Kalistan

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The Republic sits down with Ladies Mary and Michelle Ananto
"Regency will end", says Princess Regent
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
August 12, 5832


Princess Regent Michelle Ananto-Sandoval and Grand Duchess Mary Ananto-DeLaurentis at Cliff House

Recently discharged Grand Duchess Mary Ananto-DeLaurentis returned to Kaliburg a week ago to begin her transition into the next Empress of Ananto and Kalistan.  The date that has been set for her coronation is November 15, 5832, three months ahead of schedule.  During the three months until that time, both Her Highness the Grand Duchess of Ananto and Her Highness the Princess Regent Michelle Ananto-Sandoval, who has exercised sovereignty in the future Empress' name for the better part of the last two years will be very busy transferring over all the instruments of Government to the Grand Duchess.  Usually the process of preparing the future monarch for her role in Government takes several years, and often allows the successor to achieve their early to mid 30s before expecting them to take up the reigns of State.  But Mary, who is only just 22 years old as of June 20, has decided that it she will not ask her aunt to continue on as regent while she goes to college and starts a family in anticipation of rule.

The Republic sat down with both Ladies at Cliff Home to interview them before they get down to the serious work of transfer of power.

(The Republic's) G(regory) N(ewbury):  Thank you both for taking the time to meet with me at this really unprecedented moment in history.

(Her Highness, Princess Regent) M(ichelle Ananto-) S(andoval):  Indeed.  And welcome to Cliff House.

GN:  And it is a real treat to get to speak with you as well, my Lady.

(Her Highness, Grand Duchess) M(ary Ananto-) D(eLaurentis):  I hope it is worth your trouble to come all the way out here.

GN:  No trouble at all, Your Highness.

MD:  Excellent.  It was an excellent decision on the part of your newspaper to send you here before we got all formal with the pronouns and everything.

GN:  That is no trouble either, Madame.  The opportunity to speak with you would be exactly as valuable either way.  it is a rare thing that few people can say, but perhaps it is maybe a bit easier to speak with you when I can speak directly with you, rather than when the protocol kicks in and I no longer can.

MD:  Indeed.

GN:  My Lady Regent, are you looking forward to the coronation, which I now understand is supposed to happen in mid November, rather than the previously believed February?

MS:  Very much so.  I'm glad I can finally say for certain that the Regency will end, and know what that date is.  I had always felt lucky that my Brother was the one who was designated the successor to the throne and not me.  I look forward to returning to my home in Dulnerstaad, my work with House Ananto and my volunteering at the Aquarium.  I miss my friends and family very much, though I see them all the time, and the Grand Duchess has agreed to accept the crown earlier than we had previously talked about, for which I am very thankful.  I was not cut out to rule and want to return to a life of no spotlights.

GN:  What led to shortening the transition period by three months?

MD:  I don't really know what the value was in keeping my aunt in a position that she was quite obviously not comfortable in longer than was absolutely necessary.  When I was discharged from service last week, we sat down with the Chancellor of the Empire and I asked him what he needed to make sure we had everything in place for the formal transfer of authority.  I know this often takes years, maybe sometimes a decade.  But we don't have that luxury now, so we decided that three months was the absolute minimum time for the transfer to take place, and from there we set a date of November 15.

GN:  Will Lady Michelle continue to assist you after you are formally crowned?

MD:  There are few people in this world who know the burden of that crown.  Lady Michelle knows it, far more now than any living soul in Terra;  I would be a fool if I didn't lean on her as much as I could.

GN:  My Lady Regent, would you care to reflect on your tenure in office?  What have you done to keep the ship righted?  Have you made changes?  Have you noticed any shifts in the world which will pose either a challenge or an opportunity for your niece when she succeeds you?

MS:  We have held Ananto and Kalistan steady, and have made no significant changes.  I'd say international relations with our close friends are perhaps a little more muddy, but this has more to do with ambivalence on their part than on ours.  For example:  those independent nations we have strong bonds with continually seek relations outside of the region that it would make more sense for them to seek within the region.  Trade, military cooperation, and investment are brought in from far corners of the globe into the area.  I'm not quite sure why one country would go all the way to Majatra for trade in specific commodities when they can get all the need and at far more favorable terms from just across the sea here in Kalistan.  It's something that my brother faced too, and I am certain it will be something my niece will continue to face when she becomes Empress.  It just doesn't make any sense to any of us.  The only thing Fredrick thought about it was that those nations would rather pay extra to trade with and get investment from complete foreigners with whom they had nothing in common than work with Kalistan because they are for some reason convinced that Kalistan will put some sort of onerous conditions on the relationship.  What else could be the reason?

GN:  Does Kalistan aggressively go after new trade relationships and investments?

