Refugia FA Statements

Per the Refugia Revised Statutes 6(b), the Councillor of Foreign Affairs is required to post a statement in dispatch form before calling any embassy opening or closure to a vote. This limit on the FA Councillor's power was put in place to prevent rogue Councillors from letting their personal politics override those of the region, and to follow the core tenet of Refugia that Member States are ultimately in charge of the region's development.

As the requirement to put the opening and closing of embassies in a referendum was only added in June 2020, all Councillors of Foreign Affairs to serve before that date were exempt from this requirement, and do not have entries on this page.

Councillor Sylh Alanor

The below archive is from Sylh Alanor's term as Councillor of Foreign Affairs between June 15, 2020 and February 14, 2021.

Statement on the Environmental Protection Council

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	22/6/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	6
Against:	1
Abstain:	0

An’eth’ara,

One of the most important elements to the position of Foreign Affairs Councillor is that of maintaining and updating our embassies over time. Per the Refugia Revised Statutes, before opening or closing any embassy, the FA Councillor must make their case to the collected Member States and call a referendum. It is in that responsibility that I write this.

The Environmental Protection Council (henceforth the EPC) has long been one of our most ideologically-aligned embassies, with their founder Greenwaters frequently visiting our region to update us on important and pressing news stories about the environment. This active and engaged friendship is one of the things that has historically set our alliance with the EPC apart from other allied regions.

Unfortunately, as is clear to see from the above tag, Greenwaters has ceased to exist, and every other major nation within the region has fled. Currently, a puppet nation from another of EPC’s embassy regions is holding position to keep the region itself from disappearing entirely. I have been watching this develop over the past several weeks and have reached the point of accepting that the region is, barring a miracle, dead.

I hereby activate my power per RRS 6b to call a referendum on the closure of our embassy with the Environmental Protection Council.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on Taiwan

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	30/06/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	3
Against:	1
Abstain:	2

An’eth’ara,

While drafting the previous dispatch calling for an embassy closure, we received an embassy request from the region of Taiwan. Unfortunately, given the speed with which our polls run and the list of things that needed to take precedence (namely, our elections and the closure), the request expired before I could put it up for a vote.

As stated in their WFE, Taiwan is environmentally friendly, feminist, anti-imperialist, and anti-fascist, all goals that we as Refugi share. Furthermore, their regional tags show them to be LGBT-friendly and casual.

Though they are small, the region is positive and their leader, Kuan Yin, posts articles and discussion points pertinent to their regional interests. Given the involvement shown by Kuan Yin and the positive, inclusive messaging of the region, I hereby activate my power per RRS 6b to call a referendum on the establishment of an embassy with Taiwan.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on The Leftist Assembly

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	03/10/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	18
Against:	0
Abstain:	0

An’eth’ara,

The Leftist Assembly is a region we had an embassy with for a while during the original incarnation of Refugia. They’re a large region with a lot of nice people and constant activity, and they share a lot of our regional drives, such as environmentalism and interest in social matters. During the time we held an embassy with them, they maintained an active diplomat within Refugia.

Though they moved their embassy to New Refugia when that region was created, they haven’t approached us to re-establish the embassy with Refugia until now. Refuge Isle and I have spent time in their community and gotten to know them, and I think that they’d be a wonderful fit for us, and I hope that we can re-establish communications with them and build up a friendship.

I hereby invoke my ability per RRS 6b to call a referendum on the establishment of an embassy with The Leftist Assembly once the current one has ended.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on The Embassy

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	08/11/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	10
Against:	3

An’eth’ara,

The Embassy was Refugia’s first embassy, having opened on February 4, 2019. The Embassy is an embassy collector region, having been sending requests to every new region since its founding in 2015. At the time of writing this, they have 4,185 embassies, and only five nations. They don’t look at the region they’re requesting an embassy from, and they don’t remain in contact. In our 21 months of contact with them, we've never once received a message.

As Refugia has grown larger and more stable, and made a wide variety of friends on Nationstates, we no longer have a need to keep unnecessary embassies with people who have no interest in us. Especially those who would prefer us as little more than a trophy on their shelf.

I hereby enact RRS 6b to call a referendum on the closure of our embassy with The Embassy.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on Yggdrasil

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	19/11/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	10
Against:	3

An’eth’ara,

Yggdrasil is an ancient region (originally founded in 2003). They label themselves as environmentally friendly, and are based around an Old Norse theme along with their sister region Valhalla. They’ve had an active embassy with Forest for seven years, currently have another with India, and had one with Canada for many years as well.

Yggdrasil recently came into the Alstroemerian Commonwealths collective (previously known as the Iwakusphere), a group of regions owned by Vandoosa. While the rest of the Commonwealths, notably those founded by Vandoosa, are generally silly and based around anime memes and raiding, Yggdrasil plans to maintain relative autonomy in its own affairs and is historically defender-aligned in gameplay, but has moved to a neutral/uninvolved stance. Their government is still active and relatively unchanged from before being inducted into the Commonwealths as well. They’ve stated outright that they plan to maintain the same cultural outlook they’ve had in the past.

