Rikkalek-Reiserová meeting in Prague
-
Prague, Czech Slavia
Albína Reiserová sighted as she arrived at the Ruzyně airport. Many high ranking officials were present, but Karel Šín was not among them and despite the fact that she has been in office for almost a year, she still didn't feel well among professional politicians, and while they were welcoming her, she wished for her guest to arrive as soon as possible. She was supposed to meet with Vistek Rikkalek, the Head of State of the Republic of Istkalen, and while the President knew very little about Istkalen neither did the other officials present.
After being welcomed, Resierová announced to Speaker of the Parliament Smetana that she is going to bring some tea to the soldiers guarding the airport since it is cold and she went to fill a few cups with the hot liquid and put them on a plate. For the President this was not only a action that made her feel good but also a liberation from talking to the officials as it gave her the opportunity to talk to the soldiers until the plane from Istkalen was about to land
When Rikkalek set his foot on Czech soil she was welcomed by all those present, although the welcoming ceremony was rather modest.
"Your Excellency it is my pleasure to welcome you in the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia, due to current situation a tour of Prague will sadly not be possible, we are sorry for the inconvenience." Semtana welcomed Rikkalek. The streets of the Capital City were currently filled with people, some of them manifesting in support for the extension of Reiserová's term for life, some of them demonstrating against the extension and against the referendum on the extension. For this reason it was decided that there won't be any tour for the foreign guest.
After being welcomed, Rikkalek and Reiserová were driven to Prague Castle where the President led her guest to her office, which remained plainly decorated with images of Marx and Engels and Czech historical figures.
"Please Mr.... Head of State, take a seat. Would you like anything to drink?" Reiserová asked before putting a small box of methanol bonbons before Rikkalek "Feel free to take a bonbon if you'd like. You know they are good for your throat and voice, like when you have a caught or when you plan to talk a lot. Or sing!" Reiserová smiled, her eyes lighting up, before sitting down herself.
"Now before we get into politics..." Reiserová said as she was looking for something in a drawer of her desk "tell me how was your flight?"
-
For the past six months, the Líressile-Ilussetat airport had been shuttered to all non-military traffic. His flight would be the first of a government or civilian nature to have operated from it since the flight (ha) of the Montenbourgian foreign minister from the country.The takeoff was smoother than he could ever remember it having been, in fact; he had last flown out of the country in 2015 or so, it had been far worse then. The plane had been a small commuter one; it had lurched up and down across the runway, had groaned loudly in the air, shaking violently; he had been almost thrown into the aisle by the force. None of that now; the plane was newer. Once upon a time, whoever had been the Social Democratic Head of State - it changed every few months, he could barely tell one from the next, all of them had increasingly bewildering names and identities anyways - had flown in this plane. Perhaps only a few months ago, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, allegedly the kidnapped foreign minister-in-exile of a faraway country, had sat in the seat where he was sitting.
The flight itself, not merely the takeoff had also been smooth. He disliked flying, usually, because of the turbulence, which in his experience had been too often; but it seemed that there was none, today; he was pleasantly surprised at that.
He drifted off into thought. By virtue of his blood, which he had rejected, he had found himself the leader of an ungovernable country. Under the Social Democrats, he had kept quiet, done his job; he had escaped imprisonment, execution (even then lucky - he had thrown his lot in with the reformers, and they all had been executed), unlike many other members of the royal family - his family, royalty had vanished a long time ago, it didn't matter, really, not anymore, that was what he had always believed, wasn't it - and then he had, after they had fallen and everything had collapsed into chaos with the occupation - rioting, protests, great public humiliations, as though the country had suddenly been lit aflame and was now violently burning away - suddenly found himself named not merely a minister, not merely even a prime minister, not even a president or "head of state," but Emperor, because of the blood that he had hated, taking a different name, which he hated. From the moment the children's teacher had announced his coronation to a small crowd before the Imperial Palace, he had become a politican, a major one, from nothing; and he had had to deal with the consequences.
