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The Lavrada Bannerman

Monthly Archives: September 2017

LavrasiaLink – 9/17/17

17 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by J.Brizendine in Local News

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Jordan Brizendine, Lavrasia, LavrasiaLink, the Protectorate, Triumvirate

LavrasiaLink is a recurring column focusing on local events in Lavrada and Lavrasia, the region in which this publication is based.

LAVRADA – Legislator Brizendine returned safely from Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China on September 7. Brizendine was seeking employment as an English instructor in the country, but was forced to return to the United States because of pronounced delays in the work visa application process. He plans to return to China around the end of the year to begin his job at a prestigious adult training school.

The Triumvirate convened on the evening of September 15 and again after a 48 hour recess on the evening of September 17. The sessions focused primarily on a petition and accompanying contract which Legislator Brizendine will submit to the Chamber of Deputies at its scheduled session on September 30. The petition calls for the dissolution of the Republican Military Protectorate, a large region located adjacent to Lavrasia which is currently under the administration of the Delveran Armed Services. Pending this dissolution, the Triumvirate will attempt to obtain signatures from local landowners in order to annex the territory to the province as an autonomous region. This will allow Lavrasia to utilize the area for a diverse array of purposes with landowner permission. Stated reasons for the change include the close historical ties between the province and the Protectorate, the latter’s decreased utility to the Grand Republic as a whole, and the realities of the area’s administration.

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Sum of Hong Kong dollars (roughly equivalent to 500 curos) comprising the first foreign currency installment in the Provincial Treasury

The Triumvirate also discussed and approved the first addition to the Provincial Treasury, which consisted of over 2500 curos worth of silver bullion and Hong Kong dollars. Additional future installments in a variety of world currencies are planned. A new logo for the body was also adopted.

Triumvirate Logo

New Triumvirate logo, designed by Legislator Brizendine

The Commonwealth received much needed rain on September 17, with showers projected to continue throughout the week.

Reporter: Jordan Brizendine

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Delvera Items – 9/12/17

12 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by J.Brizendine in Economics, Minor News

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Christian Newton, Curo, Delvera Items, Dylan Callahan, Economics, Jacopo Castelletti, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of the Interior, Rusalka

Delvera Items is a recurring column covering minor news in the Grand Republic.

COLONIA – The Grand Republic purchased a web domain, Delvera.org, on August 22. Also included in the purchase was an email server which will service official communiques. Currently, four email addresses are active, with more planned to be opened in the future.

The Ministry of the Interior has been conducting the 2017 Census since August 22. The census, which is to be completed by a competent adult in each Delveran household, will close on October 1.

The Ministry of Commerce is in the process of designing and printing a 2017 series of the Delveran currency, the curo. The curo is rare among micronational currencies in that it is backed by bullion (in this case, copper) and functions as a working medium of exchange. On August 29, Delveran State Media announced that it had contracted Mr. Jacopo Castelletti, best known as the preeminent statesman of the Federal Republic of St.Charlie, to design this year’s notes. Consul Dylan Callahan confirmed that the Ministry of Commerce had received preliminary designs by September 7. The curo is projected to be in circulation by November.

Rusalka Flag

Flag of Rusalka, designed by Jordan Brizendine

The Consulate established the Colony of Rusalka on September 2. The colony, which is located in the US state of Pennsylvania, is governed by Christian Newton. Rusalka is the third Delveran region to be founded by Newton, who formerly led the Province of Germanija and the Military District of Norden successively.

Reporter: Jordan Brizendine

Censorship on Microwiki Prompts Delveran Exodus

09 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by Hannah Callahan in Culture, Diplomacy, Headlines

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Dylan Callahan, Jonathan Austen, Jordan Brizendine, Joseph Marx, Media, MicroWiki

On the 5th of September, the Lavrada Bannerman republished a joint statement made by officials from the Empire of Karnia-Ruthenia, the North American Confederation, the Republic of Glastieve, and the Grand Republic of Delvera. This statement sought to refute and renounce certain claims made by another micronational news outlet, the Austenasian Times, against Jordan Brizendine, Minister of the Interior of Delvera and Editor-in-Chief of the Bannerman.

