Kundrati

[jebjab]

The Kundrati Observer
Kaesama, Kundrati
April 22, 5430

Nikolic speaks on healthcare, education, and the conflict in Endralon in his second-to-last yearly national address

Yesterday in Kaesama, President Nikolic released his promised annual report and associated address to the National Assembly. As his term as President of Kundrati was beginning to come to an end, his rhetoric notably began to shift toward an emphasis on the party rather than his traditional emphasis on himself, clearly in an effort to continue his party’s control over the government.

Rumors were that he had been promised the leadership of the University of Kundrati’s Kaesama campus, which had long since served as the most prestigious university in Kundrati, partially due to its status as the permanent flagship university of the system. Nikolic had been an academic before his meteoric rise to the presidency of Kundrati, and he had stated his desire to return to academia following the end of his political career, a pursuit many viewed as noble.

Unusually, his vice president joined him in the address, sitting beside him in a seat that usually remained vacant as a method of keeping the cameras focused on Nikolic himself. Speculation by political pundits had been running rampant, suggesting that Marcel Beneš, a close political ally of Nikolic and historical acquaintance, would announce his campaign for the Presidency in the following election.

The gesture was interpreted widely as a method of placing Benes on equal footing with Nikolic in the eyes of the Kundrati population, who had widely come to watch large parts of Nikolic’s address, where he would continually announce forecasts, planned policies, and generally advocate for his own mandate, splashing significant federal funding allocations in a manner that many would find palatable, laced with jokes and commentary. The address, which Nikolic had apparently requested directly from the head of the National Coalition caucus in the Assembly, was unusual for a president, but the Coalition’s broad mandate in the legislature enabled the repeated invitations on Nikolic’s schedule.

The speech began on an unusually dramatic note, touching on the ongoing tragedy in Kundrati’s eastern neighbor. The civil war in Endralon was still ongoing, as reports continued to come out of escalating violence and an increasingly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the nation. Hope, however, Nikolic promised, was on the horizon. Support for Free Endralon coming from Lourenne, Kundrati, Luthori, and most recently Dundorf had placed immense strain on the foreign affairs of the generally-isolated Visionary State.

Nikolic began by addressing humanitarian concerns in the region, promising that humanitarian aid was reaching those who needed it most on both sides of the conflict’s shifting front lines. While Kundrati supported the Free forces, he promised, Kundrati’s brethren within the borders of the hermit Visionary State would receive humanitarian aid from Dundorf and Kundrati. Millions of kuno worth of humanitarian aid, he promised, were entering Endralon, by air, land, and sea.

However, humanitarian aid was not the only thing entering Endralon. Nikolic was of the belief that it would be irresponsible for Kundrati to fail to intervene in the neighboring conflict, and he had made this view clear through a number of public appearances defending his administration’s decision to intervene in the conflict, while noting that a number of the details were being left to the discretion of the Ministry of Defense, a ministry led by Kundrati Democracy as part of the Coalition’s power-sharing plan following their victory in 5426. Nikolic spoke of his pride and confidence in the Kundrati military. All branches of the military, he said, while perhaps not directly involved in conflict, were serving to ensure Kundrati’s safety or to undertake steps toward the ultimate goal of Free Endraloni victory.

The Kundrati Air Force had participated, he announced, in a number of surgical strikes against Visionary State weapons manufacturing, storage, and air defense systems. The Kundrati Navy had taken successful steps toward a total quarantine of Visionary State naval assets operating out of international waters in the region, enforcing a blanket prevention of weapons shipment and other initiatives central to the success of the Visionary State. This, he stated, was done in cooperation with the great navy of Luthori, a consistent and formidable naval power in Artania, and a proud ongoing partner of Kundrati on the continent. The Kundrati Army remained on high alert on the border with Endralon, with ongoing troop movements toward the regions, looking to enforce a prevention of spillover and protect Kundrati assets.

While the military and the foreign affairs ministry were doing what Nikolic described as the only morally correct option in regard to Endralon, Nikolic reminded the nation’s wide array of listeners that the Kundrati people would always be the ultimate priority of his government. As such, he began to announce his regular yearly objectives and broad funding allocations. He began by returning to his roots in academia, promising a revitalization of the Kundrati education system.

