News Media of Istkalen

Istkalen

Nation: Polling 7/9 - 8/9
conducted by Isdenek, 901 respondents

Party Preference

Communist Party (far-left, anti-government): 34,6%
National Resurrection Movement (far-right, anti-government): 30,4%
Social Democratic Party (center-left, anti-government): 16,0%
Union/Progress (right-wing, neutral): 7,1%
Christian Democrats (far-right, anti-government): 5,0%
Liberation (center, neutral): 3,9%
Agrarian Union (syncretic, anti-government): 2,0%
National Republican Party (right-wing, anti-government): 1,0%

Government Approval

approve: 1,0%
disapprove: 97,2%
no opinion: 1,8%

Istkalen

Nation: What's in the new constitution, really?

In the week that its text has been known to the public, Istkalen's new constitution has generated significant controversy. Reformist "young officers" within the military have made veiled calls for revolution in an attempt to force it to be rescinded, major trade unions, hitherto quiet in the face of repression, have again begun to threaten strikes against it, and, perhaps most importantly of all, the influential "Northern Radio" has begun a campaign to foment rebellion against it and its implementers, founding a new "National Resurrection Movement" to organize the resistance and opposition it seeks to encourage. It has been accused of being backwards and feudal, and even of being a creation of Reitzmic and Vardic forces who desire to return to Istkalen; it has been painted in the darkest possible light, as a rigid and authoritarian document of the 10th century, as the final blow to an already weak and dying nation.

But what, exactly, are its provisions? What does it propose that is so radical, so terrible, that seemingly the whole of our civil society has come to oppose it? What has damned it to such extensive and extraordinary rejection?

A presidential system. The Constitution proposes a presidential system - one weaker than the status-quo, for the President will not have the power to legislate - and for this is excoriated by our country's intellectuals and so-called political leaders. Simply for ending the nonsensical separation between the leadership of the state and of the government, it is labeled reactionary, it is labeled feudal, it is labeled disasterous and destructive. Over this most innocuous of provisions, the country has seen an attempted coup and threats of violent revolution. Perhaps this should be expected from a country so fragmented and so beholden to the dictates of foreign elites, but it is nevertheless ridiculous and silly.

Of course, some people may point to some other minor provisions - one which implies that the Istkalenic military will have guaranteed influence over the country's politics by giving the leaders of the National Salvation Council the right to appoint a certain proportion of members of the national and local legislatures, as well as to a percentage of the wealth of the country, or another that requires that the state preserve the public morality and prevent deviance - but these are obscure and minor and have no apparent connection to the arguments made by the constitution's opponents.

There are, of course, a few, minor semi-legitimate concerns - some have argued that provisions proclaiming the Republic of Istkalen to have the right to rule over all the world and requiring it to treat foreign nations as vassals would complicate the country's foreign and European policy - but these are not particularly important, are only made by the weak-minded, are only issues in the mind of a small percentage of elites in Liresile, and in any case would have hardly any effect on the administration of the country.

It is clear that the objections to the Constitution are petty, small-minded, and in general comical, detached entirely from reality and entirely unconcerned with the genuine wellbeing of the Istkalenic people - that most central of issues for constitutions and their opponents. They should never have gained any ground within the country, and ought, now that they have been clearly exposed, to be thrown aside in favor of genuine and fullthroated support for this new order that will deliver us from disorder and death.

But we must make one, final comment. We ought to be very concerned that so many people have been convinced of the evil of the Constitution and the NSC, in spite of the complete lack of evidence to prove that either is in any way opposed to the genuine interests of the Istkalenic people. We ought to be very concerned that even within the ranks of the military, and the NSC itself, has this nonsensical opposition arisen. In our midst, clearly, are infiltrators who seek to undermine our country by sowing the seeds of false division, by opposing what is good and supporting what is bad, by slandering true patriots and promoting compradors and spies. Sons, daughters, cousins, friends - any one of them could be a wrongdoer, and we must be careful not to be mislead into treason by their deceit and manipulation.

There is no one we can trust. We must be on guard for the snakes and the crows among us, no matter how close they may be to us; we must be willing to report and to strike them down in our midst, no matter our feelings or misgivings. They have led us already to near death; we must not let them finish us off completely.