MS:  Not nearly as aggressively as others, for certain.  We don't for example, send reps to other countries actively looking for ways to invest.  Unlike others we really aren't trying to build an economic and military empire where we have a bunch of nations in random locations of the globe who are beholden to us.  Kalistan stays home for the most part--I suppose our way is that we seldom need what others are selling, having sourced most of what we need regionally, from those who are close to us, so we aren't actively seeking new trade vectors.  But we are not capitalists either:  We don't encourage our corporations to create surpluses with the aim of seeking a buyer after the fact, so there is no reason we would go out and actively promote our products.  That said, everyone in the world knows what we have and what we can do, and they are still actively seeking to source those things from distant lands rather than buying them at home, so...

MD:  I think one of the thing we have working against us is a long historical reputation for putting ourselves first.  I think people will see this and believe that all we care about is what benefits Kalistan.  Other nations don't like that: They want us to put their interests at the center of our policies. But I can say this, and I assure you it is something that I firmly believe:  Kalistan must come first in our thoughts at all times, and I don't mean just me.  I mean that everyone who makes a law in this nation, or adopts a policy, must look to what benefits Kalistan and our Imperial Partners before we concern ourselves with what other nations are doing.  Because at the end of the day, we are not going to do something that doesn't benefit our nation for the sake of other people.  We have to take care of the Anantonese Empire first:  This is our single most important duty, and once the Constituent Nations of the Anantonese Empire are doing well, then if we have any left over, then we can concern ourselves with our neighbors.

MS:  Well, there you have it: This has been, is now, and will continue to be the policy of this Empire, and as our soon to be Empress has uttered the words, so does this become our policy.

GN:  Lady Regent, I notice a hint of resignation in your voice as you say this.

MS:  There is no resignation whatsoever in my meaning, friend.  If other nations do not wish to trade with Kalistan on favorable terms to them, let them waste their resources getting the same thing from the other side of the globe for more money.  It doesn't make any difference to Kalistan or the Constituent Nations of the Empire at all.  But perhaps what you have heard was disappointment:  I am disappointed that all of my brother, the Late Emperor's efforts to be more open to foreign nations have politely been thanked by politely being ignored.  It is a frustration that I think my niece will also learn as she comes into her own in this government.

MD:  What Michelle says is correct.  I cannot tell you how many nights I heard my father express frustration that everything Kalistan tried to do to make things a little easier for Kalistan in the international realm only ever worked if we did things ourselves.  What I learned was that most nations smile in your face, and then turn their backs on you the first chance they get--but those same nations don't do that with their real friends.  So Kalistan ought not wait for other nations to start seeing Kalistan as a full partner.  "Not Enemy" may really be the best we can hope for from some of these countries.  If they don't want to treat us as their equal, they should probably begin treating us as their better.  Because there may come a day when those are the terms we begin using in regard to them.  

GN:  This then suggests quite a departure in the coming reign from the previous ones.  

MD:  Not at all.  My grandmother told me all the time about her mother Pavlina.  Pavlina was a foreigner who came to Kalistan to devote her life to this nation.  She is an exemplar that we should all strive to follow.  Her single minded dedication to our National cause is what earned our Empire its reputation.  As I get older and see what we are up against, it is that sort of single minded dedication that I believe is necessary for the well being of the people of Anantonese Empire.  Nicolette The Great saw what needed to be done, and did it.  She wasn't concerned at all with what other nations thought about it:  In fact those opinions should never guide Kalistani Policy.  She just did things, she accomplished things.  She, like the other Emperors and Empresses, to include my Aunt in her role as Regent, have been single minded in the promotion of Ananto and Kalistan above all other nations.  It is an example I also hope to set for future generations when I wear the Crown.

GN:  Does this mean that Kalistan will take a more aggressive posture in world affairs?

MD:  No.  It is not in the Anantonese Empire's interest to do so.

GN:  But there are still issues in Artania and now there are stories of Selucia placing tariffs on all traffic transiting the Migrant's Pass.  Do you think Kalistan can play a role in those situations?

MS:  Kalistan does not trade through the Migrant's Pass, and at any rate, Kalistan endorses the concept of sovereign waters.  If Selucia can establish and collect the tariff, we say let them.  I don't think they actually can collect that tariff:  They aren't a force of any note, and I don't think they have the administrative capability to charge every single ship that travels through there money for the privilege of doing so, not by a long sight.  I won't be in charge of anything when it all kinda goes down, but I think it will simply encourage people to completely disregard the law, and do so flagrantly, because Selucia lacks enforcement.  But the policy of Kalistan is that they should have the right to try, and then should have to suffer whatever consequences others impose upon them as a result.  The same as Kalistan and our enforcement of our rights in the Ananto Strait.  Our keeping of the Strait is far more valuable and important to us than mitigating whatever sanctions other nations would ever impose upon us.  What's good for the goose is good for the gander.  

