March sees territorial changes for Austenasia
Austenasia has both annexed and ceded land and residents so far this month. A new town, Theodosiopolis, and two new territories, Bregusland and Green Gate, have both been annexed to Austenasia, and the city of New Richmond has expanded with a new property being claimed. Meanwhile, the crown dependency of Jovanovo was ceded to Montenegro on Thursday 21st. Jovanovo had previously been a town, but was made a crown dependency a year ago in order to prevent its founder, Daniel Dankovsky, from influencing the central government after having made various racist statements. Dankovsky was stripped of Austenasian nationality in July last year, and since then Jovanovo had been governed completely autonomously by its own residents. With Jovanovo having no contact with the government, the decision was made to cede all claims to the land. The two new territories of the Empire, Bregusland and Green Gate, are enclaves of Arizona and Greater London respectively. Green Gate is a relatively short distance from the capital, Wrythe, and there are plans for its governor, Lord Zarel Smith, to visit in the near future. Theodosiopolis, the newest Austenasian Town, is an enclave of Amsterdam. Founded by Lord Dionisiy Tedzhan-Smahin – who helped to design last year’s commemorative coins – the town is comprised of two properties and has a population of four people. Finally, Saturday 2nd saw New Richmond expand with the annexation of a sixth non-contiguous property, named Alexandria and currently used as the residence of the Prime Minister. Although the cession of Jovanovo has on paper resulted in a drop in the number of Austenasians (with the population now standing at 83), the new annexations have for all practical purposes greatly increased the population in terms of those who will take an active interest in the government and in their Austenasian identity.
Racist Representative removed
Jovanovo was yesterday transitioned from a Town into a Crown Dependency in order to remove its now former Representative, Daniel Dankovsky, from Parliament. Concerns over the behaviour of Dankovsky had been consistently raised both by members of Cabinet and by foreign leaders since he led Jovanovo – an enclave of Montenegro with a population of twelve – into Austenasia in August last year. Introducing the legislation to downgrade Jovanovo, Emperor Jonathan I summarised what the other members of Parliament already knew; that “for the past seven months the Representative of Jovanovo has made frequent attempts to advocate fascist ideals within Austenasian government. He has consistently displayed a lack of respect towards Austenasia’s government, both in terms of the constitutional system and its members, and he has often publicly expressed views which are repugnant to the majority of decent people to the embarrasment of our nation.” As early as October last year, Prime Minister Lord Admiral Kennedy found himself in the situation of having to release a statement clarifying that Dankovsky in no way represented Austenasia in a diplomatic context, after a series of controversial messages posted by the latter online. On Sunday evening, the final line was crossed when Dankovsky posted in a Skype chatroom of diplomats and politicians that “Lower races should truly know their place.” With unanimous agreement in Cabinet that the imperial government must distance itself from Dankovsky, the legislation to downgrade Jovanovo was entered into force under four hours after being introduced in Parliament, the fastest passage of an Act since records with timestamps began to be kept in late 2016. The Emperor has also revealed to the Austenasian Times that Dankovsky had approached him in private requesting that the constitution be overthrown in favour of absolutist rule, and had recently suggested that the guarantee of basic human rights be legally denied to “Blacks, Muslims or Jews”. The passage by Parliament yesterday of the Jovanovo Act 2018 has removed all Austenasian titles, offices and honours from Dankovsky. It also contains a paragraph condemning racism and racialism. Speaking to Parliament, Prime Minister Kennedy stated that “Fascism and racism have no place in our Empire.” Now removed from all positions of authority on a national level, Dankovsky has been made de jure Governing Commissioner of Jovanovo in order to nominally keep it under Austenasian rule, although in reality it is likely that he will soon seek to make it become independent. UPDATE 23 APRIL 10:30 – Dankovsky has since accepted Jovanovo’s new status as a crown dependency, and openly declared it to follow a right-wing ideology called “Legionarism”. Despite Jovanovo nominally remaining part of the Empire, Dankovsky will from henceforth be unable to participate in or influence politics on a national level.
Local elections in Ionisia and Jovanovo
Local elections in Ionisia and Jovanovo have concluded, with the Acting Representatives of the two towns being elected as Representatives proper. Ionisia and Jovanovo joined the Empire last month, with Prince Aggelos and Iron Lord Dankovsky being appointed their respective Acting Representatives. Both Acting Representatives stood as the only candidates in yesterday’s elections, meaning that there was an Abstain option which, if it gained the majority of votes, would have rendered the election inconclusive. However, both candidates were elected in their towns with unanimous support, as well as a 100% turnout from all eligible voters (2 in Ionisia and 9 in Jovanovo).
Relations cut with Delvera following plot discovery
Emperor Jonathan I and Prime Minister Lord Admiral Kennedy yesterday announced the cutting of all diplomatic relations with Delvera after it was discovered that a member of Delveran government had attempted to provoke a coup in Austenasia. Relations between the Empire and Delvera have been strained for the past month following the reaction of the Delveran government to Jonathan I withdrawing from an online discussion group several weeks ago. It was yesterday announced that Jordan Brizendine, Delveran Minister of the Interior, had approached Iron Lord Daniel Dankovsky, Director-General of the State Intelligence Agency, and suggested he seek to have Emperor Jonathan I replaced with another member of the Line of Succession. This suggestion was of course refused and reported to the Emperor, who confronted Dylan Callahan, leader of Delvera, with the information. Callahan responded that the incident was an example of “trolling,” attempting to downplay the seriousness of the situation. As stated in the joint statement issued by the Emperor and Prime Minister yesterday evening, “whether the proposal was genuine or not, it shows Delvera to be at best unable to control the interactions of its members of government with foreign officials and at worst actively seeking to overthrow the legitimate Austenasian Monarch.” This decisions brings to an end the recent tensions between the Empire and Delvera, as all communications directly from the latter will now simply be ignored.
State Intelligence Agency publicly acknowledged
His Imperial Majesty the Emperor publicly confirmed the existence of the secretive State Intelligence Agency in an Imperial Edict published earlier today. The existence of the State Intelligence Agency (SIA) had been kept a carefully guarded secret since its creation eight years ago today, on 8 August 2009. The then Emperor Terry I had instructed his son the then Prime Minister, Crown Prince (now Emperor) Jonathan, to create an intelligence agency to guard the national security of the young Austenasian state. Since then, the SIA has engaged in several information-gathering operations to protect the Empire against both foreign and domestic threats. In today’s Edict, the Emperor relinquished direct control over the SIA. Iron Lord Daniel Dankovsky, Acting Representative of the newly-annexed town Jovanovo, has been appointed Director-General of the SIA. The precise activities of the SIA will remain covert.