Expansion for Wildflower Meadows

The Principality of Wildflower Meadows expanded yesterday for a second time since its foundation in May. A 550 feet-long stretch of the River Wandle and an adjoining area of grass and trees were claimed by Princess Hannah and named Wandleside. Wandleside is situated mere feet away from the Princess’ home in south London, where she was staying having travelled from her university accommodation in Chester for the mid-term reading week. The new annexation has been recognised by Princess Hannah’s fiancé, Emperor Jonathan I, who was present at the annexation and co-founded the principality with her earlier in the year. Wandleside is the first area to be claimed by Wildflower Meadows within the vicinity of the Carshalton Nations, having previously been based entirely in Chester. The principality also expanded last month with the annexation of Grosvenor Park in Chester.

Holy Roman Empire restored!

The Holy Roman Empire, an imperial polity which existed between 800 and 1806, has been re-established by King Quentin I of Wyvern. Emperor Jonathan I yesterday signed a treaty with Quentin I in which the latter was granted recognition of his claim to imperial rank, thus finally legitimising his restored Holy Roman Empire (HRE), a project by Wyvern which has been ongoing since 2014. Taeglan I Nihilus, the Reylan Emperor, gave his consent for Quentin I to be recognised as an Emperor. With Jonathan I, Taeglan I, and Quentin I all now recognised as holding the rank of Emperor, this marks the first time since 1867 that there have been three Emperors of three different imperial states in the West. The original Holy Roman Empire was effectively established in 800, before dissolving during the Napoleonic Wars. Quentin I based his claim to have re-established the HRE on the grounds that Wyvern is situated on land formerly belonging to the Empire, and that he himself is descended from various Holy Roman Emperors. The re-established HRE is structured very similarly to the way in which the original was in the latter part of its existence, as an imperial confederation of sovereign states over which the Holy Roman Emperor holds imperium. The member states of the new Holy Roman Empire are the Kingdom of Wyvern, the Kingdom of Natal, the Principality of Montania, and the Free City of Hoogland, the latter three of which are exclaves of the United States of America.

King of the Grove outlaws feeding bread to the birds

His Majesty King Calum I of the Grove has issued a decree forbidding the feeding of bread to wildfowl. The Kingdom of the Grove, through which part of the River Wandle runs through, is home to many ducks, geese, moorhens and swans, and many visitors to the Grove often feed the birds. Despite there already being signs up warning visitors that feeding bread to wildfowl is bad for their health, these warnings are often ignored. King Calum has therefore banned the practice outright. Copies of the King’s decree have been placed up around the Grove. Information on the damage to birds’ health and to the ecosystem that can be caused by feeding bread to wildfowl can be found at this Guardian article and this page on the British Bird Lovers website.

The Lord Admiral’s Corner: On the revived Grand Unified Micronational

This article is one of a series of editorials from Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy known as The Lord Admiral’s Corner, where the Prime Minister will give his thoughts and opinions on issues affecting the micronation.org community. The opinions expressed in this series are the personal views of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Austenasian Times or the Austenasian Government. I’ll admit, I was skeptical when His Imperial Majesty the Emperor told me of plans to revive the Grand Unified Micronational. As a younger man, I was a very influential delegate from the now-defunct Ashukov Federation. I campaigned for the Chairmanship three times, though only the second one was successful. I was instrumental in the creation of the now-defunct GUM Library and established a committee dedicated to enacting a new Charter (which failed to accomplish its goal following the end of my term). I was as instrumental in attempting to revive the GUM as I was in its disestablishment as an organization; I was one of the first to advocate for its disestablishment and I served as the last Vice-Chairman of the old GUM under Adam of Adammia, my former rival and electoral opponent. Eventually, I came to agree with efforts to revive the GUM for a few reasons: the lack of discourse between nations in this community and the rise of the very capable (with some exceptions) “new guard.” When the GUM was disestablished, there ceased to be a hub for intermicronational diplomacy, with the only other major organization remaining being the then-relevant and active Saint Josephsburg Economic Pact, which is currently planned to be dissolved by the remaining member-states. This community has needed something like this to revive discourse between numerous micronations and to ensure stability. One of the reasons the old GUM failed was because, for a time, the number of lower quality new nations was exceptionally higher than the number of higher quality new nations (and because, against my advice, Quorum would vote to let anybody in, but that’s another story for another time). As older nations began to die off, a void was opened that newer nations weren’t able to fill. Now, with the rise of nations such as Mcarthia, Roseland, Zenrax, and the return of Koss, the GUM has enough higher quality nations to not totally stagnate. As a former Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Supreme Judge, I have some advice to give the members of the new GUM. First of all, as dreadful as this might sound, I strongly recommend the newer delegates wait an election or two before seeking the office of Chairman. Now, I understand why you might dislike this advice because I once attempted to run for the Chairmanship against King Ciprian of Juclandia after only serving as a delegate for around six months. In retrospect, I was nowhere near experienced enough to lead an organization such as the GUM. Now, as a former Chairman I can tell you that the job is no walk in the park (as a matter of fact, I wouldn’t accept the position if Quorum unanimously begged me to). It’s extremely time consuming, doubly so now due to the increase of the Chairman’s mandate from three to six months. It’s also extremely stressful – one mistake and Quorum will ridicule you (especially if you’ve made political enemies and rivals, which I did and I’m sure most delegates will do). Numerous past Chairmen (myself included) have stories of the job being so stressful they quite literally broke down for a time. Finally; please, for the love of God, don’t admit just anyone into the GUM as a full member. My personal recommendation is to refuse admission to any nation which hasn’t existed for at least six months (before anyone points out that Ashukovo was a GUM member from day one of its existence, Ashukovo was a successor state of a prior GUM member-state and all Ashukov politicians were seasoned micronationalists with at least six months of experience), doesn’t maintain active relations with at least five full member-states and can’t compose a decent MicroWiki article. That doesn’t mean you should shun most of these nations entirely (excluding lost causes such as joke nations and obvious fakes), just advise them to seek observership so more seasoned members can help them improve and then seek full membership. I believe the new GUM can be a positive force in the modern MicroWiki community so long as the new delegates avoid the errors of the past. I will serve as an Austenasian delegate and will occasionally voice my opinion and vote in Quorum, but at present I don’t plan on seeking office in the GUM. I wish the new and old delegates the best of luck and offer them my wholehearted support. HIH Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy, Duke of Bohemia

