Passed Ratification of The Turing Treaty

[JaxsonWinter]

A MOTION

To enact the bill "The Turing Treaty"
Introduced into the Council of State of the Union of Democratic States on the 30th of June, 2023, by @Phoenix
As follows:​

---

TURING TREATY
A bilateral agreement of friendship between the Empire of Great Britain and the Union of Democratic States.

Article I || Preamble

1.00 || Desiring to deepen their partnership, the Empire of Great Britain (“the Empire”) and the Union of Democratic States (“the Union”) agree to follow the Turing Treaty 2023 to the best of their abilities in order to increase the strength of their friendship.

1.01 || Noting that this Treaty was negotiated during the Month of June, also known as Pride Month or LGBTQIA+ Awareness Month, the Empire and the Union have decided to name this Treaty in honour of Alan Turing, who, despite his contributions to science and technology, was persecuted for being gay.

Article II || Military Undertakings and Non-Aggression

2.00 || The Empire recognizes the constitution, government and laws of the Union and their territories as legitimate and agrees not to undermine or overthrow them or to assist any other region in doing so. The Empire further agrees to offer assistance in the event that another region or organisation attempts to overthrow the legitimate government of the Union.

2.01 || The Union recognizes the constitution, government and laws of the Empire and their territories as legitimate and agrees not to undermine or overthrow them or to assist any other region in doing so. The Union further agrees to offer assistance in the event that another region or organisation attempts to overthrow the legitimate government of the Empire.

2.02 || Neither the Empire nor the Union will engage in military hostilities against the other.

2.03 || Should the direct security of the Empire be threatened, the Union will endeavour to provide military aid at the request of the government of the Empire.

2.04 || Should the direct security of the Union be threatened, the Empire will endeavour to provide military aid at the request of the government of the Union.

2.05 || Both the Empire and the Union shall not cede their sovereign control over their respective military forces to any supraregional alliance. Sovereign control is interpreted as being able to make the ultimate decision with regards to the region's military resources participating in a military operation. Both regions may continue to enter into bilateral and multilateral agreements for common defence.

2.06 || The Empire and The Union shall grant each other access to discussions on Condemnations and Injunctions for the respective regions or residents so as to encourage votes one way or another.

2.06 || The Empire and the Union shall not vote for, or approve, Security Council Resolutions which seek to Condemn their respective regions or residents, unless they have gained consent to do so.

2.07 || The Empire and the Union shall not vote for, or approve, Security Council Resolutions which seek to Injunct their respective regions from transitioning to or from a Frontier or Stronghold, unless they have gained consent to do so.

2.07 || The Empire and the Union shall endeavour to aid each other in Delegacy transferals when requested.

2.08 || The Empire and the Union will collaborate militarily for the combined benefit of both regions when practical.

2.09 || The Empire and the Union agree to cooperate on joint military training exercises at the discretion of each region's military command.

Article III || Intelligence Undertakings

3.00 || Neither the Empire nor the Union will spy on the other. For this purpose, a "spy" is a person acting under false pretences in one region, without that region's knowledge, and at the direction of the other region's legitimate government.

3.01 || The Empire and the Union each shall endeavour to provide any intelligence to the other if such information is pertinent to the other region's security or well-being, or otherwise upon the other's reasonable request, unless the party in possession of such information reasonably believes that providing that information might violate applicable laws or contravene the terms of service for NationStates or the region's forum provider, or when revealing that information would unduly compromise that party's source(s) of information. Both signatories shall endeavour to reveal as much as possible in such situations, but not more than they can under laws, terms of service or the need to protect sources.

Article IV || Diplomatic Undertakings

4.00 || The Empire and the Union shall establish and maintain in-game embassies (i.e., on the NationStates site) with one another.

4.01 || The Empire and the Union shall maintain off-site embassies (i.e., on their regional forums), consistent with facilities provided to other allies.

4.02 || The Empire and the Union agree to endeavour to invite and include each other in cultural events.

Article V || Ratification, Emendation and Repeals

5.00 || This bilateral agreement will be ratified when both the Empire and the Union have ratified it according to their usual ratification procedure.

5.01 || This agreement may also be amended jointly by the signatories either region according to their usual amendment procedure. However, edits that purely affect the formatting of this agreement may take effect immediately, without using the usual procedures.

5.02 || Either region may withdraw from this agreement at any time, so long as they inform their partner of why they are withdrawing as soon as possible after doing so.

 

[JaxsonWinter]

I Invite the Honorable Member and President @Phoenix to Introduce the Treaty

 

[Phoenix]

This is slightly out of the norm for us. As some of you may see from their Consulate thread they've not been the most active, however they approached us with this proposal. At first, it was a simple request to get training and assistance with becoming a Defender military - but upon learning more about their region and as we got to talking in our private thread, we realized we actually may make really good natural allies. They are wanted to pursue defenderism completely and approached us for assistance, I figured this would be a great time to capitalize on an alliance I feel both regions would make good on.

With our FA being quiet but improving, I see this as a great opportunity to further developments with our foreign affairs. I hope the Council of State agrees that this is a positive direction for our region to go into.

 

[JaxsonWinter]

Thank You Mister President
I Open Debate on the Treaty

 

[Zukchiva]

I do not support this treaty.

In my opinion, treaties are the capstone of relations - they hold value because they are founded on a relationship built on cooperation and mutual respect over a long period of time - so much so that both regions have some perceived notion of closeness. This holds true for every single one of our allies currently, besides TEP perhaps (though we still do have some history of interaction/cooperation with them pre and post treaty). With Empire of Great Britain, all we have is... one cycle of update sharing and a request to train their military, in the context of a 3-month long consulate.

