[Germany] Message to the European Powers

[NagandEmerald]

@Connor @Logan @Retroliser @Odinson @Dutchy @Jamie

Foreign Minister Jürke, looking at the time, turned to the entrance of the courtroom — which was being sealed off from outside influences for the discussion — to see if Chancellor Nahles was finally ready to begin. As soon as she entered the room, she gave a nod and Karsten waited by her side as she began.

"Good morning everyone. I apologize for the inconvenient wait...but I think that the time has come that we can no longer delay or wait on anyone else to arrive." The Chancellor then turned to gesture to Karsten Jürke, who stood to attention to the group

"I assume the majority of you here have at least had some form of diplomatic contact with Minister Jürke, so I will let him explain the proverbial elephant in the room, and the primary reason for why this meeting was called." Upon saying this, the Reich Chancellor took her seat, Karsten clearing his throat as it tightened up in nervousness.

"Danke, Frau Kanzlerin," he quietly thanked, before facing the group again with as much confidence as he could muster. "As we all should be aware, the South American continent as a whole, it seems, has taken to an aggressive diplomatic and militaristic stance against other countries in order to get whatever it is that it wants on the international stage. In particular, the Brazilian and, by extension, Argentinian governments have seen it fit to threaten countries with war for the most ridiculous of reasons, and their 'accredited diplomats' have threatened to kill innocents and use them as bargaining chips when they are cornered and know that they are breaking the law. While I am not necessarily aware of the circumstances of why Brazilian and Argentinian diplomats were arrested in France, I can safely say that this situation has spiraled more out of control than we could have ever anticipated...what's more, is that others in Europe, in particular the Irish — who once supposedly held an air of neutrality and impartiality to them — have begun to show support for Brazil's actions, either passively and indirectly or with direct intent to state their allegiance is with them, not with us. At this point, I fear that, if we do not stand together, South America may choose a course of action that will make a global conflict completely unavoidable...I would rather us be ready for when it happens." The Foreign Minister then turned towards the British diplomat.

"They are your neighbors...do you perhaps have any insight to Herr Patrick Duffy's seemingly-schizophrenic or bipolar foreign policy towards the South Americans, especially in light of such heinous actions being public?" He then turned to the Swedish delegation, a question on his lips regarding what potentially started all of this: apparent belligerence against Brazil.

"I would also like to take the opportunity to ask what the Swedish government may have had to do with Brazil's recent aggressive foreign policy. While my government supported you and the Taiwanese, I think it should be appropriate to know what was going on regarding Brazil...no secrets, no backdoors...if there's something that Sweden had helped do to stoke the fires, I think that it should be brought out into the open between us."

 

[Connor]

Tulsa stands up to speak before the room in clear and concise intonation...

“Minister Jürke and representatives of the world, it’s in Sweden’s best interests to tell the truth regarding the situation with Brazil and to be brutally honest with you all we are the sole reason this situation exploded however we believe Sweden was a gateway for a buildup of Brazilian frustration.

We were in close negotiation with the Brazilian Ministry of Defence or equivalent for the sale of a Gripen variant - an asset we are keen to keep to only the most trusted of nations in order to preserve the reputation of Saab and Sweden. It became very clear during this phase of sale that the Brazilians were treating simple business negotiations as a disrespectful or aggressive tactic to belittle their government which lead to a sudden outburst of threats and violence. They made it very clear to the Swedish government that we would regret our decision and began a tirade of abuse via social media and international political platforms which slowly began to incorporate Taiwan and France who displayed support for Sweden from day one... unfortunately their display of support lead to Brazil targeting them and amongst European representatives we did not agree with the way some nations involved were dealing with international threat, it began to damage the beliefs of the Swedish government and we very quickly slipped under the radar and distances ourselves from the larger dispute.

We have no secrets. I am confident in saying that we did not approve of the frankly immature and combative use of social media to shame international government and we are frankly disappointed that Europe seemed to treat this as an opportunity to get into war rather than an opportunity to ease bilateral disputes to stop them erupting into international crisis. This meeting must be productive and from my point of view is very much damage control as the fallout from this conflict starts to eat away at the reputation of Europe as a whole.”

 

[Retroliser]

@Connor
"Forgive me for disagreeing, Ma'am," Hakim responded calmly. "But, if I'm not mistaken, the general consensus across the globe was that Brazil was being the unreasonable one, not Europe. After all, is it not the case that while Europe, admittedly, did some sabre-rattling, it was Brazil that actually engaged in open conflict by marching into French Guiana? Brazil may argue that they were justified due to the actions of the socialist government in France, however they were inherently unstable due to their recent entrance into power via violent means, plus the issue they used as a pretext for invasion, the safety of their diplomatic staff, began while the former republic under President Macron was still in power, if I recall the events correctly.

