Liore

[Rogue]

Istapali water management project could threaten waterflow for Liore rivers experts warn

[ChitinKal]

Economy Today
Bilateral Trade Deal Signed with Istapali December 4879

Istapalian Oil to Become Major Import in Liore-Istapali Resource Exchange

To Liore's east lies the largest (by area and population) nation in the region, Istapali. Once holding the position as the dominant regional power in southeast Dovani, Istapali has in recent centuries been on the decline and has receded into isolationism cutting off their still significant economy to the rest of the world. Though Istapali's isolationism has been reaffirmed by its refusal to participate in the Kiego Conference and by the winning rhetoric of politicians in the nation, analysts and commentators do not believe leaders within the country wish to completely cut Istapali off from the outside world to create and autarkic utopia, and this position seems to have been proven correct in recent events. Having been approached by Istapalian diplomats looking for dialogue between Liore and Istapali, the Foreign Ministry invited Istapali to send a delegation to Yamabiro to discuss cooperation between the two nations with President Annan Balewa. Headed by Foreign Secretary Kajwang Atieno, the Istapalian delegation was greeted upon arrival in Yamabiro by President Balewa and Foreign Minister Jail Obama before being given a brief tour of the city on their way to the Presidential Residence, where President Balewa and Secretary Atieno had preceding discussions before the official meeting the next day.

That next day, the full delegations of both nations met at the Presidential Residence for the official discussion, where a prospective trade deal was brought up by Secretary Atieno and discussed extensively. By the end of the day, a comprehensive deal was drafted and agreed upon by both delegations (and is currently in the process of going through the official channels to be signed into law by both nations). The deal, named the "Liore-Istapali Resource Exchange," will see the trade of numerous key resources and products between the two nations. On the part of Liore, a number of minerals will be exported to Istapali, specifically those having to do with the technological (copper, cobalt, rare earths etc) and jewelry (silver, gold, diamonds etc) industries. Istapali will be exporting a larger share of the products within the resource exchange, selling to Liore a significant amount of oil and industrially-produced goods, giving Liore a more reliable access to oil and bolstering the consumer market.

The resource exchange displays an important first step in Liori-Istapalian relations, and spokesmen from the Foreign Affairs Ministry have stated the government's belief that the deal will set the stage for future mutual cooperation with Istapali, However, some more pessimistic commentators, while supportive of the trade deal, aren't so confident in prospects of future cooperation between the two nations. As Mjumbe commentator Inira Jang states, "The Istapalian government is one committed to isolation, and they'll look outward only as far to expand their export markets. While I'm sure Liori-Istapalian relations will remain cordial, I doubt it will move past mutually beneficial trade."

Liore to Export Minerals to Lodamun February 4880

Mere months after the signing of the Liore-Istapali Resource Exchange, the Liori Foreign Affairs Ministry has secured another strategic trade agreement to expand Liori markets. Reaffirming a trade deal that was signed a little over one hundred years ago, the Liori and Lodamese governments have come together in a meeting between foreign ministers in Yamabiro to discuss the sale of Liori minerals to Lodamun to support growing industrialization in the north Seleyan nation. Much like previous mineral-based deals signed between Liore and foreign nations, the Lodamun deal will see Liore provide refined and unrefined minerals to select Lodamese markets at a discounted price in exchange for Lodamun designating Liore as their preferred mineral supplier in those markets. Specifically, the deal will see Liore providing a number of basic minerals to Lodamun to fuel growing industries, including aluminum, iron, steel, and copper. Liore will also be selling to Lodamun minerals vital for the production of electronics, including the ever-so needed cobalt and rare earths that are abundant in the northern Caltropic highlands. The transport of minerals from Liore to Lodamun are set to begin in late April after further extraction, and from then will continue on a steady basis.

