Aldegar

[Rogue]

Pāytakht-e Aldegār: A new government has settled in Aldegar after decades of political uncertainty and weak government. The National People's Unity Party, founded by former members of the military and aristocracy within Aldegar, swept the elections last month with the new president Davoud Hedayati (picture above) assuming his new office in the presidential palace at the capital. The new president and his party stated that they will "bring Aldegar back to its place as one of the strongest states within the known world". President Hedayati using his party has already proposed several bills that limit democratic freedoms within the country. According to the new "Division of Power Act" the president will gain major powers within the new state. With him or her being allowed to disband parliament, appoint judges, issue decrees, approve which parties may hold seats in parliament or contest elections and the position also being in charge of the military and security/intelligence forces.

The party is also preparing the ratification of a new constitution in which the name of the state, flag, seats in parliament and name of both parliament and the presidential position will be changed.

With these new changes incoming many political experts are listing Aldegar as a "dictatorship to be" as upon the passing of these changes political parties are not allowed to be formed freely and the "State President" will gain immense powers making the person holding the presidency the de-facto dictator of the state. International human rights organizations have condemned the newly installed regime stating that their actions are "a major step backwards" for the Aldegar state. While organizations condemn the new regime many citizens within Aldegar are quite happy with the changes, hoping for increased wealth, more jobs and a strengthening of the state after decades of democratic corruption and mismanagement with crowds in the capital reportedly celebrating the emergence of the National People's Unity Party.

President Hedayati has also ordered existing security forces to arrest main opposition figures and supporters with a reported 500 arrested as of now, most of them being democratic, liberal and imperial supporters.

[Rogue]

Pāytakht-e Aldegār: The new Aldegarian government has announced a plan to revitalize the economy of the central seleya nation. Key to the new plan which is named the "Economic Transformation and Development Plan" (ETDP) is the increased production of oil within Aldegar. Thanks to decades of instability and corruption oil production and export within the nation had been dramatically low, causing its economy to suffer because of it. With the new plan the government aims to produce at least 50% more oil then it currently does within the next 5 years. To achieve this goal the government has created the "Aldegarian National Oil" company a new state owned company responsible for extracting and refining the oil of Aldegar. The new ANO will take over all oil related activities and is, after directions from the President and State Ministry of Economic Affairs, currently preparing the construction of 4 new oil refinery's and several new oil wells to reach the 50% goal by the end of 4650.

While oil and fossil fuels will play a big role for the future of the Aldegarian economy the regime does underline the need for a more diversified economy, knowing that a economy solemnly based on oil could create problems in the long run. Therefor in the ETDP a focus on creating a strong domestic arms production industry is also underlined. The plan states that the state wants the military arms industry to "develop by itself through government encouragement". The new industry should be private in nature according to the provisions of the plan with the government recently enacting a law to allow for subsidies to be given to Aldegarian private defence companies which allows for the encouragement plan to move forward. The government now hopes that by offering subsidies private military/arms construction companies will form and start to develop this possibly strong industry, encouraging some diversification within the Aldegarian economy.

The ETDP also calls for the expansion of the Aldegar Canal at a later stage, seeing it as a potential mayor source of revenue for the Aldegarian economy as well.

[Rogue]

Pāytakht-e Aldegār: President Hedayati shocked the world last thursday with a announcement that some expected, but the majority of experts dismissed as unrealistic. The new president, promising to bring back pride to the nation and strengthen its position in the world, announced that if the international community will not provide a majority of the required funds for a planned expansion of the Aldegar Canal he will "personally close the damn thing"

Hedayati stated that he is willing to close of the canal if foreign nations refuse to aid Aldegar in expanding the canal. The government has a plan on the table to expand the canal by making it wider so that more ships can pass eachother within the canal. The plan also includes the replacement of the old valves and pumps at both entrances of the canal to ensure a more efficient process overall. Aldegar in its current state does not have a sufficiently stable budget to pay for these upgrades and expansions as it is still reorganizing and prioritizing its economy causing its president to take matters into his own hands.

Insiders have reported some opposition to the president his remarks within the ruling NPUP but these rumours of dissent cannot be confirmed. The president stated that he plans to close the canal at the end of the year if no foreign investors have come up with the required funds.