GN:  So you don't think Kalistani trade will be affected in any way?

MS:  No, not in any way.  We are not part of globalized trade networks.  Our trade goes via Lodamun, Gaduridos, Lourenne, and probably Dolgava more than Egelion.  Those networks are what they are.  We also import from Makon other parts of Dovani and Central Seleya.  None of that is touched by Selucian trade tariffs or the so-called "passage tax."  Nor do we run ships through there at all, for any reason, because unlike several nations in the world, Kalistan doesn't believe we have any business involving ourselves in our antipodes.  Almost the entire world from Kaliburg's view, is washed by the Anantonese Ocean.  Nearly every other part of the world is...  well, how would one say it...

MD:  ...less important, Lady Michelle.

MS:  As you say, Your Highness.  "Less important".  To Kaliburg, at least.

MD:  And more generally.  My father believed that the best policies focused on improving our region.  We are far more effective with cooperation when it is closer to home.  To this end, ultimately it doesn't matter what tariffs Selucia places over traffic in the Migrant's Pass or how many people the Legion in the mainland portion of Kundrati ordered murdered and fed to whoever is left.  That should not be Kalistan's concern at all.  Kalistan should focus on Anantonese Nations.  We will also welcome those from outside that region who reach out to us and want to associate with us:  Kalistan is rebuilding old relationships now, and that should be continued.  But should Kalistan offer any concessions to others for good relations?  Why would we?  It is doubtful that others would offer us concessions.

GN:  The Grand Duchess has a reputation for being a bit of a free spirit and preferring nature.  How will that manifest once you are crowned?

MD:  Those days are over.  They ended the moment my father breathed his last breath.  The Empress is the face and voice of her Nation and her State.  Kalistan does not need a hippy.  They need someone who will carry herself and present herself with the comportment appropriate to the Nation as a whole.  I look at the Empresses who came before me, and everyone of them, from Elizabeth, whose name I bear though my Grand Mother Carolina, and my mother as Empress Consort and my Aunt as Regent, all represented dignity, authority and bearing that was accented by their femininity and beauty.  This is the example I seek to live up to.  And to some degree, there is a measure of arrogance involved in the title too.  I am not sure I have a lot of that in me, but we will see.

GN:  Lady Michelle, in your last few months, what are some things you will hope to accomplish?

MS:  We still have to name a new Ambassador to Dolgava.  We have started work on a new frigate with Hutori with the aim of negating the advantages of foreign navies in the Anantonese Ocean.  We have some administrative work to complete here in Kaliburg.  All of this while having Mary looking over everything too.  It is likely she will begin adding her own input very shortly, and by the time our three months are over, she will need to be fully ready to go.  A lot of this really is on the job training.  But I look forward to completing it, and then going back home.

GN:  Do you have any previews for the Coronation?

MS:  I've instructed the government to invite the world.  Whether the world will attend we shall see, but I suppose Mary will have the opportunity to see who Kalistan's friends are at that time.

MD:  I have asked our Government to break with tradition and hold the Coronation at the Imperial Seat rather than the Eveari Meeting House.  As I grew up both in the Brethrenist Tradition of my father and his family as well as the Aurorian Hosian tradition of my mother and her family, I do not want to appear to be favoring either faith tradition.  Plus, I don't want to suggest that I am seeking an endorsement from religion.

GN:  Do you consider yourself a religious person, Madame?

MD:  Not particularly.  I think people find comfort in religious observance, and I don't want to disparage religion.  But I also do note that there are some people who do horrific things and claim to be religious.  The Kundrati Legion absolutely paint religion as a justification for everything they do, and you don't hear any Hosians outside of Kalistan speaking out against it, or pointing out that Kundrati's version is the opposite of what Hosians claim they believe.  So I have to ask myself:  Are Kalistani Hosians wrong and Hosians world wide actually support the horrible things the Legion does, or is it just more convenient to turn a blind eye to the immorality of the Legion?  Either way, why would a person of conscience endorse such a faith which is either terrified to speak the truth, or tacitly endorses the opposite of what they claim to believe?  I'd rather avoid having to take a side in that whole debate one way or another:  I'll just keep things secular.

GN:  This gives us an excellent idea of where we are headed as a nation, and I thank you both for your candidness during this interview.

MD:  Thank you Mr. Newbury.  I look forward to reading this in print.

MS:  Thank you for taking the time to come talk to us both.  I hope we answered your questions.

GN:  Indeed, you have.  I wish you both well during the transition and I hope to receive the assignment to cover the Coronation.

MS:  Perhaps you shall.  Have a great evening.

@TheRepublic