Kalistan

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Kalistani News in Brief: New Finance Minister Named
Kalistan Considers SEC Treaty to combat external isolation; Northern Fleets complete Redeployment
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
May 6, 5643


Professor John Robert "Mac" MacKenzie, Her Imperial Majesty's choice for Finance Minister lecturing on Wealth equality over time in Capitalism

New Finance Minister Named
The aftermath of the Debt Scandal continues to reverberate through Kalistan's commercial banking community as Directors of the Bank of Suldanor and the Foreign Investment bank have both been ousted by their respective boards of directors for "negligence" surrounding the decision to go forward with the investment plan without appropriate due diligence. As both bank stocks continue to fall in the KalSiE, the National Government has been largely hands off in intervention on their behalf, signaling a remaining bitterness between Her Imperial Majesty and these two major institutional players. Both banks hope a change of management and revision of decision making procedures will help to restore some confidence in the banks as fiduciary institutions, but Her Imperial Majesty is confident to let both banks swing in the breeze for the time being.

In this context, the Empress' choice for new Finance Director and Head of the Imperial Bank of Kalistan makes a lot of sense. Professor John Robert MacKenzie, known to his collogues and students as "Mac" has been selected. MacKenzie, a professor at Kaliburg Polytechnic is one of the leaders of the new class of economic popularizers that has been on the rise in Kalistan over the past decade. MacKenzie is an outspoken mercantilist, and is on record for his hostility toward market economics and free trade. "If he wasn't such a strong, outspoken supporter of the Empire, one could almost accuse him of communism," said his colleagues. "But Mac insists that the only protection for workers is strong state intervention into the jobs guarantee and universal basic income, the only protection for consumers is price caps, and the only protection for investors is capital restrictions. He also believes that a strong central government is necessary to ensure these things, and is famous for saying that individuals need to take a back seat to social interests, where individuals can be expected to get private goods as a result of cooperation, rather than competition with one another."

The choice was applauded by Orthodox Institutional Deputies, who voted for the nominee by acclamation. But among liberals, the decision was troubling. "This man will singlehandedly erode any legitimacy our position has by denying us the ability to demonstrate that a more liberal, center of the road approach can also yield public goods too," said Liberal economic professor Dr. Mark Jones of Sulari. "We felt that this Empress might give our economy a break and let up on some of the controls, but in fact the entire thing has been a major disappointment for those of us who believe in individual reward for individual initiative and free and open commerce with the entire world."

Kalistan to Consider SEC Treaty to combat External Isolation
As Kalistan names a hard Nationalist to the position of Finance Minister, Her Imperial Majesty's Trade Minister announced that the Government was open to consider joining the Seleyan Economic Community to combat tendencies toward isolation. "I think AESA may be on its last legs," said Trade Minister Mel Greene-Collins, who is not related to the Emperor Consort. "It's not so much that people have pulled out of it, as that with Lodamun fully opening up to bilateral trade with Luthori especially, but also with Egelion now, that kind of undermines the last real function of the AESA, which is designed to preference Seleyan and Northern Anantonese trade over external trade. It is clear that Lodamun's gradual pivot toward Liberalism and their explicit courting of nations like Luthori, who Kalistan has worked for decades to keep completely out of Seleya, has taken out the last ideological support for the regional customs union, and going forward, it is likely that our region will devolve from our long standing special arrangement, to something that looks more like a system of completely independent states that maintain normal trade agreements."

The statement by the Trade Minister was simply a public acknowledgement of the changing relations between the two nations that were formerly much closer. "It is clear that Lodamun's foreign policy and trade policies have dramatically changed, but those changes were in the works before Lodamun split from the Empire," said Greene. "The split was the result of the resolution on Lodamun's part to pursue a foreign policy that was certainly completely independent from Kalistan, and also, more than a little undermining of Kalistan's position. While there is no animosity between Kalistan and Lodamun, it is clear that Lodamun has no intention of maintaining the regional attitude that Kalistan has as its priority. Which causes Kalistan to need to re-evaluate its own position if it wants to maintain its strictly regional focus and not allow the rest of the world to completely isolate it."

