Praetor for Delegate

Praetor

Praetor

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I am running for the position of Delegate of The North Pacific. I have previously served in a variety of positions from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to Deputy Minister of Culture, and Guildmaster for the North Pacific Cards Guild my experience in those positions (as well as having been involved in every Ministry) makes me well-suited to lead our region to new heights.

In my time in The North Pacific I have focused on building the region. Unquestionably, we are the leading region whether that be from our endorsements, to our roleplay, to our involvement in Cards. However, other regions are starting to implement programs similar to ours to mimic our success. In order for our region to remain competitive and sustain our advantage, it is imperative that we continue to innovate on the previous successes of the region.

Throughout my platform, I have outlined a number of ideas in each Ministry for us to build on the success of previous administrations. It is important the TNP works to stay ahead of other regions by trying out new ideas, new programs, and new policies and determining what suits our region and this would be my priority if elected.

At this point I do not anticipate I would be able to run for a second term as I should be traveling early next year (dependent on if the situation with COVID worsens or not). As such, I aim for accomplishing all my goals in the next four months.

Please find below my plans should I be elected Delegate listed in alphabetical order by section of the government. As always, I have done my best to lay out my ideas concisely and welcome any questions you may have regarding specifics.

Administration

To get the term off on the right foot, I would start by:
  • Opening up applications for Minister positions to the public—members of the region are not always clear on how it works to become a Minister, in some cases, citizens will reach out directly to candidates showing their interest, in others, the candidate will reach out to citizens. Having a clear process will ensure that the best talent for the position is found (unsuccessful yet promising applicants can be targeted for recruitment in other areas). At the end of the day, what will determine my administration's success is having a group of individuals that are able to work together bringing their individual strengths—this is what the Cards Guild's success can be attributed to;
  • Provide a weekly update to the region on what is going on in the Executive, the progress since the last week, what we have failed to do, and what we are planning to do;
  • Work on declassifying the remaining channels that are legally obligated to be declassified but have not been declassified for over a year.
Defence

It has been quite some time since I have been part of the North Pacific Army, however, it is clear to me that the military continues to be well-run. I have no operational changes to suggest for the military. My recommendations here focus on advertising the North Pacific Army through:
  • An “Open House” for nations to test out joining the army without having to follow through with all the commitment that signing up to join can create the perception of;
  • Publishing “raid reports” of the missions that the NPA accomplished to attract more recruits.
Communications

While the Ministry has continued to publish The North Star and an edition of The Northern Lights, I continue to believe that we need to refocus our efforts on what we publish. TNL is our premium publication—the contents can be used to both recruit nations to the region and advance our foreign policy in NS. Parts of TNS are summaries of events which already happened and collating the information distracts from the creation of TNL which will be our focus. The Ministry would focus on:
  • Monthly publications of the high quality, higher interest TNL
  • Publishing “raid reports” of the North Pacific Army as a way to get newer writers acquainted with the Ministry (and advertise the NPA).
Culture

Culture continues to do great work in engaging citizens of the region. I would continue to work with the Ministry to provide more ways for citizens to get engaged. On top of more programs from the Cards Guild, Social Deduction Games have recently been introduced to the region with a significant amount of interest—both areas of Culture that I have been leading for the past while. For Culture, my administration would:
  • Continue to support the Cards Guild’s new leadership and the team in maintaining our amazing Cards programs;
  • Continue to rollout new programs for the Cards Guild;
  • Host more Social Deduction Games and build that area of TNP;
  • Emphasize advertising new programs from the Cards Guild and Social Deduction Games.
While Roleplay is not underneath the Government, the roleplay community is a vital part of TNP and provides a significant amount of activity—we would support the roleplay community as requested appropriately (and without infringing on them). If the roleplay community is open to it, I would be especially interested in working on advertising our roleplay community through dispatches.

I would love to go into more details on my plan for Cards, however, given that those plans are currently part of the Executive I am unable to divulge specifics (as it is classified information and the Delegate does not want it to be public). You can rest assured that new programs will continue to be released however.

Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs can be a complicated area to enter, there is a lot to be aware of and a number of different stakeholders. In this area, information is key and my plan for Foreign Affairs is all about making sure our citizenry and our ambassadors are informed:

  • There will be bi-weekly updates to the citizenry regarding updates of the world and our involvement in them;
  • There will be weekly updates to our Ambassador Corps about what is going on in NationStates;
  • Creating a Diplomatic Handbook to help get new members of the Ministry suited to their roles.

