View from Benacia/Issue 89: Grand Commonwealth Sparks Ire
This imported article was originally posted at http://viewfrombenacia.blogspot.com/2005/05/issue-89-grand-commonwealth-sparks-ire.html at 05/19/05.
The nucleus of a new intermicronational debate may be forming around the Grand Commonwealth (or, as it will hereafter be referred to, the Great Satan... kudos to Malarbor for pointing that out) and its intent to claim a small, unremarkable spit of land called San Gertrudis.
To discover the origins of the dispute, one must look back to the breakup of the Martino Empire (formerly the Republic of San Martin), an active micronation with one of the highest concentrations of annoying micronationalists ever before measured. Internal conflicts tore the country apart into several successor states, which included (according to a thread in the MCS forum, though the count is in dispute) the Kingdom of San Andreas, the Republic of Las Cruces (which then joined Alexandria), and then, the Second Republic of San Martin (part of which became the Altamiran Socialist Soviet Republic), the Union of Independent States (including the provinces of Ponce and Los Santos, which joined Alexandria), the Kingdom of Storjord, and, last and most importantly, the Confederate States of Santa Gertrudis and Isla Gera.
The editors here at the View don't know where Isla Gera is, but Santa Gertrudis is a former Martino overseas colony on a small peninsula; all other nearby mainland is owned by the Solomonic Empire of Attera. The Confederate States have an activity level that is believed to be very small, as do most of the otehr breakaway factions of the Martino Empire. This situation was noted by the Grand Commonwealth, and a bill in its legislature cites this situation as a reason for an intervention:
"WHEREAS the Taoiseach has requested an endorsement of this mandate from the Majlis-i-Shahan-Ri, we
THEREFORE authorise the Defence forces of the Commonwealth, directed by the Taoiseach and or on his behalf by the Defence Advisor to the Taoiseach, to prepare an assistance package for the imposition of peace and stability on the Colony of Santa Gertrudis. This must include a policing operation to restore law and order, supported, as required, by armed peace-keepers, and a program of assistance to strengthen the justice system and restore the economy and basic services."
This unilateral action by the Grand Commonwealth prompted a rather satirical but not entirely-unfounded speech by a talking dog from Treesia, but perhaps more importantly, also brought in another micronation to the mix. Santa Gertrudis' larger neighbor Attera, in response to (as Al Fido put it) "neo-Babkhan imperialism", brought San Gertrudis under its protection at the request of its apparent leader. This may not be a purely selfless move, as Attera has shown interest in the peninsula in the past.
