[ARG] Call to Canada

[Naio90]

The Director for North American Affairs would call the canadian ambassador in Argentina on a private line.

Alex

 

[Alex]

In her office, Gwyneth Kutz would receive the call and use her encrypted phone line to answer.

"Good day, Ambassador Gwyneth Kutz speaking. How may I help you?"

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Ambassador Kutz, thank you for taking my call. I wanted to discuss some arctic/antarctic related policies and issues with you. Would you be able to meet me here at the Ministry for that purpose?"

Alex

 

[Alex]

"Of course, Director. I'll meet you there shortly."

The Ambassador would leave the Canadian Embassy via an armored SUV. It would only be a handful of minutes before she and her driver arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walking in, Kutz would address the receptionist. "Hello, I am Ambassador Kutz. I'm here to meet with the Director of North American Affairs."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

Once in the office and in private, the Director would invite the canadian ambassador to take a seat and offer him a coffee.

"Ambassador, thank you for coming so swiftly, indeed this is a matter of certain urgency. We would like to know your stance on the current development on antarctic affairs. Apparentl Sweden has unilateraly claimed the whole continent for themselves, ignoring century old claims such as the argentine one. This obviously has sparked a lot of controvery and has the potential to provoke an armed conflict. I have information that, as we speak, unarmed argentine scientific ships are operating in antarctic waters and being harrased by swedish units. Obviously, it will be dealt with accordingly, but its a very negative precedent.

As for the proposal presented to the GA, although it includes and invites non-GA nations such as Argentina to take part, it is not in our best interest, since we are confident about our sovereign claim and supporting it would mean we would have to renounce to the exercise of power there.

Our intention, beyond knowing Canada's position on this, was to offer our support for any potential Arctic claims your nation may have in exchange for your support of the Argentine antarctic position. Of course we have all the intentions to open the Argentine Antarctic Territory to international research and science."

Alex

 

[Alex]

The Ambassador was left speechless at the supposed actions of the Swedish. "I uh... Swedish units? They have military forces in Antarctica?! I must be truthful; this is entirely new information to me. I believed that Antarctica still remained a free continent, open for scientific discoveries. The fact that Sweden has claimed the continent with military force and has been harassing arriving scientific ships and people with military units is quite worrying. I hope that by 'dealt with accordingly' you plan on doing your best to keep the peace?

I cannot speak for my nation as a whole without contacting them first, but personally I find this quite disgusting. Military activity on the continent would not only create more pollution but would ruin any possible scientific discovery with their activity, not to mention the animals that inhabit the continent will have their habitat meddled with... But yes, I can see your issue and your need for aid on your claim, especially if they have military activity on the continent. I can't promise anything at the moment, but I can relay our conversation to my government once we are finished.

When it comes to Canadian Arctic claims, the only currently disputed claim is that of Hans Island between Canada and Denmark. However, with the most northern permanent settlement in the world being Canadian my government has been discussion on extending our EEZ to reach to North Pole. I'm certain my government would appreciate someone supporting such a change."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Argentina had presence in antarctic waters for centuries now, by means of private fishing vessels and its very close distance to South America had also a direct impact in our southern communities. Argentina will not relinquish its claim and is prepared to use the force if someone uses that to try take it from us.

Until recently, there were no worries, given no other nation showed interest in Antarctica. But suddently a northern nation, an european nation, claiming a whole continent out of the blue and occupying it militarily is completelly unacceptable.

Argentina is willing to agree of removing military presence with the exception of logistical units and leave the continent for science, if the world recognizes our rightful claim on a portion of the continent. That is what we will present at the GA conference where we participate as a non-GA member nation.

I'm glad to hear that Canada doesn't currently have active conflicts up there. obviously with the right information and background we could look into supporting your plan to extend your EEZ."

Alex

 

[Alex]

"From my experiences, Director. A nation's territories are only officially annexed if it is recognized by the majority of the nations that hold power internationally. The fact that the Global Assembly is holding a summit relating to Antarctica shows that these powers are having their own doubts on Sweden's claims. To make sure that this is peacefully concluded, it will be the job of the nations who do not recognize Sweden's claims to convince those who do otherwise and to force Sweden to leave the continent so that it may return to its scientific purposes.

