View from Benacia/Issue 95: The Great Satan vs. the... Other Great Satan

This imported article was originally posted at http://viewfrombenacia.blogspot.com/2005/08/issue-95-great-satan-vs-other-great.html at 08/23/05.

Our feature story of the night involves two old nemeses (nemisises? nemisii?) getting involved again in what promises to be the beginnings of a bashfest, as the Grand Commonwealth and the Solomonic Empire of Attera faces off over a spying scandal.

The RIMA Journal newsblog, operated by Liam Sinclair, recently published an expose of a plot by the Crimson Order, originally founded in Attera, to inflitrate GC member state Karnali:

"The architect of the scheme, Atteran Emperor Mik'el Tzion, legitimized his plan on the basis that Karnali is not a signatory to the, now defunct, Scheheradze Convention on Micronational Warfare, and thus can be a target of Atteran aggression.

In his plan, Tzion wished to send in one operative to infiltrate Karnali initially, with intent to send in additional operatives at regularly weekly intervals, with those operatives being “friends” recruiting by the initial agent. Once enough agents obtained citizenship and positions in Karnali, they would collectively “vote Extreme out of any positions of power” (Extreme being the most prominent Karnalian and the leader of that micronation).

With Extreme out of power, the operatives would draft the necessary documents for Karnali to be annexed by the Atteran Empire, with Karnali being divided up into fiefdom rewards for Attera's highest ranking nobles and operatives in the infiltration."

Reaction from the GC seemed mostly to be in the range of amusement mixed with disdain at the clumsiness of their traditional enemy in letting their plans be exposed. A comment by the Babkhan leader, the Osman Shahanshah, in a MNN thread suggests that the rationale for Karnali being a legitimate target was flawed at any rate; since the GC as a whole considers itself bound by the Scheheradze Convention, Karnali became bound by it upon entering the GC. Therefore, the Shah noted, if the Atterans had gone ahead, they "would have been acting in bad faith with regards to the convention they themselves were instrumental in drafting."

In other news, forum-redesign-mania is sweeping the nation! After comments by foreigners, and decisions from prospective immigrants to avoid Shireroth just ebcause of the forum design, Kaiser Los III held a poll asking both Shirerithians and foreigners whether they want the design to change or stay the same. Out of 19 votes, the verdict was heavily in favor of altering the forum design, with 15 in favor, 2 against, and 2 voting "Fnord".

After hearing such a resounding opinion, His Niftiness set up a proposal for a new theme in a test forum. A new poll in General allows the public to register their opinion of the theme.

Also, see the Children of Mors article on ShireWiki. It is teh bomb.