The Aegis Under Strain? A Recap of The Aegis Situation
By: Guess and Check, Editor-in-Chief
FOREWARD
When I first began Everyday News (EDN), it was meant to serve as a political newspaper, reviewing situations that the average Unionist may not be aware of. While EDN has since shifted to a more opinionated newspaper tied with interviews, I think it wouldn’t be a bad thing to write a more objective article again. Hence, this article.
This article concerns the controversies surrounding Europeia joining The Aegis Alliance. The Aegis Alliance is a multi-pact defender alliance between 10000 Islanss, The Rejected Realms, The South Pacific, Spiritus, The Union of Democratic States, The League, The Order of the Grey Wardens, and Europeia. In particular, Europeia has been found to be withholding information the Rejected Realms feels is integral to its security. While the situation has mostly cooled down in the public sphere, discussions remain on-going in private.
I hope this article proves enlightening in summarizing the situation. I believe all Unionists should be aware of what is happening with this controversy, considering it concerns allies of the Union and a multi-lateral organization the Union is involved in. All times are in EST unless stated otherwise; let me know if you have any comments on the matter!
THE START
The entire chain of events first started off when Europeia applied to the Aegis on March 25th, 2023 or sometime near so. This presumably prompted the Aegis to call together a meeting of signatories, which is also known as a Council per the actual treaty, to discuss the application. Most likely in a similar timeframe, TRR would open a thread in its citizen-only forums to allow citizens to voice their thoughts on Europeia joining the alliance. One such citizen - Madjack - did so, stating a negative opinion of Europeia. Per Europeia itself, MadJack’s statement included “calling our region ‘terrified’” and “our independence ‘myopic’”.
Despite TRR’s citizen’s thread only being accessible to citizens and TRR later saying it shared no information, Europeia would soon learn of MadJack’s comments. Europeia’s President, Rand, decided to approach the Delegate of The North Pacific, Gorundu, over MadJack’s comments since MadJack was also an advisor to Delegate Gorundu at the time he stated his opinion on Europeia. The following logs were released by Delegate Gorundu, containing a discussion in TNP’s executive channels on the matter.
As per the logs, President Rand directly contacted Delegate Gorundu without having first notified TRR of the leak by a TRR citizen (as there is no other way Europeia could’ve received said information, since MadJack himself and TRR stated they have not shared MadJack’s comments outside the relevant citizen-only thread). Delegate Gorundu suggested that President Rand notify TRR about the matter when Rand first contacted him. A day later, MadJack would ask Delegate Gorundu if he could notify TRR about the leak, and would ask if TRR had been notified another day later on June 9th, 2023. At that point, Delegate Gorundu told MadJack that President Rand wanted MadJack demasked from the Modern Gameplay Compact server (a multi-pact alliance The North Pacific is in); Gorundu also stated that Rand had ignored Gorundu’s advice to notify TRR.
Within a few minutes of this exchange, MadJack resigned from his government positions in The North Pacific. 30 minutes later, he released a dispatch revealing how Europeia had handled the information from TRR’s citizen-only thread, alongside accusing Europeia of spying on TRR. This was the first time the public learned of the incident; Europeia would swiftly Persona Non Grata (i.e. ban) MadJack for his comments within a few hours of the dispatch’s release. A day later on June 10th, 2023, MadJack was indicted by Delegate Gorundu on espionage charges in the North Pacific; the trial is on-going.
THE RESPONSE
TRR wasted little time in responding to the situation, posting a statement on June 10th, 2023. In the statement, TRR Delegate Catalyse stated that TRR had only become aware of the leak via MadJack’s dispatch, and that TRR viewed Europeia’s usage of the leak as a breach of trust. This breach of trust was especially noted as TRR had some “internal reluctance” on Europeia joining the Aegis yet had remained hopeful for a positive outcome. Delegate Catalyse also stated that they had reached out to Europeia privately on this matter.