So much had changed. He was forced to separate with his former partner of labor, which was unpleasant - they had had rapport, they had been extremely close. But their professions had diverged, and there was no more a reason for it, as much as he hated it all; so they had to separate. They were still in contact, still friends, but something had gone. In the world of politics, it was much harder to find someone with whom one could build the same rapport, so valued in Istkalen - you simply couldn't trust anyone. When he had been an engineer, he had been able to trust his partner, he had been able to trust his coworkers. Here trust was a very dangerous, a very precious, thing. Invite someone into your home, and, who knows, they might be slipping thallium in the tea. Everyone wanted you dead, in this world. To survive, one needed to be ruthless; he had quickly given in. You quickly found yourself standing over a limp body, blood running over your hands and your clothes and your body, without any real remorse for what you had done, and then drowning it out, the memory of the blood and the death and the body of someone who once had been living, with anything and everything possible. He would likely die young from it all, but what did it matter? He would have died young anyways, one does not survive long in his position.
But, for however long, he would be the absolute ruler of Istkalen, that mess of interests, of nationalities and occupations and ideologies. All of them had to be balanced, ever so carefully; if they were not, one would already be dead. Balance came through both force and gentleness; court the moderate, the most amenable, purge, kill, the extreme. As of now, the country was in balance. His opponents were dead or imprisoned; he had carefully centralized power in his figure. The most dangerous figures in the administration - the head of the secret police, the ministers of defense and the generals - had either been pacified or done away with. The country's interests were supportive of his government; he had, as of now, the loyalty of the population. Was it good, was it moral? The country was stable, united, free; its citizens were more prosperous and equal than before. Not even Relem had been able to accomplish this. But it had all been done for him, his survival, because he had been thrust into a position of power he had never wanted; he had caught the tail of the tiger and now had to run with it, he felt.
The plane was landing in Prague, now; still, the plane was relatively still. When he emerged from the plane he was blinded by the sun; he had to close his eyes, block out the sun with his hand, before stumbling down the stairs, his legs weak. For a moment he perceived smeared blood on his hands; he blinked, they were gone. A trick of the light.
A man welcomed him to Prague.
"Thank you," he said, really whispered, his voice was unusually weak that day, before being whisked away into a car, to be driven to the Prague Castle.
And now he sat before the President of the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia, Albina Reiserová.
"My flight was fine, your Excellency," he said to her, in response to her question. "No real difficulties, very calm, really. This is perhaps the third or so time that I've flown actually - it wasn't so calm as this before, although I assume flights in general are calmer than I'm used to...as for you, how was your..." Here he paused, although not for very long, trying to grasp for some appropriate word to finish with. "Your day," he finished, smiling.
He did not take a bonbon. He did not trust them. The head of the secret police had once offered him such a bonbon; he had rejected it. It later turned out to have been laced with arsenic. The head would, for this, "commit suicide" a few days later.
-
"Are you sure that you don't want a bonbon? It could help you with your voice." Reiserová said, still searching in her drawer, after hearing Rikkalek speak. "Oh well, I guess there won't be any singing then." her eyes turned to the eyes of her counter-part for a moment, she smiled slightly before returning to the drawer. "I'm glad to hear your flight was pleasant, I never really had a unpleasant flight myself. Regardless I hope the flight will not be your only pleasant experience today. My day has been good so far, thank you."
A few seconds after she finished she also finished putting things in front of her and closed her drawer. "Alright, I am hoping that you will make the situation in your country more clear to me. I understand that your country is internally stabilising but I would like to hear your perspective on the situation and I am also interested in the goals of Istkalen in its trading policy, since, you know, you embargoed us alongside the other countries. Czech Slavia is interested in replacing competition in trade with other producers of the REM with co-operation and I would like to ask you if Istkalen would be interested in persuading co-operation in this area. However the recent developments also raise the concern about stability in the trading policy of Istkalen. So I would like to ask you first about the goals of Istkalen in trading policy and secondly about it's stability."