In the world at the moment, we are seeing a rise in autocratic and anti-democratic rhetoric throughout NationStates disguised as “meritocracy” (in an attempt to make it more palatable) and attempt to cover up the consistent and unparalleled success that democratic regions have seen. Obviously this is not the case and TNP will make that clear. Over the coming term, we would:
  • Evaluate all of the regions with which we currently have relationships with and communicate to the citizenry where we believe the relationship can develop;
  • Work on collaborating with other democratic regions on best practices.
Gameside Advocates

The Gameside Advocates are an important group as they maintain the government’s relationship with the RMB. I would like to bring back the AMAs that we have had on the RMB (appropriately spaced out) as they can be a great tool for being in touch with those on the RMB and communicating our activities to them.

Home Affairs

Nimarya has done a fantastic job in Home Affairs, both in getting rows completed and in new programs. She has also recognized the difficulties that the Ministry sometimes has in terms of sustaining activity and promoting teamwork over individual performance. Nim has innovative solutions that should logically be able to address these challenges. As I mention, this is precisely the sort of work that a Minister should be doing and subsequently I find myself with less suggestions. During my term as Delegate we would:
  • Continue the new programs that Nim has implemented;
  • Create a new program that would serve to solicit suggestions from players on improvements to the Executive and work with those players to make those ideas a reality.
Radio

Radio has continued to do good work over the past term in producing content. However, Radio suffers from a lack of visibility, which plays out in having less viewers, and less availability to recruit participants. In order to address this, we will promote Radio in the next term by:
  • Advertising radio publications more heavily from dispatches, telegrams, and our forum;
  • Focus on creating more content which receives the highest amount of views (tutorials tend to get the most views, more tutorials on the game from R/D to cards to challenges should raise our profile more).
World Assembly

Morover has done one of the best jobs as Minister of World Assembly Affairs that I have seen. IFVs are being sent out incredibly quickly, often I receive telegrams mere minutes after voting begins. Additionally, Morover was able to put together a second symposium on the World Assembly. The stellar work will be continued:
  • IFVs will continue to be sent out early to maximize our influence;
  • The Heroes of the North program to commend accomplished TNPers has remained quiet, this will be addressed by having an individual responsible for seeing each individual’s commendation through the process;
  • The Sponsorship program will be revamped to prioritize offering feedback on resolutions and a positive IFV and eliminate the barriers to entry (such as necessitating the approval of both the WA Minister and Delegate.
Should you have any questions, I welcome the opportunity to respond.
 
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Do you promise not to interfere with RP moderation? :P
More seriously, though, why are so opposed to undemocratic regions? They’re not like RL dictatorships.
 
Do you have any plans to continue with the the UCR outreach program, and if so what plans do you have for the program with regards to how it will run?

What are your thoughts on the role that the senior diplomats should play in the FA ministry?

If you could negotiate a treaty with any region, which region would it be and why?

What are your thoughts on using the NPA to push WA proposals to the floor or to prevent the proposals from reaching the floor?
 
Comfed:
Do you promise not to interfere with RP moderation? :P
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Yes but like my promise doesn't matter... I can't interfere with RP moderation as Delegate because I would literally not have the power to do so (and I am not seeking to change that dynamic).
More seriously, though, why are so opposed to undemocratic regions? They’re not like RL dictatorships.
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I'm not opposed to autocratic regions—I am opposed to the anti-democratic rhetoric that is masquerading as "meritocracy" when it remains clear that democratic regions fair better. Additionally, I will note that our treaty partners tend to be democratic regions. We have more in common with those regions so it helps to have a similar fundamental sense of government.
Owenstacey:
Do you have any plans to continue with the the UCR outreach program, and if so what plans do you have for the program with regards to how it will run?
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The UCR outreach program has been running for over a term now, I have not seen any publicly communicated tangible progress on this other than reaching out to a number of regions. In all of the time of the program's existence, which regions have been worked with? What has been the specific progress with those regions? Given the amount of time that this project has been ongoing for and the lack of public communication as to any results, at this moment I do not believe it is a worthwhile investment for the region. If there is progress then that is not being communicated appropriately and I would ensure it is.
What are your thoughts on the role that the senior diplomats should play in the FA ministry?
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The Senior Diplomats should be used as an advisory board and be actively providing their opinions on going ons in NationStates. When I was MoFA I was constantly engaging with the Senior Diplomats to receive their opinion on what was happening in the world. As Delegate, I would definitely be seeking the opinion of those who have had a variety of different experiences in NS as receiving their input helps makes the best decisions.
If you could negotiate a treaty with any region, which region would it be and why?
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At this moment, I do not think I would be looking to negotiate a treaty with any region. We have a treaty with the vast majority of the major regions. I don't think our region is in danger in terms of security and needing more alliances. I would prefer to focus my efforts on training up the members of the Ambassador Corps and working with our existing allies.
What are your thoughts on using the NPA to push WA proposals to the floor or to prevent the proposals from reaching the floor?
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I am not opposed to either. I prefer using the NPA to push WA proposals to the floor as using the NPA to prevent proposals from reaching the floor can potentially risk retaliation from other regions in the form of not approving proposals that the region is supporting or using those same tactics on our own proposals.
 