Once this statement had been published on the Bannerman, it was shared on the news section of MicroWiki – a website which claims to be a neutral, Wikipedia-like place for micronationalists. According to their general disclaimer:

“MicroWiki is an independent, free and Internet-only encyclopedia established to document all facets of micronationalism. MicroWiki is in no way associated with any particular micronation, new country project or political movement and enjoys no official endorsement by any micronational movement. It is a third-party service that strives to collect information on micronations, micronationalists and assorted micronational concepts in order to provide a comprehensive and fair representation of the micronational world.”

However, only hours after the Bannerman‘s article was shared, it was removed from the headlines by Austenasian Emperor Jonathan I, adminstrator and “Imperial Overlord” of MicroWiki.

There was no mention of a breach of the rules or refutation of the evidence presented. Instead, his stated reason for removing the article was “I’m getting really tired of this. You literally admitted to ‘trolling’. You want to troll? Fine, but don’t use the headlines.”

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The reference to “trolling” seems puzzling. The word appears only once in the article republished on the Bannerman, and in the following sentence:

“These claims of a coup stem from a conversation on Skype between “Iron Lord” Daniel Dankovsky, alias Pavle Savovic, Director of Austenasia’s State Intelligence Agency, and Mr. Brizendine, who was seeking information about goings-on in the Empire via trolling Mr. Dankovsky.”

The idea that a statement released jointly by officials from four different micronations was simply an attempt to “troll” seems to indicate a lack of comprehension, at best — or worse, a deliberate attempt to gaslight Mr. Brizendine or misuse of administrative powers in an attempt to skew diplomatic information.

Not long after this, Liam Sinclair of the Coprieta Standard posted his own report on the recent series of events between Delvera and Austenasia, and linked to it on MicroWiki’s news section as well. Despite being well-sourced and written by an impartial reporter, that link was also removed from the main page of MicroWiki by Jonathan I as well.


 

A public conversation then took place between “Austenasia” (the Wiki username for Jonathan I) and Liam Sinclair, which can be read in full here. Jonathan Augustus’ stated reason for removing the article was:

“As you can probably imagine, I’m pretty tired of the whole ‘spat’ between Delvera and the Empire. It’s my opinion that the best way to bring a matter like this to rest is to stop pouring fuel on the fire (although I doubt that was your intention), and so simply for the sake of community peace and quiet I’ve removed your article from the newsfeed. I do apologise for this, but things are going mad around here recently and some sort of metaphorical ‘curfew’ or ‘time out’ is sorely needed, I believe….

“Once again, apologies for the removal of the article. I hope you don’t see this as censorship of a particular opinion, but simply as the implementation of a policy of ‘okay everyone, enough already!'”

While Mr. Sinclair appeared to take the removal of his link with professional dignity, he also mentioned that “…it might be useful to remove all article references on both sides from the feeds…”, referencing the fact that the Austenasian Times article, which was almost certainly written by Jonathan I himself, remained prominently featured on the front page of MicroWiki.

While Jonathan I conceded that this suggestion “does seem to be the fairest all-round”, he then ended the conversation by saying he would “suggest it to the other admins”.

It should be noted that whether or not the removal of the Bannerman and Coprieta Standard links were discussed and approved by the other admins on the site is currently unknown. Also unknown is whether or not Jonathan I contacted them to discuss removing his own link from the site.

However, at the time of this article’s publishing, the Austenasian Times link has not been removed, nor has the article itself been edited to include any verifiable information or sources, nor have the incendiary allegations been retracted by either the Austenasian Times or Jonathan I himself.

At the same time this was going on, the community side of the MicroWiki was also experiencing similar censorship. In the forums provided for micronational discussion and diplomacy, Dylan “Deelambs” Callahan posted a link to the official joint statement.


Shortly after the above screenshots were taken, and around the same time that the link to the Bannerman was removed, this entire forum thread disappeared. No explanations or warning was given, and there seems to be no reason to assume that any rules were broken.

Not surprisingly, Callahan mentioned the deleted thread and Bannerman link in another thread. Much of the thread was screenshot by myself before it, too, vanished without a word of acknowledgement or explanation from anyone on the admin team.






At no point did Jonathan I himself engage in the conversation, which centered around whether or not he was abusing his administrative status to hamper diplomacy and freedom of the press, as the MicroWiki claims that “In all their work on the wiki, Administrators are expected to be impartial and always put their duties before their individual micronational obligations.”

