EPNS Edition 19


The East Pacific News Service
October 29, 2021
N-Day 2021: Does too many PAX FRUITS and Crabs ruin the Nuclear Apocalypse?
By [nation=Albrook] (Edited by [nation=Eunopiar])

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(Editor’s Note: Any occurrence of “P o t a t o” on the TEP forums is replaced with “PAX FRUIT”.)

N-Day: The annual NationStates tradition of coordinating with your regions, friends, and fellow nuclear enthusiasts to bomb the entire known world into a transient but devastating nuclear turmoil. N-Day launched in 2017 as that year’s April Fools Event and is now a recurring tradition.

With every strategic game, however, comes a metagame – a correct way to play. From a perspective of a TEPer that did not attend N-Day, I asked for opinions from the TEP Discord Server Community and several Friends of the East, our friends in diplomacy, what their opinion was about this year’s N-Day and the obvious presence of megafactions.

The primary respondents include Former Delegate Libertanny, Provost and Chief Minister of Foreign Affairs Aivintis, and the Overseeing Officer of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army and PAX FRUIT Commander Catiania. A single guest opinion was provided by President Brototh of Thaecia.

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Profile on Candidates for TEP Delegacy, October 2021
By [nation=Nociav] (Unedited)

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(Editor in Chief’s Note: This article was held from publication by Conclave until conclusion of the election. It was only released in the authorized campaigning Discord channel. Now, upon conclusion of the election, it is released for your enjoyment in its original, unedited state. Aurora Yukihime of Albrook won the election on Round 3 of IRV with 14 out of 28 votes.)

(Author Note: I am a candidate in the election but I am running as a joke candidate.)

Introduction

The 2021 October Delegate elections in TEP began on the 1st of October. The nominations period ran until the 8th of October. The voting will run from the 8th of October until the 15th of October. The candidates are Zukchiva, Sammy23, Algerstonia, SirShadow, vw53a, Mangegneithe, Nociav, Aurora Yukihime, Libertanny, and YSG the Fox. Of these, only YSG, Aurora, and Shadow ran as serious candidates, or 30%.

This is the first election where the new citizenship system of TEP is being used. Details of this system can be found in the previous EPNS issue. As part of this new system, the Delegate Elections Act was amended and a new act, the “Voter Registration Act”, was passed. The Voter Registration Act established the “Voter Registration Commission” to oversee voter registration. The Grand Vizier is in charge of this commission.

The voter registration ran from the 1st of October until the 8th of October alongside the nominations. Presently, the voter registration procedure consists of stating your TEP Citizen nation and your WA nation. You are then required to telegram a Vizier from your WA nation as confirmation. After this, you will be registered to vote provided you are not OOC banned, IC banned, or on the prohibition list. EPSA nations presently have an exception where the Overseeing Officer can verify on your behalf should you be in EPSA.

Campaigns

The campaigns of Zuk, Sam, Alger, VW, Mangegneithe (Aivintis), Nociav, and Lib were joke campaigns and will be covered first.

The campaign of Zuk called for the abolition of all Ministries and the firing of all Deputy Ministers and Executive staffers as the Executive had become too large for Zuk’s liking. In place, the Ministers would be required to all the work. These Ministers would no longer have set tasks but would instead do what they wanted to. Zuk would also institute an awards system where bells would be given to each awardee. These bells would be collected by instituting a tax on residents. Those who refuse would be invaded by the army. To protect TEP from hostile elements, Zuk advocated for a monopoly on all grape production and using it as a bargaining tool with any enemies the region may have.

Sam’s campaign consisted of two posts. One reading “.”, and another reading “?”.

Alger’s campaign warned of “The Great Trial”. The Great Trial would be a war fought between TEP and TWP. Alger argued that The Great Trial is a continuation of TEP’s struggle with TWP and is, therefore, inevitable. He argued that The Great Trial has the possibility of destroying TEP should the region not be prepared. The Great Trial, should the region be prepared, would end in a decisive victory whereby TEP would enact vengeance on TWP. Alger proceeded to state that only he could deliver TEP to victory as no other Citizen was talking about TWP and the inevitable war. Alger asserted that only he knew what is needed to pass The Great Trial and that, under his leadership, TEP would destroy TWP.

