Interview With Kuramia
Inside the Mind of the Foreign Minister
Written by Cerian Quilor
One of initially controversial cabinet picks, when Aexnidaral started his term, Foreign Minister Kuramia has been under some fire at times,but she has proven herself to be capable, hard working and a stable choice. I was curious how Kuramia was handling herself so far this term, so I went to visit her in her well-lit, well-appointed office in the Foreign Ministry.
Perhaps unsprisingly, given Kuramia's interest in staying busy and her desire to never stop moving, the chairs in her office were swings, so she'd always be moving, even while doing the veritable mountains of paperwork that come with being the Foreign Minister. Looks like we still haven't switched to that electronic record keeping system I was told we would, back in 2013.
When asked about how she found the job of Minister of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Kuramia called it her dream job, and compared it to her previous cabinet experience: "in MinComms I'd poke people every other day about assignments, I find myself talking to several people every day as Foreign Affairs Minister. I actually love it. Every day can bring a new situation." That business sees her always keeping a watch on multiple disord channels and forums, and by the time she can really get to work late in the evening, she can amass quite the to-do list of people to talk to, messages to pass on and projects to further develop.
"Throughout the day, it's mostly Discord communication," She explained, adding that the majority of her job really is talking to people and keeping up on major events. " It's easily the most important and enjoyable part of the job," she added. Before she took the job, she'd read a lot about the people she talks to on a daily basis, but now, finally getting to talk politics with them is a real treat, akin to meeting a favorite author. "Anyone who approaches me with a friendly attitude is just great to converse with, as would be expected."
When she's not talking with people, and even alongside such those discussions, Kuramia is still working,. Focus areas for Kuramia include the Diplomatic Training Center which is about to rollout a new final quiz to ensure our training sticks with our new personnel, to managing just where to allocate manpower, to working on things like the Foreign Update other formal announcements.
With the first Foreign Update in many months released, a new one under way, ambassadors assigned and the DTC humming along nicely, Kuramia seems to have had an effective term, largely free of scandal on her part. But not entirely - she's come under fire in some quarters, including in our mid-term polls, which she called the hardest part of her job so far. The rest, she loves, but some of the comments she felt were unecessary, "I only wish those who fear so much for our FA policies and the state of the Ministry would give solutions to whatever problems they see, or even specify what the problems are. I'm quite sad none of them feel they can do that."
Comparing her experience with this miderm poll to the same event during her first time as Minister of Communications again, Kuramia felt "like the feedback I recieved then was much more constructive" rather than what she recieved this time around.
As we wound down conversation of her present time in the Ministry, we looked to the past and the future. When asked if there is a past time when she'd have loved to be Foreign Minister of Europeia, she harkened back to an article she once wrote for the EBC, about the History of Europeia's relationship with Kantrias, which she called one of her "favorite projects in MinComm", and that studying Kantrian History in general had been fascinating. "The birth and development of Kantrias must have been wonderful the first time," she said.
In the interest of staying on topic, we then moved on to her future ambitions in the region, which Kuramia explained were minimal. Having achieved her dream job, all she wants is to be able to continue to be involved in Europeian foreign affairs: "[I want to be a part of] the sometimes chaotic nature that can be GamePlay. Mergers and coups and disagreements and coalitions. It's the real excitement of NS to me. Reading about it after the fact was always maddening to me," and she loves being able to help be front and center on the thrust of events. However, she did add that if offered, she wouldn't rule out a Vice Presidential slot someday down the line. " I believe I'd make a good Vice President. I am good at organizing, poking people, and now I have enough FA experience to make a different in our policies and how we move forward with other regions."
A good rule of thumb I've always felt in Europeia is to never underestimate the capacity of people to reach further and higher, and, if they're dedicated and hard working, to achieve what they seek. I think we can safely assume we'll see a Vice President Kuramia at some point, some day, at the very least.