[Proposal] Military Expansion Amendment (November 2019)

[Zapatian Workers State]

Military Expansion Amendment (November 2019)

Proposed By: Zapatian Workers State

Preamble

This amendment to the Charter of the Lazarene Regional Guard establishes new guidelines for its conduct and future expansion.

Section 1. Amendment to the Charter of the Lazarene Regional Guard (December 2018)

(1) Section 2, Subsection 1 shall be amended to read:

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(1) The Lazarene Regional Guard may engage in martial action befitting of raiders, defenders, or mercenaries depending upon the standing executive policy of the incumbent Prime Minister.

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(2) Section 2, Subsection 2 shall be stricken out and replaced with:

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(2) The Lazarene Regional Guard may be automatically deployed to execute a military action at the order of the Prime Minister prior to an official declaration of hostilities against a foreign government, but the Prime Minister shall be compelled to recall all armed forces if a proposal to enact a declaration of war fails to pass through the Assembly of Lazarus within a 3-week time period from the start of troop deployment.

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(3) Section 2, Subsection 3 shall be stricken out and replaced with:

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(3) The Prime Minister reserves the sole prerogative to propose legislation to establish, disestablish, or regulate new or existing departments of the Lazarene armed forces. The Prime Minister may establish directorates to organize the tasks of espionage, counterespionage, and intelligence-gathering, with confirmation from a 50%+1 vote by the Council of Lazarene Security. Both proposals of this character and the voting thereupon shall be conducted secretly in a secure private offsite forum.

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(4) Section 2, Subsection 4 shall be amended to read:

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The Prime Minister reserves the sole prerogative to propose resolutions empowering the Lazarene Regional Guard to invade a region that is the ally or protectorate of a region upon which Lazarus has declared war. Such a resolution may be approved or rescinded by a 50%+1 vote of the Assembly of Lazarus.

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And now for the one which is bound to be unpopular. Nevertheless, I feel that the Guard as it stands is hopelessly hampered and neutralized, and I believe not only that the command structure should be more formal and centralized but also that the military should be granted greater latitude to act.

[New Rogernomics]

We have had no debate or discussion of views to warrant this legislation.

In fact, when we had the last debate, the universal opinion was not to allow the delegate or the military for that matter to engage in R/D.

It would have been better to start a debate on this issue than propose this to shareholders without warning.

To sum up: It is too early to propose such legislation and as such I see this being voted down.

[Zapatian Workers State]

We have had no debate or discussion of views to warrant this legislation.

In fact, when we had the last debate, the universal opinion was not to allow the delegate or the military for that matter to engage in R/D.

It would have been better to start a debate on this issue than propose this to shareholders without warning.

To sum up: It is too early to propose such legislation and as such I see this being voted down.

As I told you on Discord, I assumed that this would be the proper place to begin discussion of the ramifications of this legislation among the shareholders. Please also take into consideration that I'm new and may not yet understand all the niceties of formal discussion and faux pas surrounding military-oriented legislation here

[New Rogernomics]

We have had no debate or discussion of views to warrant this legislation.

In fact, when we had the last debate, the universal opinion was not to allow the delegate or the military for that matter to engage in R/D.

It would have been better to start a debate on this issue than propose this to shareholders without warning.

To sum up: It is too early to propose such legislation and as such I see this being voted down.

As I told you on Discord, I assumed that this would be the proper place to begin discussion of the ramifications of this legislation among the shareholders. Please also take into consideration that I'm new and may not yet understand all the niceties of formal discussion and faux pas surrounding military-oriented legislation here

I am pointing out something that tends to be true informally, when it is an issue folks can get heated about.

It can be the proper place on paper, but when you start proposing legislation that can be divisive, it ruffles feathers.

I have posted a topic to help get people willing to engage, so hopefully, if and when this comes to vote, they have an idea about what this is all about, and don't rush to an opinion on this: https://www.nslazarus.com/showthread.php?tid=1048

[Debussy]

I dont think the PM should be over the military. It should be delegates and vice delegates call.

[Roavin]

(1) The Lazarene Regional Guard may engage in martial action befitting of raiders, defenders, or mercenaries depending upon the standing executive policy of the incumbent Prime Minister.

Hard pass.

As soon as that policy is enacted, malign actors from both the raider and defender side will try to influence Lazarus to get one of their guys into the Prime Ministership.

And in general, I don't see why the Guard's mandate needs to change.

[Debussy]

Guard is boring hitting warzones.

[Roavin]

Maybe, but there's nothing preventing you from satisfying your R/D itch elsewhere if it's a problem for you. Opening the Guard up is a can of worms best left untouched, particularly in the way proposed.

[Debussy]

I dont like the way proposed but I also don't like handcuffing my region so other orgs can recruit, probably helping to invite this can of worms in here. Why cant we do whatever Tubbius and New Roger are ok with? "Hey can we go here, do this?" "Ok."

[New Rogernomics]

I dont like the way proposed but I also don't like handcuffing my region so other orgs can recruit, probably helping to invite this can of worms in here. Why cant we do whatever Tubbius and New Roger are ok with? "Hey can we go here, do this?" "Ok."

I have issue with the Prime Minister running it as well.

We should also have a military independent of political brinkmanship, as Roavin pointed out.

It would make more sense to just modify existing legislation to allow for the military carry out operations unimpeded, than for legislation to endorse the position that any high official should adopt a raider or defender bias.

We could easily just amend like so, which basically allows the Regional Guard to engage in raids or defense operations as a one off or indefinitely, without mentioning R/D affiliation:

Section 2. Establishment of Military Neutrality

(3) The Regional Guard may only engage in the following types of operations without prior approval from the Delegate:

a. Defense of Lazarus;
b. Defense of Lazarus' treaty allies, if mandated by treaty terms;
c. Invasion of regions upon which Lazarus has declared war, and defense of other regions against their military forces;
d. Defense of other Feeders and Sinkers at the request of their legitimate governments;
e. Assistance in other regions' legal Delegate transitions at the request of their legitimate governments;
f. Offensive or defensive training operations in game-created Warzone regions;
g. Invasion of fascist regions and defense of regions against fascist military forces;
h. Invasion of regions which pose a substantial threat to the out-of-character security or safety of NationStates players, and defense of regions against forces which pose such a threat.

(4) The Assembly may enact a resolution empowering the Regional Guard to invade a region that is the ally or protectorate of a region upon which Lazarus has declared war. Such a resolution may be approved or rescinded by two-thirds vote of the Assembly.

(5) The Regional Guard may be empowered to engage in any other military actions short of an act of war upon approval of the Delegate.