VW’s campaign called for the return of the old Citizenship system, the complete destruction of the Executive branch, leaving foreign affairs to the military, introducing conscription, creating TEP clones in raided regions, creation of a navy and air force, a combing through of all articles in the University of The East Pacific to ensure they paint TEP in a good light, and an abolition of term lengths for the Delegacy.

Aiv’s campaign stated that, should he be elected, he would be a mediocre Delegate, do a small amount of amazing work, and then delegate all his responsibilities before becoming the second best Delegate anyone could hope for. He ended by asking to be the third or second choice of candidate.

Nociav’s campaign (full disclosure here, I am Nociav so I am able to write about my campaign in greater detail) consisted of contradictory statements. The title of the campaign, “A Choice as Safe as Inflammable Material”, contradicted itself as inflammable means “can be caught on fire easily”. The first paragraph was an adaptation of Zuk’s first paragraph. Transparency was supposed to be kept by keeping a private log which will never be released and the removal of an Executive policy requiring disclosure of important information. Activity would be fostered by hosting events at the unreasonable time of 10am UTC. WA would be voted in accordance to the Ministry except when it wouldn’t. UTEP would be made autonomous in a manner similar to the ancient Persian satrapy system, a system famous for corruption and volatility. Ministers would be mandated to take leaves of duties during which they are also mandated to work on their Ministries. And Magisterium-Delegate separation would be enforced with tenacity whilst also proposing laws to amend the Executive Act. All of this was done under the veneer of a serious campaign.

Lib’s campaign currently consists of just a poster advertising a fake old western film titled “Birdolero II”. The poster is that of a goose on one side and a parrot on another. Both are photoshopped to wear an old western hat. The image can be found here:


The campaigns of YSG, Aurora, and Shadow were serious and will be covered below.

YSG’s campaign called for an inter-regional RP, weekly interviews of the Delegate and legislative branch, and the re-creation of the Ministry of Virtual Enhancement and the inheritance of all its old duties (graphics works, translations, scripting work, etc.).

Aurora’s campaign stated that, in order to combat resignations leaving branches of the government or ministries headless, she would encourage the Magisterium, Praesidium, Conclave, EPSA, and Ministers to create a Deputy or Designee system to ensure continued Ministry functioning in the event of a resignation. These deputies would be encouraged to create documentation of procedures, tasks, and interactions, and to promote training. Aurora would also revive the Chronicler to document past, present, and potential future actions of the Government as an attempt to inform Citizens and to encourage them to join the Government. She also wanted to bring back Zuk’s constant telegramming of nations in the region about government happenings, cultural events, and WA resolutions to keep people who only reside on-site informed. In addition to this, she would repeal the old Executive policy banning anime, a joking reference to an RMB post by Fedele several years earlier.

Shadow’s campaign promised the renaming of the Chief Ministry of Foreign Affairs to just the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Next, Shadow would reorganize the Ministry into a more collective run system with no Minister and instead the Senior Diplomats would collectively run the Ministry. The Senior Diplomats would have an application process attached to them so a reserve would always exist. These reorganizations would be done out of manpower concerns. FA advisors would be given less voting power in the new Ministry as well. Only being allowed to step in when there is a tied vote or a major FA issue. The Ministry of Education would next be renamed to just the University of The East Pacific for the sake of simplicity. UTEP would be tasked with hosting interregional debates and other events. The Ministries of Information, Broadcasting, and Publishing would be merged into a single ministry also titled the “Ministry of Information”. This is done to collect the different informational jobs each of these ministries do and make it more centralized. This new ministry would have a single Minister and multiple deputies that would be in-charge of the different specialized fields. The Ministry of Culture would be encouraged to host interregional events. Culture would also be encouraged to host spontaneous game nights in a manner similar to the region Thaecia.

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A Response to Nociav
By [nation=Bachtendekuppen] (Edited by [nation=Albrook])

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Editor in Chief’s Note

I need to personally apologize to Authors Nociav and Bachtendekuppen, and to you the reader.

