Kalistan

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Empress Mary flies to Lodamun, Hutori and Dolgava
"We're visiting friends," said Empress
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
March 26, 5642


Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Mary I Ananto at Kaliburg International

Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Mary I Ananto left Kaliburg this week for a major tour of Lodamun, Hutori and Dolgava.  Her first stop will be to Kensington Lodamun where she intends to meet with the Government to reassure Lodamun of Kalistan's friendship and mutual interests, and to offer any support to the newly independent government in their efforts to calm investors who have been concerned about the changing political landscape in Northern Seleya since August.  From there she will fly to the Ananto holding of Icehaven and then travel to Axeminster, where she will meet with the Hutorian King Alexander III to confer over naval defensive matters.  Finally she will travel to Aikums Dolgava to visit with Queen Jaanika and discuss trade and security in the Anantonese Ocean.  She will be joined in Dolgava by her husband, Emperor-Consort Martin Collins-Ananto for a two week vacation that will serve as a honeymoon for the newly married couple.

Our reporters were at the airport to meet with the Empress, who agreed to do a short interview prior to leaving in her private jet to Kensington.

(The Republic's) J(oan) Y(orke):  Before we begin the interview, I need to state that for this interview, Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Mary I Ananto, has stated that this is an informal audience, and therefore we are conducting this sit down with her over tea at the airport.  I am joined here by my colleague Katheryn Bradshaw, who will, for the purpose of observing protocol, serve as my interlocutor, though of course, Her Imperial Majesty is perfectly free to interject answers to my questions.

(Her Imperial Majesty, Empress) M(ary I) A(nanto):  This is correct and we thank Ms. Bradshaw for serving in this role.

JY:  Would Her Imperial Majesty tell our audience about the purpose of her trip to Lodamun, Hutori, and Dolgava?

MA:  This is a trip to visit our friends.  All three nations have been long standing friends to our Empire, and it is time we made a house call to visit them and reaffirm our commitment to them, each in turn.

JY:  What will Her Imperial Majesty discuss with Lodamun when she arrives in Kensington?

MA:  As you may recall, not long ago we were visited in Kaliburg by President George Menkyn and Merchant General Hank Wexler.  This visit was very positive and we are quite appreciative that they decided to visit us and make clear Lodamun's position regarding our relationship.  If anything, we can say that in the nearly eight months since Lodamun and Kalistan dissolved our formal political ties, Lodamun has struggled a little, and we felt it absolutely necessary to stress that we have not turned our back on the Commonwealth.  Much like Gaduridos and now Baltusia, a strong, stable, and prosperous Lodamun is good for Kalistan.  We offered initial assurances that our fondness and affinity for Lodamun has not decreased, and we stand ready to do all we can.  Since their visits, we have been able to reassure investors on our side of the Jah River that Kalistan is still open to Lodamese markets:  the AESA remains in place as it did before accession, and the jitters they saw in their market were based on a perception that our fundamental relationships were going to change.

Now, we are flying to Kensington not only to return the visit of March 3, but also to reaffirm our commitment to a larger Northern Seleyan identity, which includes Lodamun as a primary player.  We want to remain open to trade cooperation and free capital and personal movement that we have enjoyed for more than a century between our two nations.  The separation changed things, but we want to stress that those changes were superficial, and the very positive relationship that our two nations enjoyed before we took the steps toward union remain in place.  We want to applaud Lodamun's willingness to continue to associate with us, and the steps they have taken on their own to stabilize their markets and intervene to begin to ensure confidence in their own markets, and we want to make ourselves available to assist where they think it may do the most good.  We also wish to acknowledge their military and aerospace developments, specific missiles not withstanding, and discuss whether the current Anantonese Security Community treaty adequately addresses our mutual needs, or if it should be replaced by a new bilateral agreement that focuses more on Northern Seleya specifically.