It is unreasonable to believe that the French government, be it socialist or republican, were capable of assisting the Brazilians in their departure from the country, because they were busy quelling a nation-wide uprising."

 

[Connor]

@Retroliser

“With respect Mr Usta you have misunderstood - Sweden is not condoning the action of Brazil whatsoever, their decisions has lead to three high level Security Alerts being issued by the Swedish Department for Foreign Affairs putting the lives of thousands of Swedish civilians in danger. We’ve spent time and money representing our state in the International Court of Justice as well as localised summons from Stockholm District Court. The way the Brazilians have conducted themselves is nothing short of dangerous. However we are adults and established nations, you must be able to take a step back and scroll through the atrociously embarrassing Twitter feeds and see that the way Europe as a whole handled this conflict was with war and military action held at heart.

There were never any consideration for court action or diplomatic restraints - after all this was a business disagreement between Sweden and Brazil that the world allowed to explode into... well apparently an invasion attempt.”

 

[Retroliser]

@Connor
"It seems we have misunderstood each other," Hakim countered. "I apologise if it seemed that I was suggesting you were condoning Brazil. On the contrary, I was saying that I disagree with your conclusion that the various European nations involved with this saga acted in a manner that intentionally sought military conflict. If war had broken out, Argentina would inevitably get involved, which would turn The Mediterranean into a battlefield, since they possess the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a perfect staging point for an Argentinian-Brazilian strike force to hop from Africa to Europe by invading Southern France. As such, it seems only reasonable that Italy, a nation that would be caught between a conflict between Brazil and France, would take measures to dissuade those who do seek war.

Yes, there were moments where it seemed war was inevitable, but that was the assessment by observers then. The crisis has passed, and we can reflect on the events, and draw our conclusions. Suffice to say, it is my humble assessment that while the actions of nations like Italy, where they instituted a naval screen in the Mediterranean, may look like they were eager to spark a conflict, but if that were the case, why not just declare war outright for Brazil's behaviour in general? If one were to take the aggregate of Brazil's actions thus far this year, I dare say that one would have a strong case for military intervention.

Invasion of France's land with the hilariously feeble excuse that their diplomatic staff were being held against their will, when the French government, socialist and republican, were struggling to quell a general uprising caused by President Macron. The failure to leave Germany after being declared persona-non-grata by claiming, once again feebly, that they hadn't been informed, even though the announcement was a public one that everyone, even those who weren't the intended recipients, would know. Making threats against French diplomatic staff.

If anything, one could argue that we, the nations of the world, were lenient in our reactions. Even now, Brazil has withdrawn from French Guiana, and we are, apparently, going to just forgive and forget that ever happened and continue as normal. The same individual who caused this litany of travesties is still in power and the global institutions we are meant to rely on to resolve our disputes peacefully lack the legal consensus and eagerness to perform their intended function.

As such, this isn't a crisis of Sweden's, or Europe's making, Ma'am. The world merely reacted to what Brazil did. Brazil began slinging mud, and throwing their toys out of the pram, they were condemned. They began throwing offensive slurs at Sweden and Taiwan, again, they were condemned, and some even responded with expelling diplomats... A common expression of disgust in diplomatic circles. Brazil then ignores Germany's request to leave, I say ignore, because it is beyond reasonable doubt that they knew they were declared persona-non-grata, yet remained anyway. As a result, Germany sought to arrest what were, essentially, illegal aliens on their native soil, since they had remained past their allotted 48 hours.

Finally, Brazil invades French soil, because their diplomatic staff were 'being held against their will' due to the unrest in France. You see, the issue with that particular claim is that there were more than just Brazilian diplomatic missions in France. If this was a genuine reason to go to war against The French, why didn't others like yourself, Taiwan, Germany, The United Kingdom, The United States, or anyone else... Do the same? The simple conclusion is that they wanted any reason, no matter how flimsy or ludicrous, to throw their weight around. However, as you can see, for one reason or another, the world put their hands on their swords and said 'no' resoundingly. Their reasons were nonsensical, their behaviour despicable, and those who 'rattled the sabre' were making it abundantly clear that the only nation who was in the wrong was Brazil.

That, Madam Ambassador, is my assessment of the events we are here to discuss today."