However, the matter did not go smoothly. As stated by TRR’s Foreign Affairs Officer Dakota on June 12th, 2023, Europeia failed to acknowledge TRR’s request for discussion, only notifying TRR that Europeia was holding a Presidential election and adding new members to the group chat created for TRR-Europeia discussions. Following this post by Dakota, three Europeian high officials posted three separate statements. All three statements stated that Europeia was disappointed in TRR’s clarifications of private matters to the public and that doing so made it difficult for Europeia to believe TRR was operating in good faith. Two of the statements also stated that TRR had presented Europeia with a 24 hour ultimatum to give a response. Delegate Catalyse clarified on Europeia’s statements soon after, defending Dakota’s post whilst apologizing for the ultimatum not being mentioned. Catalyse then stated that the ultimatum was made in search of any response, including a “short sentence” with Europeia being able to ask for an extension if necessary. Per Catalyse, the only official response/acknowledgement TRR received was Europeia notifying TRR that it would bring the matter up to the entire Aegis alliance near the end of the 24 hours.
The next major public official move occurred on June 16th, when Europeia’s new President, President Pland Adanna, released a dispatch statement on the matter. In said statement, Europeia stated that they regretted “…that The Rejected Realms (TRR) was caught off guard by lack of communication…” and acknowledged that Europeia’s usage of TRR’s citizen-only post played a role in the entire situation. Europeia then provided their justification for their actions as an explanation to TRR, and stated that they would notify TRR of leaks in the future and help with investigations into the current leak (insofar as neither goal would be inhibited by Europeia’s laws or treaty obligations). The statement was not well received by more vocal TRR citizens.
The Rejected Realms was once again swift in its response, with Delegate Catalyse releasing a statement within the same day. In said statement, TRR retraced its steps since June 9th, including the demands TRR had made to Europeia: 1) that Europeia apologize for failing to disclose the leak to TRR and utilizing the information it had and 2) that Europeia provide all information it could on the leak. Per TRR, Europeia stated it found no wrongdoing in its actions and would not apologize, and would instead offer regret; additionally, Europeia could not cooperate further on providing information on the leak, since doing so would make Europeia break its treaty obligations with another region. TRR’s statement also revealed that Europeia had received the leaked post from a citizen of an allied region, and that said allied region has prohibited Europeia from releasing the identity of said citizen.
Sometime during or right after this, talks would break down as the two regions could not come to a compromise, with Europeia deciding to end talks per an Europeian Broadcasting Corporation article. Per HEM, the article's author, talks only restarted on June 19th when TRR reportedly became willing to accept a more limited apology alongside other compromises.
THE END…?
Since talks restarted, no major developments in the matter occurred for a few weeks. However, Delegate Catalyse did later note in an internal TRR announcement, posted July 1st 2023, that discussions were still on-going with Europeia and the Aegis.
The fruits of those discussions were made clear on July 3rd, 2023 in a joint-statement posted by TRR and Europeia. In the statement, Europeia apologized for spreading the leaked post from TRR’s forums without notifying TRR beforehand - although notably, they did not apologize for using that post to approach The North Pacific. Additionally, the statement reveals that both parties agreed to have a neutral third party, Amerion (The South Pacific's current Minister of Foreign Affairs), to figure out whether Europeia knew the leaker’s identity, whether Europeia could not disclose further information due to treaty obligations, and whether Europeia’s information posed an on-going risk to TRR.
After discussing with Europeia, Amerion stated to the Aegis that he was:
As such, TRR's and Europeia's governments considered the matter closed, with the joint-statement implying that the Aegis would be conducting further discussions to prevent similar matters in the future.
It seems the final resolution of the matter has received mixed responses. On the Europeian end, it seems Europeia's populace is generally supportive of Europeia’s actions during this situation, although some individuals maintained their disagreement with their region and there is some domestic disturbance related to the situation. The situation in TRR’s end seems a bit more mixed, with a couple of TRR’s citizens making negative comments on the joint-statement. Additionally, Delegate Catalyse announced their resignation on June 11th, 2023 - whether their resignation was due to the Aegis situation remains unknown - triggering a Delegate election in TRR.