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Praetor:
Opening up applications for Minister positions to the public—members of the region are not always clear on how it works to become a Minister, in some cases, citizens will reach out directly to candidates showing their interest, in others, the candidate will reach out to citizens. Having a clear process will ensure that the best talent for the position is found (unsuccessful yet promising applicants can be targeted for recruitment in other areas). At the end of the day, what will determine my administration's success is having a group of individuals that are able to work together bringing their individual strengths—this is what the Cards Guild's success can be attributed to;
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This is an extremely big step that cannot be taken lightly. Should you win, is the term going to begin with an empty cabinet? How long will you hold applications for? I assume you intend to open these applications only upon entering office. This could be a week or more without a cabinet.
Praetor:
While the Ministry has continued to publish The North Star and an edition of The Northern Lights, I continue to believe that we need to refocus our efforts on what we publish. TNL is our premium publication—the contents can be used to both recruit nations to the region and advance our foreign policy in NS. Parts of TNS are summaries of events which already happened and collating the information distracts from the creation of TNL which will be our focus.
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Could you please clarify on this? Will TNS be canned, or will it be put on a less frequent release schedule?
 
Cretox State:
This is an extremely big step that cannot be taken lightly. Should you win, is the term going to begin with an empty cabinet? How long will you hold applications for? I assume you intend to open these applications only upon entering office. This could be a week or more without a cabinet.
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I plan to hold open applications for positions for three days and hope to make announcements shortly after (giving time to discuss with the applicants). I don't foresee any downsides on the time side as it would only be a short period for which I would be accepting applications. Other Delegates in the past have had applications for Minister positions—I don't believe this is as risky as you may have the impression that it would be. Is there a particular area of the region you are concerned that not having a Minister for a couple of days would be negatively impacted by? I am confident that with the strong staff that we have in the region that the government will function smoothly over the short period.

Could you please clarify on this? Will TNS be canned, or will it be put on a less frequent release schedule?
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The focus of Communications should be on putting out TNLs. If it is necessary to abandon TNS, I am not opposed to that. TNS is mainly summarizing information which is already publicized, components such as the NPA section can be advertised separately and more frequently.
 
You mentioned weekly updates for the Executive Staff. While I am fully in support of the Executive Staff providing more updates to the region, I have to admit I am concerned with the frequency of once a week. Who would be writing these reports? The Ministers? The Delegate? Would there be one summary for the Executive Staff as a whole or would it break down the individual Ministries?
 
Nimarya:
You mentioned weekly updates for the Executive Staff. While I am fully in support of the Executive Staff providing more updates to the region, I have to admit I am concerned with the frequency of once a week. Who would be writing these reports? The Ministers? The Delegate? Would there be one summary for the Executive Staff as a whole or would it break down the individual Ministries?
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The weekly updates are about the Executive as a whole. As the Delegate, I would personally be writing these reports to update the region on the ongoings of the Executive overall. I think weekly updates on an individual Ministry basis may not always be useful as if a Ministry is working on a particularly significant project that cannot has stages that cannot be done in a week but is taking a significant amount of work to do that would not be reflected in a weekly update specific to that Ministry. The purpose would be to demonstrate overall the progress of the Executive on the various initiatives.
 
Thanks for elaborating on the cabinet applications. I think the idea has potential; it's just important to know exactly what something so significant would entail ahead of time.
 
Cretox State:
Thanks for elaborating on the cabinet applications. I think the idea has potential; it's just important to know exactly what something so significant would entail ahead of time.
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You're welcome. I think having a couple days period is enough for interested individuals to apply and will not negatively impact the functions of government. In the past I think having applications for Ministers has been pretty successful but that's how I became the MoFA. :P
 
Hey there Praetor,

As you are currently the Cards Guildmaster, I believe that you have the most knowledge on what I am about to ask of:

This concerns the concept of cards being incorporated into other, non-card related areas within TNP (particularly the ministries themselves). I believe that expanding the presence of trading into other areas of the region will allow for a fully integrated system in which trading can work harmoniously with other communities for the benefit of both sides involved.

As delegate, will there be any attempts to expand the presence of cards throughout the region? (And if there's already plans to incorporate cards into other areas within TNP, are you able to give us a detailed rundown as to how it will work?)
 
Praetor:
I am not opposed to either. I prefer using the NPA to push WA proposals to the floor as using the NPA to prevent proposals from reaching the floor can p
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D: Approval Raiders killed him before he could finish his sentence!