Reiserová looked her counterpart in the eyes "Are you sure you don't want anything to drink either? I wouldn't want to keep you thirsty after your journey." She was thirsty herself, but felt bad oredring a drink only for herself and not for her guest.
-
Of course it would have come to this. In all honesty, Rikkalek did not know what would happen in his country. He would have to speak extremely carefully. It was his responsibility, and his alone, to restore the national prestige of Istkalen; if he was to fail, that would be the end of his life. Sometimes lies were necessary, for the greater good, for self-preservation; had he not lied endlessly for the past few months? To get anywhere, to get anything in this world, one had to lie, lie with confidence.
"I'm glad to hear that your day has been good," he said first, a good delaying tactic. "And, of course, thank you for the offer of the bonbons, but I don't want to impose on you. As for a drink - no, thank you. Again, I don't wish to impose."
He paused. "Turning, of course, to more serious matters, I fully understand the concerns you have over the trading policy of the Republic. The recent embargo, I understand, appeared to be very erratic and bizarre. It was, I assure you, a decision that was pondered for some time. Our concern over this issue was that the Spanish annexation of the waters of the Red Strait would provide a pathway for Reitzmic or Vardic annexation of our territories - in our opinion, there is little difference between water and land, legally speaking, to unilaterally annex one sets a precedent that allows one to unilaterally annex the others. My government wanted, and wants, to prevent any such annexations. We had to demonstrate to Vayinaod and Reitzmag that we were willing to take extremely drastic and radical action to prevent the annexation of the waters of the Red Strait, and thus, in the future, any attempt to annex our territories. This will not occur in the future, as the occupation is due to end in but a week, I believe, with delays extremely unlikely - the situation in Istkalen is stable, and there is very little support, both within the country and outside it, as far as I can surmise, for an even further prolonged occupation."
"I understand also that your government, your Excellency, wants a clarification on the situation in our country. The instability of the past was caused mostly by the collapse of governmental institutions in the wake of the occupation, which sought to dismantle them while not actually replacing them with anything, resulting in what was effectively mob rule. Unfortunately, the government at the time pursued alienating policies involving neoliberalism and ethnic nationalism, which caused significant resentment among the population and led them to trust in other ultranationalists, who were somewhat more accepting of Istkalen's other peoples. This resulted in near-state collapse, which was only averted by the deployment of European peacekeeping forces. Since then, my government has sought to rectify the ethnic grievances by including those of all nationalities into government, by establishing cultural entities for them, as well as by ensuring the representation of all interests in Istkalen. We have also sought to bridge political divides by creating mass organizations, as well as by encouraging democracy on a hyper-local level, as to dissuade the formation of large power blocs as there exist in other democracies. The country is thus rapidly stabilizing - do not be concerned."
"I believe there may be some concern on the part of your government, your Excellency, on how rapidly governmental actions may be made in Istkalen. This is merely a result of the present nature of state in Istkalen - our government is, in its purest form, a provisional government, and thus must make decisions rapidly in order to maintain order and establish a new, stabler, state in Istkalen. Our country is on track to become a full democracy, as free as your country is, your Excellency - please do not be concerned, as such, about the present state of government, it will resolve itself rapidly."
"To put it shortly: we want to pursue a very - open, is that the word - open trading policy. We do not want to close trade with anyone; what occured was an aberration deemed necessary as to ensure national independence; we also are constructing lasting stability in the country, with great success. Now, as for your proposal on REM - we support it fully, however, we of course would not want such an institution to regulate the domestic trade of REM in particular. We also want to ensure that we have control over whom we sell REM to - such an alliance would necessarily have to be limited to perhaps the establishment of quotas or some form of price...setting, although we are open to other proposals that do not, in our opinion, unnecessarily constrain Istkalen's sovereignty. There is a question, however, that I would like to ask you, as of now - does the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia recognize the Republic of Istkalen? Even the J-TAI has urged it; this is merely a question of inquiry. There are several other points, not directly related to Istkalen but more or less towards greater cooperation between our respective countries, that I would like to discuss, but as of now I would like to focus on the nature of this proposed REM trading bloc."
