Confederate Freedom and Gallipoli-China

[Zimmerwald]

"Well, what you propose is extremely interesting," said Viktor, writing frantically on a blank sheet.  "A united left not just for nations, but for opposition parties...I'm afraid that has simply never occured to me.  Perhaps that is something we should be formulating now."

He handed the sheet he had been writing on to Beruff.  Even at the speed at which he had been writing, his handwriting was not only legible, but positively tidy.  The sheet was pockmarked with a bulletted list, rather than with sentences, but the general premise and train of thought could be discerned.  This is how it looked.

• "Leftist International Coordinating Committee"
• Inlcudes Left parties, in and out of power
• Sets common goals, strategies
• Narrow ideology?Broad spectrum?
• Where does Left stop, Center begin?
• Economic policy only?  Social policy?
• MUST BE FORMALLY UNAFFILIATED WITH UASS
• Organize with trade unions?  With oppressed ethnic groups?  Students?

"What you'll find there are only some of the topics that we must discuss before drawing up a Charter for this organization.  Hopefully, that's all we'll have to debate."  And they told me I'd just be presenting a treaty...  Only then did he notice the rather officious-looking person who had walked into the room.  Viktor heard his greeting, shook his hand, and sat down along with the newcomer.

"Ah, Captain Nagach, I see your president got the communique.  The proposal's here somewhere..." he found it sitting by Berouff, snatched it up, and proffered it to Nagach.  "Here it is.  Peruse it; tell me what you think.  Now, if there are no actual objections to this, those who feel able should sign this treaty, and we can perhaps get it ratified and the organization formed.  Once that's done we can turn to Herr Berouff's excellent suggestion once more."  Viktor patted his pockets, realized he'd left his pen on the table, picked it up, and waited for Nagach to finish.

[Saletsia]

Captain Nagach greeted the Gallipoli-Chinese and took the piece of paper handed to him. He then opened his briefcase to check a list from President Barga of what she expects from such a treaty. Nagach carefully checked every point of the document with the points of the notes he had from home. After about 8 minutes, he looked up to Viktor pulling a ballpen out of his Jackét.

"Everything seems to be fine so far. I am authorized to sign this treaty on behalf of Saletsia."

He then signed the treaty.

"Is it possible to get an exact copy of the document I signed?"

[Zimmerwald]

"There are a few ways.  A copy can either be faxed directly to your President from our archives, or we can wait until all present here have signed, and make copies for each one of us."  He spoke very hurredly, as if he were rushing, as if he feared some immenent catastrophe.  His voice, normally a baritone, had increased in pitch to tenor range.  He noticed his right hand tremoring, and had to put it in his pocket.  Good thing I write with my left.

[Saletsia]

Somethings seems to be worrying him

"I would prefer having both methods undertaken if that is possible. We just want to have exact files and documents of treaties we sign for security purposes.......Are you alright, sir?"

[Herald_Collier]

Collier had been taking a backseat to the discussion, as he was wont to do when several other participants were involved. His hands lightly perched against one another at the fingertips, he looked about to each speaker with great intent, keeping a careful eye on all that occured.

The sudden in-burst of the Saletsian representative had briefly disrupted the otherwise calm atmosphere; no doubt the guards at the door had trouble, as they were not allowed to lay hands on international diplomats, yet were ordered to bar any unnanounced entrance into the Conference Chamber when any meeting was in session. Collier's sudden upright stance (causing his chair to slide on its wheels to loudly collide with the wall behind him, Weimann having to jump to the side to avoid the unintended missile) and a raised hand held in a firm gesture that practically screamed "HALT!" was all that stopped the two door guards and Major Buccholz in their tracks before they could actually lay a grasp on the individual who instigated this "intrusion." Once the talks had come to a pause, Collier cleared his throat to gain the attention of those nearest him, looking to Nagach with an apologetic expression and tone.

