The Enemy of My Enemy Is Still My Friend, Apparently

Sunday, January 24th, 2016

The proverbial “winds of change” have been sweeping over the Neo-Meshikan territory since the nation’s formal (re-)establishment on the 8th of July, 2013, but lately these winds seem to be have morphed into something more like a hurricane. Not only is the country still sharply divided over the changes promulgated last year to the Constitution--due to take effect on the first of March--that, among other things, effectively do away with our right to call ourselves a Sultanate, and call for the complete restructuring of everything from the Federal District to the branches of the Provincial governments, but after nearly a year of economic recession spawned by the peacekeeping efforts up north (necessary in no small part due the reckless actions of our dearest allies in the IUSR), and the subsequent crash of the tourism industry--the backbone of our national economy--many feeble attempts to jump-start the economy after the crash have been seen, with only modest results recently. As a result, President Andrews should have seen his public approval tumble along with the Shūkur.

While our exchange rate was saved from complete collapse by the admirable economic policing set forth by the Ministry of Economy's Monetary Authority, our President should not be so fortunate. Perhaps it is the fame gained during the Meshikan Revolution that keeps so many so loyal to the Socialist Revolutionary Council, but there’s only so much past history can do to justify present dubious decisions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the continued--some would say strengthened--coöperation between the International Union of Socialist Republics and our own government. Sometime during the course of the past year, our top officials forgot that this is the state directly responsible for all our current economic troubles, not to mention the annihilation of an entire urban area of more than half a million people, all for of the supposed alleged murder of one person. One does not need to be reminded that no conclusive evidence for actual poisoning was ever found from the examination of Iosif Bramanov'’s body, as admitted in a recent article from Gazeta, the IUSR’s state-controlled news agency. Indeed, many of us wouldn'’t be too surprised if sooner than later, Hana’s father turned out to be out and about.

But I digress. It is a well-known fact that the former Neo-Meshikan state reached the moon a couple of decades ago, but had to put colonization projects on hold intermittently during the constant uprisings of the workers and had to scratch the projects completely in the wake of the Revolution. The new nation of Nuevo Meshiko used its predecessor’s technology to establish the first lunar colony in 2013, after which it decided to share them with the then-named International Union of Workers’ States, a move which would foster closer academic and scientific relationships quite independent from the political ones--relationships in pursuit of knowledge that continue to this day.

The IUWS, and subsequently the IUSR, in return offered Nuevo Meshiko a part in its extensive nuclear research program (which has a well-known focus on military applications), an offer which Nuevo Meshiko repeatedly refused. At least until last year.

President Andrews’ administration shocked the nation by overturning Nuevo Meshiko’s well-established anti-nuclear stance, announcing that not only would grounded Neo-Meshikan research facilities coöperate with IUSR on the development of “innovative nuclear technologies and their applications”, but that the three jointly staffed NM-IUSR lunar bases (whose workforce includes prominent Krasniya, Halloranian, Czervenikan, and Ruapekapekan as well as Neo-Meshikan and Terra-Pacifican research scientists) would in addition be required to do so. The nature of such applications was not specified--strange for a government that prides itself on transparency--, but after the so-called Hamilton Rumpus, it isn'’t ridiculously hard to guess.

Only time will tell us if it was ever a good idea to ally ourselves with the current regime of the volatile heir to the Bramanov dynasty, although in the face of renewed imperial exploits on our northern border and insane space conquest aspirations by the same less-than-trustworthy states, I'll be the first to admit that there aren'’t many viable alternatives.