For the life of the country, for the integrity of the nation, let us support the Constitution, and fight against the foreign agents in our midst who oppose it. Let us banish all opposition from the country, and be at last united in the cause of our eternal Istkalen.

Istkalen

Die Neue Zeitung: Jezebel leads the faithful into hellfire

For the past two years, God's Church has found itself under attack by Satan. The new Jezebel has usurped the Papacy, and has used it to substitute His doctrine for that of evil. That body that once brought people to salvation now leads the saved astray, telling them to believe in multiple Gods, denying the true and full divinity of our Father, and minimizing, if not negating, the importance of the sacrifice of His begotten Son.

Though many of the faithful protested the initial attempts of Satan and his earthly agents to seize the Church, refusing its poisonous words and orders, they have been led to submit to it and accept even the most ridiculous of its proclamations - that God Himself was crucified, that our consumption of the flesh and blood of His Son in Communion is but a meaningless symbol, that moral rectitude is possible by will alone - because of so-called visions that have come upon Jezebel, her inner circle, and those poor, misled men and women who they were able to delude.

These visions have tricked many of the faithful - even those who were once willing to undergo severe torture in resistance against their dictates - into complete devotion to the Jezebel clique and its Satanic heresies, but let us be clear, they did not happen. God does not give the gift of vision to those who live in sin. Perhaps he tells them that they must change their ways, that they must repent, but never, never does he give them the true gift of foresight, of vision.

And these people do indeed live in sin. They say they are holy, they project a public image of holiness, but they are all among the worst of sinners. Jezebel is said to eat the crackers and grape juice she uses for Communion as, at other times, as snacks; her Ahab, Mr. Peralkal, is known to believe that God is incarnate in him. And the list goes on and on. Ms. Tilisek was once seen throwing scalding-hot water on a group of the poor who had gathered outside her home - a gilded mansion filed with diamonds and all manner of riches - simply to ask her for work. Ms. Maksile, when she was sent to work in Europolis, publically renounced Christianity before recanting that renunciation upon her return. I went to Kirelesile but two weeks ago, and there found one of Jezebel's priests, within her innermost circle and well-known as one of her most fervent supporters, propositioning me outside of what I later discovered was a hole dedicated to the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Such people cannot be God's appointed prophets. Such people cannot be at the head of God's Church, of His Body, on Earth. They live entirely outside of Him, spend every minute of their existence attempting to defy Him, and attempt, furthermore, to corrupt and mislead other people into sin and hellfire near-constantly..They are not ordained by Him; if he has given them a mission, it is and must be only repentance for their most grievous of sins. They work not for Him, but instead for the Devil, who possesses them and influences them to further propagate evil within the Church.

Their words are clearly false. Their visions are clearly tricks. All their work and all their minsitry is clearly demonic in nature. If the Church does not excise these most evil of influences who have taken it over, it will condemn itself to death, cutting off our link to God above and leaving all those who believed to the ravages of Hell.

I appeal to everyone who maintains even the slightest bit of faith - reject what has been told to you for the past two years, and return to the doctrine of your childhood. Return to the doctrine of God - of the Bible, of the Apostles, of the Church Fathers. Remove from your mind all that that was told you by Jezebel and her cronies, in league with Satan; purify and rectify yourself, repent for what you have done and reconcile yourself with God, so that you may once again be whole in Him and receive the living water that surely grants eternal life.

The authority of Jezebel is null. Reject it, and all those other authorities which claim power from her, in favor of the power of God and his true Church; work, always, against the spreading evil among us to purge the Church of the Satanic influence that has spread through it and return it to its former, pure glory.

We will work for the resurrection of the Church, for our own purification and rectification, for our further alignment with God and His ordained plan for all mankind, for the intensification of our faith, for the healing of the disease that has from birth tainted us, for the restoration of our wholeness through God and the sacrifice of His begotten Son, for the rebirth of this broken Earth, for the resurrection and the eternal and holy life beyond.

I pray for all our people - for those led astray by Jezebel, for Jezebel and those around her, for those who live in ignorance beyond, for those who have rejected the truth - so that they may return to the fold of God.

The Lord be with you.

