"I am saddened," Sharma quickly responded, "That certain members of this Pact would not only minimize the commitment of a fellow member of this Pact to the safety of another fellow member from an enemy that would strip their people of their sovereignty and their freedom but seize any opportunity to mock and lecture us in these halls for daring to name the rot at the heart of the enemy that threatens our fellow member."
"The Kingdom of Prydania," Sif Kjær said, after watching this back and forth engulf the whole meeting, "is tired. The Syndicalist regime and the War to oppose them left four million dead and our country on the brink of ruin. We have begun our recovery, but our only available military force we could send to Predice is engaged in a humanitarian mission in Ducrijeka. All we can give is food- and we are doing that. Sending food to Saintonge to help feed refugees and sending food to both Predice and New Aleman on the strictest of conditions that the aid going to New Aleman go to the civilian population and not the military. Your governments can all rest assured that should New Aleman violate that agreement we will pull our aid. That, however, is not a Pact matter."
Sif took a sip of water before continuing.
"We sympathize with the Predician position. My father was interned in a Syndicalist labour camp for twelve years. He has yet to recover. I would rather not go into details as to what I personally endured during those years..." she said as she looked around the room.
"The notion that communism is not a barrier of entry is true. As is the fact that Prydania is allied with two socialist states. And trades with others. What needs to be understood is that trade is trade- we will not spite our own economic well being by cutting off markets. And our Bergum Pact allies have-by the nature of the alliance they signed- agreed to recognize our government's legitimacy and sovereignty in the name of mutual defence."
Sif took another sip of water...
"What is being asked of us regarding Rayvostoka, however, is a step too far. Their government is committed to worldwide revolution and I tell you all here and now, the Prydanian Realm had that revolution, and four million people died! Our economy will not recover for decades upon decades. The scars left by socialist revolution on my country will not fade until everyone in this room is long dead from old age. Ask anyone who lost loved ones in
Collectivization or the
Advent killings or
hangings of Darrow what governments like this bring, and you will not find happy answers. Do not ask us to move on. Not when the other party- Rayvostoka- would impose more of this on us if they could."
"The Kingdom of Prydania's positions on these three matters is such; we will continue to aid Predice by providing their civilian population and military with aid in the form of food. We will recognize that nothing in this pact's founding was explicitly anti-communist and will reject any attempt at a joint-LP statement decrying communism or socialism in a general sense. We will, however, flatly refuse to support Rayvostoka's entry into this alliance."