Kalistan

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Editorial : "Is MATO a joke?"
Foreign Minister asks question on everyone's mind
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
May 12, 5708


Foreign Minister Sir Thomas Harney questions raison d'être of Majatran Alliance

Editorial: "Is MATO a joke?"
By Sir Thomas Harney,
Her Imperial Majesty's Foreign Minister

Years ago, Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto told me personally her goal was to reach out to nations around the world and attempt to improve our standing globally. She said she felt that Kalistan was far more successful working with people that it was standing alone, above everyone. Those of us who had made a career of the foreign service, myself included, counselled her that this could work if it was done correctly: Kalistan would need to be willing to condescend to the level of others, which, despite our best intentions, has always been a difficult ask for any Kalistani, let alone, a Kalistani sovereign. She said she was willing. We said she would need to meet others where they were at. wherever they were at, because not everyone is at the same place in the journey as Kalistan, or indeed, even on the same path. She said her interest was to become friends with as many nations in the world as possible, and to do so on terms that were mutually beneficial for all involved, not just Kalistan.

And finally, we told her that she would need to be willing to simply accept the reality that some people never would be willing to accept the existence, let alone the prosperity or success of Kalistan, because they were simply too obstinate, and had no other redeeming character traits whatsoever. And in those instances, it was simply advisable to just avoid them and move on with life rather than wasting any time trying to get them to change their minds. Some people, you just can't reach. She said she would want us to try nonetheless. Because the Empress is a genuinely decent and optimistic human being, underneath all the imperial Protocol and distance she is kept at from the people of her nation. I know her on a more personal level, and can vouch for that, though you will likely never read about it in any newspaper. She has faults, sometimes she is too intellectual for practical reality, and despite what she thinks, she doesn't know everything already without having to learn it. But she does want to learn things she doesn't know about. She has the intellectual curiosity that characterizes philosophers, but escapes politicians world wide.

We have had some major successes in the world. We are working together with other regional partners now for the first time, and are even inching, against my advice, toward an opening with the Kerisian nation called Nadiya. We have improved relations with Egelion and Lodamun, even while we have seen Gaduridos amputated from the Empire. We are looking at Seko as a possible next approach while we remain allied with Valruzia culturally and now in many areas of security as well. We have had a number of successes.

Majatra and Artania, however, are areas that have elluded us. The only relationship we have that is active on that side of the planet is with Tel Bira, and even that has suffered neglect for many reasons. What is far more concerning is the rise of a hypermilitaristic collective security pact there called MATO, or the Majatran Artania Treaty Organization. This group of relatively minor nations seeks to take even more money away from public services than they currently reluctantly contribute and put it toward military spending, and then ostensibly use that massive military spending to attack other nations that they deem to not be "free" enough, or as they put it, " by promoting conditions of stability and well-being, and by stimulating freedom and sovereignty across the globe."

Friends, I can tell you, as a career long member of the Foreign Service, this is diplomatic doublespeak for "we define what freedom is and we grant ourselves a mandate to force it onto others by whatever means we deem necessary." Their treaty, which is on its face, quite vague, is vague for a reason: it is to provide them latitude to do whatever they wish, using their bloated and obscene military budgets to do so, regardless of who opposes, and regardless of any standards of decency or even actual concern for sovereignty. This is not a defensive, but an offensive treaty, and those who are party to it are bandwagoning with nations who seek to push a radical neoliberal notion of internationalism onto others, most especially others who do not want it.

Their targets are likely just states they disagree with. They can employ all the vague platitudes they want, but given their attitudes with regard to nations on our side of the world, where we are viewed as dens of repression and suffering, it is only a matter of time before they begin bending their massive expansion of weapons conglomerates, or their long sought after ICBMs and IRBMs toward the Anantonese Region. It is hard to see a region known for its conflict and rotten great power politics claiming the mantle of peace and stability, except at the point of a gun aimed at a region that has, with the exception of a brief civil war to overthrow a dictatorship in NEKK, known only peace and stability for centuries. And yet this is precisely what this purely offensive military alliance known as MATO are doing: We all know who they are thinking of when they talk of force, we all know that their aims are world domination, and anything they say to the contrary is a lie.