Istkalen

Republic: Polling 10/9 - 17/9
conducted by Kalitmulen, 2.156 respondents

Party Preference

National Resurrection Movement (far-right, anti-government): 40,2%
Communist Party (left-wing, anti-government): 29,8%
Social Democratic Party (center-left, anti-government): 15,1%
Union/Progress (right-wing, anti-government): 5,8%
National Republican Party (right-wing, anti-government): 5,1%
Christian Democrats (far-right, anti-government): 2,0%
Agrarian Union (syncretic, anti-government): 1,2%
Liberation (center, neutral): 0,8%

Government Approval

approve: 0,2%
disapprove: 99,1%
no opinion: 0,7%

Istkalen

Republic: Virkonas insists that the Tabithist occupation is necessary for the implementation of the Constitution and the "renewal of the nation," provoking condemnation

Head of State Itani Virkonas has declared the Tabithist occupation of Istkalen's south "an extraordinarily positive development," calling for a full capitulation of the Istkalenic military to its demands in order to "further the goals of the National Revolution."

"We stand at the cusp of a new dawn for our country," she stated before a crowd of hundreds who had gathered for an unrelated speech to do with housing policy. "A revolutionary force is racing through our nation, it is purifying it of the Western, the Reitzmic and the Vardic, impurities that have poisoned it and held it down for all these years. They are already ridding our capital of decadence and deviancy, already restoring half our country to its original glory. Let us be brave - let us have faith in these brave trend-setters, who have marched forth for the sake of our renaissance! Let us give our lives to them! Let us put our country into their hands! Let them purify all of us, let them light scouring fire over all!"

This was met by immediate booing; several members of the crowd, since identified as refugees who had fled Kirelesile prior to its fall to the Tabithists, attempted to throw their shoes at Virkonas. Nevertheless, she persisted.

"Our project - of our Constitution and so much more - the project of all our nation led by the National Salvation Council - was about to fail. The Reitzmics and Vards in our midst were rising up to sow the seeds of counterrrevolution, and already the false discontent they were creating was rising like the tide, inexorable and unstoppable. The patriots of our country had found themselves powerless, trembling before the force of foreign invaders who seemed sure to overpower and to kill them. But these - these patriots, dedicated to a holy mission, they delivered us from colonization, from exploitation by the contemptible snakes and crows! They came over the country and washed away the traitors and the corruption in our midst. They saved our Constitution, they saved our project, they saved our National Revolution, they saved us - us, us, us, remember that always - they saved us from certain death."

At this juncture, several of those in the audience reported hearing a gunshot; Virkonas, they say, continued to speak, even as her guards attempted to force her away from her lectern into a nearby building.

"I will speak, I must speak!" she screamed. "They have saved us! We were in the abyss, and they brought us out! Do you not see the goodness in this? Do you not see how this is an extraordinarily positive development for our country? Do you not see what we must do? We will die, we will die, our renaissance will not happen, if we do not give ourselves to these heroes! We cannot govern ourselves, we must let ourselves be ruled by these brave warriors of the nation, of God! They have saved the National Revolution, they will further its goals, they will complete it and preserve our nation dear! Hear me! Hear me! You deaf fools, hear me! You will die if you do not hand yourselves to them! They are your salvation!"

Virkonas was forced to cut off here, overpowered by her security, which then proceeded to drag her out of sight.

This extraordinary statement has been met with approval from the ruling majority on the National Salvation Council, which has pointed out broad similarities between Tabithism and their Constitution, including a committment to traditional governance, devolution to trustworthy delegates, and an unshaking faith in the necessity of social conservatism. Several have implied that the provocation of a rebellion from Tabitha was their intention from the beginning, as, in their view, it was only her who had the will or the ability to implement their political project. The Council as a whole has indicated that it will be releasing an official statement on the issue later today; a full capitulation to Tabithist demands is widely expected.

Opposition, however, has been far more common, with almost all sectors of Istkalenic society expressing concerns about the intentions of the state in regards to the Tabithists.

For example, the Prime Minister, Milrakas Ikoszer, outright called Virkonas a "loony" who "still [believes] that we are ruled by the old social democrats according to some feudal arrangement," before accusing her of "trying to sell the country to a deranged cult because the voices in [her] head told her to do so." He expressed his intention to "resist" any attempts to concede to the Tabithists, and insisted upon a "political solution," involving the entirety of the Istkalenic political spectrum, to issues with the country's integrity "in th eplace of these beyond-insane attempts to return to the Middle Ages."

