Opinion: Administration Conclusion to MadJack Situation Reasonable and Prudent
Written by Deepest House
Fortunately, MadJack’s posts were not representative of TNP’s government position and TNP reaffirmed its position as a stalwart ally of Europeia. While Europeia approached TNP with this information, the administration did not notify TRR prior to engaging with TNP, something with which TRR took significant issue.
It is important to note that Europeia received this information unsolicited, and also not as a result of any intelligence operation or otherwise subversive method. While Europeia had no requirement under any treaty obligation, including under the Aegis Accords, to notify TRR, the administration publicly recognized this oversight in a statement posted on TRR’s forum and communicated gameside via dispatch.
The Rejected Realms communicated to Europeia that the region should have notified them prior to taking action. This is a new and reasonable request from our new ally in the Aegis Accords. With this new understanding of TRR’s expectations, the region has made the prudent and proactive decision to provide such notification going forward. Unfortunately, the clock cannot be turned back on this one.
The entire situation has been unfortunate for all involved. It appears that good faith efforts were made by all sides to resolve the situation amicably. While TRR demanded an apology, Europeia stood by its right to act on information which could potentially threaten regional security. Europeia simply does not require permission from TRR to speak with its treatied allies.
Should the government have notified TRR prior to engaging with TNP? It is also reasonable to say ‘yes.’ However, steadfastly demanding an apology for using the information without permission (not for not informing them), without compromise, and demanding that Europeia violate existing treaty obligations to inform TRR of exactly how it acquired the information and from whom is eminently not reasonable. I would hope that a new treatied ally such as TRR would appreciate Europeia’s commitment to existing treaty obligations. While it is unfortunate the region cannot provide additional information in this case, the region’s commitment to treaty obligations should inspire confidence in TRR that Europeia stands by its allies even when it may result in an adverse outcome for, and perception of, Europeia itself.
When the negotiations had reached an impasse and no further progress could be expected, Europeia made the reasonable decision to recognize it could have done better by a new ally. Now understanding TRR’s expectations, Europeia has also made several significant commitments to ensure harmony within the Aegis Accords going forward. For the security of every member of the Aegis Accords, it is better for the coalition to be focused and united toward outside threats rather than squabbling among members.
With this incident behind Europeia and the members of the Aegis Accords, we should all look forward to how this new alliance will ensure the security of aligned regions in the future.