Revival of the Grand Unified Micronational underway

Yesterday evening, a quorum was held by the Grand Unified Micronational for the first time since June last year. For the past ten months, the Grand Unified Micronational (GUM) has functioned as a formal chatroom for heads of state, politicians and diplomats, having been reformed from an increasingly dormant international organisation. Yesterday, however, Emperor Jonathan I and Lord Kit McCarthy raised the prospect of having the GUM return to being an international organisation for small nations. With overwhelming support from the chatroom’s members, the Emperor – who is the current Chair of the GUM – called together a quorum, a meeting of delegates which was used to pass motions when the GUM was an organisation. The members of the chatroom passed a motion agreeing to begin work on drafting a new reformed charter for a restructured GUM, which would learn from the mistakes of the past. Although several microstates and micronations were represented in the quorum, it was agreed that none would be considered member states of a revived GUM organisation until after the new charter was passed. Although international organisations have recently become increasingly unpopular in the diplomatic community of small nations, there is support for a reformed GUM from a wide range of those in the MicroWiki community, for which the GUM functioned practically as a United Nations equivalent for much of 2009 and 2010. It is hoped that the restoration of the GUM to an international organisation will help to improve ties between the older and newer members of the MicroWiki community, who are increasingly forming two separate factions according to many observers.

The Lord Admiral’s Corner: On the Eastwood Reforms

This article is the first in a series of editorials from Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy known as The Lord Admiral’s Corner, where the Prime Minister will give his thoughts and opinions on issues affecting the micronation.org community. The opinions expressed in this series are the personal views of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Austenasian Times or the Austenasian Government. In the wake of the reforms to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of St. Charlie, a document which I studied in depth during my time as a student in the College of Law at the University of St. Charlie, two editorials have been published by the Occidental Chronicle and the Siroccan Times, respectively. The first covered the problems in the view of the newly inaugurated Chancellor that St. Charlie was established “by Italians and with Italian traditions.” The author, King Adam of Uberstadt (known to many Austenasians as Sir Adam von Friedeck, KVJ KCA), described my views on that situation perfectly. Admittedly, I had some problems with certain points raised in the second editorial, especially the statement that “St. Charlie is not [Eastwood’s] nation.” The notion that a nation, especially a republic, is owned by the man who founded it is a gross misinterpretation of what being a micronationalist is to me. I considered Amager to be my nation, same with Ashukovo and now with Austenasia. Nations such as Austenasia and St. Charlie (and the now-defunct Amager and Ashukovo) aren’t meant to be “his nation.” They’re meant to be like communities, our nations. St. Charlie is Eastwood’s nation, as it was Reinhardt’s, Gallo della Loggia’s, Alvisi’s and Cassidy’s. Eastwood has somehow managed to maintain the confidence of his people for three years now, so to imply that he isn’t an integral St. Charlian because he hasn’t been there as long as Alexander Reinhardt is damn near foolish. I can, however, agree with the view that Eastwood is unrepentantly trampling on St. Charlie’s heritage. I can relate to Eastwood in many ways. Eastwood and I have both risen from relative obscurity to become the heads of government of two titans in the micronation.org community. When I departed from the MicroWikia community in January 2013 to establish the Federal Republic of Montania, the last thought I – no, anyone – had was that I would one day be the Prime Minister of the Empire of Austenasia. The same can be said of Eastwood when he established the Republic of Atlantis back in 2010. The present situation in St. Charlie reminds me of the last months of the Ashukov Federation in late 2014, when I was serving my second and last term as Prime Minister of the Federation. I was very ambitious; indeed, the Council of Ministers regularly produced posters with slogans such as “this is only the beginning” and “this is our month.” But, as the other members of the government were beginning to focus more on personal life and education, government activity began to stagnate. In a very short period of time, government activity had come to a halt. This, my friends, is where the similarities between myself and Eastwood end. I saw that the crippling inactivity was irreparable, and so I resigned as Prime Minister of the Ashukov Federation only halfway through my term. I signed a decree as Governor of Montania transferring what was then known as the City of Saint Josephsburg to the then Dominion of New Richmond. In effect, I had then made the transition from full-time Ashukov to full-time Austenasian. After my departure from the Ashukov Federation, the remaining prominent Ashukovs decided, rather foolishly, to attempt to save the sinking ship by enacting massive reforms (sound familiar?). Thus, the Ashukov Federation became the Tsardom of Ashukovo, with Emmanuel Tsompanoglou, a man with very little background in Ashukov government (again, sound familiar?), as Tsar, with the powers of head of government and state (see the above). Within months, Ashukovo was dead in the water. The same is happening with the Federal Republic of St. Charlie; the Captain has died, and his underling is foolishly attempting to keep the ship from sinking. Alexander Eastwood is Mikhail Gorbachev, and these reforms to the St. Charlian constitutional system are his glasnost and perestroika. HIH Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy, Count of Greater Richmond