In the August & September 2021 edition of EPNS, the article “Against East Malaysia’s Citizenship System” was posted in original condition late September 2021. It had passed final edits on August 25. EPNS was posted late due to my own personal delay. By September 30, the Magisterium had already passed significant legislation that fixes many flaws Nociav points out.

The Voter Registration Act - The East Pacific - Tapatalk, Delegate Elections Act - The East Pacific - Tapatalk, and rewrite of the Regional Message Board Regulation Act [NEW RECORDS] - The East Pacific - Tapatalk solves Nociav’s concerns, respectively, about voter registration before each election, the ability for the Election Commission to establish IP checks, and spamming and trolling on the RMB being actionable without trial.

Bachtendekuppen’s opinion was authored before this mistake was realized. In this article, every newly passed and reformed law is cited where relevant. Again, this is no mistake in Nociav’s argument – but rather in my delay. Bach’s original disputes are retained to defuse any arguments you may have from my misinformation.

Earlier this month, in a rebuttal posted on the TEP Forums and Discord Server, Nociav’s remaining argument on this topic is solely for the presence of IP checks. He has since tabled a proposal to the Magisterium after sufficient evidence, as Bach claims in this article, that they will be enforced.

  • Albrook

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On October 1[sup]st[/sup] 2021, EPNS published an article by Nociav which was aimed at EM’s citizenship reform. I felt that some issues in the article were not dealt with in an appropriately detailed manner and came to questionable conclusions on some points as a result. Therefore, I wrote this reply, expanding on some security-related provisions in TEP law.

To be more nuanced, after this reform every Nation residing in TEP is a Citizen (§ E.1. of the Concordat). This means they have a right to a trial, the freedom to serve in office, participate in the Magisterium, to register to vote in elections, and to leave the region freely (§§ F.1 - F.7 of the The Concordat of the East Pacific - The East Pacific - Tapatalk).

A basic security measure remains that, in order to exercise any of these rights, one has to register on the forum and apply for Citizenship masking. Any necessary (IP) checks can (and should) be done at this point.

Further, one has indeed to register - each election - to vote (§ 3 of the Voter Registration Act). Currently this requires applying with their Citizenship nation and their World Assembly (“WA”) nation. However, the Voter Registration Commission can, by law, require any additional step to register (§ 3.2 of said Act). This gives the Commission a nearly unlimited scope of possibilities to require any safety-requirement as deemed necessary, each election cycle. For example, it can incorporate IP-checks on applications. The Commission can, each election cycle, fine-tune its registration requirements as deemed necessary, based on a (inter)regional security assessment.

The Commission can also deny any application (for registration) on the basis of “regional security concerns” (§ 3.3 of said Act), even though the applicant is a Citizen.

The Praesidium can prohibit any number of people from accessing The East Pacific (§ 5 of the Voter Registration Act).

Moreover, the Criminal Code - The East Pacific - Tapatalk was amended last July, together with the Concordat, adding additional security measures. The Concordat specifically recognizes the primacy of bans by the administration, without any recourse to the Conclave (Article G of the Concordat). The Viziers and the Delegate can deny entry or residence to anyone deemed “a significant risk to the region” (§ 3.1 of the TEP CC). Any contravention of any IC law is punishable by up to an indefinite ban (§ 6.1 of the TEP CC).

Therefore, the Delegate, Commission and Praesidium have all necessary tools and legal mandates to take all security measures deemed necessary to ensure the safety and secure elections of TEP.

The previous system did not prevent this either. If a group of people joins TEP in a legitimate way, they can influence its politics. However, if there is a subversive agenda, the Delegate, Praesidium and the Commission have the necessary tools to act, even without a trial (see above).

True, but it doesn’t prohibit them either, and the Commission has the mandate to require any measures deemed necessary (see above).

This is not true. Any offender can be considered to be committing a summary offense and may face message suppression, ejection, and/or indefinite banishment from the East Pacific, at discretion of the Delegate or Regional Officers (§ 5.1 of the RMBRA). Citizens can appeal after the fact (§ 5.3 of the RMBRA).

While Nociav’s opinion article rightfully raises attention to the security of TEP, any debate and/or future reform should depart from a correct understanding of the tools available to TEP’s institutions. I see a lot of improvement possible in the execution of security policy, based on the legal remedies already available.

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