Callahan expressed his thoughts on that issue by stating:

“This is an issue between nations, not admins and users. [Jonathan I] is using his power as the owner of the venue to prevent my government from informing the community as a whole as to our side of this issue. Which is compounding tensions. If only his side is allowed to be widely published… isn’t that an problem?”

The Bannerman reached out to Dylan Callahan to ask whether or not he had received any private communication explaining why either of these threads were deleted, and he confirmed that there was none.

Following these events, Callahan requested that his account be deleted. When another admin volunteered to simply block him instead, which would have allowed his other threads to remain intact, Consul Callahan responded:

“I am leaving because this is Austen’s website. Austin’s [sic] wiki. It isn’t a neutral meeting ground. It isn’t a neutral place for respected nations to have their voices heard. I think it used to be… but now it simply isn’t.

“I take my micronation seriously. We are going places with Delvera, and we are trying to bring about reform with our Congress of Colo. We’re gaining traction, and we have no more time for distractions such as this.

“Austenasia and Delvera and the NAC and Karnia-Ruthenia had a diplomatic matter arise, and it led to some inescapable conclusions about how Austenasia is run. Our attempt at documenting the course of events, for the sake of history and diplomatic legitimacy, was met with indifference, censorship, and accusations which are phony in the extreme. And we aren’t even allowed to defend ourselves on the wiki or forum?

“This forum and this wiki are the personal collections of Jonathan Austen. He is the self-proclaimed overlord. And I and the rest of my nation are no longer welcome.

“He is using his ownership of the platform that this community uses as a diplomatic weapon against any who criticize Austenasia. They can simply have their voices silenced with the click of a button, and his admins will justify it by saying, ‘Well, he owns it, so you have to expect censorship.’

“That’s why I’m leaving.

“You’re concerned about nullifying archives. That is a legitimate concern. My concerns are similar.

“I want my profile to be removed, because I no longer wish for myself nor my micronation to be a part of Jonathan Austen’s personal collection, to be edited or deleted like a Cool Barbie script, whenever the narrative become inconvenient.

“So to be abundantly clear, if you’re concerned about the integrity of the record, so am I. 

“Please delete my account.”

Following this, Consul Callahan also contacted the administration to request that all articles directly pertaining to Delvera be removed from MicroWiki. This request was respected, and the articles were promptly deleted, on September the 8th.

However, Jonathan I temporarily restored the articles again, prompting Consul Callahan to state, once again, that MicroWiki is not a neutral website:

“Delverans do not want any of our articles to be part of this website. We believe the rules and licenses have been repeatedly violated, and there is no substantive neutrality. The owner of this website has used his powers of administration as tools of political power in censoring our content, as well as the content of others. Further, we view the ownership as treating this website not as a neutral encyclopedia but as a personal collection of articles. We do not want ourselves nor our micronation represented here. Please delete.”

Jordan Brizendine, primary author of most of the Delveran pages on the website, also requested that the pages be deleted once again:

“As the original author, and with the approval of the government, I officially request the deletion of this article as well as all remaining related articles which I have helpfully marked for deletion. Thank you.”

The articles were removed once again this afternoon by Jonathan I, and it is expected that they will remain deleted this time.

Reporter: Hannah Callahan

 

Austenasian Times Attempts Defamation

05 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by J.Brizendine in Diplomacy, Headlines

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Austenasia, Diplomacy, Dylan Callahan, Jonathan Austen, Jordan Brizendine, Pavle Savovic

The following has been reviewed and approved by government officials from the North American Confederation, the Empire of Karnia-Ruthenia, the Republic of Glastieve, and the Grand Republic of Delvera:

Earlier today, the state-run Austenasian Times published an article accusing the Delveran Minister of the Interior and Editor-in-Chief of the Bannerman, Jordan Brizendine, of attempting to incite a coup within the Empire. The article, which offers no evidence to support itself, is the latest incident in the Delveran-Austenasian Diplomatic Crisis, which began in early August after Emperor Jonathan I’s abrupt departure from the Congress of Colo and the subsequent Austenasian neglect of a long string of diplomatic communications from the Delveran government.

One week ago, the Austenasian Times released an unsourced article in response to the publishing of the story in the Bannerman. This release was refuted in its entirety, with extensive screenshots presented as proof, by the Consul on the Delveran State Media Facebook page. Prime Minister Rev. Joseph Marx of the North American Confederation also commented more extensively on the affair, publishing an editorial in the Bannerman the next day. Yet another diplomatic silence from Austenasia ensued.