Grand Unified Micronational reformed

For much of 2009, the Grand Unified Micronational could have reasonably been described as the United Nations of the MicroWiki community. Earlier today, almost six and a half years after its foundation, the GUM as an international organisation came to an end. The GUM has been through two major reforms in the past – one in February 2012 and another in February 2014 – but today’s reform has seen most of its structures completely disestablished. After several months of declining activity, a consensus was reached by the member states of the GUM that there was no longer a need for a UN-style organisation in today’s MicroWiki community. Instead, the GUM has been transitioned into what could be described as a Skype-based private members club, with national delegates retained as members and the Chairman – Adam Belcher, who oversaw the transition – remaining as administrator. Membership of the GUM is now no longer for delegations representing small nations, but rather for politicians and diplomats acting in a personal capacity. The Empire of Austenasia had formerly been a member state of the GUM since October 2009. Emperor Jonathan I, Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy, and Prince Andrew I (governor of Corinium Terentium) are included in the members of the new GUM.

Ptolemy II takes the throne of Wilcsland

Prince Ciaran, younger brother of Declan I, this morning announced his takeover of the throne of Wilcsland as King Ptolemy II. The previous King of Wilcsland, Declan I – who also ruled as Emperor of Austenasia between 2010 and 2013, and was known in Wilcsland as King Ptolemy I Helios – has lived in London for some months now, having cut off communication with his family and homeland in Wiltshire. Declan I had proclaimed the union of New Wessex between Wilcsland and Orly while still Emperor, but this had collapsed after Orly was liberated from his rule in June last year. He had since effectively abandoned the governance of his own kingdom, to the extent that Austenasia revoked recognition of New Wessex earlier this year. Now, however, Wilcsland has returned. King Ptolemy II has confirmed the dissolution of New Wessex and arranged with Emperor Jonathan I for Wilcsland to become a protected state of the Empire. This marks the end of the reign of Declan I over his native country, where he has reigned since 1999 (albeit with a one-week long interruption in 2006).

Taeglan I Nihilus elected GUM Chair

Emperor Taeglan I Nihilus of the Reylan Imperial Triumvirate has been elected the twenty first Chairman of the Grand Unified Micronational (GUM).   Taeglan I served as the organisation’s Supreme Judge during the previous term, and has been working towards a revision of the GUM Charter. Meanwhile, Emperor Jonathan I has been elected Secretary for Security and Community Affairs, with eight votes against his opponent’s one vote. The GUM, founded in January 2009, is the main diplomatic organisation in the “MicroWiki community” of small nations, with Austenasia having been a member state since October 2009. Jonathan I served as the ninth and eleventh Chairman from December 2011 to March 2012 and from June to September 2012 respectively, while still Crown Prince.

One year anniversary of the Liberation of Orly celebrated

The first anniversary of the Liberation of Orly was today marked with a celebration in the Copanese Embassy at East Wrythe. Tea and cakes were enjoyed by Emperor Jonathan I and Queen Emma of Copan, who was appointed monarch upon the Liberation one year ago. They were joined by two prominent Orlians at the embassy, which, while under Austenasian sovereignty as an exclave of the capital, is administered under Copanese law due being under extraterritoriality. As East Wrythe is therefore in a sense both Austenasian and Orlian, it was felt to be the best location to celebrate the occasion. The Liberation of Orly is the name given to the events of 24 June 2013, when citizens of Orly deposed Declan I and turned to the Emperor of Austenasia to restore legitimate government in Copan and the Grove, the two states which comprise Orly. Declan I had seized power over the Carshalton Nations in December 2010 by exploiting a power struggle between the then Emperor Esmond III and Crown Prince Jonathan, but had abdicated from the Austenasian Throne in January 2013. His deposition from the throne of Orly (and its re-division into Copan and the Grove) marked the end of foreign rule in the Carshalton Nations. Jonathan I yesterday visited the Grove in a personal capacity to feed the wildlife there, an activity joyfully partaken in by the newly independent Orlians a year ago immediately after having deposed Declan I. The Emperor hinted that this may become an annual tradition.