I’ve been hanging out in the Alstroemerian Commonwealths server for the last week or two and they generally seem harmless and even fun most of the time. I think Yggdrasil, at least, can be good friends to Refugia for the foreseeable future, and I’d like to see us give them a chance.

I am hereby invoking RRS 6b to call a referendum on opening an embassy with Yggdrasil.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on Australialia

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	25/11/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	10
Against:	2

An’eth’ara,

We opened our embassy with Australialia shortly after refocusing on Refugia because they were disarmingly charming and full of silly memes. They were around the same size we’d been throughout 2019 (~25 nations) and seemed to have a lively discussion and friendships with a few other regions of their size. All in all, things seemed like they would be fine. Not entirely in line with what we normally looked out for in other regions, but charming.

Since then, Australialia has gradually been shrinking in size. They’ve become significantly more unstable in their embassy policy (with a significant number of closures in the past 150 days). And the small quirks of their cultural identity that I’d hoped would disappear seem to have only gotten worse. Their embassies with regions like Lardyland show either a lack of interest in screening, or a similarity of thought. Having 99 embassies and zero interaction with the vast majority of them means our outlook on what embassies are (friendships and communication channels) do not align with theirs.

I am hereby invoking RRS 6b to call a referendum on the closure of our embassy with Australialia.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on Taiwan (Pt. 2)

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	29/11/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	16
Against:	1

An’eth’ara,

The Refugi embassy with Taiwan was opened shortly after the beginning of my first term as Councillor of Foreign Affairs. The region was small, but its founder, Kuan Yin, was motivated and energetic, pumping out news to her region and working hard to establish embassies with older, more established regions. Possibly due to my inexperience in the role, I assumed that they would grow and flourish based off my greatest wishes for the founder.

While the region has the same amount of nations it did when our embassy was founded (10), it hasn’t grown or shown much activity since that time. The oldest visible message on the RMB is from 138 days ago, and the last message from Kuan Yin was 66 days ago (the fourth most recent post on the RMB). They don’t have any off-site communication spaces I can see, so it seems that the region has completely died. The final nail seems, quite unfortunately, to be that Kuan Yin will likely CTE before this poll has concluded.

I am hereby invoking RRS 6b to call a referendum on the closure of our embassy with Taiwan.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on Spiritus

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	03/12/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	10
Against:	0

An’eth’ara,

We were approached recently about considering a possible embassy with Spiritus. This was a fun moment, because I’ve had Spiritus in my dossier for the past couple months, watching them and considering them for an embassy. Having them approach us first, and through channels other than just throwing an embassy request at us, made me feel a lot better about things.

Spiritus is a pretty large and stable region. They’re currently at 302 nations, while their peak was a little over 800 nations in 2016. Much like us, they focus a lot on just having a chill and friendly community, and often revolve around just having a goofy time with things. You might have noticed the potato theme to a lot of 2020 Nationstates events (the SecGen election and N-Day in particular). That’s a result of Spiritus’s delegate Salax, who’s been in our server and is a friendly face in the cards server as well.

Spiritus is also friends with a lot of reputable regions that we’re either already friends with (Forest), or that we’ve talked to in the past (10000 Islands). All in all, I feel that Spiritus is a good fit for us even without being entirely centred around eco-friendly matters.

I am hereby invoking RRS 6b to call a referendum on the opening of an embassy with Spiritus.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on The Social Liberal Union

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	14/12/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	4
Against:	9
Abstain:	0

An’eth’ara,

Some of you may have seen the recent news regarding The Social Liberal Union (SLU). For those of you who didn't, here's a small summary before we get into it. SLU was founded almost exactly ten years ago. For a large portion of the last two years, their founder was CTE, and a democratically-elected, leftist government has been running the region. Recently, their founder returned and, unhappy with the political leanings of the region, couped it (dismissing the elected government and closing several of the embassies after he left for another region), and has basically made a mess. The government did a wonderful job moving their members and region to a new one and getting things set up quickly.

While watching the above-mentioned events unfold, a few of us came to realise that SLU was actually quite a good candidate to be friends. Not only are they an older region, they're large (hovering just above 200 nations before the coup) and have a very active community. They're friends with The Leftist Assembly and I've met several of their regional leaders in TLA's discord. They're a leftist government with a lot of good policies and a focus on democratic elections and referenda at the same level we do.

I am hereby invoking RRS 6b to call a referendum on the opening of an embassy with The Social Liberal Union.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on India

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	28/12/2020
Poll:	Link
For:	15
Against:	2
Abstain:	1

An’eth’ara,

Our embassy with India was opened December 23, 2019. While we were never supplied with a reason, the Foreign Affairs Councillor at the time seemed excited to open relations with their region. Since then, our communication with India has been almost entirely quiet. Infrequently, they’ll share a news post with us, but for the most part we’ve just existed in entirely different spaces, maintaining an embassy.

So it was a surprise to learn how the region had seemingly changed upon appointing an Envoy a few weeks ago. We’ve been provided with several screenshots (here) of content within their discord and RMB. While the person responsible for the worst of the content has been reprimanded, they were never punished beyond that. More nationalistic, anti-left, and occasionally racist commentary has been made in the time since. After finding the content, especially the comments and jokes about concentration camps, extremely disturbing and distasteful, our Envoy reported back to us.