[ChitinKal]

Foreign Policy Review
Liore Deploys Peacekeepers to Ntoto September 4881

Liori Peacekeepers Prepare to Depart for Mokourem, Ntoto

Commenting on behalf of the cabinet, Arch Minister of Defense Chui Akpabio has informed the Liori public and international community on the government's intention to dispatch a force of Liori peacekeepers to Ntoto as a response to the nation's ever more increasingly violent and unstable situation. The peacekeeping force will be comprised mostly of active-duty military personnel from the Yamabiro Division of the Liori Vanguard, including the entirety of its 4000-strong mechanized infantry contingent and both of the division's 500-man air cavalry battalions while the remaining artillery and armored elements of the division will be withheld given the non-combatant nature of the mission. The 5000-man military wing of the mission will be accompanied by an additional 2000 civilian volunteers who will directly assist Ntotoan internal refugees within the boundaries of the peacekeepers' zone of operation, with personnel ranging from doctors and field medics to engineers and agriculture experts.

The situation in Ntoto in recent years has been fast on the decline, beginning with the beheading of over a dozen government officials on the orders of President Ogoo prompting mass protests and riots to erupt across the nation and most recently the rallying of socialists against the Ogoo government and republican insurgents. Troublingly, the unrest in Ntoto has given the opportunity for militants from Baltusia (who are suspected of being supported by the Baltusian government) landing in Ntoto and establishing a base of command in the nation, threatening further destabilization. It is out of fear for the worst possible degradation of the situation to mass domestic violence and full civil war that has prompted the government to dispatch peacekeepers to the region, with Foreign Minister Jail Obama stating on the issue, "Liore isn't sending troops to destabilize or intervene in Ntotoan affairs as that mob of Baltusian criminals does, Liore is sending peacekeepers to establish a zone of protection and care for the Ntotoan people and domestic refugees, and to promote peace in the region and oppose civil violence. The mission in Ntoto is solely humanitarian in nature."

Flanked by Arch Minister of Defense Akpabio and Foreign Minister Obama, President Annan Balewa addressed audiences with the following statement

Comrades, as we watch bated breath the collapse of civil society in Ntoto and our comrade nation's ever closer descent into violence and the intervention into Ntoto by foreign imperialists, Liore has made the decision to do all it can to protect the Ntotoan people from the frightening possibility of bloodshed. I have personally approved the deployment of 5000 Liori troops to Ntoto to serve as a peacekeeping force defending the city of Mokourem and the surrounding areas, and establishing in that zone of operation a zone of peace alienated from the conflict in Ntoto. From there, Liore will deliver much needed supplies and attention to the residents of the area and refugees from outside. Liore will be maintaining a steady stream of supplies to the zone via sea and air travel, and will allow also the transportation of refugees from the peace zone to Liore in the case of overcrowding or the straining of supplies. We will maintain this humanitarian mission until the situation in Ntoto has stabilized and any and all conflict is halted.

Liori peacekeepers will enter transit via air and sea later this month and will establish an operative zone around the city of Mokourem where they will maintain a disarmed zone closed to Ntotoan militants and partisans. Civilian personnel taking part in the mission will be transported to Mokourem after military peacekeepers establish a safe and stable area.

[jrandle8]

[urlhttp://forum.particracy.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7351&p=168973#p168973]Yingdala sends official warning to Liore[/url]

[ChitinKal]

Economy Today
Major Bilateral Deal Struck with Hutori February 4883

Lithium Exploration Underway in Nefa Department

Jail Obama's Foreign Ministry has signed yet another major trade deal during its tenure, following up deals with neighboring Istapali and far-flung Lodamun with a new agreement with Hutori, one of the largest economies on the international scene. The deal was struck after a series of meetings between Foreign Minister Obama as well as other representatives of the Trade and Foreign Ministries with their Hutorian counterparts, culminating in a final meeting between the representatives in Yamabiro, where a formal deal was drafted and approved by both parties. With President Annan Balewa indicating that he will not be seeking reelection after having won a fourth term last year and the possibility of the Obama Foreign Ministry retiring in 4886, the Hutori deal will likely be last major trade deal of the current administration (or, as some commentators have theorized, the first in a term dedicated to foreign outreach).