The "young officers" within the NSC and the Istkalenic military also expressed strong reservations about Virkonas's statement. Their unofficial leader, Col. Kuldar Loime, who sits on the NSC itself, claimed that Virkonas "is an agent of the snakes and crows .... everyone knows that the Arian Church is an arm of the continuing J-TAI, and now the spies who have embedded themselves within our ranks say that they want a capitulation to them, that they admire their aims and wanted to accomplish them themselves. They are plainly and openly admitting their treason. When we win, the rope will be their reward for their betrayal."

Two "conservatives" on the NSC, previously "Mindrestekists," also complained, arguing that the National Revolution argued for by Virkonas, as well as her and the NSC's attempts to capitulate to the Tabithists to accomplish it were "blatant abuses of power" that were in opposition to their original goals - to re-establish "a conservative and authentically national government" in Istkalen, to be styled after, they claimed, the reigns of Makketis Melitek and Ayros Tiraki, central figures in the mythos of Istkalenic nationalism.

Virtually every single major party in Istkalen, with the exception of the Tabithist-controlled Christian Democrats, condemned both Virkonas's statements and the NSC's plans, all calling for resistance to the occupation of the South and any attempt to expand it. Several people's committees, as well as all 16 workers' associations, have declared their intent to oppose further capitulations to the Tabithists by "any means possible."

Istkalen

Republic: Loime to lead illegal intervention to support Communist-reformist rebellion against Tabithist occupation

In opposition to the majority on the National Salvation Council and in the government, Colonel Kuldar Loime, the leader of the "young officers" within the Istkalenic military, has declared his intention to lead an illegal expedition into Istkalen's south to support Communist and Arian-reformist led rebels against Tabithist rule.

"Our government," he said at a press conference earlier today, "is composed of traitors. It is illegitimate in every conceivable way. It is, then, up to those few patriots who remain to act in the interest of the nation with whatever power is at their disposal. Here are our darkest days, the South of our country overrun by a criminal and foreign cult, and no one is willing to do anything at all. It is thus my, the highest of the loyal within the Istkalenic state, responsibility to drive them out."

The Istkalenic military being organized along territorial lines, Loime has asked territorial leaders to mass at the border of the Tabithist occupation in order to prepare for the intervention. Several have already responded, and are currently moving their forces, with little resistance from other leaders.

The rebellion Loime intends to support has been ongoing for the past five days, organized by the Federation of Women's Committees, local branches of the Communist Party, regional and local "People's Committees," and various Arian leaders opposed to "Pope Tabitha," and has seized control over large parts of the occupied territory, perhaps most notably the entirety of the city of Kirelesile, once Istkalen's largest city and still its de-facto capital, establishing a new, temporary "regional" government over the liberated regions and conducting certain economic and social reforms, redistributing property, arresting "corrupt" officials, and moving for the "repeal" of censorship and of anti-LGBT laws. Though opposed to many of his more nationalist aims, Loime insists, nevertheless, that it is the beginning of the greater “renaissance’ he speaks to spark.

Istkalen

Republic: Polling 10/10 - 17/10
conducted by Kaitmulen, 2.099 respondents

Party Preference (+/- from 10/9-17/9 poll)
note: the Christian Democrats have been banned by order of the Ministry of the Interior for "opposition to republican order," and were therefore not polled. The names of parties involved in ongoing government formation are italicized.

Communist Party (left-wing to far-left): 30,0% (+0,2)
Social Democratic Party (center-left): 15,1% (-)
National Resurrection Movement (far-right): 12,2% (-28,0)
National Unity (syncretic): 10,8% (NEW)
National Republican Party (right-wing): 10,6% (+4,5)
Union/Progress (center-right): 10,5% (+4,2)
Greens/Democratic Movement (center-right): 10,0% (NEW)
Agrarian Union (syncretic): 0.8% (-0,4)
Liberation (center, neutral): 0% (-0,8)

Government Approval

approve: 50,4% (+50,2)
disapprove: 40,1% (-59,0)
no opinion: 9,5% (+8,8)

Istkalen

Republic: Íkrat refuses cooperation with far-right

Elizabeth Íkrat, leader of Istkalen's Communist Party and the current formateur, has announced that she will not be cooperating with the "extremist right" in forming a government, specifically ruling out the National Resurrection Movement of Andrus Liiv and the National Union of Colonel Kuldar Loime as participants in any future government led by her.