[Rogue]

Pāytakht-e Aldegār - The new National Service for Civil Defense or NSCD has conducted around 40 raids mostly situated near or in coastal cities and towns. The raids were conducted to "take out known terrorist and criminal cells" and the raids have been deemed "highly succesfull" by officials of the NSCD

Late at night regular police cars could be seen blocking streets in several towns and cities while NSCD personell in their black cloaked uniforms conducted over 40 raids in both high class and poor neighborhouds of mostly coastal areas. According to a officially released report the NSCD arrested 15 "high profile individuals" which, according to the authorities themselves, are part of "terrorist and illegal cells". In addition to these HPI's around 30 other individuals where arrested and charged with "attempt to conduct terrorist acts" and "participating in illegal activity". Most arrested individuals are democratic supporters and among them several outspoken critics of the new regime. The State Ministry for Internal Affairs rejected these claims however stating that "this regime does not arrest its own citizens due to their critique on the government".

Experts state that for the past 3 months state authorities have arrested hundreds of people on false charges of corruption, terrorism or illegal activity. Most of these were, accoring to records, former prominent members of democratic movements within the nation and major critics of the new Hedayati regime.

[Maxington]

[Rogue]

Pāytakht-e Aldegār - A deal has been concluded between the State of Aldegar and the Kingdom of Kazulia over the planned expansions and modernizations of the Aldegar canal. The two nations agreed on Kazulia paying for the upcoming construction work on the Canal. This came after Aldegarian State President Hedayati and Kazulian Prime Minister Caspersen held talks in Aldegar 2 months ago where they presumably agreed on the deal now presented.

President Hedayati said in a public statement that he is "satisfied" with the results of the high level talks between him and the Kazulian PM and that "foreign nations will finally start contributing to the canal as they should". Many within Aldegar see this as a victory for the president has he further expands his power and sets up his state. This new agreement, which simply gives Hedayati the funds he needs to expand and modernize the canal, will allow the canal to increase its capacity and increase efficiency for travelling through the canal. With the new water pumps likely to reduce traveltime over the canal by around 3 hours. The expansion of the canal will cause more ships to be able to travel on the canal simultaniously, also increasing the economic value and efficiency of the canal.

Construction on the modernizations and expansions will start at the end of this month.

[Rogue]

Pāytakht-e Aldegār - While the Aldegaran economy is making comeback and the canal is being expanded and modernized the Hedayati regime is looking for ways to bring Aldegar back into the fold as a global player instead of merely a weak and small power. The government, spearheaded by a initiative of the State Ministry of Defense has launches a new MBT program with the goal of creating a cost effective and capable tank for the National Armed Forces

Both the defense company Nader Yazdani and the company Alpire have already started bidding on the contract to design and construct the tank. Both companies have reportedly handed in their own designs already and the State Ministry of Defense is currently in the process of reviewing these designs. While the goal is to end up with a capable modern tank many experts believe that Aldegar is not yet capable to finance a fully modern tank. Instead it is reported that the Nader Yazdani company has handed in a design to heavily upgrade and modernize existing tanks in the Aldegarian army. It is unclear what design Alpire has handed in.

The Hedayati government has heavily privatized the defense sector in a effort to boost defense production and encourage competition which, according to the government, would also increase the quality of the equipment. As this first contract is being bid upon many can already see the start of a fledging military industrial complex in the Seleyan nation of Aldegar.

[Rogue]

Pāytakht-e Aldegār - The Aldegarian defense company Nader Yazdani has won the contract to develop and construct new tanks for the Aldegarian National Army. The new tank which is currently codenamed the Phantom-1 is a upgraded version of the existing and aging tank arsenal of the armed forces. The new tank will possess a upgraded 105 mm smoothbore main gun, extra armour protection, a new fire control system, upgrade communication equipment and a better and improved engine.

Not only new tanks of this improved class will be constructed however as the current 200 old tanks of this class currently in service will also be gradually upgraded to the new and improved class. On top of these improvements a order has already been placed for the construction of 100 additional "phantom-1" class tanks to complement the 200 existing ones.