Plus it is our desire to see the Lodamese Capital.  As long as we have been associated with Lodamun, we do not believe we have ever been for a visit, and it is well past time for us to put Lodamun's reputed hospitality to the test.

JY:  Does Her Imperial Majesty expect a warm welcome in Kensington?

MA:  We would be surprised if it was anything other than this.  We were warmly greeted by our friends here earlier this month, especially our former Administrator General Dr. James Forrester, who was gracious enough to attend our wedding in Eveari, and whom we have come to know as a very serious intellectual whose opinion and voice on Lodamese matters we have come to value greatly in the short time that we have known him.  We have nothing but a positive impression of the Lodamese Government and we have so much optimism that they are taking their rightful place in our region.  The economic jitters they appear to be facing are certainly temporary and ephemeral, and we stand by to do our part to help calm the uncertainty by reaffirming our commitment to our mutual relationship.  We believe that message will be well received in Kensington.

JY:  Moving to Hutori, would Her Imperial Majesty offer a preview of talks there?

MA:  Most certainly.  Hutori is one of Kalistan's longest standing friendships.  Primarily, we bonded over cultural affinities, though we have also then cooperated on a number of defense related points over history as well.  We maintain a ducal title in Hutori, the Duchy of Icehaven, and His Majesty, King Alexander III holds a Baronetcy in one of the prettiest parts of our Island at Ravenhead in Green County.  Though we do not maintain familiar ties, nonetheless, the Royals in Hutori are treated as family in Kalistan.

In early April we will travel first to Icehaven for a couple days to rest, and then will continue to Axeminster where we will meet with King Alexander to discuss defense matters.  We were informed earlier this year that the first Bekenial III Frigates had passed sea trials and have rolled off the lines.  These state of the art frigates will find their way into our naval arsenal as we continue to produce them in both Hutori and Kaliburg.  These will be major improvements over our current Daniel Guzman Class Frigate which are scheduled for decommissioning.  This frigate will possess greatly improved Hutorian subsurface detection and mitigation technology, and will integrated with Kalistan's very sophisticated subnet tech links.  The ship designs were primarily of Hutorian origin, while materials and naval artillery for the vessels were provided by Kalistan.  However, it was important to design these in Hutori because they rely very heavily on Hutori's ASW technology, which on naval units is second to none in the world, and now will enhance Kalistani defense in the Anantonese ocean as it is integrated into Kalistan's subsurface intel network.

JY:  Does Her Imperial Majesty envision a larger role for Hutori in Anantonese Affairs?

MA:  As we see expansion of the Egelian naval presence in our Ocean, whether we support that or not, we have also noticed that they intend to invite Luthori into the region.  Given Luthori's recent militant aggression in Majatra, they have more or less sacrificed any potential cooperation with the Anantonese Empire, regardless of whoever else they are able to trick into supporting them.  Luthorian presence in the region would be provocative if their impact at sea was in any way measurable, but regardless of if they make it into the region or not, we do intend to invite at least one Hutorian fleet to consider regular and ongoing joint patrol operations with the Kalistani Navy in the Northern Anantonese.  As Egelion spreads itself out in its quest to become just another Lourenne and rebuild the Canrillaise Empire 2.0, except under their flag this time, they become less concentrated in waters that are important to us, and picking up that slack is certainly not a job that Luthori is capable, on any level, of handling, so, welcoming Hutori will only enhance regional security, for everyone's benefit, including Egelion.

The basing agreement would likely be limited to refuel, refit and resupply in both Port Swedes Naval Logistics Center in Vrassa and Bozo River Combined Air Ground Training Center in Ananto, as Hutori has mentioned that they do not want to permanently station a fleet away from their homeland, but we can expect regular visits from Hutori if they are willing to accept the deal, again, to help pick up the slack that a rapidly expanding Egelion is less able to carry now that one of their three naval squadrons will be preoccupied on the other side of the world.  Kalistan will likely get two or three major training exercises each year out of the deal, which we will certainly invite Lodamun and Dolgava to as well, and given Kalistan's closeness with the Kingdom of Hutori, we will see more convergence between Hutori's elite regular tactics and technolgical edge and Kalistan's high degree of tactical flexibility that will certainly benefit both forces.