In all seriousness, I'm curious as to what p-word you were going to use here.
 
Two hypothetical questions. Feel free to answer one or both.
  1. Let's say you want to remain as delegate indefinitely. How would you orchestrate this?
  2. Let's say your overarching goal is to weaken and destabilize the region. How would you go about achieving this goal?
Yes yes, this is a variant of "how would you coup the region?"
 
DGES:
Hey there Praetor,

As you are currently the Cards Guildmaster, I believe that you have the most knowledge on what I am about to ask of:

This concerns the concept of cards being incorporated into other, non-card related areas within TNP (particularly the ministries themselves). I believe that expanding the presence of trading into other areas of the region will allow for a fully integrated system in which trading can work harmoniously with other communities for the benefit of both sides involved.

As delegate, will there be any attempts to expand the presence of cards throughout the region? (And if there's already plans to incorporate cards into other areas within TNP, are you able to give us a detailed rundown as to how it will work?)
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I took the time to reach out to the Delegate to confirm what I could say regarding our current plans (as the Guildmaster, any suggestions I have for the Guild have been privately brought up in the Executive)—hence the delay in answering the questions.

Yes, I agree with your belief. As Delegate, I would undoubtedly be expanding the presence of cards. Would be quite bizarre if after all the work that I have done with the Cards Guild that I do not promote cards as Delegate. :P

The Cards Guild still has a number of improvements that they can do to our cards programs. Interministerial programs can be difficult to implement due to the number of stakeholders involved. With the authority I would have as Delegate, I would be able to get any interministerial cards programs implemented efficiently due to my familiarity with cards and all of the Ministries.

I'm sorry I can't say more but cards things are still being developed—and will be available for the next Delegate to work on if not finished prior to the next term beginning.
Artemis:
Who would your ideal cabinet consist of?
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In selecting I considered both the individual's ability to work with me and their fitness for the position. I have also made the assumption that these individuals will be available for the entirely of the term and won't be disappearing halfway through.

Defence: Gladio
Communications: Maowi
Culture: IndieGirl
Foreign Affairs: mcmasterdonia
Home Affairs: Scorch
Radio: El Fiji Grande
World Assembly Affairs: Morover
Morover:
D: Approval Raiders killed him before he could finish his sentence!

In all seriousness, I'm curious as to what p-word you were going to use here.
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Potentially. :P

Thanks for pointing that out, I have edited the question approrpriately. Let me know if you have any follow up questions.
Cretox State:
Two hypothetical questions. Feel free to answer one or both.
  1. Let's say you want to remain as delegate indefinitely. How would you orchestrate this?
  2. Let's say your overarching goal is to weaken and destabilize the region. How would you go about achieving this goal?
Yes yes, this is a variant of "how would you coup the region?"
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1. Man that sounds like a boring goal but sure, let's go for it. First towards the end of my term I would propose and work on passing a bill eliminating term limits. Then, I would go enjoy my preplanned traveling. Once I came back, I would run for election again. Then I would be working on consistently innovating and bettering the region and ensuring that everything goes smoothly. The idea would be to be such a good Delegate constantly that nobody wants me to be replaced or to replace me. Sounds like an exhausting plan long-term though.

2. I presume that in this scenario I am the Delegate. The first thing that I would do is weaken the Executive and in a way that will not be overtly noticed and result in criminal charges against me or being recalled by the RA. So the NPA would start running less operations, the HA would not send out as many telegrams, and so on. A key strength of the region is the amount of activity and how it contributes to the region, chipping away at this foundation would be imperative to weaken the region. To destabilize the region, I would work on creating unhealthy conflict between region members (healthy conflict such as debating the merits of various legislative bills would not serve the destabilize the region) and inflame tensions between members. I think the best way to do this is by having more RL political debates and promoting RL politics discussion more (whether that's on the RMB, Discord, or forum). Those tend to be some of the most intense arguments (and not in a good way) I have ever seen. I'd probably hold an NS event themed around RL politics—I am sure there would be plenty of hard feelings that could be generated from that.
 
As always, you have put together a comprehensive platform. It does a great job of showcasing everything you can do, but it also demonstrates a great deal of humility considering it is surprisingly lacking on detail for cards plans. I have to say I was surprised to see cards was simply a bullet point in your culture section, I think you've done an amazing job with the guild and have turned it into almost a ministry of its own. When given the opportunity you chose to hold your cards close to your vest (pun intended). I think of all the candidates running for delegate, you should be the most visionary and prepared for cards, but campaigns can surprise you I guess. I do not like it when candidates keep people in the dark with their plans, I'm sure you would see to it that cards are managed well, and if anyone deserves to be taken on faith for this, it's you, but this is a cop out and I think you should reconsider. Cards are, in my view, just as important as our NPA numbers and our WA voting and endorsement programs at this point, so you have to be clear and concrete.