"It does not matter," she said at a press conference held earlier today, "that these forces command the support of 20% of the Istkalenic population. It would not matter if they commanded 90%. They are anti-democratic and praetorian; they cannot be trusted with a gram of power. We have seen what their type have turned this country into in the span of but a few months; we know what terrors and atrocities they will unleash if given a single inch. I have been tasked with the creation of a new government - it is my sacred duty to do so, and to ensure that what government I give the country will govern it well. To allow these monsters and freaks into the cabinet, to allow them anywhere near it, would be for me to betray it and thus surely doom the country to chaos and death."

Her primary focus, she says, will be to work within the parliament - public opinion not withstanding - to construct a broad coalition, reaching from left to right, able and willing to enact the reforms that she believes the country needs to stabilize itself and transition to civilian and democratic rule. That the people support one force or another, she insists, is of no matter; the tides of opinion and societal preferences are, to her, completely ephemeral. Whether a majority supports the parties in her coalition is, thus, to her, completely irrelevant - it is something that can change like the direction of the wind, and thus something that is little more than a triviality. It is more important, in her eyes, to secure the support of "genuine" and more permanent civil society - she points to trade unions, civil servants, and other long-entrenched interest groups, as represented by the "establishment" parties - for it is these, she believes, that define the course and development of the Istkalenic polity in the long term.

Íkrat's statement has received a wide array of reactions.

"It is heartening to know," said Inge Meier, interim leader of Istkalen's Social Democratic Party, "that we will not have a government of the insane and the power-hungry. That alone is a great advance for our country. However, this should not be the standard we hold our governments - especially this government, which will have the task of completely rebuilding the country's institutions in the aftermath of the NSC disaster - to. It ought to be higher, much higher. We should have assurances not merely that the government will be sane and civilian, but that it will be committed - firmly - to democratic values. And these, unfortunately, we do not have. For all her words about rejecting extremism and authoritarianism, Ms. Íkrat is completely willing - she even seems to prefer - to work with the most autocratic forces in Istkalen, so long as they are in the National Assembly. She is talking with the leaders of Union/Progress, a party whose raison d'etre is the abolition of democracy; she is talking with the leaders of the National Republican Party, who share the preferences of the NSC on every conceivable issue but the question of who is to rule; she is talking with the leaders of the Greens and the Democratic Movement, who have and will continue to combine all the worst tendencies of the Istkalenic right, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, bigotry, into one, demonic force. Yes, we will have a government of the qualified, of the stable, of civilians - but it seems unlikely that we will have a democratic government, and this is a tragedy."

"I suspected from the beginning," said Andrus Liiv, leader of the National Resurrection Movement, "that this woman was a Vard. And now she reveals it plainly before the Istkalenic people. Everyone can see, now, how deep the infiltration of the crows and the snakes is. Everyone can see how rotten our so-called government is. To arms, I tell you, to arms; there is no other option. We are still under occupation, we are still under the yoke of the northern hordes and the southern snakes; we must resist with all our power if we are not to perish under their unrelenting pressure."

"The nation," said Colonel Kuldar Loime, "is in need of healing. It is in need of rejuvenation, in need of reconstruction. And yet the politicians of this country, for the sake of their own power and their own petty struggles, refuse the compromises and the broad-based cooperation that would give birth to these things, they refuse that which would allow the nation to recuperate from its ordeal. For the sake of their egos, for the sake of their greed, they condemn the nation to death. I will repeat what I said when I first announced its creation. The National Union is and always will be open to work with anyone who is committed to our country; it is sad that I cannot say the same of this country's political class."

The acting President, Ilmaras Kalessed, is expected to give a statement on the issue tomorrow; most predict, considering her own ties to Íkrat and her traditionally left-wing stance in Istkalenic politics, that, though she called originally for a "broad-based" government, she will lend her continued support for Íkrat.

