Cantrian News Network (CNN)

[Cantr]

GovPro 117 Announced!

Emperor Daichi of Cantr announced today that he will begin a full economic reconstruction and expansion of the provinces of Cantr, Drakonat, Drel, and Samson's Federation.  He has expressed his regret at being unable to reconstruct the province of Adrian, and states that as soon as the Paladin rebel group lays down its arms and ceases military resistance, he will begin reconstruction of the economy of this province as well.  The Emperor has decided that until this group is no longer a threat, any construction projects in the province of Adrian would certainly fall under attack, thus wasting human lives and resources and further plunging the province of Adrian into turmoil.

The Paladins have, for the most part, laid down their arms since the conclusion of the Cantr Wars, the defeat of Drakonat, and the agreement signed between Daichi and Meranam, the leader of the Paladin dissidents, however the remaining Paladins continue to threaten and harass the theocratic officials employed by the Adriannic province, claiming that they are charlatans installed by Daichi, in spite of the fact that many of them are themselves former Paladins.

The economic rebuilding is intended to make Cantr self-dependent, with a focus on products that can be exported, such as electronics and cars.  Daichi has announced that this economic build-up will be accompanied by a military build-up, although the term for mandatory military service will not be extended past its current one year duration.  The military build-up is to be focused entirely on modernizing Cantr's equipment and training.  The build-up is to begin next month and will take roughly two years to complete, thanks in large part to the pre-existing workforce and infrastructure in many of the provinces.  Economic build-up of Adrian is expected to take significantly longer due to the second-world status of the province prior to the Cantr Wars.

[Cantr]

Cantr attacks Pirate Isles!

Emporer Daichi announced today that, after only a month of military build-up and recovery, he intends to lead the Cantrian army to the Pirate Isles and defeat the Pirate Lords who rule them, thus putting an end to Cantr's growing crime problem at the source.  Although the Pirate Isles are legally under the control of Cantr, they have been the de facto property of the Pirate Lords since before the Cantr Wars.  Daichi believes that this attack will be an excellent time to test out the effectiveness of Cantr's current fleet and gather data on how it should be reconstructed in the build-up.  Although Cantr's navy is, currently, extremely ill-equipped by modern standards, the Pirate Lords' navy is not only ill-equipped but also tiny, consisting mostly of small gunboats.  Now that the Cantrian Island is finally a unified entity, Daichi intends to put more focus on coastal defense from criminal organizations like these as opposed to the nations previous emphasis on land defense during the Cantr Wars.

Members of Cantr's Soldier X unit are also expected to participate in the attack, though for security reasons the names of the Soldiers X and the number participating has been kept secret.  Given Cantr's large number of Soldiers X, there will likely be at least two dozen Soldiers X involved in the operation, according to an anonymous source inside the capitol.

[Cantr]

GovPro 117 Continues

GovPro 117, the economic and military buildup of Cantr in the aftermath of the Cantr Wars, is seeing significant progress in spite of having been active for just a few months.  Demolished infrastructure in every major city is being restored and within just two years, it is expected that the economy will be restored to what it once was before the Cantr Wars began.  The economic buildup has already cost nearly fifty billion cantrs, or 30% of our government funds, and is expected to continue such a drain on government taxes until its completion.  However, because the taxes gathered from an economically powerful society will be two to three times greater than now, even if tax rates remain unchanged, the project will pay for itself eventually.
Between the costs of standardizing Cantrs army and building or purchasing its navy almost from scratch, the military buildup is coming close to one hundred billion cantrs, however the project will be completed very soon upon the standardization of the Air Force, which is expected to consist primarily of A-10s and F-15s.  Should the government run out of money, they plan instead on using Mig fighters to replace the F-15s.
Cantrs naval force has already proven to be more than a match for the pirates of the Pirate Isles.  The Pirate Isles have been under the rule of the Pirate Lords for the past thirty years ever since the island nation became a hideout for rebels fighting against the tyrannical Drellian military.  Following the defeat of the Drellian government, the rebels were expected to join with their liberators from Cantr and Drakonat, however instead they remained independent, running an economy that was dependant upon piracy, smuggling, and drug trafficking.  They were known to kidnap various VIPs or their relatives for ransom and to sack unguarded coastal towns at times, taking everything.  Within a year of the close of the first Cantr War, they had gained a reputation as a mafia of the sea, and soon made pacts with the Drakonat mafia and the Paladins of Adrian.  The Pirate Lords gained power during the Cantr Wars until their closing stages, when Cantr overran Adrian and prevented them from selling to Adriannic drug users, thus cutting off nearly a fourth of their income.  Now the Cantrian Empire will crush the pirate scum and add their lands to Cantr, whereupon it will be put to legitimate use.