-
"Yes, we recognise the Republic of Istkalen and we also do not intend to tell you what form of Government should the Republic adopt. Thank you for the clarification, your Exellence, I am happy to hear that Istkalen will pursue an open trade policy and is interested in basing it on the principle of co-operation with Czech Slavia. But you know, I don't yet have any details ready for the structure or form of the co-operation in REM mining industry. General Secretary Watanabe of Yosai, did you have the privilege of meeting him? A charismatic person, I think you'd like him, he is also not a very thirty person," Reiserová derailed a bit and looked her counterpart intensely in the eyes, she wasn't very happy with his choice of refusing a drink, before once again refocusing on the topic "Well General Secretary Watanabe told me that Yosai would also be interested in co-operation in this field and they they favour dividing the amounts individual exporters could send to a certain country, Like for example that to a Country A 40% of REM will be delivered from Istkalen, 30% from Yosai and 30% from Czech Slavia and each of the exporting countries would respect this division and wouldn't attempt to expand at the expanse of the other. But from what you have said this might be too ambitious for you and setting prices might be more agreeable to you."
"But regardless this will have to be discussed in a multilateral meeting by experts, the important thing now is that you are in principle in agreement with co-operation in this field." Reiserová nodded to herself a few times. "Now I hope that is all that can be said about this field of co-operation at this time, but you mentioned that there are several other points regarding our co-operation, so if you don't have anymore questions, we could move to them?"
-
"I believe setting quotas would indeed be somewhat unpalatable to our miners, as you understand they do not really have a good experience with that level of control. However, we are, as you said, in favor of cooperation. In terms of further points, I would like to discuss potential cooperation not merely between Czech Slavia and Istkalen but between the - how do I say it - countries which are not members of the central power-block of our Union. The topic of cooperation, particularly economic cooperation, between these states, has always been an interest of the Republic, and I am wondering whether the Democratic Republic also holds such an interest. To be perhaps more specific, such cooperation might entail the creation of some form of aid mechanism- free of European politics which might threaten to dismantle it - and perhaps a monetary fund of sorts. In essence, cooperation between the less..privileged of our Union as for development and economic stability."
"Another topic, which perhaps may be more unpalatable to you, as I am not entirely aware of Czech policies on this regard, would involve an exchange - or really not an exchange, for as much as I am patriotic towards my own country, I recognize that few if any would like to go there for any reason whatsoever, for many reasons - of students. This program would thus be very unequal, I understand, but we are indeed willing to pay for all of its expenses. The Republic is currently attempting to modernize the economy and further industrialize, and further education - education which currently cannot be conducted in Istkalen itself due to a lack of infrastructure - is necessary for this. We would be interested in sending both to observe and learn industrial techniques in Czech Slavia, as well as to, perhaps in a more formal environment - in the universities - learn the more advanced subjects that cannot be taught in Istkalen - high-level physics, for example. We would, of course, only be sending the best and brightest of our students, and there would also be limitations on the number of students that could be sent, but we would of course be understanding if your government is uncomfortable with this."
"Another area of cooperation might be in the area of art. Many artists in Istkalen are interested in the Czech style that has developed; perhaps there are some in Czech Slavia that might be interested in certain styles of art that exist in Istkalen, which I can elaborate somewhat on - the styles of art in Istkalen, I mean - if you are interested. I understand that the Democratic Republic does encourage the Czech style of art within your country; but would it be possible for some form of cooperation, perhaps between cultural or artists' unions in Czech Slavia and Istkalen, be arranged for both to interact with each other, learn from each other, and thus further develop the arts of both of our countries? We would also be entirely understanding if your government is uncomfortable with this."
