Siyang Touyou News - STN International

[Touzen]

Eiffelloretalian companies to pursue lawsuit in Kashtan
STN Siyang

Darner Werke, EKW and Raimer, preeminent car manufacturers from Eiffelland-Retalia, have announced that they would seek to petition the Kashtanese courts to ban Folxmashin automobiles from sale in Kashtan, according to a statement released late Sunday.

Following the Seven Days War, factories opened by these companies in former Trivodnia were put under state control by the new socialist Polesian regime. Now, the Polesian Folxmashin company has begun sales of cars produced in these factories in what the Eiffelloretalian side has labeled a “violation of their intellectual property”. Attempts at a mediation between both sides were rejected by Folxmashin, which categorically rejects all claims made by Darner Werke, EKW and Raimer, insisting that all cars manufactured by the company were the result of domestic technological development.

The case now announced to be fought in the Kashtanese legal system will be the first attempt by the Germanian companies to stop Folxmashin from operating abroad. Preliminary documents have been filed with the courts in Shigö in what observers consider will be a case of considerable difficulty and complexity, not in the least because the command economy in the isolated Independent Democratic Republic of Kashtan is operating on a model not unlike that of the economies in the Rurikgrad Pact, which has traditionally held significant influence in the Central Touyouan country alongside Touzen.

With the notorious corruption permeating all layers of Kashtanese society - the country is said to be one of the most corrupt in all of Europe - and judges appointed in deference to the line of the all-dominating Democratic Party, some have gone so far as to suggest that the only way the claimants will stand a chance at success will be through generous workings of the political machines, enticing The President’s government with hefty economic incentives. Likewise, Ivar is expected to seek to use its influence on the government in Shigö to effect an outcome favorable to Rurikgrad economic interests.

 

[Azraq]

Xhengese community courted in Azraqi elections
STN Malapuram

The descendents of Xhengese refugees who fled to Kollam and mainland Azraq after the Jizhou Calamity in the 1940s have become the target of intense vote-seeking campaigns by Azraq's rival political parties, as polls predict a hung parliament or minority government.

The Xhengese community had largely been ignored until recently, despite being welcomed by the First Azraqi Empire decades ago by Emperor Onkod iyo Hillaac (Thunder and Lightning) as a humanitarian gesture following troubles in the Anti State. The exact cause of the Calamity is still disputed, but hundreds of thousands if not millions of Xhengese are believed to died during the event.

Azraq welcomed Xhengese asylum seekers with open arms, encouraging them to settle in Kollam, where they were seen as a potential useful counterbalance to the dominant Alamese and Irulan communities. As a result they were targeted by Kollamese nationalists for being seen as collaborators with the Azraqi colonial administration.

With Kollamese nationalism rising once more, the main opposition party the Party of Principles is hoping to tap into fear of a potential left-wing coalition backed up by Kollamese nationalists among Xhengese voters. The All-Islands Kollamese National Union briefly supported the coalition government led by the Justice Party and Movement for the Poor and Dispossessed after the Shamo People's Liberation Front withdrew its support. While the three parties eventually fell out, faced with the prospect of Principlist administration, which will likely to be hostile to Kollamese nationalists, the AIKNU may reconsider a pact with its former allies.

While numbering only around one million, Xhengese voters could prove key in marginal constituencies and deny AIKNU and other Kollamese nationalists important seats. As a result, Principlist election posters and literature can be found in Xhengese neighbourhoods across the Azraqi Empire.

Other parties have accused the Principlists of employing divisive tactics, while also similarly courting Xhengese voters. The AIKNU has apologised for historic firebombings of Xhengese businesses, while the Justice Party and Movement for the Poor and Dispossessed are making their own overtures.

However how effective these campaigns prove to be have yet to be seen, with the Xhengese community traditionally reluctant to partake in electoral politics.

 

[Azraq]

AIKNU set to lose dominant position in Kollamese politics
STN Malapuram

The All Islands Kollamese National Union is expected to see its vote share drop dramatically in the upcoming Azraqi imperial elections, after the party briefly supported the previous left-wing coalition before withdrawing backing in a dispute over Cussian ownership of oil and gas interests.

The AIKNU has been the dominant party in Kollam since the restoration of democracy in Azraq in 1981. The party has benefited from clampdowns on other movements motivated by ethnic or religious nationalism or that have called for independence for the archipelago, sometimes known as the Azraqi Spice Islands.

The AIKNU's non-sectarian outlook has also allowed the party to attract a broader range of voters, cutting across the dominant Alamese, Dawipan and Irulan communities.

However Kollamese voters are set to punish the AIKNU after what they see as failed flirtation with power and little sign of economic or political progress, with the Azraqi colony remaining poorer than the mainland and without its own legislature. Kollam instead has a consultative body that advised the Viceroyal who is appointed by the Azraqi Emperor. This contrasts to the provinces in Himyari Azraq, which have their own elected bodies and considerable autonomy.

As a result, voters are expected to back ethnically or religiously based parties, or even more radical movements with post-delegationist or Marxist-Leninovist sympathies.

Kollam has seen considerable violence over the course of the election campaign, with the Azraqi military doubling its presence on the islands, supported by Cussian and Natalian mercenaries.

 

[Touzen]

Lanur Free State to cooperate with Samartians in war against drugs
STN Siyang

The Lanur Free State and the Sarmatian Republic, both members of the Anti-State, have announced that they would intensify cooperation against drug smuggling in Lake Lanur and also petition the federal government for assistance in tackling the issue.

Recent months have seen drug smugglers trying to expand the traditional drug trade between Germania and Touyou by peddling their wares to coastal communities around Lake Lanur in what observers have described as a new wave of criminals seeking to capitalize on the up and coming business outside of the traditional routes controlled by a tightly-controlled network of state actors and Slavian criminal syndicates. These syndicates have been using boats to transverse the lake with relative impunity, prompting Lanur and Sarmatian communities to coordinate efforts against these small maritime threats. Traditionally, these Anti-State communities have focused on policing the lake against incursions by Kashtanese or Kadikistani military vessels, but it has become apparent that new threats will require new approaches.

As part of their joint operations on the lake, both entities will seek federal funding for introducing new speed boats into their forces as well as federal intelligence assistance in cracking down on these new syndicates. While the drug trade has traditionally plagued Gallo-Germania, the Anti-State has thus far been successful at curtailing drug abuse via a combination of punitive legal codes and efficient border controls owing to the Extrafree Trade System. Shinkyô already indicated it would seek to cooperate with both Anti-State members.

 

[Touzen]

Anti-State Oil Combines ready to stabilize global oil price, government source suggests
STN Siyang

The Anti-State is ready to instruct directors of the national oil production cooperatives to significantly increase output if the market price for crude oil should rise above 120 Euromarks, a government source revealed on condition of anonymity late yesterday night.

The Hayabusa administration has shown itself concerned about the possibility of wider economic repercussions of the current crude oil rally in the wake of the Himyari invasion. Economists of the Economic Control Board had warned on Friday that crude oil prices of 150 EM or more could have a cascading effect on consumption in important Gallo-Germanic markets, which would in turn harm exports from the “liberated territories” of the Anti-State to these markets, with increased revenue from oil sales macroeconomically outstripped by loss of income from the scale down in other fields of trade feared to follow after the increase in price of prioritized basic necessities, according to some calculations.

“Shinkyō is likely to make a formal announcement on the events in Himyar in the upcoming days, voicing concern and preparing psychologically important economic stimulus measures. What Hayabusa wants more than anything is global stability in the current domestic political climate. Watch out for pressure changes in the main gas pipelines starting from this afternoon as well”, the source continued.