Kalistan

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Lady Allison Ananto-Westmoreland Announces Investment in Lodamese Maritime Bond
Aim is to "indemnify against possible loss" in Luncasi, says head of House Ananto
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
August 5, 5699


Lady Allison Ananto-Westmoreland discusses Maritime Security Bond Investment at House Ananto

Lady Allison Ananto-Westmoreland, head of House Ananto and CEO of Miramar Holdings, has announced that ₭100 Million from the Miramar fund will be invested into the new Maritime Security Bond proposed by the Lodamese firm Harrington Company. "Given heightened tensions in the Anantonese Ocean and specifically concerns in and around the Free City of Luncasi, and considering both House Ananto and Kalistan's considerable investment in infrastructure in this town, insuring our investments there just makes sense," said Lady Ananto. "This will indemnify our nation against possible loss or seizure, and if the investment remains safe, so much the better."

Lady Ananto explained that the bond would pay regular dividends on continued peace in the region. "As long as we stay at peace and things continue as normal, we will make money back on our investment, so House Ananto will have a material incentive to promote peaceful solutions to troubles in the Anantonese Ocean. Given that our Empress possesses the capability to actually negotiate peace, this will create a stronger disincentive for going to war, especially over minor slights or issues that are of no concern to Kalistan with our neighbors. And if we are attacked anyway, and have to go to war, we will be paid for destruction to our shipping and infrastructure region wide. Obviously we would prefer to continue receiving the dividend: the bond is expected to pay out only for real damage, if it is correctly understood."

She also said that this would help curb Kalistan's historic impulse to turn to piracy and privateering within the Anantonese Region. "We have to admit it that we are not perfect in this area," said Lady Ananto. "Kalistan has historically viewed the authorization of privateers and the disruption of maritime trade as a perfectly acceptable tactic for a war. But that would amount to a disruption and would suggest that our money, as part of the bond's capitalization, would be going to compensate the victims of our own policies, and that sort of seems counterproductive. As for me, I would rather receive the dividends of peace, and think, that since we as a nation refuse to participate in liberal Laws of the Sea agreements, this is an alternative that makes peace on the high seas and interest not only of Her Imperial Majesty, but also of the entire Nation."

Nationalists, still fuming over the early retirement of Lady Donahue and her replacement by the more moderate, Lord Reg Hanson as Chancellor of the Empire, refused to vote for a corresponding contribution from the National Government. The Proposal itself did not have the full backing of Her Imperial Majesty, and Nationalists therefore felt free to deliver Chancellor Hanson an early defeat. The failure of the bill in the National Assembly led Lady Ananto-Westmoreland to step up and offer to contribute directly from House Ananto. "The Nationalists did not think it was appropriate to spend public money supporting a foreign corporation in this fashion, and very strongly opposed the measure, and since they still retain the majority in the national Assembly, without direct fiat from the Empress, that bill was essentially dead on arrival," explained Lady Ananto.

Lady Ananto-Westmoreland said it was her hope that House Ananto's investment and confidence in the bond effort by Harrington Company would provide incentive for other nations in both the Anantonese Ocean region and in the Migrants Pass region to invest. "I suppose that a country doesn't necessarily need to be in those regions to invest," she said. "Some people could invest as a speculation on peace, and others would invest to indemnify their own shipping through the region. But we believe there is adequate protections in the system against gaming the system: The loss of the dividend will be much harder than any claims against the bond, so there is always a financial incentive to maintain peace, especially since we are in an area that is directly covered by the bond. If war is inevitable, it is inevitable, but Her Imperial Majesty believes we should always attempt to give peace a chance, and all war represents failure, so this bond is definitely a way to materially incentivize peace, as well as supporting it from an intrinsic standpoint."

House Ananto has contacted representatives from Harrington Company to begin buying into the bond. The purchases come as the Empress has ordered the 1st Regular Fleet into a more relaxed posture in the Northern Anantonese following lack of engagement to date with Egelion in Luncasi. "She is taking her first few tentative steps back from the brink of conflict to give both sides some breathing space. Now is the perfect time for us to further signal that our commitments to peaceful resolution of our nations' disagreements are credible. We are putting our own money into peace, and we welcome the opportunity to do that through this Maritime Security Bond."

@TheRepublic