Dissolution of St.Charlian recognised

An Act of Parliament was passed last night which finally recognised the Federal Republic of St.Charlie to be defunct. After Prime Minister Alexander Eastwood controversially took supreme power as Chancellor in August 2015, the St.Charlian government effectively ceased to function. After a year and a half of complete inactivity, Eastwood informed Emperor Jonathan I on Saturday 21st earlier this month that he considered the nation “defunct”. Yesterday’s Foreign Affairs Act 2017, amongst other provisions, cites “the inability of the St.Charlian government to continue to function to the extent necessary to exercise sovereignty” as the reason for the Empire revoking recognition of the Federal Republic. Although the inactivity of St.Charlie’s government has long been known, Chancellor Eastwood’s admission that he himself considers the nation defunct has been seen as the official death-blow to the country. Alexander Reinhardt, arguably St.Charlie’s most famous politician, refused suggestions that he should declare himself monarch in an attempt to restore the nation’s sovereignty. St.Charlie was founded as a Kingdom on Christmas Day 2000 by King Patrizio I, who ruled until overthrown in November 2008 by Reinhardt, who established the Federal Republic. For years afterwards, St.Charlie was known as one of the most politically and culturally advanced small nations in the MicroWiki community, with a population peaking at 150 and land claims around the world. Austenasia entered into mutual relations with St.Charlie in August 2009, signing an official treaty of mutual friendship with the nation in December later that year, and the now Emperor Jonathan I met with St.Charlian leaders in 2011 and 2012. A decrease in governmental activity had been noted in St.Charlie by early 2014, which the then President put down to many St.Charlian leaders having to spend more time on other commitments as they grew older. The Presidency was abolished by Prime Minister Eastwood the following year, who declared himself head of both state and government as Chancellor. There has been reaction to St.Charlie’s ‘official’ demise from members of the MicroWiki community. King Adam I of Uberstadt and Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy both reflected on how they had warned Eastwood that his reforms would damage St.Charlie, whereas Mercian diarch Richard Cunningham called it the “End of an era”.

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

Exclusive interview with new St.Charlian President, Sir Alexander Reinhardt

Sir Alexander Reinhardt is a founding citizen of the Federal Republic of St.Charlie, who helped to lead the revolution in November 2008 that overthrew the old Kingdom. Prime Minister from 2009 to 2011, and then again from 2012 to 2013, Reinhardt was recently elected the fourth President of St.Charlie, taking office on 8 March. The Empire and St.Charlie have engaged in formal diplomacy since August 2009, signing a treaty of mutual friendship and co-operation in December later that year. The Austenasian Times has conducted an exclusive interview with the new president: Austenasian Times: First things first: how did your inauguration ceremony go? We’ve seen a photograph uploaded to Facebook, but who was present and what took place? Reinhardt: It was pretty good, I guess! First Judge Michele Vicentini was there, then we had President Lunam with Deputy PM Nicolò Alvisi and two other citizens who came directly from Tor Pendente, one of them was an Observer journalist. The Secretary of the FUCM [a St.Charlian trade union] was also there. We had the swearing, then I signed the official documents and we had dinner together. The inauguration was followed by a party, but some of us don’t remember all of it, to be fair. Haha, sounds fun. Now, for the sake of those who are not aware, what are your functions in St.Charlie as President? St.Charlie is a federal parliamentary republic. As such, my duty as President is not only to nominate the Government, and protect the Constitution, but also to represent the nation and its unity. While it could be seen a very ceremonial figure, the President is literally the physical representation of St.Charlie in the micronational sphere. Some observers have regarded St.Charlie as recently being on the decline in terms of governmental activity and international influence. What would your response to them be? We’ve all grown up a bit, which led to a decline in terms of online presence, so it is true that there is a difference with the past years. However, this doesn’t mean that we’re not as active as before internally, which I think is the most important thing to preserve in a micronation. We’ve become a bit like our long-time friend and ally, Flandrensis: we exist, we do things as usual, but we don’t publish it much, and many see it as a decline in internal activity. It’s more complicated than what it looks like. It’s good to know we’re not in any danger of losing you all! PoliNation 2014 in Italy is only a few months away, an event which you are helping to organise. What else do we have to look forward to during your term of office? My predecessor, James Lunam, did a wonderful job in preserving the identity of our nation. However, he was mostly seen in the Italophone sector. For instance, he recently set up a journalism award for Italian micronationalists named after Nick Maggiore. I am planning to continue his policy, but increase my presence in the English sector too. Finally, you have been with the modern St.Charlie right from the beginning, when you took part in the movement that transitioned the old Kingdom into the current Federal Republic. Over five years have passed – are you pleased with how St.Charlie has grown in that time? Yes, I am very pleased with what we have now. Most micronations die with their founders, and we have reached the point where even those who weren’t there in 2008 are political leaders and active citizens. So far, it’s probably the thing I am most proud of. Good luck for your term, your excellency, and thank you for your time. Thanks a lot!

Austenasia voted most influential MicroWiki nation

The Empire of Austenasia was voted the most influential nation in the MicroWiki Community in the latest of a series of regular surveys released yesterday evening. The first MicroWiki Influence Survey took place on 4 October 2010 and disregarding a 5 month-long hiatus last year the surveys have taken place every month or two months since – yesterday’s was the Twelth. Users of the microwiki.org.uk website are asked to submit a list of 25 micronations in the community in order of their percieved influence, with the nations given points accordingly. Halfway through the voting period, a Midway Table is released showing the scores so far, and a Final Table is released a few days afterwards with the official scores. Austenasia came first with 279 points, only just beating the Free State of Renasia (278 points) and the Federal Republic of St.Charlie (276). This was a very close race for first place – the micronation in fourth place had 240 points. Nemkhav leader Marka Mejakhansk said that he doesn’t “see Austenasia getting lopped off the top point any time soon”, and St.Charlian diplomat Lucas Campos stated that “Austenasia should be in the top for a long time now”. However, Francillian politician Sebastian Linden expressed surprise that the Empire came first, and that in his opinion the top place should have gone to Renasia. HIH Crown Prince Jonathan described the Influence Survey as “just a popularity contest”, but still expressed happiness at the Empire being voted into the prestigious first place. The State of Sandus came 6th (207), the Community of Landashir and Kingdom of Juclandia came joint 7th (190), the Technological Federation of Erephisia came 9th (164), the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis came 12th (135), the Kingdom of Überstadt came 16th (97), the Federal Republic of Francisville came 18th (83), and the United Kingdom of New Wessex came 21st (49). This is the first time that the Empire has reached first place. Austenasia reached the top spot on the Midway Table of the Eleventh Survey in September, but lost out to St.Charlie in the Final Table – likewise, the Empire came second to St.Charlie in July’s Tenth Survey. Austenasia has consistently been voted as being in the top four most influential nations on MicroWiki since the Sixth Survey in December 2011.