The sitting Prime Minister, Elspeth Oskon, however, has not commented at all, nor indicated that she will ever comment

Istkalen

The Messenger: Recap

You are listening to the Messenger. Here's our nightly recap of the day's news:

Oskon, Jezebel-Swift announce concordat

Prime Minister Elspeth Oskon and Reszelport Jezebel-Swift have announced that they have mutually agreed to a new "concordat" to define and regulate the relationship between the Republic and the Arian Church, replacing the fairly liberal 2005 Framework Agreement with a far more restrictive system that strips the Church of its power over the German Territories and severely limits its ability to proselytize and provide religious education.

The concordat is a major departure from past precedent. Since the conclusion of the Arian-Istkalenic conflict in 1973, the Arian Church has, but for a handful of short, "extraordinary" periods, possessed an unusual degree of autonomy, especially in comparison with other churches and religious institutions in Istkalen. Now, however, it is to be subject to perhaps the most state oversight of all those recognized by the Istkalenic state. Nevertheless, the Church appears to be united in support for the agreement; none of its major leaders, nor any of its most prominent adherents, have raised a single note of protest.

Isteresskemar, Reiner raise concerns about Íkrat's "anti-Czech" proclivities

Írenet Isteresskemar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the de facto leader of the newly founded "Greens/Democratic Movement" in parliament, and Grete Reiner, co-leader of the National Republican Party, have raised concerns about the opinions of formateur Elizabeth Íkrat in regards to Istkalen's relations with the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia, a central European country that Istkalen has enjoyed warm ties with since the end of the occupation. Though both have reiterated that they are in support of the government formation process and do not wish to challenge the leading role of the Communist Party in it, they insist that Íkrat's views on Czech Slavia are dangerous - enough so that, although she is formateur, another Communist figure ought to take the role of Prime MInister in her place when the new government is formalized.

"I have the greatest respect for Ms. Íkrat," said Istersskemar earlier today. "She led the charge against the NSC; she is one of our greatest patriots, an invaluable and irreplaceable force who has dedicated her life to the defense of our Republic and our democracy. Nevertheless, I cannot help but be perturbed by her unusual and irrational hatred - there is no other word for it - for the Czech state, one of our most steadfast allies. Though there is no one else in our country with her stature and strength, I fear that for her to become Prime Minister, as she is expected to be, would endanger our relationship with the Czechs - and thus weaken our international position. For these reasons, I believe that we ought to begin to consider other candidates for the position."

Reiner was more blunt. "We simply cannot have someone who is so virulently and irrationally anti-Czech in this office," she said. "Czech Slavia is our closest ally; it is, to me and to the vast majority of Istkaleners, a model state, one whose path we ought to emulate. Ms. Íkrat is dedicated to this country, I do not deny that, she is perhaps more dedicated to it than anyone else in politics, but these opinions of hers make her, unfortunately, unacceptable to me and to almost everyone else involved in government negotiations."

Istkalen

Republic: Greens/Democratic Movement to be officially known as the Farmer-Green Alliance

Irenet Isteresskemar has announced that her political alliance, formed of the Greens, her own political party, and the Democratic Movement, a group of ex-Liberation deputies in the National Assembly, will be named the Farmer-Green Alliance.

"Our movement does not," she said at a press conference earlier today, "have a name for itself. Our deputies in parliament refer to themselves simply by the name of the party or group of which they are members, as Greens or as partisans of the Democratic Movement; the media, on the other hand, calls us the ‘Greens/Democratic Movement.’ I feel - our leadership feels - and I am sure you all feel as well - that this is ridiculous. We are, firstly, one movement - two parties, yes, but one movement - and ought to present ourselves as such. And secondly, well, ‘Greens/Democratic Movement’ is an ugly name; it’s inelegant, unmemorable, both bad things for any political movement.”

“Our leadership, then,” she continued, “has decided to put an end to this miserable state of affairs. The central boards of both the Greens and the Democratic Movement have resolved to name our joint alliance the ‘Farmer-Green Alliance.’ It is a good name, a strong name, one that’s clear and snappy. It makes what we are and what we stand for clear—that we are the environmentalists and farmers of this country allied to defend our interests when they—and so often—intersect. The decision, I have to tell you, has already gone into effect; nevertheless, I promise you all that it will go for a vote, that you all, our members, those without whom our movement would not exist, will have the final say over whether the name is ultimately adopted. It is you who know best, after all, far better than we do - and you, I am sure, who will make the correct decision.”