Like previous trade deals, the core of Liore's side of the deal will be the export of its many minerals. The Hutori deal will see an emphasis on the export of Liore's extracted rare earth metals to Hutori, where they'll be utilized in the already developed high technology sector, rare earths playing a vital role in the production of such products. The deal will see Hutori committing to purchase Liori lithium, a mineral that is not currently being extracted and refined on a mass scale, but that Liori geologists predict is present in moderate ore deposits in the north, particularly in Nefa and the northernmost regions of Arami and Furutari. In the deal, Hutori will be sending its own geologists to work with a Liori commission on performing lithium exploration in the region. If the geologists are correct in claiming the existence of significant deposits of lithium in the region, the government will be instructing the State Mineral Extraction Corporation to immediately begin constructing new mines in the largely rural and sparsely habited region, and from which the first batches will be exported to Hutori.

On the part of Hutori, the Maconic nation will be opening its large electronic and technology market to Liori consumers, committing to export to Liore a variety of consumer electronics, such as video games and their hardware systems. A handful of Hutorian companies have also been granted permission in the deal to establish manufacturing and distribution centers in Liore's SEZs (including Horizon Technology and Lexington Entertainment), bringing jobs and products directly to Liori workers and consumers. As the final (yet perhaps most significant) provision in the trade deal, Hutori's Horizon Technology has been granted a contract by the Liori government to fully upgrade Liore's entire network of internet and cellular infrastructure to top-of-the-line 5G telecommunications technology, a more than significant upgrade for Liore's largely neglected telecoms infrastructure.

[alaskancrabpuffs21]

Heroic Liorean Peacekeepers Saving Millions of Ntoto Civilians from Carnage!!!

[ChitinKal]

Cultural Highlights
Watembo Rap Artist Caamir to Perform in Gaduridos November 4885

Midway Immigrant Caamir Dualeh Spearheads a New Musical Movement in Liore

FOMAT X is just around the corner, and Liore is not planning on ending its continued participation in the international music contest. As in the most recent iterations of the festival, the Public Information Ministry has again delegated the choice of who to send to FOMAT to a national vote, which this year has yielded the first artist not performing within the Dova-Jam genre in three cycles of the festival. The people have spoken, winning the national vote and next Liori representative to FOMAT is the Kipini-based rapper Caamir, who will be performing the song Home in Gaduridos. Like most of Caamir's songs and others from the rising Liori rap scene, Home is one with a message speaking out against the violence and poverty that plagues the continent, shedding especial light on the situation in Ntoto and Caamir's own experiences growing up in an impoverished village in Midway. Caamir is the first non Kitembo and non native-born Liori to perform for the country at FOMAT, being a Watembo immigrant from Midway, and he has used his experiences and background to make music that simultaneously meshes well with the Liori music scene while also setting it apart as particularly unique, partially because of his combination of singing in Watembi, Kitembi, and Luthorian. Like previous FOMAT entrant elections, Caamir's victory in the national vote to some has been a litmus test in Liori musical trends, suggesting the popularity pendulum swinging away from rural Dova-Jam and back to the urban rap and Kapuka.

[ChitinKal]

Domestic Politics
Jail Obama Elected President January 4886

President Jail Obama, the Descendent of a Revolutionary Premier, Addresses Crowd at Inauguration

Following in the footsteps of his predecessor Thimba Hami, President Annan Balewa decided to not seek reelection following the end of his fourth term in office. Serving as President for sixteen years, Balewa inherited a Liore on the rise and oversaw the continuation of Liore's rise, supporting moderate military programs and signing numerous monumental fair trade treaties. Perhaps most importantly, Balewa throughout his Presidency put forward internationally a Liore dedicated to cooperation and Dovani, his most notable achievement in the area being Liore's participation in the Kiego Conference and the foundational discussions for a possible Dovanian cooperation treaty. It is this continually up-and-coming Liore that Balewa's Foreign Minister and Liore's new President, Jail Obama, will soon himself inherit.

Winning out with a comfortable 59.67% of the vote on the second round of the election, Obama triumphed over People's Front candidate Jama Kabudi, a union leader who controversially campaigned in closing the SEZs and nationalizing all properties in Liore, and became the third consecutive National Movement President since Kheri Bello (of the PF) left office in 4854. Obama has with him the full support of the NM's incoming 132 representatives in the People's Assembly, as well as their 43 Harambee coalition partners. Heading the cabinet this cycle is Premier Abasi Ngige, a hold over from the previous cabinet who will be keeping many of the same Ministers as those who served in the previous administration.