-
"I think your ideas are great Mr.... Mr. Head of State, totally palatable! Well expanding co-operation to other fields and to more parties is of course good and in the interest of the Czech people as long as it doesn't conflict with our interest to pursue friendly relations with all countries, doesn't conflict our existing agreements with our partners and wouldn't limit us in our future agreements."
"Programme for students from Istkalen to enrol in Czech schools is something I am very supportive of and I think we could sign such agreement as soon as possible."
Reiserová once again reached into her cabinet and after a while pulled out a book, which she opened and began to read a motivational quote: "One way to keep your heart together when the state of the world weighs heavy on it is to simply help somebody. Even if it is just one person" she looked at her counterpart "It is of course about an individual, but it is very true, and it could relate to states as well, wouldn't you agree? We are more than willing to help Istkalen in this manner. In fact we regard it as the most effective way to help. Education is so crucial and the students will then return to the home country to develop it, jobs here will remain secure for our people and your country will not experience a brain drain! Now of course, it is also important for us that foreign students are taught our language, our culture and history."
"I am interested in your art so before saying more on the collaboration in this field please elaborate."
-
"Thank you for your support in the field of education, your Excellency," said Rikkalek. "We would of course have no objection to students being taught Czech language, culture, and history, we see this as important. People cannot study in a foreign country without respect or understanding of its culture, that would be unkind to those who extended their kindness to allow them to study there."
"On the issue of art, I think what will interest you most is that the Istkalener artists are mostly focused on preventing elitism in art. I believe they want to expand it to all aspects of life. One grouping of them seeks to quite radically do this, they want to make all life and all work art, a sort of constant dream, or perhaps a fever dream...I don't think I can quite describe it correctly, they are quite strange. They make unusual films which are meant to force people to engage with them in some way, to think about them and from that create some sort of reward, books with blank pages for people to contribute themselves, and other such odd things. There are others who merely desire the transformation of work into art, into a form of self-expression, in an abstract way; they see production as the greatest expression of the self, in a way. All workers, in their mind, should, in an ideal world, be artists, for whom work is art and art is work. They believe art for the sake of art is useless, that all art should serve some productive purpose. What art they create serves mostly to glorify work, or to encourage work or modernization; many of them are really craftsmen, who work to make things such as furniture. The interesting thing is that the reject ornament, they believe that work itself, physical and mental exertion, is more important and is what gives meaning to the final product. It is very unusual, but unique to our country, I feel. There is a third major grouping, who do not belong to those seeking to prevent elitism, who seem to view art more or less as a science, a place to express or play with mathematical or scientific truths, or experiment with them in other ways, and they have their place, but I am not sure what could be done with them in regards to cooperation."
-
"That sounds nice! You know we were motivated by bringing art closer to the people to, so that they not only understand it, but are also able to create it! Well almost all art, film production remained largely the same. Karel, I mean Šín, would be able to explain it theoretically to you. Something about blood and DNA cultivation. Fascinating stuff, yet he keeps coming up with such... weird ideas about sitcoms.... Anyways have you noticed how the example of culture shows how detached the European elites are from reality? They are not able to understand culture that puts people at the centre as one of the votes on the European Order of Merit demonstrates. A shame really." Reiserová rolled her eyes before realising that she is speaking to a foreign guest. "....Ah sorry I won't derail any further. I like your motivation and I think there is a room for co-operation, perhaps a culture festival could be held?"
The Czech President then started writing few things in her notebook before once again returning her eyes to her counterpart "Well from my side we have talked about all that is important for us. I understand you wish to cooperate with other REM exporters and that you favour of less ambitious way of cooperating, I will discuss it at a government meeting and we will contact you as well as the Yosainese side for talks to establish such relation. Is there anything else that you'd like to discuss?"
-
"Yes, a culture festival would certainly be agreeable. There is really nothing we would like to discuss in terms of our side; however, is there anything further that you would like to discuss in regards to how our relationship would benefit the Democratic Republic?"
