Kalistan

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Kalistani News in Brief: Crown Prince is engaged
Early Reports of Navy Review released; Controversial Kundrati War Movie to be released
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
October 7, 5665


Crown Prince announces engagement to Supermodel Jennifer Connor in Eveari

Crown Prince is Engaged
His Highness the Crown Prince Fredrick Ananto-Collins, who will turn 23 in December, has announced his engagement to Jennifer Connor of Kaliburg, one of the so-called "Fab 5" Kauffman supermodels. The news caught crown watchers by surprise and created a flurry of action among the royal tabloid press. "His Highness served with Ms. Connor during their time in the National Service," said crown reporter Ben Afton for La Moda. "Ms. Connor is about five months the Crown Prince's senior, and therefore entered the NSP a year before His Highness. They both served as cooks while in the service and apparently started a romantic relationship while in the service."

The news apparently did not surprise the Royal family at all. "Ms. Connor is well known to Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Mary I Ananto," said Afton. "The announcement was made in Eveari, and Her Imperial Majesty, along with the Lady Companion Victoria Jensen, and Count Martin Collins of Sulari County, the Crown Prince's father, all attended to party." Ms. Connor's parents and older sister Jill were also present at the event, and reportedly enjoyed meeting Her Imperial Majesty.

Afton said the couple has set a date of August 1, 5668 for the wedding. This will allow the Prince to work his way through most of College, and begin his Imperial training, and will allow Ms. Connor to continue to pursue her career before being married. It is expected that the two will acquire a home together in Kaliburg within a year. "Marriage into the Royal Family incurs a lot of responsibilities which will make it difficult for Ms. Connor to continue her career and her contract responsibilities,” said Anton. “So the couple will cohabitate for a few years, and then tie the knot.”

Early Reports of Navy Review released
The earliest reports of the Review of the Imperial Regular Navy have been released upon Her Imperial Majesty's Orders. The Ministry of Defense provided preliminary overview of readiness, per fleet. They have found that the 1st Fleet, stationed at Port Swedes and patrolling the waters between Kalistan Proper and Keris is the most combat ready of all four regular fleets, with a combat readiness of 94%. The Third Fleet based at Bentasur is second with a readiness rating of 89 Percent, the Fourth Fleet at Bozo River achieved 85% readiness and the Second Fleet, based in Yoshimi is pulling up the rear with a readiness of 78%.

What this means is that of all the ships and crews available for front line duty should they be called up in 48 Hours, these percentages have passed their inspections with a rating of "ready" or above. Those ships and crews which failed these inspections have been ordered through remediation and reinspection by March.

Readiness was a top line figure, but more concerning for the Ministry was logistics and supply. Of all major Naval Bases that the Empire of Ananto and Kalistan maintains, Bentasur in Gaduridos is by far the most expensive and most difficult to supply from Naval Stocks. "Bentasur is a significant liability for the Naval Budget," concludes the summary. "If Kalistan intends to maintain its outpost in Bentasur, there has to be a more efficient sourcing and logistical supply for the base. Kalistan imports most of the supply into the base from the Empire itself. In order to maintain the base, we will need to begin sourcing closer to the base. Continued Gaduri ambivalence toward Bentasur could lead to the dismantling of the base entirely."

The full report is due next summer, but additional releases can be expected in the coming months. No recommendations will be released until the full report is released.

Controversial Kundrati War Movie to be released
Republican Pictures will release a movie in October with the title translated into Vrassan as "Our Homeland." This movie, which has Kundrati descended actors speaking in Delic and subtitled in Vrassan, attempts to tell the story of the Kundrati War from the point of view of three generations of one Kasaema family Đuričić. The film attempts to explain through the art of fictional and artistic license, the collapse of a modern, liberal democratic state into abject fascism, dystopia and disaster.

The film has already drawn significant criticism from Nationalist critics in Kalistan. "This film is an outrage," said The Kalsitani Republic's primary film columnist Arthur Dickenson. "Not only does it attempt to humanize those in Kundrati who willingly turned against the old order and toward a fascist dictator known only for horrendous atrocities, war crimes and destruction, it also makes an effort to apologize for that sort of behavior, and at the end represents a thesis that this sort of descent into nationwide malevolence such as we have seen in Kundrati was not only a natural thing, but is possible for anyone." Others have praised its realism, but were upset that it presents Kalistan in a bad light. "No greater piece of Kundrati propaganda could have possibly been produced outside of that dark state itself," said La Moda's Mary Anne Douglas.

Despite the harsh public criticism, Republican Pictures stands by film and says it is honest and it is well made. Most of the cast are Delic-speaking Kundrati refugees who were able to escape from fascist Kundrati and have been living abroad since late last century. As a war movie, there are surprisingly few actual battle scenes in the movie: Much of the conflict is internal, within the family and within the individuals in that family themselves. The film was shot primarily in Endralon and Kirlawa to approximate the landscape of Kundrati and Kasaema. Film Maker and screen writer Milić Jakić, who is himself a descendant of a family of Kundrati Refugees who fled to Kalistan before the war to escape the grim terror of the Bronislav Regime, worked with Kaliburg Director Jerry Delgado to present what he calls a "sensitive and balanced" film that tells a point of view that has never been dealt with in Kalistan before. The film cost more than ₭25 million Imperial Rubles to make.

"My family was one of the few lucky families who escaped during the civil war," said Jakić. "But I wanted to show that there were a lot of families who were seduced by a lot of things, easily tricked and eventually found themselves caught in a trap that they could not escape from. At its core, this film is an anti-war film more than anything. There was nothing honorable about what happened in Kundrati, but I also want to note that there wasn't a lot that was honorable about what was done to Kundrati either. It's important to note that the actions of the Government were not completely supported by the population, but I still have relatives there that are being kept there, meaning, if they try to leave they will be murdered, and at least some of them have more like acquiesced out of a need for peace-- its the only peace they have ever known was to just sort of go along with whatever the Government is doing, especially since they lack the power to ever do anything about it."

Several Veterans associations intend to boycott and protest screenings of the film.

@TheRepublic