Interestingly, the only candidate to have a campaign out at the time of writing, wabbitslayah, made the following statement within their campaign:
It is thus clear that, depending on how TRR’s Delegate election goes, the question of whether TRR will stay in the Aegis is not yet wholly resolved and is still, seemingly, being actively discussed within TRR's citizenry.
At the present time, it is unknown what the Union's Executive’s stance on the entire matter is, though it may be likely no official stance will be published. Nonetheless, any future developments on the matter will be covered in a future (albeit probably shorter) Everyday News Article.
That will be all for today. Thank you for reading!
By: Guess and Check, Editor-in-Chief
FOREWARD
When I first began Everyday News (EDN), it was meant to serve as a political newspaper, reviewing situations that the average Unionist may not be aware of. While EDN has since shifted to a more opinionated newspaper tied with interviews, I think it wouldn’t be a bad thing to write a more objective article again. Hence, this article.
This article concerns the controversies surrounding Europeia joining The Aegis Alliance. The Aegis Alliance is a multi-pact defender alliance between 10000 Islanss, The Rejected Realms, The South Pacific, Spiritus, The Union of Democratic States, The League, The Order of the Grey Wardens, and Europeia. In particular, Europeia has been found to be withholding information the Rejected Realms feels is integral to its security. While the situation has mostly cooled down in the public sphere, discussions remain on-going in private.
I hope this article proves enlightening in summarizing the situation. I believe all Unionists should be aware of what is happening with this controversy, considering it concerns allies of the Union and a multi-lateral organization the Union is involved in. All times are in EST unless stated otherwise; let me know if you have any comments on the matter!
THE START
The entire chain of events first started off when Europeia applied to the Aegis on March 25th, 2023 or sometime near so. This presumably prompted the Aegis to call together a meeting of signatories, which is also known as a Council per the actual treaty, to discuss the application. Most likely in a similar timeframe, TRR would open a thread in its citizen-only forums to allow citizens to voice their thoughts on Europeia joining the alliance. One such citizen - Madjack - did so, stating a negative opinion of Europeia. Per Europeia itself, MadJack’s statement included “calling our region ‘terrified’” and “our independence ‘myopic’”.
Despite TRR’s citizen’s thread only being accessible to citizens and TRR later saying it shared no information, Europeia would soon learn of MadJack’s comments. Europeia’s President, Rand, decided to approach the Delegate of The North Pacific, Gorundu, over MadJack’s comments since MadJack was also an advisor to Delegate Gorundu at the time he stated his opinion on Europeia. The following logs were released by Delegate Gorundu, containing a discussion in TNP’s executive channels on the matter.
[align=left]June 7, 2023
[9:17 PM]Gorundu: Well this is interesting
[9:18 PM]Gorundu: Someone decided to leak Madjack’s comments about Euro joining Aegis from TRR’s private citizen’s forum to Rand
[9:19 PM]Gorundu: And Rand decided to confront me about it instead of just keeping it close to his chest
[9:19 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:24 PM]Gorundu: Obviously I have to say it’s his personal opinion and doesn’t reflect the government’s view etc but I think the other thing here is we have knowledge that a citizen of TRR is leaking private information, and as an ally we have a duty to inform them. The thing I’m unsure about is whether I should also make this fact clear to Rand.
[9:38 PM]Ghost: And I don’t suppose Rand will mention who told him
[9:39 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:39 PM]Ghost: But I’m not sure what confronting you is supposed to accomplish
[9:40 PM]Ghost: Does he want MadJack fired or something?
[9:43 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:43 PM]Gorundu: I guess it kind of reads like he's trying to apply pressure to get Madjack fired
[9:49 PM]Ghost: It’s obviously not the government’s position either. And I believe we are treaty obligated to inform TRR of the leak. And I think we should at least ask Rand who told him this info, as it does constitute a leak and we have obligations to let them know of it*
*I would be sure on what those obligations actually are
[9:50 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:52 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:52 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:52 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:52 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:53 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:53 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:53 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:53 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:54 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:54 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:55 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:59 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[10:00 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[10:05 PM]Gorundu: The purpose of this is either to put a wedge between us and Euro, or to try force Madjack out of government. Either way perhaps I should be telling Rand that someone is trying to manipulate our relationship, and it would be for our benefit to know who that is.
