Aldegar

[Wardog]

Shah Humban takes over, reforms the "Chosen" and vows for "A New Dawn"

Today, it was announced that Shah Humban had an important meeting with top figures of his own political movement, the devotees known as "Shah's Chosen". Since he is no longer a child, he decided that it was time to replace his father (and formerly Regent) Darnan Vanna Phirun, in the party leaderdship. Not only did the Honourable Shah indeed take over the leadership but he also reformed the "Band" to a proper political party, known as Royal Party of Aldegar, with key figures of past governments as party officials.

In his short speech in front of cameras, he stated

For too long have our people stayed in the Dark. The Light, has finally come to our land, and I can personally vow for a new Dawn for all Aldegarians.This is the day that we start rooting out the seeds of old, and replacing the with bigger, better new ones. I can only promise honesty and hard work.
I am no politician and no clergy. And certainly no Saint either. We all make mistakes and I will try to rectify our politicians' mistakes, in their effort to reshape this country. To the future. Now a toast, for our new and reformed Royal Party!

"Long may He reign" was shouted for nearly all night, in the streets around the Palace...
In the meantime, the Representative Assembly was asked to ratify the Shah's first ever Prerogative which includes the abdication of his own father from all his titles and posts.

[Reddy]

The Seventh Republic Is Born
December 14, 3963

The inauguration of the retired General Ardashir Karroubi as President of Aldegar in the Old Palace has marked the birth of the Seventh Republic, ending a string of monarchies and dictatorships which succeed the Sixth Republic (3768-3806) The Sixth Republic was assaulted and challenged by various conservative forces but was always restored until its final and premature collapse in 3806. Karroubi and the other fathers of the Seventh Republic certainly hope for the stability of the Third Republic which lasted for a record 489 years.


President Karroubi


Like the Sixth, the Seventh is a semi-presidential republic, with a powerful President in charge of security and diplomacy while a Premier takes care of most domestic issues. The 74 year old President is said to have only added his name to the movement to build a new Republic when the Saridan Scandal took place. The scandal involved an offer by the Kingdom of Saridan to 'take over' the Aldegar Canal in exchange for debt forgiveness and such. The interim government in charge of Aldegar since the collapse of the monarchy in 3956 communicated consideration of the offer and this was leaked to the press, sparking riots and mass outrage from the public. Shortly after the interim government collapsed, and called early elections which were won by a hastily organised Social Front, a progressive nationalist party.

The new President is new to politics, indeed he only reluctantly agreed to run for the office of President after nationalist activists convinced him that the country would fall to chaos if he did not step up. Karroubi served in the Army for 48 years, serving as Chief of Army Staff (3954-62) where he was viewed as a force for stability and the only truly national figure as weak interim governments failed to tackle the budgetary problems plaguing since the last days of the monarchy. Indeed it is royal profligacy which has encouraged a majority of Aldegarians to throw support behind the Republic. The Republic faces some formidable challenges, besides the budgetary and morale issues, the chief challenge is the ultra-conservative Yazdean clergy who have tackled and destroyed numerous republics in the past and guard their gargantuan privileges jealously.

[Reddy]

Karroubi: Offer 'An Insult'
March 23, 3964

President Ardashir Karroubi has described Saridan's offer to assume control of the Aldegar Canal in exchange for debt relief as 'an insult to Aldegarian honor, integrity and nationhood.' President Karroubi said the insult amply proved that his repeated warnings that Aldegar had to invest more in its security were spot on. He said his Government would be 'radical indeed' in defending Aldegarian interests and influence in response to Saridanese allegations that the new Aldegarian Government was too radical. He also announced that the Government would be investing an extra 600 million Crowns in national defence over the next six years, the bulk of it on acquisitions for the Aldegarian Navy to increase the security of the Canal.



