[Discussion] War with the NPO

[New Rogernomics]

War. It really has come to this. I am not sure how I feel about the prospect of a war with the New Pacific Order, even if the allegations prove true that the New Pacific Order has been infiltrating and manipulating Lazarus for many years. It may be a needless distraction from rebuilding Lazarus, or might be a much needed effort to bring the region together, behind a common goal and common cause, and common enemy.

However before I get ahead of myself, I need to bring further context to the discussion, around what sort of Lazarus we want this region to be. I had been asked to write a history of Lazarus, so perhaps I had best start now.

Lazarus when I joined, was a community that was small and close knit, and largely inactive. We had many members from different UCRs and some from other GCRs. We had at least a citizen from Gatesville, and several citizens from LKE/TNI/Europeia. We struggled to find active people to do things though, and I often had to be the one sending out the Gazette, and otherwise that duty often fell to Harmoneia.

Before the People's Republic of Lazarus, the status quo was that we might have coup d'etats, and changes of leadership, but the community would remain the same, and no one would be kicked out or otherwise banned, unless it was absolutely necessary. North East Summerset, who was a long-term delegate, was one of the first to go in that new order. Then after that those who leaned 'raider' were removed, till I found myself mentioned in PRL party statements as evidence that not all 'raiders' were removed, even though I had never been an active duty raider and only aligned with them.

In a way, I must give some respect to Milograd and the New Pacific Order, with what they attempted with The People's Republic of Lazarus, and later with the New Lazarene Order. It was far more active than the last iterations of Lazarus, and brought together a community spirit that didn't exist before as a region. But it came at the price of Lazarene independence, openness, and major bans of Lazarenes and players who wanted to participate but had the 'wrong alignment' according to the leadership.

With the birth of the Humane Republic of Lazarus, we sought to get past that, opening the borders to 'raiders', 'defenders' and those on the previous PRL ban list alike. No doubt many Pacificans and members of the People's Republic of Lazarus, resent Kazmr for this, but like Imki he just wanted a Lazarus that was free and independent, not a trophy for another GCR or UCR. It remained a highly active community, not losing that product of the People's Republic of Lazarus. Unfortunately that openness came with a price tag of its own, and that was that openness could lead to infiltration and coups.

By the time of the Celestial Union, those divisions were starting to show, with at least two major factions among Lazarenes, and a hidden one led by citizens of the New Pacific Order. To sum up those factions, we had Funkadelia and Lamb, and Killer Kitty leading a raider leaning faction, and Harmoneia, myself and large numbers of defender leaning Lazarenes in the other faction. But without knowledge of anyone, citizens of the New Lazarene Order were playing into the fears and paranoia of both factions, in order to take back Lazarus, either as another People's Republic of Lazarus, or as a region directly ruled from The Pacific and their forum.

With Lazarus as it is now, we have an opportunity to learn from the past, and not repeat it in the present. If we go to war it must be for the right reasons, if we don't decide to go to war, then we must have the right reasons for that as well.

I'll do my best to summarize the justifications, as I see it for each:

War, if we do go forward with it, will come with it's own set of risks and opportunities. Firstly, in declaring war we will make ourselves more of a target for the New Pacific Order, and resentment and hostility will likely run deep. That said, an argument could be made that whether we want hostilities with the New Pacific Order or not, enough Pacificans remain hostile towards Lazarus that peace and normal diplomacy is impossible with The Pacific for the foreseeable future. In declaring war now, we go into it with many other regions behind us and in support of us, both militarily and in terms of political support, which is just as important. Secondly, we would have knock-on effects in terms of high morale on basis of 'defense of the region', and a mutual goal among both factions who participated in the Lazarene civil war. Though on the downside of that, eventually we might well get weary of the war, and find it draining activity and enthusiasm out of other duties and the general rebuild of the region. There is also a good chance that the regions currently at war, may declare peace in a few years, leaving us on our own again, with another region with more reason to resent or be hostile towards us. 

Peace, if we reject the idea of war, will also come with a price. Firstly, in rejecting war, many regions may see us as weak and indecisive, and see an opportunity to infiltrate and manipulate us as members of the New Pacific Order did. On the other hand, declaring war despite them ascending mostly or entirely to our demands, may give the perception to some we act in bad faith or went to an extreme, when an opportunity of ignoring the Pacific, and focusing entirely on rebuilding our region was given. Secondly, in maintaining peace we could still remain hostile to the New Pacific Order, and support military operations against the New Pacific Order, as well as establish our own military. It just wouldn't be on a war footing, and some basic diplomatic contact may in time lead to a New Pacific Order more amiable to Lazarus. But we went through that route before during the Humane Republic of Lazarus and Celestial Union, with the Lazarene government trying to rebuild trust with The Pacific, only for it blow up in our faces with infiltration and manipulation of the Lazarene region. 

I don't have the all the right answers here, and I can't offer a full answer one way or the other. I won't stand in the way of a war, but I can't support it entirely either. For that reason I am likely to abstain in any war vote. I can see reason for war, but I can also see adequate reason for peace.