JY:  Does Her Imperial Majesty intend to accomplish all of this in a week in Hutori?

MA:  "Accomplishing" it is a mere formality, Ms. Yorke.

JY:  Onto Dolgava, is there any business that Her Imperial Majesty intends to conduct there?

MA:  Yes and No, that visit is primarily personal but we would like to eventually raise the topics of trade and security between our two nations given the changing situation in the Anantonese basin.  We have informed Her Majesty, and our close personal friend Queen Jaanika and her husband, the Prince Kristiāns of our intention to honeymoon in country.  Our husband intends to join us there, and we are looking forward to relaxing and spending time together outside of the duties of the crown and official Kalistan.  While there we wish to tour the country, as well as do some hiking and skiing in the upcountry.  We would also like to spend some time in the company of the Queen, on a personal level.  She was great friends with our late Father and our mother, and we think very highly of her ourselves.  We would also like to spend time with her Children, including the Crown Prince as he transitions into adulthood.  It is possible that at some point we will need to deal with him on some level, and would like to make a very positive impression on the young man.

JY:  Is it correct that Her Imperial Majesty will be in country for about two weeks?

MA:  That is correct, yes.  We will return to Kalistan the fourth week of April.

JY:  Will the Her Highness Princess Margaret Ananto serve as your proxy while you are gone?

MA:  We have asked our aunt Lady Michelle to serve in that capacity.  She will work with Chancellor Koenig and keep the government running.  She has served as regent while we did our National Service, and is very familiar with the duties of Viceroy.  Lady Margaret is finishing her dissertation and we would prefer to see her focus on completing this incredibly important milestone in her education, and then we will return with more than enough time to celebrate her inevitable doctoral investiture with her.

JY:  At last, would Her Imperial Majesty care to share with our readers what sort of music she enjoys?

MA:  Oh wow... that's an excellent question...  We used to listen to primarily alternative artists, however, we have recently taken an interest in quieter tunes.  There is a certain alternative country musician we are listening to from Vrassa City at just this moment, her name is Carrie Hill.  She has only recently been signed to Plateau Records, but she has released a lot of her music independently so far.  She did a lot of that recording herself, and its very peaceful.  We like to listen to her music as we wander about in the forest during the weekends.  So we hope that answers your readers' question about our music tastes.

JY:  We would like to thank Her Imperial Majesty for giving The Republic so much of her time in this informal audience.

MA:  We are happy to talk to reporters.  Our husband has made the case for independent journalism, though obviously, the Republic is not that.  But since we have known him his argument for journalists has made an impression on us, and so we would like to begin supporting the press more than we have in the past.

JY:  I certainly thank Her Imperial Majesty for that.

MA:  We wish you well in editing, and hope you will wish us well in our travels.

JY:  Absolutely.  I wish Her Imperial Majesty a very productive and safe trip.

MA:  Knock on wood.  Inshallah, we will return to Kalistan in one piece.

With that Her Imperial Majesty waited.  Both Katheryn Bradshaw and I stood, and as Her Imperial Majesty rose, we lowered our heads, and she left.  By the time we figured it was ok to raise our eyes again, she was already on her way out the door, followed closely by a single woman, who was likely her secretary, Lady Southern.  Both Ms. Bradshaw and I commented on how odd it was that the Empress was not constantly surrounded by security, but then again, she is the Empress, and despite her family's history, exists in the complete certainty that no Kalistani would ever approach her close enough to lay a hand on her, let alone harm a single hair on her head.  At least in Kalistan, she walks among us more as a spectral apparition or an untouchable deity than as a mortal human being. 

Such is the poise and dignity of the Empress.

@TheRepublic