You mentioned the publication of raid reports twice in a row. Is this a signal that you would like to give greater emphasis to raiding? This has created diplomatic waves in the past, and while I generally felt this shouldn't have been a sticking point for relations with other regions, I don't know if I would necessarily double down on them. It can send a message, which I'm sure you're aware of. Is raid report meant to convey a broader type of report that can also encompass defensive operations as well, or is it literally just raids?

I assume the open house for the NPA would still exclude people from other militaries, or would you seek some sort of temporary exception?

Could you elaborate more on the declassification process? I feel like you would be more aware of the logistical difficulties, and may have some idea of how to go about tackling such a project. What do you think would be the best methods to get that information out, how many hands would be involved, etc?

Did you have any relationships with regions in mind that are in particular need of review and modification? Would this amount to closing more embassies, or would it be more along the lines of ending treaties? When it comes to FA reports, we can see a lot of quiet periods or many events that don't rise to a need for TNP to be particularly involved. Would you consider default reports along the lines of "nothing much happened" or "TNP didn't do anything in the world this week" to be a sign that we need to take some sort of action, or would it spur you to come up with initiatives or ideas to create more concrete things to include in these reports?

You were the original Gameside Advocate way back when. The program has evolved a lot, in some ways modifying much of its original purpose. I'm curious if you would make further changes to it to kind of reset it back to that old model, particularly since your social game initiatives have been such a big part of your culture plan, and would fit perfectly with the old notion of GAs shepherding participation in games and serving as hosts and key players in those games, including bringing RMB people over to them.

I tend to agree with you on the TNS/TNL split, we definitely have greater opportunity enhancing TNL. Getting authors and creating a cohesive issue can be difficult at times, even when the loose deadline is 2 months. How will you get around these issues to publish a high-quality TNL every month? Do you think there is a similar opportunity for TNS to generate higher quality content? I believe this was the idea behind keeping TNS going in the previous term. There is rote number crunching-type stuff, but there are also more narrative-based articles and interviews which can make the releases less mind-numbing. This content would generally not be good enough for TNL, but is easy to generate and in the right hands, could be worthwhile. Is this an approach you think is worth exploring, perhaps in a stronger way than was done this previous term?

Two major NS events will happen on your watch (assuming the pandemic hasn't ruined them), N-Day and Z-Day. Do you have any thoughts or plans for these?

I know this is a lot of questions, so I appreciate your patience and the time you take to respond to them. I also want to give you props for making a more focused and concise but no less comprehensive platform. A lot came from these campaigns, even when you didn't win, so thank you for bringing all of this to the greater TNP discussion. I look forward to your responses!
 
Pallaith:
As always, you have put together a comprehensive platform. It does a great job of showcasing everything you can do, but it also demonstrates a great deal of humility considering it is surprisingly lacking on detail for cards plans. I have to say I was surprised to see cards was simply a bullet point in your culture section, I think you've done an amazing job with the guild and have turned it into almost a ministry of its own. When given the opportunity you chose to hold your cards close to your vest (pun intended). I think of all the candidates running for delegate, you should be the most visionary and prepared for cards, but campaigns can surprise you I guess. I do not like it when candidates keep people in the dark with their plans, I'm sure you would see to it that cards are managed well, and if anyone deserves to be taken on faith for this, it's you, but this is a cop out and I think you should reconsider. Cards are, in my view, just as important as our NPA numbers and our WA voting and endorsement programs at this point, so you have to be clear and concrete.
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I mention above how I had to reach out to the current Delegate to determine what I should or should not say. It's not that I am choosing to hold my cards close to my vest as you say nor am I copping out but rather that I cannot say. I have been been working on cards programs for over a year now, nowadays, when I have an idea I bring it up to the Executive which is private and then that idea is discussed. As per the Delegate's wishes, I cannot say more other than things are still being developed.

As one of the first supporters of governments using cards in NationStates I am well aware of the importance that cards play in this region. I think it would be accurate of me to say that of all the current candidates running I am the best prepared to further take our cards programs to new heights.
You mentioned the publication of raid reports twice in a row. Is this a signal that you would like to give greater emphasis to raiding? This has created diplomatic waves in the past, and while I generally felt this shouldn't have been a sticking point for relations with other regions, I don't know if I would necessarily double down on them. It can send a message, which I'm sure you're aware of. Is raid report meant to convey a broader type of report that can also encompass defensive operations as well, or is it literally just raids?
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The term "raid reports" (and the reason I put it in quotation marks) is meant to indicate reports (and really, it's more of a publication than a report) for any sort of operation the NPA does that we want to publicize. I'm not sure if there's a neutral term, I used raid report since that's what I hear.