As of the moment, the plan to extend out EEZ is in extreme early development but from my knowledge the government plans on creating an artificial island very close to the North Pole in the hopes of being able to study its waters more effectively. This artificial island will be considered official Canadian territory and in turn, extend our EEZ."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"That is an ambitious project indeed, specially considering the particular environmental and climatic hazards of conducting such a major project that far north. Come the time, we would be open to sitting down and discuss our public recognition of said island. Im going to be rather direct here, we would also like your support on our antarctic issues and own claim on Antarctica, specially since Sweden has broken the delicate balance that existed before.

We are aware of support of some nations to our position, but having such an important player such as Canada would certainly consolodate our rightful approach."

Alex

 

[Alex]

"Only the ambitious are the ones who accomplish things, Director.

Hmm, I see. Well, from my knowledge Sweden has not contacted Canada regarding this issue so I could certainly see us supporting your claim. Yours is historical and more geographically sound than Sweden's claim through 'conquest'. I would also be confident in saying that my nation would support your claim if we were shown... acts of good nature. The Royal Navy is currently in need of twelve corvettes and seventy-eight missile boats to fill up their ranks. The Espora-class and the Intrepida-class respectively would serve the Navy's needed ships more than well.

If Argentina would allow us to acquire these ships, I can assure you that my government will support your claim."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"The Republic of Argentina wholeheartedly thanks you for your support. Things look very delicate at the moment, we might be near an open conflict if the swedish invasor does not back off. Certainly having an open support from Canada would help see other nations our point of view. You are in the end a diplomatically very influential player.

Furthermore, Argentina is more than willing to aide and cooperate with its friends and allies. We will take note of your naval needs. Being Argentina an important naval nation, we can surely help you modernizing and expansing your fleets, including with the transfer of Espora Frigates and Intrepida-FAC, and the authorization of DPR for them. Let me come back to you with more details on this."

Alex

 

[Alex]

"Of course, the Summit seems to be underway as we speak. I'm not certain of the details but it appears that Sweden is not on the most sturdy boat regarding Antarctica at the moment.

I'm happy to hear that Argentina will also us to produce these ships domestically. Canada has plans to assure our dominance in the surrounding seas and perhaps further. If there's anything else that Argentina could offer to us we'd be more than happy to negotiate. In the mean time, Canada is more than happy to support Argentina's claims on Antarctica."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Yes, although it seems now that Sweden has realized how little and insignificant it is, and gave up his aspirations to claim an entire continent and actually being capable of holding it. We will see how negotiations turn out at the GA Summit, to which Argentina has committed. Should Sweden try to pull something off, we will just put some cruise missiles into his ships and sadly continue polluting pristine antarctica with swedish scum.

You might see that I am running out of patiente with these guys.

As for the ships, we currently have a reserve of 75x Intrepida-Class Fast Attack Crafts, which we could transfer immediatly to Canada. They are usually employed on our souther, more cold areas, meaning they should perform well in your northern coastal areas. As for larger ships, we are currently developing some new assets, which are draining our available funds for us to produce ships for you. But we could give you the Espora-Class Frigates DPR free of cost, is it interests you.

What other equipment are you looking for? We did also acquire some portuguese corvettes, fine machines, but we are restructuring our units and have no immediate place to operate them. We could lease them to Canada for some time."

Alex

 

[Alex]

"Yes, the thought of claiming and militarizing an entire continent seems outlandish at best. Hopefully they soon realize that it is also ridiculous to claim that its 'claims' are better than the continent's neighboring countries. Canada hopes that the Summit will prevent further bloodshed and assure that all parties are content with the outcome. War over Antarctica seems like such a waste of life, but sadly lives were lost for less. But no worries, Director, I understand your frustration towards them and I don't blame you for it.

I'm sure that the Canadian Navy will appreciate your generous donation. They'll begin construction of the Espora-class to serve as the Royal Navy's corvettes.

As for other equipment, the majority of what Canada is missing is involving our air force. Canada is also beginning to enter mass research and development acquirement for the equipment and technology that we are missing. With Argentina being such a powerful nation military and technology-wise perhaps sharing our technology and perform joint-RnD projects would be beneficial?"