[10:08 PM]Ghost: I think that's absolutely a fair point to raise
[10:10 PM]Ghost: but also, that was TRR and not TNP, is not consistent with our foreign policy or position on this, and it was made in a private citizen area - we can't enforce behavior in those spaces and shouldn't even know about it...though that last point probably wouldn't help much being brought up to him
June 8, 2023
[3:17 AM]St George: [REDACTED]
[3:17 AM]St George: Can I tell TRR about this?
[3:21 AM]St George: [REDACTED]
[3:22 AM]Gorundu: Uh...not sure starting a diplomatic spat with Euro is what I want right now
[3:23 AM]St George: So that's a no on telling trr that Europeia is spying on them?
[3:31 AM]Gorundu: No, I'm telling TRR regardless, just want to hear what Rand has to say first
[3:32 AM]Gorundu: I thought by this you meant you want to say it publicly in TRR
[3:33 AM]St George: As funny as that would be, I like Cat and don't want to give them too many headaches
[11:44 AM]St George: Has Rand said anything?
[12:07 PM]Gorundu: not yet
June 9, 2023
[3:08 AM]St George: Has TRR been told yet?
[7:12 AM]Gorundu: Rand wants you demasked from the MGC server
[7:13 AM]Gorundu: And completely ignored what I said about informing TRR
[7:14 AM]St George: What would you like to you
[7:19 AM]Gorundu: I don't particularly want to put up a fight about removing you from the MGC server, but I am uneasy about Rand calling you a "bad-faith actor" in his reply
[7:20 AM]St George: Ok, you can remove me from the MGC server.
[7:25 AM]Gorundu: sigh[/align]
[9:17 PM]Gorundu: Well this is interesting
[9:18 PM]Gorundu: Someone decided to leak Madjack’s comments about Euro joining Aegis from TRR’s private citizen’s forum to Rand
[9:19 PM]Gorundu: And Rand decided to confront me about it instead of just keeping it close to his chest
[9:19 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:24 PM]Gorundu: Obviously I have to say it’s his personal opinion and doesn’t reflect the government’s view etc but I think the other thing here is we have knowledge that a citizen of TRR is leaking private information, and as an ally we have a duty to inform them. The thing I’m unsure about is whether I should also make this fact clear to Rand.
[9:38 PM]Ghost: And I don’t suppose Rand will mention who told him
[9:39 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:39 PM]Ghost: But I’m not sure what confronting you is supposed to accomplish
[9:40 PM]Ghost: Does he want MadJack fired or something?
[9:43 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:43 PM]Gorundu: I guess it kind of reads like he's trying to apply pressure to get Madjack fired
[9:49 PM]Ghost: It’s obviously not the government’s position either. And I believe we are treaty obligated to inform TRR of the leak. And I think we should at least ask Rand who told him this info, as it does constitute a leak and we have obligations to let them know of it*
*I would be sure on what those obligations actually are
[9:50 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:52 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:52 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:52 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:52 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:53 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:53 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:53 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:53 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:54 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:54 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[9:55 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[9:59 PM]Ghost: [REDACTED]
[10:00 PM]Gorundu: [REDACTED]
[10:05 PM]Gorundu: The purpose of this is either to put a wedge between us and Euro, or to try force Madjack out of government. Either way perhaps I should be telling Rand that someone is trying to manipulate our relationship, and it would be for our benefit to know who that is.
[10:08 PM]Ghost: I think that's absolutely a fair point to raise
[10:10 PM]Ghost: but also, that was TRR and not TNP, is not consistent with our foreign policy or position on this, and it was made in a private citizen area - we can't enforce behavior in those spaces and shouldn't even know about it...though that last point probably wouldn't help much being brought up to him
June 8, 2023
[3:17 AM]St George: [REDACTED]
[3:17 AM]St George: Can I tell TRR about this?