I assume the open house for the NPA would still exclude people from other militaries, or would you seek some sort of temporary exception?
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I thought so as well as it may be useful for those who are in other militaries and have not had the chance to work with the NPA before to be able to. However, I would be consulting with NPA High Command and the Officers prior to making any decision. I do not seek to change our policy on permitting membership in only one military at a time.

Could you elaborate more on the declassification process? I feel like you would be more aware of the logistical difficulties, and may have some idea of how to go about tackling such a project. What do you think would be the best methods to get that information out, how many hands would be involved, etc?
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The first step would be to determine what channels are required to be declassified and have yet to be declassified. Then, I would find out how many messages are in each channel which needs to be declassified. I would start by working to declassify the channel while timing myself with the smallest number of messages to get an estimate of how long it would take to declassify all the channels. I've heard it say that there are a lot of messages to go through but I don't believe there has been any specific answer as to how much time it would take to declassify. As soon as a channel's content has been prepared for declassification it would be released rather than waiting for all the channels that require declassification to be declassified. Throughout this process, I would keep the region updated on the progress.

I would prefer if someone who has involved in the channels was able to volunteer to help in declassification, they would have a better idea of the context of the messages and what may need to remain classified. However, it may be that there is no one around who is available to help in declassification.
Did you have any relationships with regions in mind that are in particular need of review and modification? Would this amount to closing more embassies, or would it be more along the lines of ending treaties? When it comes to FA reports, we can see a lot of quiet periods or many events that don't rise to a need for TNP to be particularly involved. Would you consider default reports along the lines of "nothing much happened" or "TNP didn't do anything in the world this week" to be a sign that we need to take some sort of action, or would it spur you to come up with initiatives or ideas to create more concrete things to include in these reports?
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I am not looking towards ending any treaties at the moment. I think it is fine to review our embassied regions and determine if there are any with which there is no longer any potential for growth in our relationship.

When I was Minister of Foreign Affairs, I provided weekly briefings to the Ambassador Corps on interregional affairs—I always had information to include. Even if there is no involvement of TNP (which is perfectly fine) demonstrating that the Executive is aware of these events is apparent. As well, taking no action at all is an action in of itself. Given my experience with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs I am confident that there will always be information to report.

You were the original Gameside Advocate way back when. The program has evolved a lot, in some ways modifying much of its original purpose. I'm curious if you would make further changes to it to kind of reset it back to that old model, particularly since your social game initiatives have been such a big part of your culture plan, and would fit perfectly with the old notion of GAs shepherding participation in games and serving as hosts and key players in those games, including bringing RMB people over to them.
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I am always caution of laying out too many plans and spreading ourselves too thin, there are a lot of areas that I believe I can improve the region and that has been demonstrated over the past year. A struggle is always getting everything done that I want to do. Fortunately, as the Delegate that would be significantly easier as I would be able to set priorities. I think hosting the GAs hosting games on the RMB (in addition to the AMAs) is a good way to create more activity, get more people involved and have a good time.

I tend to agree with you on the TNS/TNL split, we definitely have greater opportunity enhancing TNL. Getting authors and creating a cohesive issue can be difficult at times, even when the loose deadline is 2 months. How will you get around these issues to publish a high-quality TNL every month? Do you think there is a similar opportunity for TNS to generate higher quality content? I believe this was the idea behind keeping TNS going in the previous term. There is rote number crunching-type stuff, but there are also more narrative-based articles and interviews which can make the releases less mind-numbing. This content would generally not be good enough for TNL, but is easy to generate and in the right hands, could be worthwhile. Is this an approach you think is worth exploring, perhaps in a stronger way than was done this previous term?
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Reaching out to a lot of diverse individuals will help to ensure we have sufficient articles. Additionally, planning ahead for future editions and seeking out writers for publications that will happen in a couple of months will ensure that writers have enough time. I would also like to work on having members of the Ministry work on creating a "stockpile" of articles such that in the case of something happening to an author or article and it being unable to be published, there are prepared resources that can ensure the timely delivery of TNL.

I think it is preferable to put more narrative-based articles and interviews into TNL and concentrate the articles that tend to be of more interest.

Also I tend to write a lot so worse comes to worse I could just write a bunch of articles myself. :P
Two major NS events will happen on your watch (assuming the pandemic hasn't ruined them), N-Day and Z-Day. Do you have any thoughts or plans for these?
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I am under the impression that the current administration has made preparations—based on what has been done we would prepare on top of that (such as having the poll for Z-Day). The most important thing is to have a good time and we'll make sure of that!