The now incoming President Obama campaigned rigorously on continuing the foreign policy focus of the previous administration and his personal work as Balewa's Foreign Minister, making the signing of the Dovani Pact and furthering humanitarian support for Ntoto as central to his campaign. Also playing a prominent role in his platform was his promise to stand up to international aggressors and imperialist actors who have recently threatened Liore and other eastern nations, calling back to his popular speeches against the "Yingdalan occupation" of Utembo and neo colonialist economics. In particular, Obama promised to confront nations like Yingdala, who has both directly and indirectly threatened Liore with her military during the Balewa administration, and Endralon, an infamous neo colonialist power that has recently sought to insert itself into Dovanian affairs with its widely criticized trade deals with Bianjie; promising diplomatic and economic repercussions to such nations for their transgressions against the East. Playing lesser but still important notes in his campaign, Obama swore to also reaffirm Liore's commitment to environmentalism with a tightening of domestic policy and foreign advocacy, and to continue the expansion of Liore's armed forces so as to better prepare them for the time they may be needed for the defense of Liore and her allies.

[ChitinKal]

Cultural Highlights
Yimana Entertainment Releases Inferno 2 November 4886

Gameplay Clip from Inferno 2 Sees Player Atop Yingdalan Aircraft Carrier

Seasoned video game developers Yimana Entertainment have released yet another much-anticipated game. Coming to a PC or Lexington Gamestation 2 near you is the post-apocalyptical survival role-playing game Inferno 2, a long-awaited sequel to Yimana's classic yet niche isometric Inferno: Post Nuclear Holocaust. This second iteration of the highly-rated but under-sold original sees a departure from turn-based and isometric gameplay, and into a first person and live action set in a 3D world. The setting of the sequel is a Yingdala left decimated by a four way nuclear with an Artanian League united under Dorvik, the Jelbic Khaganate, and the Vascanian-led Eastern Hegemony, a war ultimately destroying all of Terra and nearly causing human extinction. The player plays as an Abandoned Mariner with little backstory, crash-landing near the ruins of the Yingdalan city of Kaizhou, in search of human life and a new life. The Abandoned Mariner is greeted by a world decimated during the war and still suffering from the radioactive fallout of the nuclear strikes, creating a deadly ambient environment and droves of mutated monsters out for the Mariner's blood. The player will also find the unmutated descendants of the survivors of the war, who have established new societies amidst the ashes of Yingdalan civilization. Ultimately, it is some of these survivors who prove to be the most sinister and malicious threats to the Mariner, who throughout the storyline of the game has to fight off murderous bandits and adherents to the Cult of the Nucleus (the primary antagonists of the game who seek to establish a fanatical empire of caste and slavery), culminating in a final battle with the Son of Nuclei over the fate of Kaizhou, though players are also given the opportunity to join the Cult of the Nucleus and assist in the conquest of the ruins.

Some outlets have criticized Yimana Entertainment's decision to make Inferno 2 more politically charged and serious than its predecessor, removing and retconning various goofy aspects of the game that gave it charm (such as the existence of the Beluzian Superstate and Mad Dog Empire as nuclear powers who instigated the nuclear war in game lore), with the developers opting instead to not-so subtly criticize nuclear and more-subtly criticize the Yingdalan state. Nonetheless, Inferno 2 is expected to be a big seller the weeks following release and has received stunning reviews from those given early copies, averaging at around 9.25/10.