I was asked recently if I thought MATO was "a joke." The context of the question involved our work in Altea at the Eastern Terra Coordination Conference, where we have been building structures that actually achieve internal peace and cooperation while protecting the sovereignty of the nations who are participating, and the freedom of those nations to act in coordination with others for regional security. The person I was speaking with asked if I thought our accords with the Kerisian Empire and other Northern Seleyan nations was necessary given the "joke that is MATO." My response I think surprised the fellow: MATO is no joke.

It is very serious about forcing its vision of the world under western domination down everyone's throats. The norms they seek to force on the rest of us are their norms, not ours. Their values, not ours. Their forms of government, their prosperity, their control. Not ours. They will do this through soft power if they can get away with it: A free trade agreement that allows Majatran or Artanian penetration into local markets here, diplomatic and bilateral security cooperation agreements there. Like tentacles reaching out and attaching themselves to several parts of the planet, all tying them to the interests and aims set in Wiel and Bannerhafen and Ft. William, and essentially making colonies of all in the name of freedom and sovereignty. Again, their sovereignty and freedom, not ours.

But make no mistake about it: They will use hard power if they can't get the job done the other way. MATO is first and foremost an offensive military organization, where all members agree to overspend on their military budgets and who all agree that any violence against one, even in self defense against the violence that that one one or several MATO members perpetrate in an effort to dominate, is violence against all. If, hypothetically, Luthori were to launch a pre-emptive strike against Kaliburg with one of their new MATO supplied intercontinental missiles utilizing MATO supplied satellite technology, and in pursuit of MATO militaristic agendas, and Kalistan were to fight back, under Article 5, Luthori could conceivably claim that Kalistan attacked it, and if it is in MATO's interests to do so, they can choose to agree with Luthori and all subsequently declare war on Kalistan. Because that Kalistan's self-defensive response gave them all the pretext they needed to start the war they have wanted against Kalistan for centuries.

It's right there in Article 5, which states,

"Members of the treaty commit to defending all signatory nations by any means necessary. An armed attack against one member state is to be seen as an armed attack against all member states. When war is declared upon a member state, this clause is invoked and all member states are bound by this treaty to take any such action as the member state deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the Majatran-Artanian area."

and is left deliberately vague regarding what conditions a military response to aggression from one MATO nation would be deemed by the organization to be an "armed attack." If Luthori attacked Kalistan "pre-emptively" Kalistan would certainly declare war on Luthori as a response for the attack. This would immediately trigger Article 5. It's deliberately vague on what the organization will do if one of its members starts a war, and it is left intentionally vague because they want to guarantee themselves the latitude to do just that.

MATO is not a joke. It is deadly serious, and it needs to be taken seriously by anyone who believes in peace and security. It is well known that MATO memberstates will be targeting Anatonese states: they are currently building the weaponry right now to do just that. We can argue about whether it was necessary in the first place for this escallation to happen, but by the time that argument is resolved, a Vanukean force will be sitting off Kaliburg, holding our nation's capital hostage. Because force and violence is all these western barbarians know. The Altea conference is but a first step in actively deterring their bellicose and quite frankly greedy policies toward our region. It must be followed up by solid action aimed at containing and ultimately smothering this western initiative before it comes online and becomes an existential threat to us all.

MATO is no more of a joke than putting a poisonous viper in the crib with your baby is a joke. Wise leaders do not countenance warmongers. This is why it was both a shock and also not a shock at all that the Luthorians became the latest nation to cozy up to the liberal internationalist menace. A shock because Her Imperial Majesty thought better of them, not a shock because I feel like I have been warning her otherwise for her entire reign. They did exactly what I, and any other savvy reader of foreign policy expected them to do. Not a surprise. Her Imperial Majesty thought to make Luthori our friends, and once again, Luthori went out of their way to sabotage that effort on Kalistan's part. Eventually our rulers will realize that Luthori scuttles any openings or attempts from Kaliburg to improve relations between our nations, and they do so with alarming, though often delayed regularity. We knew that Vanuku, Amudim and Narikaton were not to be trusted. But we tried with Luthori. And they ended up picking the side of the viper, not the side of peace and integrity.

Water under the bridge. Someday we will learn. In the meanwhile, it is incumbent upon us to do all we can to not get caught out. The world cannot afford a revival of the Dorvish mindset--where the west does as it wishes, and the east suffers what it must. Those days need to be over and buried. MATO may not be a joke, but it is also not irresistible, and I believe Her Imperial Majesty is working with exactly the right group of nations who will be able to do just that.

Peace, friends.

@TheNational