I understand that EoGB is a fun and vibey region, and I understand that the Executive trusts them to hold true to this treaty. But I still feel this is too soon, too early, and unnecessary. Historical or present strong relationship - we have neither with EoGB. There are other ways to "boost" relations with EoGB if that's what we're looking for - a treaty is not a necessary step for that. And if we want to develop our FA portfolio for whatever reason, there are other regions that I'd argue have a more historical connection that we could form a treaty with (like SLU, Conch Kingdom), so I don't see why we need an unusual treaty when we can build more "regular" treaties with regions we already have noted relationships with if there is a want to develop our FA portfolio.

The main point of treaties, ultimately, is symbolism. They symbolize that a relationship between two regions has grown to such a high level that they're willing to take the final step and put their relationship on paper. Not to say treaties aren't important, mechanically speaking, but if you trust a region to follow a treaty then they'd probably act the same as an embassy anyways + the situations wherein one has to weigh between an ally vs an embassy are rare. A treaty's' value is in its symbolism, but if we start negotiating treaties with any region that just has a consulate with us for three months, then our treaties become meaningless because they become so easy to get.

I will say the treaty is nicely written though. Has that going for it.

 

[Phoenix]

I do not support this treaty.

In my opinion, treaties are the capstone of relations - they hold value because they are founded on a relationship built on cooperation and mutual respect over a long period of time - so much so that both regions have some perceived notion of closeness. This holds true for every single one of our allies currently, besides TEP perhaps (though we still do have some history of interaction/cooperation with them pre and post treaty). With Empire of Great Britain, all we have is... one cycle of update sharing and a request to train their military, in the context of a 3-month long consulate.

I understand that EoGB is a fun and vibey region, and I understand that the Executive trusts them to hold true to this treaty. But I still feel this is too soon, too early, and unnecessary. Historical or present strong relationship - we have neither with EoGB. There are other ways to "boost" relations with EoGB if that's what we're looking for - a treaty is not a necessary step for that. And if we want to develop our FA portfolio for whatever reason, there are other regions that I'd argue have a more historical connection that we could form a treaty with (like SLU, Conch Kingdom), so I don't see why we need an unusual treaty when we can build more "regular" treaties with regions we already have noted relationships with if there is a want to develop our FA portfolio.

The main point of treaties, ultimately, is symbolism. They symbolize that a relationship between two regions has grown to such a high level that they're willing to take the final step and put their relationship on paper. Not to say treaties aren't important, mechanically speaking, but if you trust a region to follow a treaty then they'd probably act the same as an embassy anyways + the situations wherein one has to weigh between an ally vs an embassy are rare. A treaty's' value is in its symbolism, but if we start negotiating treaties with any region that just has a consulate with us for three months, then our treaties become meaningless because they become so easy to get.

I will say the treaty is nicely written though. Has that going for it.

If you didn't support it, why did you ask to get involved in the talks and had the intention to comment on the treaty? Doesn't that inherently show interest?

The symbolism between our regions is shared interests - something that we have had in common for a while. Their willingness and desire to approach us first for companionship and to ask us of all people to help them get into Defenderism. They have no reason to not hold true to their treaty or for this to become another one for our collection.

Note that the regions you believe we could get treaties with for symbolism, barely speak to us regardless, for example Couch Kingdom who they have relations with and Embassies with...




That is their last update with us. Regardless of long-standing friendships we've had with some of these regions, some of them are still not worth a treaty in my eyes. I rather have a companionship with them and I'm still confident that the EoGB can provide that 10x of those with whom have zero posts on here in their forums or Consulate threads on our forum.

 

[Zukchiva]

If you didn't support it, why did you ask to get involved in the talks and had the intention to comment on the treaty? Doesn't that inherently show interest?

The symbolism between our regions is shared interests - something that we have had in common for a while. Their willingness and desire to approach us first for companionship and to ask us of all people to help them get into Defenderism. They have no reason to not hold true to their treaty or for this to become another one for our collection.

Note that the regions you believe we could get treaties with for symbolism, barely speak to us regardless, for example Couch Kingdom who they have relations with and Embassies with...

View attachment 350
View attachment 351

That is their last update with us. Regardless of long-standing friendships we've had with some of these regions, some of them are still not worth a treaty in my eyes. I rather have a companionship with them and I'm still confident that the EoGB can provide that 10x of those with whom have zero posts on here in their forums or Consulate threads on our forum.

I asked to get involved because if this passes I'd rather we have a sound treaty even if I don't support it. I'll also be honest and say I wasn't too sure about my stance at the time, and I've spent a little of the next day thinking on my stance and coming to this conclusion.

In any case, I feel we'll have to agree to disagree on this, because I am not convinced that having shared interests for a month merits the symbolism a treaty typically nessecitates to be passed. I'm not worried about EoGB following a treaty, I just don't think our current level of relations merits one due to my personal stance on this topic.

We'd also have to disagree regarding SLU and CK, because it does seem we have different values when it comes to evaluating what types of relationships merit a treaty.

 

[AC Alex | East Chimore]

Speaker Jaxson, seeing as there is no pending motions for amending the treaty, I move to close debate.

 

[JaxsonWinter]

I'll second the Motion
And Debate will be closed

 

[JaxsonWinter]

Voting On the Motion will now Commence
Since no Amendments were raised to the Motion we move straight into Voting on the Main Motion

On Voting on The Turing Treaty

Those who Agree may say Aye
Those who do not may say No
Those who wish to still vote but not vote Aye or No may Abstain

(Please vote VIA The Poll)

 

[JaxsonWinter]

The Tellers have Concluded;
That in Respect of the votes on The Turing Treaty
The Ayes have 2
The Noes have 1

So The Ayes have it! The Ayes Have it!
The Bill will be passed by the CoS