Kalistan

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Kalistani News in Brief: Kalistan opens Rare Earth Recycling Centers;
Empire to exit Seleyan Economic Community Treaty; Thomas Jones' "Creative Slump"
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Kalistan
October 1, 5719


The REM Recyclying Center in Dana processes E-waste for gold and REMs

Kalistan opens Rare Earth Recycling Centers
Sulari Salts (SLT), Seleya's largest Lithium producer and limited producer of some Rare Earth elements, and Kalistani MicroDivisions (KMD), Seleya's largest and oldest Consumer Electronics producer, have joined forces to open three new REM recycling Centers in Kalistan. This private enterprise is an expansion on relatively successful but small scale electronics gold recycling operations that were launched last year. The new recycling centers combine the efforts to extract gold from electronic waste with new methods of obtaining rare earth metals that are used in electronics, wind turbines, EV motors, and aerospace applications. Spokeswoman for the new Dana Plant, Carlie Mortenson, said, "Annually, Kalistanis throw away more than 2 and a half tons of electronics, and all of those require and utilize significant amounts of gold Last year, in our first year of large scale recycling, we obtained 17.2 pounds in total, which at current markets is worth about K$1.45 Million Imperial Pesos. Additionally 648 pounds of copper and 239 pounds of silver through recycling. But REMs, and specifically magnet scrapping is something we are just beginning to explore, and with current hi yield methods, we can begin to think of something like a 30% REM recovery rate, which is far higher than yields from a ton of raw ore."

REM recycling from electronic waste won't completely eliminate the need for imports to Kalistan. "Our entire economy is riddled with REM applications, but with these new techniques, we can significantly reduce the amount that we have to import from unreliable foreign countries." Mortenson said the three new recycling centers recently opened, one in Yoshimi, one in Dana, and one in Gendaris, will begin with electronic waste. "As we expand our operations, we will begin processing the waste from more than 150 years of electronic vehicle usage in Kalistan as well, and that's where the real bonanza from this operation will take place. Taking old EV motors, breaking them down and pulling out the useful stuff in them to return to the supply chain will not only dramatically reduce prices for consumers, but also dramatically reduce dependence on world markets for the things we need. And its all just sitting in the myriad junk yards. At least one is in every city. We just need to open a recycling center to process them all and return them to the supply chain." A full REM recycling effort that also includes EVs will ultimately save Kalistan tens of billions annually in imports.

The operations are already running at full capacity, with REM recycling in E-Waste having begun last summer.

Empire to exit Seleyan Economic Community
Kalistan has long been the sole signatory state in the treaty known as the Seleyan Economic Community. This treaty, which dates back to pre-Anantonese Empire days, was launched by Gaduridos to integrate the Seleyan market and encourage freer trade between nations in Seleya. Kalistan signed it when it was in a more internationalist spirit, but as it turned out, Kalistan is the only nation to have signed it. Nobody else, not even its author eventually ratified it. Its need was largely eclipsed by the rise of the Anantonese Empire, but as of today, it now stands as a fossilized artefact of a by gone era, when Gaduridos was more interested in regional trade.

Those days are gone, and Kalistan has more recently adopted a preference for bilateral agreements as opposed to open ended, open door free trade agreements. And so Kalistan has begun the process to formally withdraw from the treaty. "We look at the treaty's authors, and we realize that they have moved on from the idea of regional integration," said Her Imperial Majesty's Minister for Trade and Industry, Jamar Roberts. "As they are focused on attracting global competitors to local suppliers, Kalistan itself has moved to a more import substitution model, which means a reduction in both imports and exports. So leaving our doors open to trade, while nobody else wants to open theirs to Kalistan is a mistake for Kalistan- It leave us vulnerable to having our own markets flooded by foreign goods without a compensatory requirement for balanced trade, and allows the benefits of trade to go fully to foreign countries rather than allowing any to stay here in Kalistan. It's time to abrogate this treaty."

Mr. Roberts says Her Imperial Majesty has reluctantly given the green light to pull out of the treaty. "We will immediately notice that imported goods, especially those coming from Gaduridos, become more expensive, and less numerous, as we virtually eliminate trade subsidies and rapidly reduce our discretionary trade with that country to levels more appropriate to need. We have regrettably been subsidizing that economy for a century and a half, but they have new partners now who can pick that slack up for us. With regard to other Seleyan states, trade should not be affected much, as it has already normalized. But this is probably the last tie between Kalistan and its former partner in Gaduridos to be cut, and the pain will be felt in Kalistan far more acutely than it will in Gaduridos as trade normalizes there. They'll just have large surpluses of things Kalistanis used to buy at a premium that they will now have to find additional markets for."

In real terms, the minister said, he expects trade to drop fairly precipitously at first as sticker shock that comes from trade normalization leads to sharply reduced demand for Gaduri products. "Balanced trade means we stop overbuying Gaduri production. That could change if they start buying more Kalistani goods. But that's unlikely because they are currently trying to source anything they could get from Kalistan now from other nations, at a higher cost to them, I might add. For Kalistanis, we might just have to start drinking Kalistani coffee, and driving cars made with Kalistani steel, and it might cost a few cents more per pound, but normalization of trade will ultimately be worth it to Kalistan at least, as it will force Gaduridos and Kalistan to both decide what, if anything we actually need, and are willing to actually pay for, from one another."

The treaty is set to expire on December 31.

Thomas Jones' "Creative Slump"
Thomas Jones has not put out new music since his August 5717 release Visions of Dystopia. "I'm in a bit of a creative slump right now," he said, feeling quite uninspired. He says that Visions sold so well in Kalistan that he feels a lot of pressure to follow it up with more pop music. "I lost a lot of supporters with that record," said Jones in a recent KRM interview. "But I gain millions of fans. So I feel like, I'm really quite torn on the question of if I make music that the new fans like, or do I stick to my creative vision, which I kind of, maybe, veered away from a bit with my last album, to make a run at real superstardom. Like do I continue on that path, or do I blow it all up and try something different? I'm very ambivalent on this question."

Jones likened his slump now to the feeling he had just before revitalizing his career after a sojourn in Dundorf. "Well, the scene in Kaliburg had become very destructive to my health, my physical health I mean. And perhaps my mental health. So I left, went out and sobered up and got some new influences, and came back and did Nordhaus. I think what I need now is a recharge. Creatively I mean. Artistically. I need some new ideas, and I am to the point where I sort of don't really remember where to find them." Jones says he's written an album worth of material. "But its not my best work. It's pretty slapdash and pretty generic, simple melodies, the lyrics don't really mean anything. It just feels like the tank is empty at the moment. It's not art. It's just well, its what any musician would do when they are almost ten albums into a career. I'm not happy with it, so I probably will see if it can be reworked or just thrown in the fireplace."

It looks like fans will have to wait for new music from the art rocker turned pop superstar. "No, I'm not in the studio right now. I have been working in the theater. I have always loved acting. My entire career has been a theater revue. I'm playing mainly small roles right now. I like being part of the production, but not really having to remember a lot of lines. And I like makeup and obviously costuming and things like this. So its a convenient distraction from my life as a musician. I'm gonna keep doing this for a while. The music spark will come back. I am already working with a guy I met a couple months ago at a party. He's from Swedeport. He plays loud guitars. Its the kind of music I loved growing up and a kind of music I always had on in the background of my head as I worked. His name is Jack Guerra. We jam together sometimes. That's fun."

@TheRepublic