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"We hope so as well. No they seem driven to ignore argentine law and sovereignty and demand for their former ambassador and embassy personnel, who ignored a persona non-grata declaration and remained working for Stockholm in Buenos Aires during a state of war between both sides. We will leave the issue to federal justice and maybe they are lucky and can get extradicted, but we do not take espionage lightly, even less if there was a public and formal request for the to leave the country which they ignored.

Can we confirm your interest in the 75 Intrepida-Class Fast Attack Craft? We can deliver them in few days.

As for RnD, Argentina has also recently started a massive technology development and research program, covering a variety of strategic fields that, if successful will enable my country to design and produce state of the art ground, naval and air assets. In this scenario, and considering the high costs of effectively developing a last-gen weapons platform, we would be interested in discussing the potential join-development of some of those larger scale projects.

On other issues, we would like to discuss bilateral trade. Argentina is looking for new markets for its Petroleum, Grain, Meat, Lithium and Vehicles."

Alex

 

[Alex]

"Yes, the Canadian Navy would be interested in acquire all of them. Though we will still require three of them to fill out need of fast attack ships, would you allow us to purchase them from you?

That is good to hear, I'm certain Canada will be happy to know Argentina is also pushing for research and development and would be interested in joint projects. Currently we are focusing on RnDing a large destroyer that could match up to the American Arleigh Burke. Alongside various other projects such as multi-role fighters to match up to the most modern F-16s, air superiority fighters to match up to the F-15s, and an anti-ship cruise missile system to defend our waters for an aimed 700km range.

As for trade, Canada will be interested in importing meat and lithium from Argentina. In return we could export mineral fuels and oil, vehicles, electrical machinery and equipment, plastic and plastic articles, and timber."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"We can offer you the Intrepida-Class FAC at the symbolic price of 1,000,000 USD per ship if that is in order.

Regarding RnD, I would suggest once there is a clearer picture regarding how development is going we establish a joint comission to discuss and analize the priorities and areas where we can start with co-developments.

Regarding trade, we are eager to advanced in that regard. Has your Government received our proposal for a trade bloc together with Brazil?"

Alex

 

[Alex]

"That offer works great for us, I'll have my government transfer 3,000,000.00USD to Argentina shortly.

We can agree to your RnD proposal.

And yes, we did receive Argentina's message, however with the emergency election and now the GA Resolution to sanction Canada regarding the election has had us pre-occupied. I must warn you that if we are to form this free-trade agreement and this GA sanction passes then Argentina will earn the ire of the world and Brazil themselves may be unable to join or may even be sanctioned or sued themselves. Currently its a very touchy situation and I believe if we waited until the whole ordeal with the Global Assembly has passed would be best."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Great, we will prepare the Fast Attacr Crafts for immediate transport to Canada.

I have been informed about this scandalous draft. it is basically the GA trying to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. That is exactly the reason why Argentina did not join this multilateral organization. While most of their proposals and resolutions are noble and progressive, we keep finding this... "jewels" of authoritarism and examples of nations trying to dominate others by imposing their own beliefs and agendas.

Rest assured that the Republic of Argentina doesn't care what this potential resolution will say and will mantain the bilateral relation as it is. Still, we are confident that the rest of the GA members see the dangerous precedent this may set for them.

Today its Canada, but tomorrow they may come for any other nation if someone doesn't like their Government."

Alex

 

[Alex]

"I agree. Although the Global Assembly could be a body for greatness in assuring peace within the world, its members seem to be abusing its system. Something that will need to change if anyone wants to take the Assembly seriously. After all, how is it supposed to gain members if these threats of sanctions for democratic elections occur so easily?

I thank you for your words, Director. We will not let this bullying and threat of sanction stop us from assuring our people have the best future. What does Argentina think of forming an economic and trade union between nations outside of the Global Assembly? I believe these nations include Argentina, the Zaire, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia at the moment. And of course, this would include Canada alongside them and any future nation that may enter the global stage and do the smart choice of avoiding the Assembly."

Naio90