"Captian Nagach, allow me to formally welcome you to our discussions this day, and apologize for the less-than-accomodating nature of procedure that our State Security Service insists upon--contradictory as it can be," he glanced to Schwimmer momentarily before looking back to Nagach, "I appreciate your coming here, and admire your boldness and dedication to the will of your nation by not allowing such petty and relatively unnecessary hindrances of protocol to stop you. That's the mark of a true revolutionary. Now then," he paused as he slid a classical-looking ink pen from his pocket, Weimann placing an inkwell in the High Chancellor's reach just in case, as Collier worked the cap off and held the pen ready, "Shall we get to siging this primary charter, so that discussions may begin on any alterations that are seen as necessary? Also, as we go about that relatively quieter business, I believe Herr Waldmann has something important to mention regarding what his nation refers to as "terrorists," taking refuge within our borders. Herr Waldmann, if you would be so kind...?"

Even as he spoke with the utmost respect, the focus of Collier's gaze was on Viktor; he had become quite fond of the Gallipoli-Chinese diplomat in the last few hours, and was as concerned of this sudden yet subtle display of tensions as Viktor had no doubt been of his own sudden display of mood-swing shortly after they had first met. Thankfully, Capt. Nagach voiced what he had hoped to not ask, and awaited Viktor's answer as well as Herr Waldmann's statement.

[Zimmerwald]

"Thank you, I'm fine," said Viktor, taking a sip of water.  In fact, he was feeling better, now that things seemed to be moving again.

[Saletsia]

"Thank you very much for welcoming me into this conference. Your security measures have surely been nothing else but justified. Such a meeting is of very great importance and with high-ranking diplomats attending, security measures - such as those you have - are an imperative. I have to say that I feel more comfortable now seeing how much your great nation cares for the security of its guests.
So much for me now. Sorry for interrupting the discussion. We should now be moving on."

[Talmann]

Klaus cleared his throat.. "Ahem... As much as I dislike the unannounced signing of this here document, I accept that things must go on in the interest of international stability. Now, the concerns of our König. Herr, I have been informed by the König himself that there were rumors that some of our former anarchist rebellion members, some of them high ranking, escaped into your state. Now, obviously they have not continued their practice for then this predicament would have been straightaway resolved. However," he paused for a breath, "one of these members in particular has bothered us. He had supposedly been killed in the attempt on the König's life so many years ago. Now a name very similar to his has appeared in one of your local newspapers under favorable light. Perhaps William Schiffmen rings a bell? In Talstadt, the name of an assassin named Wilhelm von Schiffmann came to us through his letters with his superiors. Now, we do not know if this is the same person, but I would keep an eye on this man, perhaps two."

Hans added, "If this is indeed the same man, he might be running a crime ring or political ring involving other escapees from the war. Your forces might be dealing with a well prepared militant group. Herr Schiffman had organized the entire plan to kill and overthrow the government. Very elaborate. And with all this technology in your country, who knows how powerful they could become!"

[Zimmerwald]

Since Collier and Nagach had signed the treaty, and since there seemed to be little need of him at the moment, Viktor excused himself.  This particular discussion seemed to be solely between Collier and the Talmanner, and he wanted to phone Aram.  He wasn't there, so Viktor left a message.  He told him that he and the two others had signed the treaty, and that the Saletsian government wanted copies of the treaty for its archives.  He also advised not to inform the international community until Zyanya had signed, and until they recieved word back from the Uichi Ryans.

Coming back to the table, he found the Talmanner winding down his speech, something about a terrorist cell.

[Herald_Collier]

Collier had been paying close attention to Waldmann, hands folded together gently in front of him as he leaned forward with elbows on the table.

"William Schiffmen; yes, I've heard the name a few times. He has only recently become a somewhat popular political commentator and a member of the local parliament of one of our western states, Freiburg. A man of some repute, but only minor achievements. Freiburg is a smaller state, so activities there are far easier to take notice of. The Parliament and our Constitution is not one to infringe on the personal and private rights and life of an individual, though our State Security Service can be applied if needed. But without any real evidence, I have no authority to administer our State's more authoritative measures to this matter. Do you have any evidence, Herr Waldmann, that points to the possibility that this von Schiffmann survived this failed assassination attempt? It would certainly help your König's case in the eyes of the State; I find it hard to believe such a group with such strength and intentions would escape our notice for very long..." He didn't seem to view Waldmann as being without credibility, but his skepticism on the matter was clear.

