I would like to raise some points about the downgrading of Malivia's military power status from "Middle"/"Average" to "Small"/"Weak".
It would be fair to say that during the current rankings period (ie. November until now) there has been little in the way of specific or detailed military RP in Malivia. It seems plausible that this is the reasoning, or at least part of the reasoning, for why Malivia's military power status has been downgraded.
The argument I am going to put forward is that although there has not been much military RP, there has most definitely been both domestic and international RP with Malivia, and that if this is taken into account, it begins to look unlikely that the Malivian government would allow its military forces to stagnate.
Domestically, there have been violent clashes between Gerajans and Hosians, there have been terrorist attacks by cow vigilantes and there have been huge, destructive anti-government riots. This can be seen chronicled in Malivia's news threads, in our in-game nation message-board and in some in-game bill debates, such as
here and
here. Against this background, realistically, it is unlikely that the government would neglect its military, given that the military is its ultimate means of holding onto power.
In terms of international RP, for about the last RL month Malivia has been pressing its controversial claim to sovereignty over Selucia ("the Malivy Islands"). Again, against this background, realistically, it is unlikely the government would neglect its military. Whilst actual military RP may be lacking, it would be a reasonable presumption that, if anything, Malivia is beefing up its defence force (and in particular, its navy) rather than scaling it down.
As can be seen in RP on the forum and in-game, Malivia's domestic and international RP has been acknowledged and responded to not only in Malivia, but also by players in other nations as well.
Furthermore, I would make the point that Malivia's economic and military rankings were both downgraded during the
last rankings review back in November. I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with downgrading a nation's military ranking twice in succession, but I am suggesting that if this is to be done, then there really ought to be a clear and strong case for doing so.