Kalistan

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Miguel Ontiveros named new Foreign Minister
Dark Horse Nationalists is supported by Chancellor
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
August 15, 5720


FP scholar and longtime Ministry Consultant Miguel Ontiveros names to replace Sir Thomas Harney at ForMin

Her Imperial Majesty has accepted the nomination of political insider and longshot candidate Miguel Ontiveros to become her next Foreign Minister. Ontiveros, 34, is a descendant of the 56th century Chancellor Dame Lindsay Ontiveros-Maxwel, who served during the reign of Emperor Fredrick II Ananto, and who was nearly killed with the Emperor when assassins attacked the car they drove in in 5558, and his family has long been associated with Institutional Party politics. Ontiveros' nomination was supported by Chancellor of the Empire Melanie Alvarez-McLinn, but he was generally believed to not have the required experience in the Foreign Ministry to make a serious candidate.

"Mr. Ontiveros is a foreign policy consultant," said Brad van Eck, who writes for The Kalistani Republic. "His experience is in giving advice, rather than setting policy, and so it is a bit of a strange, and rather unexpected pick on Her Imperial Majesty's part. But judging from the individuals she had to choose from, it is possible that she selected Mr. Ontiveros to make more of a statement than to pick a person who would act independently. Sir Harney was a very loyal servant of the Empress, even if he was a bit on the eccentric side, and made up for his wildness with his charisma, which seemed to allow him to get things done. It is possible that Her Imperial Majesty wants someone who will still get things done but approaches the work from a theoretical perspective."

Others have a different take on the matter. "From what we are reporting," said Janice Gunn, of the Kaliburg local The Capitol Gazette, "Lady Alvarez presented Mr. Ontiveros as a ultimatum. In much the same way that nationalists flexed to get Lady Alvarez selected as Chancellor, they brought the same pressure to get Ontiveros named to Foreign Minister. He is a staunch nationalist, which is a real pivot from Sir Harney's well known moderate, pragmatic stance. He doesn't have experience in the Ministry, but he is a well known ally of Lady Alvarez and regularly consults for her during deliberations over Kalistani foreign policy. His stated policies tend to follow the Alvarez line on nearly all things. The selection of Ontiveros at Foreign Ministry feels like it was a bit forced."

Ontiveros is on the record as supporting more import substitution and Peso supremacy in international exchange. "Kalistani goods, including our currency, should set the standard abroad," Ontiveros wrote in 5718. "There is no reason that the most stable, least volatile currency on the globe should not be the standard that other currencies are measured. Our currency does not move. It is kept within a very small window of fluctuation to ensure that inflation is tamped down to essentially nothing while maintaining supply and a good cost of living for our 97 million people. We are smart enough to not let market forces set the value of our currency, either locally or internationally. And so why is it that we are not already the single universally convertible currency? We would hope this is something that would be something that Her Imperial Majesty would look into because it would ensure that we have regularity in our trade, and it would encourage more import substitution than we currently do."

Ontiveros also supports a more robust and forward leaning National Defense. In 5719, he spoke at the Nationalist Club's meeting in Port Swedes, where he said, "Diplomacy sure, but diplomacy only goes so far. Talking only goes so far, especially if we can't always trust what others say to us. Our Empress, of all people, must bite her tongue when others run our nation down, because she is concerned about alienating allies. But being an ally, or a friend doesn't give anyone the right to speak poorly of Kalistan in the press or at their meetings. Those words we all want to use have to be backed up by credibility and for this world's fetishization of liberalism, that credibility still comes in the form of force, or threat of force. Kalistan has unfortunately been on a retrenchment kick in the last few decades, and it perhaps time to snap our system out of that funk." He advocates recapture of Athosia and reincorporating the Crown Lands back into the Empire.

"Alvarez and Ontiveros are cut from the same cloth," said Gunn. "But, they do provide an interesting foil for Her Imperial Majesty, who can now play good cop to their bad cop. The Empress is able to go into any discussion internationally and play the moderate, reasonable one, representing her offer as better than whatever the frothing nationalists will offer if she leaves. Bringing such an outspoken, and quite frankly, lesser qualified Foreign Minister onboard may allow her, indirectly, to get to the place that she wants to be at in Kalistan's foreign policy by being the clearly better alternative for other nations, and it also could allow her to see more of her preferences in foreign policy, because she's no longer presenting the most extreme position, but the more centrist one compared to Ontiveros. This may be a really bad bet on her part, but if it pays off, she will be given a whole range of new options internationally that she could not have while her position was represented by Harney."

Van Eck was a little more bearish on the new Foreign Minister. "Her Imperial Majesty's Foreign Minister is her primary representative to other nations. One does not want a loose cannon, shoot from the hip sorta of fellow in that office. Sir Harney was well liked by international leaders, and he could get meetings with the right people in time. If Ontiveros goes overseas and starts talking convertibility and Athosia, people are going to tune him out right away. He may be a good consultant, but theory only takes one so far. The rest involves reading the room to determine where people are at on these ideas before they are ever uttered. It's not clear that Mr. Ontiveros possesses these skills. So we will have to wait and see how he does."

The Chancellor of the Empire celebrated the selection. "Her Imperial Majesty has shown wisdom and foresight, not to mention a serious commitment to the National Interests of Kalistan with the selection of Mr. Ontiveros," she said in Kaliburg over the weekend. "The other candidates were wrong for a number of reasons. And the only thing that people here can throw against Mr. Ontiveros is that he hasn't worked for the Foreign Ministry prior to being nominated. That's pretty thin gruel if you ask me. Mr. Ontiveros brings policy advocacy experience as well as the correct international orientation to the office, and this is something that Kalistan is in desperate need of."

Reaction to Ontiveros' nomination was mixed across the Empire, with some strongly supporting him, while others think he will shift Kalistan off its moorings and promote policies which are antithetical to Kalistan. Whatever happens, he is now Foreign Minister and others will learn how to interact with him the same as they have with previous foreign ministers.

@TheRepublic