I think that the problematic content that’s been steadily taking over the discourse in India has passed a line where I’m no longer comfortable with maintaining embassies with them. Adding onto that the fact that they barely seem to acknowledge that we exist, and have been trolling our Envoy in their discord, I believe it’s time we end this relationship.

I am hereby invoking RRS 6b to call a referendum on the closure of our embassy with India.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Statement on 10000 Islands

Referendum Information

Author:	Sylh Alanor
on	11/01/2021
Poll:	Link
For:	10
Against:	2
Abstain:	1

An’eth’ara,

Those of you who have been hanging around our Discord or on the forum for a little bit have probably met HS (EmojiTheft in the region, but his main is HumanSanity). While he has been in the region for a bit now as a friend, he and I have also been talking about Foreign Affairs considerations for a few months now. And today, I’m happy to bring you the product of those talks- the final embassy recommendation of my term!

10000 Islands (XKI) is a massive and very old region, coming in at just under 1,300 nations as of me writing this. They’re well-known on NationStates for being the home of TITO (the Ten Thousand Islands Treaty Organisation), a defender military, and being incredibly active as a political force. Beyond that, they’re also highly interested in a lot of areas we are- cards, community events, World Assembly discussion- and we tend to align in a lot of ways on those interests. Most recently, it was HS and XKI that invited Refugia to the Harry Potter festival that just ended last week.

XKI also shares a lot of friends with us. They have embassies with Forest, Spiritus, New West Indies, The East Pacific, and Canada. This overlap of communities is one of the major reasons I’ve been looking at them as a potential embassy candidate for the last several months. I think that this will be a fantastic embassy for us, one of the top cultural fits we’ve found outside of the eco-friendliness sphere.

I am hereby invoking RRS 6b to call a referendum on the opening of an embassy with 10000 Islands.

Dar'eth Shiral,
Sylh Alanor
Foreign Affairs Councillor, Refugia

Councillor Pantala and Pyrrhia

The below archive is from Pantala and Pyrrhia's term as Councillor of Foreign Affairs between Feb 15, 2020 and June 14, 2021.

Statement on The East Pacific

Referendum Information

Author:	Pantala and Pyrrhia
on	02/03/2021
Poll:	Link
For:	11
Against:	5
Abstain:	1

Hello Refugi! After a long period of deliberation and observation, I find myself in the position to request a full Embassy with The East Pacific as my first action of the term!

The East Pacific is one of the original game created regions, and the third largest by population in the entirety of Nationstates, coming in as just over 8,700 nations. This makes it one of the most powerful and influential regions on the site, and a very beneficial ally, especially with everything that our regions have in common. The East Pacific has strong democratic traditions and elects their Delegate by majority vote, and has a strong system of checks and balances of power through their Magister and Viziers. They also happen to be very culturally similar to Refugia, with many anti fascist and eco friendly nations, a welcoming atmosphere, and a trading card community!

Refugia has also maintained a consulate with The East Pacific since September of 2020, and has maintained many connections with various TEP members for months (I’m sure you all know the fantastic Cat and Zuk). In addition, The East Pacific shares a mutual embassy with Refugia in the wonderful region of 10000 Islands, as well as having embassies with many other large democratic regions.

With that, I invoke RRS 6B to create a regional referendum for the opening of a new embassy with The East Pacific.

Pantala and Pyrrhia Foreign Affairs Councillor of Refugia

Acting Councillor Refuge Isle

The below archive is from Refuge Isle, serving as Acting Councillor of Foreign Affairs, between June 15, 2020 and October 14, 2021, whilst the office was vacant.

Statement on Meihua

Referendum Information

Author:	Refuge Isle
on	23/08/2021
Poll:	Link
For:	10
Against:	2
Abstain:	0

Refugia,

Tradition indicates that Refugia views its respective embassy regions as allies, aligned in values and culture, bound in friendship and a shared sense of purpose. In these relationships, the expectations are relatively casual. Our primary goal is the continuity of our communities and the peaceful coexistence with our neighbours where these values are shared. Although we aspire to these long lasting and harmonious friendships, through the inevitability of communities' rise and fall it is not always so.

The region Meihua is one of our older standing embassies, despite our minimal contact with the region. Indeed, it is indicative of the benefits of doing no harm. However, when this embassy was forged on February 12th 2020, the region was at its all-time high of eighty nations and seeking to improve. Instead, however, the region became locked into a steady decline that it has not found the ability to escape from. The cause seems to correlate to Lukatonia's resignation as Chief Elder on February 1st of that year.

The population has steadily fallen from eighty nations to its present state of fifteen, with the last nation casting an endorsement reaching its end as well. Ashaie's two and a half year delegacy has come to an end, and without another World Assembly native in the region, she cannot be replaced. It now appears to be regrettably time to retire this embassy and hope their community may one day recover and return to promising future that it once knew.

Until such time, under RRS 11(e) as the Acting Councillor of Foreign Affairs, I am initiating a region-wide referendum to determine the fate of this embassy, RRS 6(b)(iv).

- L

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