Rheinbund
Established Nation
«Fragment from an Eiffellandfunk interview, in French»
After the agreement on Bourdignie between Eiffelland and the Holy Frankish Empire was announced, the battle for the Bourdignian voters broke loose. Twatter is filled with twats for and against Francophone Bourdignie becoming part of the Empire. But in the last two days two articles appeared in the Tarusan and Imperial media. We asked Prof. Dr. Louis Nazare to comment on this.
Professor Nazare, good evening.
Good evening Mrs. Dupont.
As you know, the Tarusan media and the Imperial Moniteur Universel published articles with harsh accusations against Eiffelland. Meanwhile, we know the contents of those articles. Could you please comment on it?
Yes, I can. To be very honest, I don't recognise myself in the accusations put forward by the Tarusan and Imperial media. In the case of Bourdignie, they did not mention a couple of facts. Eiffelland's presence in Bourdignie is the result of a request from the Bourdigniens to protect them against Prime-Minister Kovács. That is a fact. The Bourdignians asked Eiffelland, and The Federation of Westernesse, to help them out, and so we did. That is a fact.
In parallel, Georg von Heidemar-Fulda was asked by the people of Bécs-Altstadt to become their Duke. Also that is a fact. The only thing the Eiffellandian government did, was giving Georg von Heidemar-Fulda permission to say "yes" to that request.
The accusations against Eiffelland regarding Bourdignie are based on an incomplete image of the truth. We did not simply march in because we wanted to, we were asked to march in. We were asked by the bourdignians to march in and help them with establishing a nation where all persons can be what their feelings say what they are, a nation that takes the interests of its citizens into account. The Bourdignians were working towards that, and in a fast pace. We were helping them with that.
But still the Emperor decided to march in, according to him to liberate the Patois from our oppression.
I don't know where he bases his perception on that we were oppressing the Patois. That is simply not true. Maybe some developments didn't go as fast as everybody wanted, but Tibur wasn't built in a day, either.
On the other hand, Bourdignie is not in the bad shape the Emperor indicates it to be. Pannonia was a modern country before the political situation went out of hand. Much of that is still in place in Bourdignie. Indeed, the country needs investments, but we were already working on that, and what we were doing, was certainly good enough to bring education and healthcare back up to speed. What the Emperor did with his offer to triplicate the educational budget and invest in the healthcare system, was just scoring an easy goal. He just pointed at the things that hadn't been improved yet and ignored what had already been improved.
Unfortunately, quite a lot of people consider the Emperor's and the Tsar's version of the events in Bourdignie more trustworthy than what you just described. How should we convince those people?
The problem is, that Tarusa has a lot of experience with steering the opinion of its population towards its desires. They know how to present lies in such a way that they seem more trustworthy than the truth. And now they are passing this knowledge on to the Imperials. But we all have to understand that the truth is often complicated and can not always be captured in an easy story.
I would also like to discuss the referendum in Al-Magrab.
Basically, what the government of Al-Magrab is doing, is following the EF-resolution. This resolution stipulates that the mandates should get a referendum within six months about their future. It also stipulates what the options in this resolution should be: Becoming a colony of the mandate-holding country, becoming a colony of another country, or independence. Thirdly, the EF-resolution stipulates that, if the mandate chooses independence, the mandate-holding country gets a year to withdraw its troops. The option "full independence without occupation" that Le Moniteur Universel suggests is simply not doable. It is impossible to withdraw thousands of troops within a day. But also here the accusations against Eiffelland have no ground: The Magrabbines are free to choose what they want. Yes, the options "colony" and "temporarily colony and after that independence with a defensive pact" are on the form, but the Magrabbines are free to choose for independence without a defensive pact.
I also have to mention that it is a wish of a lot of the Magrabbines to not be left at their own devices from a military point of view. No matter how realistic the fear is, the Magrabbines fear the Noksians. That is the reason why the option "temporarily colony and after that independence with a defensive pact" is on the ballot form.
But let me say something about the referenda both in Bourdignie and in Al-Magrab. However you interpret Eiffelland's role in both countries, when you vote, ask youself the question: In what kind of country do I want to live? Do I want to live in a country where I can be what I feel to be, or do I accept it that the government tells me what to be? Do I want to be Catholic because I feel that Catholicism is the way to worship God, or do I accept that the government tells me to be Catholic? Do I want to live in a country where the government respects my rights and interests, or do I accept it that the government can do whatever it wants without being held accountable? Eiffelland's intention in Bourdignie and Al-Magrab is to create a country where you can be what you feel to be, a country where you can worship God in the way that you feel is right, a country where the government respects your rights and interests. And that is the kind of place we created in Al-Magrab and Bourdignie.