[3:21 AM]St George: [REDACTED]
[3:22 AM]Gorundu: Uh...not sure starting a diplomatic spat with Euro is what I want right now
[3:23 AM]St George: So that's a no on telling trr that Europeia is spying on them?
[3:31 AM]Gorundu: No, I'm telling TRR regardless, just want to hear what Rand has to say first
[3:32 AM]Gorundu: I thought by this you meant you want to say it publicly in TRR
[3:33 AM]St George: As funny as that would be, I like Cat and don't want to give them too many headaches
[11:44 AM]St George: Has Rand said anything?
[12:07 PM]Gorundu: not yet
June 9, 2023
[3:08 AM]St George: Has TRR been told yet?
[7:12 AM]Gorundu: Rand wants you demasked from the MGC server
[7:13 AM]Gorundu: And completely ignored what I said about informing TRR
[7:14 AM]St George: What would you like to you
[7:19 AM]Gorundu: I don't particularly want to put up a fight about removing you from the MGC server, but I am uneasy about Rand calling you a "bad-faith actor" in his reply
[7:20 AM]St George: Ok, you can remove me from the MGC server.
[7:25 AM]Gorundu: sigh[/align]
As per the logs, President Rand directly contacted Delegate Gorundu without having first notified TRR of the leak by a TRR citizen (as there is no other way Europeia could’ve received said information, since MadJack himself and TRR stated they have not shared MadJack’s comments outside the relevant citizen-only thread). Delegate Gorundu suggested that President Rand notify TRR about the matter when Rand first contacted him. A day later, MadJack would ask Delegate Gorundu if he could notify TRR about the leak, and would ask if TRR had been notified another day later on June 9th, 2023. At that point, Delegate Gorundu told MadJack that President Rand wanted MadJack demasked from the Modern Gameplay Compact server (a multi-pact alliance The North Pacific is in); Gorundu also stated that Rand had ignored Gorundu’s advice to notify TRR.
Within a few minutes of this exchange, MadJack resigned from his government positions in The North Pacific. 30 minutes later, he released a dispatch revealing how Europeia had handled the information from TRR’s citizen-only thread, alongside accusing Europeia of spying on TRR. This was the first time the public learned of the incident; Europeia would swiftly Persona Non Grata (i.e. ban) MadJack for his comments within a few hours of the dispatch’s release. A day later on June 10th, 2023, MadJack was indicted by Delegate Gorundu on espionage charges in the North Pacific; the trial is on-going.
THE RESPONSE
TRR wasted little time in responding to the situation, posting a statement on June 10th, 2023. In the statement, TRR Delegate Catalyse stated that TRR had only become aware of the leak via MadJack’s dispatch, and that TRR viewed Europeia’s usage of the leak as a breach of trust. This breach of trust was especially noted as TRR had some “internal reluctance” on Europeia joining the Aegis yet had remained hopeful for a positive outcome. Delegate Catalyse also stated that they had reached out to Europeia privately on this matter.
However, the matter did not go smoothly. As stated by TRR’s Foreign Affairs Officer Dakota on June 12th, 2023, Europeia failed to acknowledge TRR’s request for discussion, only notifying TRR that Europeia was holding a Presidential election and adding new members to the group chat created for TRR-Europeia discussions. Following this post by Dakota, three Europeian high officials posted three separate statements. All three statements stated that Europeia was disappointed in TRR’s clarifications of private matters to the public and that doing so made it difficult for Europeia to believe TRR was operating in good faith. Two of the statements also stated that TRR had presented Europeia with a 24 hour ultimatum to give a response. Delegate Catalyse clarified on Europeia’s statements soon after, defending Dakota’s post whilst apologizing for the ultimatum not being mentioned. Catalyse then stated that the ultimatum was made in search of any response, including a “short sentence” with Europeia being able to ask for an extension if necessary. Per Catalyse, the only official response/acknowledgement TRR received was Europeia notifying TRR that it would bring the matter up to the entire Aegis alliance near the end of the 24 hours.