Education was always to be a priority of the Nikolic administration; he had come from a background in academia, and he began his campaign by railing against the perceived continual failure of Kundrati governments to provide for primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Critics had pointed to his failure to directly address education throughout the first few years of his term as an ongoing failure of his presidency, a failed campaign promise, and perhaps more importantly, a failure of one of his main priorities. Nonetheless, Nikolic continually ridiculed these kinds of critics publicly, describing himself as one of the best presidents on the topic of education in recent Kundrati history. Further, he promised a broader-scale initiative on the topic of education to come sometime within his term, criticizing his National Assembly opponents for purported stalling on the issue.

Following his discussion of the Endralon conflict, he stated his immediate priorities on the education issue: He wanted the government to build and upgrade schools, colleges, and universities, as well as to invest in research and development facilities, both public and private, to foster innovation, technological advancement, and to ensure that the economy of Kundrati will be able to advance independently without the requirement of foreign investment or intervention.

He began by outlining a plan for the expansion of the new University of Kundrati Papoc campus, established as the latest expansion campus of the national system during the last For Kundrati government. He allocated funding for the addition of two additional colleges to the university over the next 10 years, part of which was, Nikolic claimed, was through direct federal government intervention to ensure the circumvention of traditional “red tape” zoning and building regulations in the city.

Papoc, however, was not the only campus which was up for expansion. The campuses in Riverford, Kaesama, and Tomasadyn were each slated for an expansion, with each set to add at least one college over the next two decades. This, Nikolic stated, was important to ensuring Kundrati’s future. The University of Kundrati system was the best in the nation according to most metrics, and as the nation headed toward an industrialized future, a larger percentage of the population would need to attend high-quality colleges and universities. The myth of the low acceptance rate, he vehemently stated, was not an endorsement of a university system but rather a glaring flaw. The nation’s best students should be able to attend a low-cost public university. It was a travesty, he said, that parents of Kundrati pay significant tax to fund the national university system while their students, even those who have shown academic excellence, may not be guaranteed admission. Along with this expansion, each campus of the University of Kundrati will be provided grants for renovation and improvement.

Further, he announced the beginning of construction of a new university in Jildrati City, to be known as the University of Etxea. The university would be exempted from the traditional naming system of the University of Kundrati system, partially as a way of paying homage to the uniquely independent Etxean culture, and partially because the university would be paid for mostly by the island’s provincial government. It will be operated by a board of trustees, half appointed by the national system, and half by the provincial university system. The Kundrati education minister will have ultimate tie-breaking authority on board appointment votes, namely to appoint university leadership positions.

Along with this, he announced funding to be proportionally upscaled toward the national high, junior high, and elementary school systems, as well as a significant increase to the budget of the Kundrati National Labs, which have locations. throughout the country.

A running joke had come to exist within Kundrati during his campaign for his extensive ramblings on the topic of education, and as he began to venture into impromptu speaking, his speech to the Assembly was no different. However, he eventually ventured onto the topic of healthcare, another pressing issue on the mind of the average Kundrati citizen. The nation of Kundrati has long had a public healthcare system, interspersed with private clinics, providing any number of treatments and services. Kundrati’s healthcare system, in contrast to some other aspects of its domestic infrastructure, has never been particularly highly ranked amongst its peers.

For Kundrati, despite its adventures in infrastructure development, had never been successful on the topic of healthcare. This was yet another one of the party’s failings that Nikolic had aspired to change during his presidential campaign. He began once again with an outline: he was going to bring Kundrati healthcare up to the level it should be. The administration would support the development of modern healthcare facilities, hospitals, and clinics, implement a stronger health information system to improve disease surveillance and enhance the system of healthcare delivery.

Nikolic’s healthcare plan was, admittedly, ambitious. He aimed for $25 in permanent and ongoing funding for each Kundrati citizen, much of which would go directly into investment into hospital and clinic infrastructure, pharmaceutical research and development, and replacing individualized disease-oriented funding with a broader bottom-up approach to healthcare service.

[GreekIdiot]

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[10 October 5433] |
Foreign Ministry of Kundrati
Statement on the Ongoing Events in Aldegar

The Kundrati Union is monitoring the situation in Aldegar with great concern. The canal in Aldegar is vital to international shipping and trade - and any closure or risk of the canal being attacked is a danger to the rest of Terra and their economy.

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We further encourage the World Congress to ensure the safety of shipping in the canal at Aldegar through whatever necessary provisions the Security Council deem fit for the current situation.

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