Professor Nazare, I thank you for this interview.
You are welcome.
After the agreement on Bourdignie between Eiffelland and the Holy Frankish Empire was announced, the battle for the Bourdignian voters broke loose. Twatter is filled with twats for and against Francophone Bourdignie becoming part of the Empire. But in the last two days two articles appeared in the Tarusan and Imperial media. We asked Prof. Dr. Louis Nazare to comment on this.
Professor Nazare, good evening.
Good evening Mrs. Dupont.
As you know, the Tarusan media and the Imperial Moniteur Universel published articles with harsh accusations against Eiffelland. Meanwhile, we know the contents of those articles. Could you please comment on it?
Yes, I can. To be very honest, I don't recognise myself in the accusations put forward by the Tarusan and Imperial media. In the case of Bourdignie, they did not mention a couple of facts. Eiffelland's presence in Bourdignie is the result of a request from the Bourdigniens to protect them against Prime-Minister Kovács. That is a fact. The Bourdignians asked Eiffelland, and The Federation of Westernesse, to help them out, and so we did. That is a fact.
In parallel, Georg von Heidemar-Fulda was asked by the people of Bécs-Altstadt to become their Duke. Also that is a fact. The only thing the Eiffellandian government did, was giving Georg von Heidemar-Fulda permission to say "yes" to that request.
The accusations against Eiffelland regarding Bourdignie are based on an incomplete image of the truth. We did not simply march in because we wanted to, we were asked to march in. We were asked by the bourdignians to march in and help them with establishing a nation where all persons can be what their feelings say what they are, a nation that takes the interests of its citizens into account. The Bourdignians were working towards that, and in a fast pace. We were helping them with that.
But still the Emperor decided to march in, according to him to liberate the Patois from our oppression.
I don't know where he bases his perception on that we were oppressing the Patois. That is simply not true. Maybe some developments didn't go as fast as everybody wanted, but Tibur wasn't built in a day, either.
On the other hand, Bourdignie is not in the bad shape the Emperor indicates it to be. Pannonia was a modern country before the political situation went out of hand. Much of that is still in place in Bourdignie. Indeed, the country needs investments, but we were already working on that, and what we were doing, was certainly good enough to bring education and healthcare back up to speed. What the Emperor did with his offer to triplicate the educational budget and invest in the healthcare system, was just scoring an easy goal. He just pointed at the things that hadn't been improved yet and ignored what had already been improved.
Unfortunately, quite a lot of people consider the Emperor's and the Tsar's version of the events in Bourdignie more trustworthy than what you just described. How should we convince those people?
The problem is, that Tarusa has a lot of experience with steering the opinion of its population towards its desires. They know how to present lies in such a way that they seem more trustworthy than the truth. And now they are passing this knowledge on to the Imperials. But we all have to understand that the truth is often complicated and can not always be captured in an easy story.
I would also like to discuss the referendum in Al-Magrab.
Basically, what the government of Al-Magrab is doing, is following the EF-resolution. This resolution stipulates that the mandates should get a referendum within six months about their future. It also stipulates what the options in this resolution should be: Becoming a colony of the mandate-holding country, becoming a colony of another country, or independence. Thirdly, the EF-resolution stipulates that, if the mandate chooses independence, the mandate-holding country gets a year to withdraw its troops. The option "full independence without occupation" that Le Moniteur Universel suggests is simply not doable. It is impossible to withdraw thousands of troops within a day. But also here the accusations against Eiffelland have no ground: The Magrabbines are free to choose what they want. Yes, the options "colony" and "temporarily colony and after that independence with a defensive pact" are on the form, but the Magrabbines are free to choose for independence without a defensive pact.
I also have to mention that it is a wish of a lot of the Magrabbines to not be left at their own devices from a military point of view. No matter how realistic the fear is, the Magrabbines fear the Noksians. That is the reason why the option "temporarily colony and after that independence with a defensive pact" is on the ballot form.
But let me say something about the referenda both in Bourdignie and in Al-Magrab. However you interpret Eiffelland's role in both countries, when you vote, ask youself the question: In what kind of country do I want to live? Do I want to live in a country where I can be what I feel to be, or do I accept it that the government tells me what to be? Do I want to be Catholic because I feel that Catholicism is the way to worship God, or do I accept that the government tells me to be Catholic? Do I want to live in a country where the government respects my rights and interests, or do I accept it that the government can do whatever it wants without being held accountable? Eiffelland's intention in Bourdignie and Al-Magrab is to create a country where you can be what you feel to be, a country where you can worship God in the way that you feel is right, a country where the government respects your rights and interests. And that is the kind of place we created in Al-Magrab and Bourdignie.
Professor Nazare, I thank you for this interview.
You are welcome.