[ChitinKal]

Defense Digest
Gov. Forms Liori Defense Manufacturing Syndicate July 4888

The Domestically-Produced LDMS AR1 Set to Phase Out Foreign Weapons as Main Assault Rifle of Liori Armed Forces

In an effort to increase the self-sufficiency of the Liori armed forces and lessen dependence on foreign defense companies, the government has approved plans to unite all domestic arms manufacturing companies (both private and public) under a state-overseen syndicate with the aim of directing armaments research, production, and trade sale. This organization, titled the Liori Defense Manufacturing Syndicate (LDMS), was the product of a join meeting between high ranking officials within the Arch Ministry of Defense and the Industry and Planning Ministries to discuss the topics of military materiel needs and Liori domestic armaments. Under the new ordering of the arms industry, all companies already owned by the state will be consolidated into four branches of a single corporation (Liore Defense Corporation), each respectively dedicated to small arms, ground vehicles, warships, and aircraft; which will be directly operated and guided by government and bureaucracy. The currently private companies that will be placed under the LDMS will retain a sliver of independence in their private sales, though will be required to fulfill LDMS quotas before providing for other markets and will be required to follow its regulations in their sales. The LDMS will also seek to standardize weapons models produced by its subsidiaries in terms of weapons produced for Liori armed forces, though will allow private companies to withhold schematics from one another for systems not used by the armed forces.

As of yet, the only major products of the LDMS are small arms and unarmored vehicles, with warships soon to enter its catalogue of armaments, however with a fresh influx of government funds set to vitalize the syndicate next year, research and development for other armaments will become a top priority for the LDMS. Until then, the lengthy process of reorganizing the LDMS's subsidiaries will be conducted and production of small arms such as the LDMS AR1 (ooc: IMI Galil), a multi-specification assault rifle using 7.62×51mm rounds; the LDMS ATL1 (ooc: B-300), a rocket-propelled grenade launcher firing anti-tank and high-explosive rounds; and a host of other weapons will commence for the process of rearming the LNPA and LV ground forces.

Naval Reverse Engineering Project Completed September 4888

After nearly ten years of meticulous study and work, the Arch Ministry of Defense (AMD) has announced that the project to reverse engineer several Deltarian-made ships has been successfully completed, and that most of the reverse engineered ships, including the LWS Kubwa, are in the final stages of being reassembled, while a Velryba-Class destroyer's reconstruction has been delayed due to slight damage to the ship's engine. With the exception of the damage to the destroyer, AMD spokesmen have called the project an "overwhelming success" and the information obtained from the study "invaluable and critical to future Liori and Dovanian self-sufficiency." The data obtained from the project will give the AMD and newly formed Liori Defense Manufacturing Syndicate (LDMS) the knowledge necessary to begin constructing large modern warships and a basis to build upon in the future improved variants of those ships the LDMS can commission at the moment. Already, the AMD is beginning to draw up an order for fresh ships from the LDMS, with rumors suggesting it will include a new capital ship for a Caltropic fleet. For the time being though, the AMD has not put in an official order, as LDMS port facilities will require minor upgrades and expansions to prepare them for production, and it's expected that such production won't be able to begin until mid 4889 at the earliest.

Arch Ministry of Defense Sets Ambitious Five-Year Recruitment Goal December 4888

To top a year full of advancements in the Liori military and in its defense industries, the Arch Ministry of Defense (AMD) has announced its intention to embark on a major recruitment campaign for all sectors of the Liori armed forces. The campaign will establish a recruitment goal of an additional 80,000 to the armed forces over the next five years and will be accompanied by an updated annual replacement recruitment quota to accommodate for the large increase in manpower. A majority of the new recruits (around 65,000) will be used in the formation of four new army divisions, two active duty LNPA, one reserve LNPA, and one LV. This expansion campaign is the first major military expansion since the early days of the Socialist State, and the first time since the reorganization of the LNPA that new army divisions were formed, breaking from a tradition of previous expansions aimed at slightly bolstering the manpower and combined arms power of already existing divisions.

When Asked by Members of the Press About the Expansion, President Jail Obama Gave the Following Statement

The expansion of our armed forces is not out of any international power comparison games, but out of necessity. Necessity for the sovereignty and freedom of Liore and her allies from imperialistic states. In recent decades, we've received numerous threats from western empires like Yingdala, both indirect as with their deployment of forces to Utembo and direct as with their bellicose threats of military action against us for our humanitarian efforts in Ntoto. It's necessary that Liore remains ready to meet the military threats of malicious governments as well as their economic and diplomatic threats, this most recent military expansion is the most important way we can address those threats against us and our neighbors.