The Empire of Austenasia has extended the right hand of friendship to Venemaa, a state proclaimed this week whose entire territory lies within what had previously been understood to be a single household.
Venemaa was founded by its Premier following an evening of discussion on the merits of micronationalism, a conversation which appears to have gone considerably better than anyone present anticipated. Its borders are not yet formally delimited, though early indications are that they run through a domestic property in which the Austenasian Attorney General also resides.
An early approach on the question of merger was declined. The Premier could not contemplate union with the Austenasian State, citing a concern that Venemaan values would be placed under cultural pressure from the Empire’s other provinces. The refusal was accompanied by an offer of friendship, which His Imperial Majesty’s Government has accepted, and by an enquiry addressed to His Imperial Majesty Johannes Karl I Augustus as to whether Austenasia would extend that friendship to the Venemaan people in Christian unity. It will. The Premier is separately weighing dual citizenship, subject to reservations about the effect this might have on Venemaan morals.
Relations have not been without incident. The Attorney General confirmed that he has been deported from Venemaa, on the ground that he had joined Austenasia before Venemaa existed, and that he is at present accommodated on a sofa. He described the arrangement as temporary. The Prime Minister’s suggestion that the territory be claimed regardless of the Premier’s wishes has not been adopted as the policy of His Imperial Majesty’s Government, and this newspaper understands that it was not offered as one.
Questions have inevitably been raised about the Attorney General’s position. Asked whether his advice might be affected by the fact that the Venemaan Premier is his wife, he was emphatic that it could not, and wished it recorded that he had reached his conclusions without any external bias whatever. The Times is content to leave the matter there.
The Republic has also adopted a national flag, which draws direct inspiration from Revelatory imagery found in the Holy Bible. It consists of a red field bearing in the upper hoist a golden throne on a stepped base, encircled by seven golden lamps, each carrying a single flame, with a blue stream issuing from beneath the throne and widening as it falls.
The throne is that of the heavenly vision in the Book of Revelation, the fixed point around which the whole of that vision is arranged. The seven lamps are those described as burning before it, which the text identifies with the seven Spirits of God. The stream is the river of the water of life, which the book describes as flowing clear as crystal from the throne itself, and on whose banks grows the tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Taken together, the flag presents the throne as both the centre of heaven and the source of life.
Venemaa becomes the newest state in the Empire’s immediate neighbourhood and, on current evidence, the closest. The Government looks forward to a long and cordial relationship with its Premier, whose enthusiasm for the hobby after a single evening’s exposure has been described by one member of the Cabinet as that of a micronationalist’s micronationalist. Whether the Empire will one day welcome her to the Senate, as the Prime Minister has suggested, remains a matter for her. She has our congratulations either way.