The President was able to wring out this notable concession from budget negotiations with his Cabinet at a time of belt-tightening and austerity measures to bring the budget deficit to a more manageable level. This is hardly surprising for the President himself has admitted that he is not particularly interested or informed in bread and butter issues, his main concern is security and diplomacy. The rest he leaves to his Premier Kadavh Rajavi, a somewhat more passionate progressive who has attempted to minimise the effects of his austerity program's effect on average Aldegarians. It is Rajavi who helps the President in his mission not to pick fights with powerful interest groups and instead foster cooperation in order to earn the endorsement of the Republic on the right by moderate monarchists at least.

[Reddy]

President Concerned By 'Outside Presence'
September 23, 3964


President Karroubi

Aldegarian President Gen. Ardashir Karroubi has professed 'deep reservations and concern' over the presence of 'certain powers' in Seleya. Despite not mentioning any countries by name, all assumed that he meant the Vanukuian presence in Saridan. Relations with Saridan remain strained and the government is thought to be considering further measures to strengthen the Canal's security. In an interview with the Somasian Digest, the President said:

One cannot help to get a little pessimistic and apprehensive especially when the order of events support such a disposition. When certain countries historically known to be political backwaters suddenly make aggressive moves towards us and this happens just after they earn the confidence of a global superpower, we cannot help but spot encouragement by the superpower.

The President's soft and cryptic words were far outdone by those of one of his junior ministers, Daryush Khatami the Minister of State for Seleyan Affairs. Khatami in an unguarded moment, told a ANR reporter that the Vanukuian presence was a 'dagger at Aldegar's throat and a danger to Seleya.' and that Aldegar could not hope to rise further while such a situation existed. The President distanced himself and the Government from such views in a public statement and a meeting with the Vanukuian Ambassador, and in a minor Government reshuffle, Khatami found himself shuffled to Minister of State for Cultural Preservation instead. Aldegar's large Mu-Tze minority has considerable cultural and emotional ties to the Jelbic countries and the President moved against Khatami in order to avoid irritating this politically potent community.

[Reddy]

State Visit To Trigunia
September 14, 3965

President Ardashir Karroubi has arrived in Petrovgrad, Trigunia on the beginning of a three day state visit to the northern empire. Karroubi heads a large delegation including numerous senior and junior Ministers, dozens of business leaders and cultural ambassadors. The Aldegarians were greeted at the airport by Czar Nicholai I and Minister-President Velimir Yegorovich.


Aldegarian delegation arriving in Petrovgrad

In a meeting with the two leaders, Karroubi proposed a strategic partnership in 'all areas' and praised Trigunia's dominant global political position, urging the leadership to use for the good of mankind. The Aldegar-Saridan diplomatic standoff was said to not have mentioned although many believe it was the only true reason the President visited the Empire. Curiously, the trio spent hours discussing philosophy related to separation of church and state, a rising issue in Aldegar where the Yazdean clerics are organising to challenge the Republic.

The most significant deal was the agreement for a joint venture to build twelve large nuclear power plants in Aldegar, a project that will begin in 3970 and might excite considerable domestic opposition. A number of agreements on research cooperation were signed. Overall Aldegar made it clear that while it sought a close relationship with Trigunia, it did not look forward to developing a Vanuku-Saridan type of relationship, which Karroubi has dismissed as 'master-vassal'

[Reddy]

Yazdean Clerics Protest
April 25, 3963

Hundreds of Yazdean clerics and thousands of devout laymen held a protest outside the Old Palace (President's official residence) and other administrative centres in the country against what they consider to be the Government's 'abandonment of morality and the light'. Two dozen clerics even temporarily occupied a local social welfare agency office in southern Polran, accusing its workers of distributing contraceptives in the area and similar acts have been reported in parts of the devout southern satrapies. The clerics were protesting against several laws passed which have among other things, restricted the application of the death penalty, expanded abortion and contraception services. While all these moves contradict the basic tenets of the Yazdean faith, many believe this protest is really about a recent proposal by the Finance Minister Jamshid Akhtar to reduce or possibly end the tax exempt status of the religious institutions.


