25 JANUARY 2021

Fellow South Pacificans and friends abroad,

The Cabinet of the South Pacific is dismayed and disappointed in the recent statement released by the Delegate of The North Pacific, McMasterdonia, regarding multilateral defensive military operations that impacted the North Pacific Army’s raids. In particular, the South Pacific government vigorously objects to TNP’s accusation that we have, in any way, “sanctioned activities that have ultimately aided the causes of fascism.”

This bombastic statement can do nothing but strain relations between long-time allies. The South Pacific prides itself on having one of the strictest moderation policies covering hateful and extremist political and ideological views among off-site communities in NationStates. Furthermore, neither the South Pacific Special Forces nor any other defender military that is part of the Libcord cooperative defended any fascist region. Neither did our Delegate approve of or support the repeal of the Liberation of the Confederation of Corrupt Dictators in the Security Council.

The North Pacific chose to invade innocent regions whose Delegates provided approvals for the proposed repeal of that Liberation resolution so that they could erase the approval and deny the repeal quorum. That is The North Pacific’s sovereign prerogative. However, in reality, it is likely that those regions had no idea of CCD’s history or that the Liberation was not accurate when first approving of it. Most players are not highly “plugged in” to the Gameplay community.

Unless The North Pacific can definitively prove that each and every region they invaded was pro-fascist, the South Pacific must go into military operations assuming those raids to be against innocent regions. Of note, one of the regions raided was the Renegade Islands Alliance, a defender partner of TSP’s that has participated in anti-fascist operations. As a defender region, we will of course defend them.

If The North Pacific wishes to engage in quorum raiding without opposition from The South Pacific community, there are some common-sense guidelines they can employ. First, any region subject to a raid should be shown to be pro-fascist, not merely labeled as such due to an approval of a Security Council resolution. Second, the North Pacific Army should notify the South Pacific Special Forces of planned quorum raids against pro-fascist regions supporting a pro-fascist Security Council resolution. These guidelines would help ensure that innocent regions are protected from attack simply for approving a resolution-- something many regions do without a second thought.

Unfortunately, this breach of diplomacy was further compounded by the Delegate of The North Pacific doubling-down when the Prime Minister of the South Pacific, Penguin, reached out to express dismay at being labeled as sanctioning fascism; upon outreach by our Minister of Foreign Affairs Omega to his counterpart, the reaction was just as obdurate. Our demand to retract this heated accusation was met with staunch refusal. In response, we must regrettably postpone the planned festival celebrating the anniversary of the Aurora Alliance treaty, and we will consult with the Assembly on further steps to take. We hope that the Delegate of The North Pacific will reconsider as soon as possible. The North Pacific must respect our efforts to uphold the defender principles laid out by the Assembly of the Coalition, and not insult those principles by saying that they "sanction fascism."

Faithfully yours,
The Cabinet