These claims of a coup stem from a conversation on Skype between “Iron Lord” Daniel Dankovsky, alias Pavle Savovic, Director of Austenasia’s State Intelligence Agency, and Mr. Brizendine, who was seeking information about goings-on in the Empire via trolling Mr. Dankovsky. The full conversation can be found here, only redacted in parts for the sake of decency, as the vulgarity used by Mr. Savovic is quite graphic, and Mr. Brizendine’s responses were indicative of the innuendo and abusive language.

After enduring a withering assault of racial slurs and sexual innuendos from the “Iron Lord,” the following exchange took place:

Screenshot (112)Screenshot (113)Screenshot (114)Screenshot (116)Screenshot (118)

What the Grand Republic of Delvera’s Consul Dylan Callahan was aware of was the abusive language being used by Pavle in this and other Skype conversations being had by Pavle Savovic, and he asked Emperor Jonathan I if Savovic represented Austenasia in his statements.  It was eventually discovered hours later that Pavle was quietly noted as having received an award that very day:

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It is clear there was no call, official or unofficial, for any kind of coup.  Mr. Brizendine was talking about the merits of Emperor Jonathan I voluntarily stepping down for the good of Austenasia and the community.  The claims of a coup were invented as an attempt at sensationalism and defamation.

However, there is evidence that Austenasia’s Grand Duke John I of Breckland is aware of and participated in such plots on the part of Austenasia:

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This release was republished from the Delveran State Media page with permission.

Congress of Colo Ratifies Articles of Intermicronational Order

02 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by Hannah Callahan in Diplomacy, Economics, Headlines, Politics

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Christian Newton, Congress of Colo, Diplomacy, Dylan Callahan, Jordan Brizendine, Joseph Marx, Karnia-Ruthenia, North American Confederation, Oscar von Goëtzën

On September 2nd, 2017, the Congress of Colo convened for the fourth and final time to present the last amendments and ratify the articles of the 2017 Convention on Intermicronational Order.

Once again, the Congress of Colo Facebook page released the minutes of the session. Discussion among delegates primarily focused on two final amendments to the articles.

The first amendment, presented by Delveran Delegate Jordan Brizendine, dealt with guidelines for intermicronational arbitration. Extensive discussion on the matter followed, and consideration of possible contingencies resulted in significant alterations to the amendment before it passed.

The final form of this amendment reads, “Disputes between micronations, when no bilateral solution can be reached, should be settled by arbitration of a third-party of multinational jurors of such composition as is agreeable to both parties.”

Joseph Marx, delegate for the North American Confederation, presented the second amendment regarding intermicronational sanctions. The text of this amendment, which was passed without dispute, is below:

“If a micronational government feels that punitive action against another micronational government or entity is required, and if no diplomatic arbitration can be reached, sanctions may rightly and lawfully be enacted, provided the reasons for the sanctions and the conditions under which they will be lifted are clearly specified.

“Reasons for imposing sanctions may include treaty or contract violations, intentional diplomatic impropriety, human rights violations, illegal actions within government, incurred economic damages, and the like.

“Sanctions against a micronation may include:
1. Embargo of trade
2. Imposing tariffs on imports
3. Imposing fines
4. Suspension of diplomatic relations”

With these final amendments added and the delegations all expressing their satisfaction with the Articles, the Congress heard closing statements from the delegations before closing. The sentiments expressed were overwhelmingly positive, with Delegate Marx stating that “the Congress of Colo has been, in my mind, a resounding success and will undoubtedly be recalled as the first of many paradigm shifts for both our nations and the spirit of micronationalism as a whole…”

Christian Newton, of the Karnia-Ruthenian delegation, added that he “personally would love to incorporate these articles into the structure and governing documents of the micronations in which I lead, and be a role model to other micronations.”

Dylan Callahan, delegate and chairman, closed with the following remarks: “On behalf of the Grand Republic of Delvera, I thank you all for herein embarking with us on what we believe to be the next great enlightenment  in the next great age of micronationalism.” 

Once the Congress adjourned for the final time the Facebook page publicly released the full text of the Articles, which can be read here.

The articles cover a variety of micronational topics. These include standards of diplomacy, economic standards, guidelines for intermicronational justice procedures, a resolution on micronational sovereignty, and a list of rights for citizens.

Reporter: Hannah Callahan

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