I know this is a lot of questions, so I appreciate your patience and the time you take to respond to them. I also want to give you props for making a more focused and concise but no less comprehensive platform. A lot came from these campaigns, even when you didn't win, so thank you for bringing all of this to the greater TNP discussion. I look forward to your responses!
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Questions answered. Let me know if you have any follow ups.
Honeydewistan:
Is Maowi even in the region? Seems like an unusual choice.


I thought Morover wasn't going to be minister?
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Artemis didn't specify that the selection had to be in the region. Additionally, this he asked for the ideal cabinet, so whether Morover was interested at all in remaining Minister is irrelevant.
 
Praetor:
Artemis didn't specify that the selection had to be in the region. Additionally, this he asked for the ideal cabinet, so whether Morover was interested at all in remaining Minister is irrelevant.
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Realistically who is your cabinet then?
 
Suppose your plan was to coup The North Pacific. How would you go about executing that plan?
 
Praetor:
Artemis didn't specify that the selection had to be in the region. Additionally, this he asked for the ideal cabinet, so whether Morover was interested at all in remaining Minister is irrelevant.
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wow smart aleck smh
 
Your endorsement level is around 683. What, if anything, have to done to improve your endorsement level in preparation for your delegate campaign?
 
Artemis:
Suppose your plan was to coup The North Pacific. How would you go about executing that plan?
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You specify here that I need to coup—given this, my answer has to be an illegal method to take power. This is a hypothetical plan. Not a real one. As such there is less use in trying to rewrite the laws or using the judiciary to interpret laws in my favour. This plan would be long-term and take at least a year. If the Delegate were to coup there are two main issues to keep in mind: endorsements and influence. I would need enough endorsements to stay ahead of the next closest person after me (presuming I do not have a Vice Delegate that is going to coup with me) and I need enough influence (and/or I need my opponents to not have enough influence) that I can comfortably banject nations without losing influence. So the first agenda of business will be to lower the endorsements count of everyone wherever possible.

Specifically, the Security Council and them having a larger amount of endorsements would be the biggest threat. The best approach to deal with this issue would be by abolishing them. I would point out all the issues that are with the SC and rather than proposing solutions to those issues, I would suggest scrapping the SC altogether (this does not include the Vice Delegate). I would make the argument that given the number of endos in the region that we should be trusting the regional security to everyone, not just a select few.

After this was done, my task is to lower the endorsements of everyone else in the region. I start by removing links to the endorsement page on the forums and de-emphasize advertising endorsing each other. The priority instead is to endorse me (to increase our power in the WA and for no other reason of course ;) ). Region wide, I put the Executive to work on not working. Activity overall should decrease—especially in HA where they will do the best job at retaining members.

Foreign policy wise I would seek out personally seek out relationships with regions that we have not always been on the best of terms with or regions that are more inclined to couping. In exchange for their WA support in my coup I would promise them alliances after the region has been secured.

My coup would take place towards the end of my second term beginning with the unceremonious ejection (not banjection) of the Vice Delegate just before The Rejected Realms updates. Ideally the coup would take place around Christmas time since most people are going to be busy with their families/friends and are going to hopefully be too busy/distracted to rally WAs against me and the WAs that should be unendorsing me will not be around either. After the initial ejection, then comes the part of keeping the region. I would impose a lower endocap and require that endorsing me is a requirement. Nations will begin to unendorse me and rally around whoever the leading resistance figure for endorsements is. I note that endorsing someone and pushing them over the endocap is punishable by ejection. Obviously, many nations will not listen. As nations disobey me, just prior to TRR updating, I start ejecting them starting with whichever nations have the lowest influence and work my way up (although I will leave a decent amount of influence to ensure that I can always eject people who were in the region for an update or two). Obviously, I would also be ejecting the foreign militaries jumping into the region/getting WA membership just before TNP updates.

Then, it's just hoping that I have more influence than the resistance! The last aspect that I should mention is the justification for the coup (in hopes that it will persuade WAs to keep endorsing me): I would state that the region is an oligarchy controlled by an off-site elite which passes the Delegate position around with friends nepotistically and that I will be replacing the government system with a meritocracy.

I'd also ask @Mall very nicely if he'd be down to WA-lock himself in TNP for a couple of months, give him BC and hope he doesn't just yeet me. Having some more influence to throw around would be nice.