[Cantr]

Victory in Drella!

After a solid week of fighting, more than twice the amount originally predicted by Warmarshal Seth, the pirate "capital" of Drella has finally fallen.  A coalition of southern island Pirate Lords formed in Drella some twenty years ago, and led to the firm establishment of pirate power on the southern island.  Thanks to this unity, the southern island itself was free from internal wars and instead subjected to the tyranny of the Pirate Lords.  Although none of the Pirate Lords was ever officially declared Pirate King for fear of breaking up the alliance out of jealousy and greed, the effective ring leader of this coalition was Nuetti Berrell.  Berrell was born in Drella in an immigrant ghetto and eventually joined a pirate crew.  Through brutality and clever politicking, as well as a bit of luck, Berrell made himself a Pirate Lord, and he used the same skills to ally with or exterminate every other Pirate Lord on the southern island.  This made him the de facto ruler of the entire southern island until Cantrian forces landed on the beaches of the southern island nine days ago.

An exodus of pirates, including Berrell, fled to a small pirate village that has so far held out against Cantrian attacks.  The pirates are blockaded in by a grand total of seven of Cantrs new Corvettes, and so will not likely be going anywhere any time soon.  Once the main force from Drella catches up to these pirates, they are expected to capitulate or be crushed within forty-eight hours.

Several Pirate Lords have fled to various hideouts scattered throughout the island in the hopes that Cantrian forces won't be staying long, and that the pirates will be able to regain their power once they pull out.  No such luck.  Cantrian forces have found and captured over a dozen well defended pirate strongholds and arrested four Pirate Lords, nearly a third of the number involved in Berrells coalition.  Countless more pirates captains and crew have been arrested as well, in the capturing of countless less heavily defended hideouts, many of which surrendered without a fight.

Meanwhile, the attack on the northern island has begun.  For the northern island, Warmarshal Seth has decided to employ a grand total of twenty thousand commandos, who will, in groups of no more than two hundred a piece, stage attacks on pirate hideouts and strongholds, the goal being not to occupy but only to weaken the island for the main invasion force to come.  If all goes according to plan, Seth says, the northern island will be ready to fall long before the occupying force ever arrives.  In order to prevent any pirates from escaping, Seth has also initiated a blockade around the island.

[Cantr]

Pirate War Concludes

The Cantrian government declared total victory over the Pirates today, after months of searching and hunting down Pirate Lords, they have determined that all of them have either fled Cantrian territory, been captured, or been killed.  This operation has involved storming dozens of hidden Pirate hideouts and strongholds over the course of the past six months.  The commander refused to comment on why the war took four times as long as was planned.

Now that the Pirate Wars are over and the Cantrian military has been fully updated, the focus of GovPro 117 has been shifted completely to the economy, which is also being rapidly rebuilt and modernized.  Cantr has opened up trade today with multiple foreign nations including our neighbor Loyan, and all provinces barring Adrian have largely recovered from the chaos of the Cantr Wars.

In spite of receiving equal funding and labor from GovPro 117, the province of Adrian has suffered from never having had a very powerful economy in the first place, and from being the focus of major conflict throughout all eleven years of the Cantr Wars.  The Church of Adrian has asked Disciples throughout Cantr and the world to contribute to the effort.