Despite this new upgraded version being developed and constructed over the coming years the new tank will, despite its upgrades, likely be highly outgunned by any modern MBT tank. The protection on the new tank is also still quite poor with experts stating that even the upgraded version is vunerable for anti tank weaponry and does not possess reactive armour or advanced defense capabilities. Its new smoothbore 105mm gun is certainly a improvement over the previous 90mm normal gun but is still not a match for most modern MBT's which posses 120 to 125mm smoothbore guns.

The existing tanks of the army will likely be done with their upgrades to the new versions within 4 years. The 100 to be constructed tanks will take 2 years longer to fully construct. While this tank is not up to par with most modern tanks the Chief of Staff of the National Armed Forces is still optimistic about the new tank and stated that he is "certain that the "Phantom-1" will be a valuable addition to the army and a asset that can be used for various tasks" While the tank is called a MBT by the Aldegarian authorities themselves defense experts state that this is a "classic medium tank with some modern adjustments, originating from the time that there where still different tank classes"

[Rogue]

Pāytakht-e Aldegār - The Aldegarian Government has announced a major infrastructure project named "Structural Development Project Aldegar" (SDPA) to rebuild and expand the infrastructure of Aldegar. The government plans on reserving over 20 billion LOD for the project. The project includes the repairing of existing major roads as well as the creation of a new ring network around the capital and a new major highway from the capital to the coast and canal.

The new proposed SDPA program came to existence after the increased oil production and economic activity of Aldegar began to take its toll on the old and poorly maintained Aldegarian infrastructural system. The roads of the seleyan nation had been decaying for years with several parts of the road cracked open, others being burried in sand and entire sections of highways closed for years due to a lack of funds and maintenance.

As the economy began growing once more and the increased economic activities required a more intense use of the nations infrastructure these problems started to become apparent. With this new program the government aims to create a "functioning and healthy road network that is capable of handling the increase in economic activity and private use of vehicles in our country". The SDPA does not only include a program to repair old roads and construct new roadsystems, it also includes the creation of the "National Office for Infrastructural Maintenance (NOIM)". The NOIM's task includes maintaining the Aldegarian road network after it has been expanded and repaired and doing so on a regular basis so that the entire network remains well taken care of. The new NOIM will get a budget of around 2 billion LOD a year to maintain Aldegar's growing road network.

Construction on some sections of the new highways has already started, repairs of existing highways and roads is set to start at the end of this month.

[Rogue]

Pāytakht-e Aldegār - The Aldegarian defense company Nader Yazdani has completed the upgrade of existing tanks in the Aldegarian arsenal to the new Sabre class tank. Around 50 old tanks have now been upgraded to the new class which includes a new turret, communications system, fire control system and gun as well as better armour in the front and sides of the tank

The Nader Yazdani company has now been given the go ahead by the Aldegarian government to upgrade the remaining 350 old tanks in the arsenal to the new Sabre class. In addition to these upgrades the company is now also producing brand new tanks for the armed forces, a order of 100 new tanks was put in place by the government. All these tanks will be of the new Sabre class. While the tank is seen as inferior to most modern tanks the armed forces state that they still have use for them for a "variety of operations". The relative low cost of the Sabre tank is also a big reason for the armed forces to invest in it. The Nader Yazdani company is now the first private defense company in Aldegar to receive a full and lucrative government contract.

In addition to the reveal of the new tank the State Ministry of Defense has announced its intention of passing a reform in the consultative chamber that will reintroduce active conscription to the armed forces and increase the number of career soldiers to 250.000 (currently 100.000). If conscription is indeed introduced the total number of active soldiers in the army will be 1.000.000 to 1.200.000 at any given time, making the army the biggest in Seleya and one of the biggest in Terra. The State Ministry will also try to get the presidents support for a increase in overall military spending so that the armed forces can "properly invest in new equipment to properly execute their tasks". The Ministry estimates that a additional 10 billion LOD annually is needed for further contracts with private companies to develop and produce military equipment for the growing armed forces.
A plan for the naval forces is also underway but it is expected that the naval branch will be among the smaller branches of the National Armed Forces.