Badara

[Drax]

LOOKING BEYOND MAJATRA
 
MANARA  ALBRAYD SRIA AL-MUSAMI
(If it’s in the Monsoon, it’s got to be true)
 
Chancellor’s Office, June 17, 5722: After a meeting with his senior staff on reviewing the budget to identify corruption opportunities, the Monsoon asked Chancellor Abdul Aziz what was the biggest problem facing him as Chancellor, and Aziz replied:
 

Well really as far as urgency there are two.  One is the system has changed. Why? The players are different. The Free Radical Supper Club (FRSC) was formed as a Majlis faction to insure that bringing back effective government did not end up crushing the rights or the economic viability of our citizens for efficiency’s sake or just because of indifference.
 
The Working Majority Group which became the Working Institutional Group (WIG) was formed to revive a moribund government.  WIG is composed of representatives and instruments of the oligarchy which saw a chance to restore the economy and their own power by making government work again.
 
FRSC was able to function as a check on WIG to protect the safety net and more generally the rights of ordinary citizens. The key to FRSC effectiveness was its two most prominent members, Khalifi and Mariamne al-Qassem.  He was the visionary who extended the benefits of civilization to the Bedwi and she was the nuts and bolts economist who brought order out of chaos to the benefits due our citizens by integrating the safety net into the budget process systematized in Central Bank.
 
The key to doing this was that Khalifi and Mariamne al-Qassem were members of the oligarchy, part of the family that owns and operates our most successful investment banking house.  So WIG’s leaders trusted them not to destroy the oligarchy but only limit its excesses and trusted them to shape pretty much what the they wanted to shape.
 
It is different now. With them gone and the old WIG leadership gone there is no real trust.  Instead of being one of two factions working together we are now one of six political parties  trying to make a deal to be part of a governing coalition.  Our objectives are the same but frankly we have yet to become surefooted as a political party.
 
The second is I think it is slowly becoming obvious that coming out of isolation in Majatra presents  a different problem than most of our predecessors faced.
 
Jumhuruiat al-Badara has never been a big player in oil producing consortiums but rather has sought partnerships with other nations looking to more generalized economic concerns.  And almost always Majatra based partnerships.
 
Well almost 100 years has not produced what we really need. We have had very encouraging false starts and no doubt some missed opportunities.  I can think of a few.
 
So it is past time to view Terra through a wider lens. A much wider lens.  And further we need to understand our own imitations. We are a small nation, we have no appetite for a monarchy of our own, we are not at the peak of the Terran technology curve, and we are not nor will we ever be wielding military influence.
 
But we will see what we can do with what we actually have.

Chancellor Aziz