[Talmann]

"Well, I have something, though I would hardly use the word 'evidence'. Skepticism, really. From what we got from the superiors that said he was dead, they said he was close to the blast zone when the castle was destroyed. However, this statement sounded forced and when we went through the rubble, we didn't find any corpses in the vicinity. We found some other corpses farther away from the blast area, but none of these was Herr von Schiffmann. Another thing that we found interesting was this." Klaus pulled out a sketch of a man in full armor and another sketch of a man's face. "Sketches of what the König saw. This is before we heard about Herr Schiffmen or saw him in the papers. A striking resemblance, don't you think so, Herr Collier? The only noted difference is that the face of Herr Schiffmen is a bit more scarred. We attribute this, should he be our man, to the escape from the burning castle." Klaus looked around, all eyes had turned towards his discussion for some reason. Evidently international terrorism attracted attention quite easily.

[Herald_Collier]

Collier looked at the sketches, taking them in his hands and examining them, before handing them to Schwimmer, "Make copies of these, analyze them and compare them to pictures of Schiffmen later." He then turned back to Waldmann.

"Herr Waldmann, what you are stating is no small matter, and certainly not to be taken lightly--which I most certainly do not. However, I must ask, what exactly is the nature of this former terrorist group? What would the political aims and agendas of any surviving members be? What could they hope to possibly accomplish in our State, as our military is fairly advanced, our control of arms and armaments strictly prohibits civilian access to firearms or other such weapons. So how might such a group, if it still exists at all, obtain a stockpile of weapons? All military responsibilities are controlled by the State; we do not allow militias, at least not during times of peace. So what, if your claims are true, should we exactly be looking out for if we were to keep an eye on this Wilhelm Schiffmen? What could he hope to attain, what would his aims be? I ask because, again, evidence is cruicial, but if this man is indeed your man, but has in fact put his terrorist activities behind him in pursuit of a legal, constitutionally cooperative career, the State can do little more than send him notification of the claims you make, which would be pointless and render any surveillance impossible. So what, Herr Waldmann, would this man hope to achieve, how, and why?"

[Talmann]

Klaus sat attentively while listening to the Herald's reply, but the last question left him dumbfounded. After a small pause, Hans spoke up, "Herald Collier, the nature, or at least the former nature, of the group in question was to overthrow the Talstadt government, which it nearly achieved. I could only assume that any surviving members would try and gain political power by force, in some strange and obscure plot. As for any weapons stockpiling, I believe that arms could be smuggled in from foreign borders. That is highly unlikely in Talstadt, as we have a large amount of patrol officers on the border, however," he paused, "the only other options for smuggling are Utopia, which is highly doubtful (OOC: has it been created yet? If no, IGNORE that last statement), or St. Oz, which I've heard international news of having terrorist organizations."
Klaus, at this point began to nod and joined in, "If this is our man, he won't be content for too long. He had a history of disagreeing with his superiors and wanting to become the best man in the front. Now, I'm not saying he's going to try and assassinate you, Herr Herald, or try and break off Freiburg from the rest of the country, but he may try and run a more, how do you say, anarchist type of policy in running for larger elections."

[Zimmerwald]

OOC: it hasn't, but it's okay.

[Zimmerwald]

Viktor was annoyed.  Here he was, in the middle of a hugely important diplomatic session, and his cell phone kept buzzing every few minutes.  "Excuse me," he muttered to the other assembled diplomats, before pulling it out.  As expected, it was from Aram, but not a voicemail.  It consisted of a rather long text message, and a link at the bottom.  The text message briefly described the LCF alliance and its membership; the link was to a copy of their charter.

Viktor bit his lip.  This was worrisome to say the least.  Who would this alliance be targeting, for one thing.  Its membership...Irnotia...Inglo-Scotia...they were not countries with a hospitable record towards his, or to the other nations that signed the UASS treaty.  Furthermore, they were probably staunchly anti-communist.  Fuck.  He went back to the table.

"Well," he began, haltingly, "I'm afraid I must be the bearer of bad news.  I don't know whether you've gotten word of this or not, but Inglo-Scotia and Irnotia have just formed a military alliance, and it looks as if Novus Parco might join them."  There were some worried looks exchanged around the table at this pronouncement.  Collier especially looked worried, Viktor didn't know why.  "I feel that it would be prudent if we announced the formation of the UASS now, or as soon as possible.  It would give other nations a chance to join, and it would let us establish Utopia, which the Herald has agreed should be to the south.  (OOC I don't remember if that was agreed to OOC or IC, so let's just go with it   Will that be alright with you?"