The next major public official move occurred on June 16th, when Europeia’s new President, President Pland Adanna, released a dispatch statement on the matter. In said statement, Europeia stated that they regretted “…that The Rejected Realms (TRR) was caught off guard by lack of communication…” and acknowledged that Europeia’s usage of TRR’s citizen-only post played a role in the entire situation. Europeia then provided their justification for their actions as an explanation to TRR, and stated that they would notify TRR of leaks in the future and help with investigations into the current leak (insofar as neither goal would be inhibited by Europeia’s laws or treaty obligations). The statement was not well received by more vocal TRR citizens.
The Rejected Realms was once again swift in its response, with Delegate Catalyse releasing a statement within the same day. In said statement, TRR retraced its steps since June 9th, including the demands TRR had made to Europeia: 1) that Europeia apologize for failing to disclose the leak to TRR and utilizing the information it had and 2) that Europeia provide all information it could on the leak. Per TRR, Europeia stated it found no wrongdoing in its actions and would not apologize, and would instead offer regret; additionally, Europeia could not cooperate further on providing information on the leak, since doing so would make Europeia break its treaty obligations with another region. TRR’s statement also revealed that Europeia had received the leaked post from a citizen of an allied region, and that said allied region has prohibited Europeia from releasing the identity of said citizen.
Sometime during or right after this, talks would break down as the two regions could not come to a compromise, with Europeia deciding to end talks per an Europeian Broadcasting Corporation article. Per HEM, the article's author, talks only restarted on June 19th when TRR reportedly became willing to accept a more limited apology alongside other compromises.
THE END…?
Since talks restarted, no major developments in the matter occurred for a few weeks. However, Delegate Catalyse did later note in an internal TRR announcement, posted July 1st 2023, that discussions were still on-going with Europeia and the Aegis.
The fruits of those discussions were made clear on July 3rd, 2023 in a joint-statement posted by TRR and Europeia. In the statement, Europeia apologized for spreading the leaked post from TRR’s forums without notifying TRR beforehand - although notably, they did not apologize for using that post to approach The North Pacific. Additionally, the statement reveals that both parties agreed to have a neutral third party, Amerion (The South Pacific's current Minister of Foreign Affairs), to figure out whether Europeia knew the leaker’s identity, whether Europeia could not disclose further information due to treaty obligations, and whether Europeia’s information posed an on-going risk to TRR.
After discussing with Europeia, Amerion stated to the Aegis that he was:
statement;0 said:
As such, TRR's and Europeia's governments considered the matter closed, with the joint-statement implying that the Aegis would be conducting further discussions to prevent similar matters in the future.
It seems the final resolution of the matter has received mixed responses. On the Europeian end, it seems Europeia's populace is generally supportive of Europeia’s actions during this situation, although some individuals maintained their disagreement with their region and there is some domestic disturbance related to the situation. The situation in TRR’s end seems a bit more mixed, with a couple of TRR’s citizens making negative comments on the joint-statement. Additionally, Delegate Catalyse announced their resignation on June 11th, 2023 - whether their resignation was due to the Aegis situation remains unknown - triggering a Delegate election in TRR.
Interestingly, the only candidate to have a campaign out at the time of writing, wabbitslayah, made the following statement within their campaign:
statement;0 said:
It is thus clear that, depending on how TRR’s Delegate election goes, the question of whether TRR will stay in the Aegis is not yet wholly resolved and is still, seemingly, being actively discussed within TRR's citizenry.
At the present time, it is unknown what the Union's Executive’s stance on the entire matter is, though it may be likely no official stance will be published. Nonetheless, any future developments on the matter will be covered in a future (albeit probably shorter) Everyday News Article.
That will be all for today. Thank you for reading!
1. This article is not endorsed by the Executive and does not represent the Union's Executive's opinion in any way.
2. I've been notified that Amerion was listed as PM even though he's MoFA. Which I was aware of, but I made the mistake and didn't see it until I was notified. Apologies about that, and it has been fixed.
2. I've been notified that Amerion was listed as PM even though he's MoFA. Which I was aware of, but I made the mistake and didn't see it until I was notified. Apologies about that, and it has been fixed.
Last edited:
