Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Prime Minister states that war “might be imminent” to Parliament as Kalistan ramps up pressure on Luthori; FWSE react negatively to war scare.
July 5736

Prime Minister Harold Pockerfield, usually known by his title of Lord Wittfield addressed the Imperial Diet in a grim and somber fashion, reflecting the dark mood surrounding the Wittfield Administration as tensions between the Luthorian Empire and the Kalistani Empire threaten to devolve into an outright direct confrontation between the two powers. The Wittfield Administration has been described as an “adventurous administration” but this adventurous style in foreign policy has quickly devolved towards the rising influence of “war hawks” within the Cabinet.

These “war hawks” are known, notably present in the Foreign Office with Seleyan Minister Rosa Megalia acting as their main representative in the government. Her role, expertise, credentials and authority to deal with Seleyan affairs on behalf of the Foreign Secretary have led to increase her influence substantially within the Cabinet, leading up the push to war with the best of her abilities.

In his address to the Imperial Diet, the Luthorian Prime Minister reaffirmed Luthori’s right to patrol the Subsential Sea without “active foreign bully behaviour aiming at driving us out”. He stated that the Imperial Luthorian Navy’s Clockwork CSG would remain in the Substantial Sea “until further notice” and addressed the deployment of Luthori’s second carrier strike group, CSG Regina in the Mad Dog Ocean as a “strategic and reasonable answer to Kalistan’s continued provocations towards the Luthorian Fleet in the Eastern Hemisphere.”

As the drums of war beat louder, the Prime Minister addressed the elephant in the room, the looming threat of a fifth Kalistani-Luthorian War, the last conflict between the two countries dating back to the 19th century in which Kalistan found itself in opposition with the Luthorian Empire in North Seleya. Pockerfield stated that while His Majesty’s Government “pursued openly defensive causes for its operations in the Anantonese, the Kalistani government, instead took this as a provocation in a sea that isn’t theirs to begin with.”

“The Kalistanis have proclaimed that the Anantonese Ocean was their Mare Nostrum, and in bliant disregard for the continued and established Luthori-Mordusian entente that have been in force for the last 400 years and have hereby proclaimed that a Luthorian mission aimed at securing Mordusia’s eastern flank, even with the fact that the Luthorian Fleet is already protecting the Commonwealth’s western flank, in the Sea of Lost Souls, can’t and shouldn’t be established at any point. [...]

As I declared to this House a few months ago, the drums of war are being heard, Kalistan’s provocative and unreasonable approach to diplomacy have His Majesty’s Government to enact measures to respond appropriately to the numerous Kalistani provocations towards us.

The Carrier Strike Group “Regina” is now in the Mad Dog Ocean and is ready and operational. If push comes to shove and Kalistan doesn’t immediately realise that their provocative and unreasonable approach towards the Luthorian Empire, continue to attempt to bully the Empire into submission, they will force us to resort to extraordinary measures to defend our sovereign right to come to an ally’s aid, such extraordinary measures are of course, not those that I would personally wish to enact, but if, in the dreadful circumstances we could be drawn into, I’m faced with such a decision, I will enact it.”

The Prime Minister’s statement received a lukewarm welcome from his own party, the National Labour Party has been divided between “pacifists” and “pro-government” MPs, the latter backing the government’s antagonistic policy towards Kalistan, while the former has been urging for the urgency of establishing talks with the Anantonese state. But with the coupled warning shots shot at the HMS Warcury, now coupled with the escalation of the crisis to the Mad Dog Ocean, increasingly Labour MPs have been “falling in line” with the government with the potential prospect of war.

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Furthermore, the Imperial General Headquarters announced, in a surprisingly rare joint statement with Number 10 and Blackhall Palace (Foreign Ministry) in reaction to the deployment of the Kalistani Second Fleet in the Mad Dog Ocean that “any hostile action undertaken by the Kalistani Second Fleet towards the CSG Regina will be hereby considered as an act of war by His Majesty’s Government.”

This threat of war has been raised due to the explicit threat that the Second Fleet is posing to the Carrier Strike Group, at the Navy Headquarters, Randsey, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral John Badclay said in that regard: “We have deployed the CSG Regina to explicitly send a message to Kalistan so as to stop their provocations against the CSG Clockwork in the Anantonese Ocean. Their response was to send an entire fleet, once again escalating the situation in a dramatic fashion, so of course, if any hostile action is undertaken by the Second Fleet against the CSG Regina, then, as agreed between the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Office, the Defence Ministry and the Imperial General Headquarters, this action would be understood as the first shot of a war between the Luthorian Empire and Kalistan.”

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Domestically, the Fort William Stock Exchange reacted negatively to the war scare engulfing the nation, with the FWSE dropping by 3.76% on opening day on Monday.

Investors have begun to see the possibility of an outbreak of conflict between two great powers in the Anantonese Ocean, a vital hub for international commerce as a “dangerous, likely and very risky outcome”, furthermore, the conflict would likely see its opening stages in the Schismatic Sea, next to the Aldegar Canal.

“Instability in the Aldegar Canal and the Mad Dog Ocean could put the entre global economy to a halt due to the sharp reduction of the trade volume passing through either the Aldegar Canal or the Mad Dog Ocean for West-East trade.” stated ITA (International Trade Association) President Theodore Bradley. He also stated that due to the potential closure of the Aldegar Canal and Mad Dog Ocean would basically increase the trade volume passing by the Migrants’ Pass, warranting increased surveillance of the Migrants’ Pass by Luthorian and MATO forces to guarantee safe passage and stability.

With the risk of war high, the SouthSeas Company and WarrenGlobal Shipping or NOMC have already announced redirecting their courses from passing through the Anantonese Ocean, privileging to pass through the Migrants’ Pass, at least “until the threat of war has either been defused or has materalised, by which, the redirection would become permanent.”