Yazdean novice mobeds in Aldegaria

Akhtar insists this would help reduce the budget deficit which currently hovers around 4% of GDP. He said that the religious institutions, particularly the Yazdean fire temples have tens of billions of Crowns stashed away and save as much as 5 billion Crown a year due to the tax exemption. The clerics have never been enamoured of republicanism and greatly fear the secular nature of the ruling party the Social Front. Only the moderates led by President Ardashir Karroubi have blocked the implementation of wide scale secularisation of the state. Pressure on the President has risen, with many progressives in his party calling for a 'unilateral solution' to the problem.

[Reddy]

SAVAK: 'Foreign Players' Stirring Up Clerics
June 19, 3966

President Ardashir Karroubi has announced that investigations led Aldegarian secret service the Organization of Intelligence and National Security(SAVAK) director Col. Ervand Savarani into the organisation and funding of the ongoing clerical protests and riots have revealed the technical assistance of certain foreign powers. The President did not name the countries but his talk of a 'notorious power intent on taking control of one of our southern neighbours' led many to guess that Vanuku might be one. The two countries' relationship has steadily deteriorated over the past few years, with Aldegar constantly criticising Vanukean presence in Saridan. President Karroubi said his government would not be merciful on any foreign agents found in the country and would prosecute them rigorously.

[Reddy]

Aldegar Expels Vanukean Diplomats
September 28, 3966

Aldegar has expelled 14 Vanukuian diplomats in on ongoing dispute over supposed Vanukuian subversive actions in the country. The 14 minor diplomats were expelled for 'national security reasons', the President refused to elaborate on what those reasons are. Aldegar recalled its Ambassador to Vanuku home for consultations. President Karroubi seems reluctant to completely sever ties with Vanuku or confront it openly perhaps for electoral reasons - its Mu-Tze minority has strong cultural ties with the Jelbic people of whom Vanuku is considered a leader.


Angry Yazdeans outside the National Divan Palace

Meanwhile protests continue in Aldegar, with thousands of devout Aldegarians protesting outside the National Divan as the legislature is voting on a measure to partially reduce the tax exemption granted to religious institutions. Finance Minister Jamshid Akhtar accused the Yazdean leadership in particular of 'whipping up dissent for reasons other than this tax change'. President Ardashir Karroubi has been meeting his new Supreme National Security council frequently, exploring a solution to the situation

[Reddy]

Government Reshuffle
May 12, 3967

Angered by continuing violent protests and other such activities in the southern satrapies of Polran and Kemoku, President Ardashir Karroubi has dismissed the Rajavi cabinet, appointing a new one led by Finance Minister Jamshid Akhtar. The move comes after months of disagreement on how to pacify the south. In one heated Security Council meeting, President Karroubi is said to have declared that he 'will tear down the power of the fire temples if that brought stability back.' A conservative in the Social Front, the President has been annoyed with what he deems to be the mobeds' unreasonableness and has asked the new Premier to present to destroy the power of the Yazdean clerics once and for all.


New Premier Jamshid Akhtar

The new government contains a number of security officials including former SAVAK Director Ervand Savarani as Minister of Internal Affairs and Ret. Lt. Gen. Shapour Hoveida taking office as Minister of Defence and several retired military officers taking office as junior Ministers in the Defence Ministry. With the escalating tensions with Vanuku, Saridan and Dorvik, the President believes that security should be in the hands of men experienced in the field, not politicians with constituents to please and no 'national vision.' Progressives in the National Front dread that word, believing it could be used to justify anything and one of the dismissed Minister, former Defence Minister Khosrau Rasouli warned of a 'fast emerging authoritarian pulse' in Government.

[Reddy]

Troops Deployed to Southern Polran
June 16, 3967


Aldegarian Border Guard

Following escalation in violence carried out by a militant group calling itself the 'New Army of Light', President Ardashir Karroubi has sent 23,000 troops to the satrapy near the border with Saridan, joining the Border Guard. The President explicitly accused Saridan and Vanuku of funding Yazdean militant groups within Aldegar. The army's mission is to prevent the flow of weapons suspected to be coming in from Saridan via the long border and possibly by ships. thus the President sent a small fleet on both coasts to 'destroy any ships which seek to bring in anything without authorisation.