Lady Raven Wing:
What are your thoughts on WALL?
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WALL has improved a lot since I first joined TNP. I see two areas for improvement with WALL: breadth (expanding the number of regions) and depth (expanding what we do together). My preference would be depth since it can be simpler than trying to diplomatically sort things out between all current member regions in order to permit another region to join. I am not opposed to another region joining, I would encourage it, especially one involved in the GA. My preference for improvement with WALL would be to improve the ease with which members of our region can get involved in the GA and get a resolution passed hopefully.
Dreadton:
Your endorsement level is around 683. What, if anything, have to done to improve your endorsement level in preparation for your delegate campaign?
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I have always been tarting relatively regularly (got to get that Legendary status!). Since I decided that I was going to run for the Delegacy after considering it for a long time (and leaning towards not running again) I have been endotarting more frequently. I have a decently high enough level of endorsements that I am confident that there will be a relatively smooth and quick transition.
 
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I have a few questions of my own for you.

1. Will you be appointing any advisors to your Cabinet?
2. Will you be selecting a Chief of Staff?
3. Will you continue to employ a Press Secretary as several delegates in the past have done?
4. Will you be inviting the next Vice Delegate to sit in on Cabinet?
5. Are there any major legislative initiatives that you will pursue in the Regional Assembly, and if so, what would those entail?
6. If there was three changes to the structure of the North Pacific Government that you could make, what would those be and why?
 
Do you find NationStates fun to play? What is fun about it?

Do you think being delegate will make it more fun? What do you think will be fun about being Delegate?
 
What region do you believe is our closest ally? Furthermore, what regions do you think TNP should have a closer relationship with?
 
What is your vision for TNP? What do you want to change that other candidates would not do?
 
Artemis:
I have a few questions of my own for you.

1. Will you be appointing any advisors to your Cabinet?
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Quite unlikely.

2. Will you be selecting a Chief of Staff?
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No. While Chief of Staffs have been around in a number of administrations, I have yet to see what it is they do specifically that requires a need for them.

3. Will you continue to employ a Press Secretary as several delegates in the past have done?
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No. Similar to Chief of Staff I am unconvinced as of their merits, there is not a sufficient media scene in NS to warrant this position. Activities being done by Ministries can be advertised through telegrams by that Minister themselves—that is more appropriate as they are better suited for responding to inquiries.
4. Will you be inviting the next Vice Delegate to sit in on Cabinet?
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Yes.

5. Are there any major legislative initiatives that you will pursue in the Regional Assembly, and if so, what would those entail?
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No. As Delegate my priority is the Executive, I do not foresee having any time for legislative initiatives (and if I do have time, I'm doing something wrong!). The only exception would be is if there was something impacting the Executive.
6. If there was three changes to the structure of the North Pacific Government that you could make, what would those be and why?
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  1. More communication to the region about how projects are going. Especially communication about what is going wrong and needs to be addressed.
  2. A body devoted specifically to innovation in the region.
  3. I'd like some way to hold government officials accountable and potentially express disapproval of their actions that doesn't rise to the level of a recall.
Zyvetskistaahn:
Do you find NationStates fun to play?
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Yes, I would certainly hope so for anyone playing the game!
What is fun about it?
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I like region building, that's fun. Also, I like answering issues to make my nation go the way it wants, I like collecting cards, and I like nuking people. :D
Do you think being delegate will make it more fun? What do you think will be fun about being Delegate?
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I'd enjoy the ability to make meaningful improvements to the region, I've particularly enjoyed this during my time as Guildmaster. As Delegate, I would be able to do this on a larger scale. Being able to create positive change and then look back on it is awesome. :D
Jay Coop:
What region do you believe is our closest ally? Furthermore, what regions do you think TNP should have a closer relationship with?
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I don't think there is a region which is our closest ally. How does one measure that? We work in a variety of different ways with our allies. At the end of the day, should our region be couped, I am confident they would all come to our support.

I'd like to see TNP working on having a closer relationship with Europeia, TSP, Balder, Europe, and The Rejected Realms.
Comfed:
What is your vision for TNP? What do you want to change that other candidates would not do?
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My vision for TNP is improving the Executive's processes and expanding the number of reasons for players to get involved in TNP. What I think that separates me most from the other candidates is the previous demonstrated experience of enacting significant positive change in TNP, in the upcoming term, I want to work heavily on continuing to expand the Cards Guild and to building up Social Deduction Games (the trial run of the SDGs during ADiTO2 was quite successful, the important part now is working to build up a community here.).
 
According to credible media reports, Tlomz will be offering a monthly $25 Taco Bell UBI to every citizen of The North Pacific. Will you be matching this promise?
 
Cosmosplosion:
According to credible media reports, Tlomz will be offering a monthly $25 Taco Bell UBI to every citizen of The North Pacific. Will you be matching this promise?
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Given that that sounds like it would be breaking NS rules, I will not be doing that. As Delegate, I would be following the rules of NS. Can't go getting DEATed. :P
 
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