force if necessary.

Repeal "Commend Solorni"
Status: Passed
Delegate's Vote: Against
Final Vote (World): For: 10,943 Against: 2,806
Final Vote (TNP): For: 169 Against: 327 Percentage of WA nations voting: 33.8%

Recommendation: There is strong historical precedent within the NationStates community, that commendations of players discovered to have engaged in out-of-character (OOC) misconduct ought to be repealed, as a means of isolating these players and protecting the community. Such repeals have occurred a few times in the past, and The North Pacific has consistently voted in support of them. The need for these repeals arises, largely, due to the unwillingness of NationStates' administration to adequately address OOC actions occurring outside of the main NationStates website. It is also an unfortunate consequence of NationStates' harmful rules for handling OOC misconduct issues, that these repeals must be written from an entirely in-character (IC) perspective. As a result, repeals of this kind are difficult to write, with the authors having to waltz around the rules in order to disguise what the resolution really is about: condemnation of OOC misconduct.

Unfortunately, in the case of the repeal in question, the attempts for rule compliance have resulted in a resolution containing assertions that are at best exaggerations, and at worst outright falsehoods. The problematic claims are found in two clauses, "Disgusted..." and "Disturbed...": In these clauses, the resolution takes allegations of misconduct by the commended nation, previously published in Europeia's investigation, and elevates them into statements of fact. This is despite the fact that Europeia themselves acknowledge that there is not sufficient evidence to prove these allegations. To make matters worse, by asserting the entire career of the commended nation to be the result of OOC misconduct, the resolution grossly misrepresents even the number of these allegations. The implication of the clauses is that the commended nation routinely and consistently resorted to OOC misconduct, possibly in a majority of their interactions throughout their years-long NationStates career. There is simply no evidence to support that there has been misconduct at this scale.

It is worth taking a moment to contrast this resolution with previous repeals of commendations for OOC reasons: All of them had to cite IC arguments, in order to overcome the unfortunate confines of the NationStates' rules. However, none of them had to resort to unproven assertions of OOC misconduct. This is the first resolution to do so. Supporting this resolution sets a dangerous precedent for future resolutions attempting to address OOC misconduct. Not only is this resolution not conducive to establishing an effective protocol for how the community should deal with cases of OOC misconduct by commended players, but it damages what progress the community has already made in that regard.

Because of all of the above, The North Pacific must oppose this resolution. The North Pacific would vote in favor of an alternative repeal resolution that addressed the above shortcomings. But as it stands, The North Pacific recommends a vote against the current resolution.

Commend Lyras
Status: Passed
Delegate's Vote: For
Final Vote (World): For: 12,948 Against: 2,038
Final Vote (TNP): For: 439 Against: 60 Percentage of WA nations voting: 34.3

Recommendation: Lyras is a well-known figure in the RP community, commanding great respect, and possessing a highly influential style that has drawn the loyalty and alignment of numerous nations. Lyras' military power is undeniable and has proven to be a stabilizing force in times of conflict and turmoil. As a superpower, this military might has been used overwhelmingly as an ultimate force towards good, and always with a beneficial, strategic endgame in mind. Lyras is expert in military armament, custom manufacture, and is always open to educating fellow RPers, and to bringing an unprecedented technical expertise to the realm of play. With a presence dating back nearly to antiquity, Lyras' place in the stratocracy is undeniable, and their leadership in shaping the post-Jolt landscape has contributed to the thriving RP community enjoyed today.

For this reason, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For this proposal.

Commend Jutsa
Status: Passed
Delegate's Vote: For
Final Vote (World): For: 12,930 Against: 1,634
Final Vote (TNP): For: 474 Against: 44 Percentage of WA nations voting: 35.2

Recommendation: In addition to being regionally active in the East Pacific, Jutsa has been an ongoing contributor to the greater NS community. Jutsa has authored several of the daily issues that appear in regular gameplay and has also collaborated in the authorship of legislation for the WA. Additionally, Jutsa is a regular contributor to legislation development for other nations, providing leadership and expertise through consistent forum activity, along with post-factum documentation and archiving. This is often thankless work that benefits every member of the WA by providing a clear and well-organized window into the past. Jutsa is a deserving member of the community and an important contributor to that which keeps the WA functioning day-to-day.

For this reason, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For this resolution.

Commend Paffnia
Status: Passed
Delegate's Vote: For
Final Vote (World): For: 11,963 Against: 2,600
Final Vote (TNP): For: 541 Against: 43 Percentage of WA nations voting: 39.9

Recommendation: At first blush, the nomination seems to place greatest emphasis on Paffnia's regional accomplishments within 10,000 Islands, but more careful review reveals extensive international work as well, both diplomatically and militarily. A former WA Delegate and Foreign Affairs Minster for 10KI, Paffnia has forged numerous international relationships and has been recognized for ongoing good conduct abroad. Militarily, Paffnia has participated in some of the most significant defender campaigns in recent history, assisting some of the largest GCRs in the realm, and contributing to hundreds of smaller campaigns that have brought relief and stability to thousands of WA nations. Rounding out their contributions to the greater community is Paffnia's authorship of SC Resolution #93. Paffnia has received numerous accolades, awards, and military decorations domestically, and this worthy nominee is an ideal candidate for SC Commendation.

For the reasoning displayed above, The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For this proposal.

Repeal "Commend Imperium Anglorum"
Status: Failed
Delegate's Vote: Against
Final Vote (World): For: 3,514 Against: 11,845
Final Vote (TNP): For: 75 Against: 502 Percentage of WA nations voting: 39.5

Recommendation: Like all SC proposals, this one should be given a fair assessment, and decisions should be made based on content rather than any assumption as to the author's motive. Similarly, that benefit of the doubt should be extended to the target as well. If we can't jump to the conclusion that the author has submitted this proposal with anything but reasonable intention, then we equally can't jump to the conclusion that IA has submitted past proposals with any less reasonable motives. We must assume that both are acting with what they feel is in the best interest of the Assembly, even though those ideas may be in opposition. Much of the author's case for repeal is in trying to convince us of the target's ill motive, and it is in the absence of benefit of doubt where the author's argument falls apart under the weight of unsubstantiated speculation. Accusations of ill motive are quite simply a matter of opinion, and don't carry the sort of weight necessary to justify repealing a commendation for a player who has made significant and laudable contributions to both their region and the World Assembly.

For this reason, The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote Against this proposal.

Liberate Politics Amino
Status: Passed
Delegate's Vote: For
Final Vote (World): For: 10,357 Against: 4,574
Final Vote (TNP): For: 523 Against: 51 Percentage of WA nations voting: 39.5

Recommendation: Politics Amino is a small, active region who became the unfortunate target of an aggressive raid and refound orchestrated by a joint force led by Osiris. A liberation becomes necessary as those known to the situation believe it is a trophy hunt without specific reasoning and Osiris has stated that there is no explicit justification for the operation taking place. It is the stance of The North Pacific to oppose the total destruction of innocent communities and the support of legislation aiming to fulfill that goal. In accordance with the reasoning displayed above, The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For this proposal.

The North Star - Issue IV, February 3

Marcus Antonius

Per Ardua Ad Astra