To this end, the Trade Minister expects a pivot toward Kalistan's other Seleyan partners in Gaduridos, and make efforts to strengthen trade relations with Baltusia and Valruzia. "We notice that Baltusia has expressed a desire to join the Seleyan Economic Community," said Greene. "That agreement is particularly focused on Seleya itself, and as such would be interesting to Kalistan. But of course, we would have to read the treaty as it stands now: There were provisions that used to be a part of it in the past which Kalistan, which is strongly nationalist, would never have accepted, but primarily because of Artanian and Lourennais penetration of Seleyan Markets at the time. Joining would leave Kalistan vulnerable to those pressures as well. Things have changed in Seleya, for the better, with the ejection of Luthori capital in Northern Seleya and the general withdrawal of Lourenne from the conversation, and so now Kalistan would likely be more interested in seeing how this treaty could work with Kalistan's economic goals." It is important to note that Lodamun is also a member of the SEC, so joining would help preserve ties to Kalistan's northern neighbor and allow for the moribund AESA to finally be completely ended. If there was a renegotiation of the treaty, Kalistan would likely argue for stronger protection against external actors being able to benefit from free trade within Seleya.

Northern Fleets complete Redeployment
Kalistan's First and Fourth Fleet have completed their redeployments in the Northern Anantonese Ocean, says the Ministry of Defense. "The Fourth Fleet has been brought entirely east of the Karzon Straits, ending our prolonged patrols of the eastern Mad Dog Ocean," said Defense Ministry spokesperson Doug Johnson. "This clears the area of Imperial Navy, and opens it for Dolgavan, Hutorian and Lodamese Navy to pick up security tasks in the region. That forward mission was a product of the tensions in the Artanian Sea, and now that Kalistan has utterly washed its hands of that Continent, there is no reason that Kalistan should maintain a presence there, at its own expense."

Meanwhile, the First Fleet, which had patrolled the Northern Anantonese Ocean north of Ananto, has also shifted east into the Lorna Sea between Keris and Dovani, north of Lourenne. "With Egelian naval units in the northern part of Keris, the First Kalistani Regulars aim to augment security in the sea passage into the Anantonese Ocean from the north. It is our hope that we find some opportunities to cooperate on security with Egelion, being the other relevant naval player in the area, but to date Egelion hasn't shown a lot of interest in cooperating with Kalistan on naval security, and that is a truely missed opportunity on a number of levels, so we will maintain the status quo in international waters of the Ocean, and continue our own security missions. Seeing Egelian Navy in the Anantonese Ocean is quite rare at any rate, so there is at least no competition for training areas or patrol routes."

To mark Kalistan's decreased presence, much of the First and Fourth Regular Fleets will remain in port for much of the year, the First Fleet in Bozo River Combined Air Ground Training Center in Ananto and the Fourth Fleet at Port Swedes Naval Logistics Center in Vrassa. "The sub screens will be the only units deployed on a regular basis," said Johnson. "This will allow us to track shipping into and out of the Northern Anantonese Ocean, and should give us adequate early warning if our Satellites and sub surface network fail us for some reason." Johnson said the Second Fleet went back into port last year and the Third Fleet went into port at Gaduridos' Bentasur Naval Station three years ago as tensions in the Anantonese Oceans have been reduced to almost nothing, and Egelion continues to pick up more slack in the Southern Anantonese Ocean. "Permanent Deployment of forward Naval Forces like that is very expensive," said Johnson. "Our decision to finally return the last of our four fleets to port will represent a tremendous savings that we can use for refitting, upgrading and more procurement, or direct to the peace sector. Other nations who choose not to do that will continue to bear the expense of their forward deployment."

@TheRepublic