The move has been widely interpreted as an attempt to place the alliance as a definitive successor to the Agrarian Union, which, while maintaining a significant parliamentary presence has collapsed in opinion polling—it gives the alliance the same identity, as an agrarian-environmentalist political grouping, while preparing its two member parties, the Greens and the Democratic Movement, to take the places of the two of the Agrarian Union, the Ecologists and the New Agrarians.

It is also seen as a confirmation of Isteresskemar’s intention to separate completely from the Agrarian Union. It has long been rumored that her relations with the rest of the party leadership were less than cordial, with her ardently nationalist and quasi-libertarian viewpoints clashing strongly with the progressive and often socialist inclinations of the Union establishment. Nevertheless, many believed that her decision to leave it and establish a new alliance with liberal politicians in the National Assembly was but a gambit meant to force her enemies within the Union to accommodate her. This “rebranding,” however, suggests that there was and is something more serious at play - of a deeper rift and of a genuine desire to establish an independent political movement.

Most expect the name change to be confirmed by the membership of both parties; few complaints, if any, have been made about it, and, in any case, they have become so centered around the figure of Isteresskemar that it is difficult to imagine them rejecting her directions and decisions, even if they are quietly opposed to them.

Reactions from the rest of the political spectrum have been sparing, if existent at all.

Istkalen

Nation: Polling 4/11 - 5/11
conducted by Isdenek, 781 respondents

Party Preference

Communist Party (far-left, in gov't formation): 35,1%
National Republican Party (center-right, in gov't formation): 15,3%
Social Democratic Party (left-wing): 11,8%
National Unity (center-right): 10,3%
Farmer-Green Alliance (center-right, in gov't formation): 10,1%
Union/Progress (center-right, in gov't formation): 8,9%
National Resurrection Movement (right-wing): 8,3%
Agrarian Union (left-wing): 0,2%
Liberation (center): 0%

Government Approval

approve: 53,9%
disapprove: 38,7%
no opinion: 7,4%

Istkalen

Republic

Oskon dismissed by Censorate; replaced by Orlich

Citing the general dysfunctionality of her cabinet, as well as her recent decision to dismiss en masse a number of popular ministers, the Censorate of Istkalen has dismissed Elspeth Oskon as Prime Minister of Istkalen, replacing her with Ursula Orlich, who served as the country's provisional head of state for two months earlier this year.

"The chaos in government," read a statement the Censorate released on the issue, "is unacceptable. The decisions of the cabinet are not being implemented, ministers make decisions and issue orders without any degree of coordination between each other, and all the Prime Minister does is flail about and whine, before removing the competent from their positions. Her ineptitude is extraordinary; it has led and will continue to lead this country into a quagmire even deeper than the one it has just extricated itself from. This cannot continue. We are therefore dismissing Ms. Orlich from her position, and replacing her, with immediate effect, with Ms. Ursula Orlich, who we hope and trust will be up to the task of pacifying and stabilizing our beloved country."

Despite having both called the Istkalenic people "ungovernable" and handed control over the country to the NSC, Orlich has come to be widely respected as a strong and cool-headed stateswoman; though deeply unpopular during her short term as "State Protector" for her repressive actions against the opposition, many have re-evaluated her in light of the disorder that has prevailed in the time since her resignation, hailing her as one of the few sane and competent members of the political class, and even as the country's last hope. Her appointment has been met with acceptance and with the hope that she will at last bring a semblance of normalcy to Istkalenic governance.

Orlich is expected to, as first action, reinstate many, if not all, the ministers dismissed by Oskon. She has not, however, yet clearly outlined her intentions, and is not expected to until she is formally sworn in.

Uklertal and Laakonen announce exit from Social Democrats

Kondres Uklertal and Lauri Laakonen, as well as 66 of their supporters in the National Assembly, have announced their departure from the Social Democratic Party in favor of an organization of their own, tentatively named the Statebuilding Party, citing anti-democratic measures taken by Inge Meier, the SDP chairwoman.

"We agree, broadly," the two wrote in a statement published two days ago, "with the message of social democracy in Istkalen. We believe, just as strongly as Ms. Meier claims to, in the defense of liberal democracy, in the defense of civil and political rights, in the defense of social justice. Our departure is not motivated, then, by her decision to reorient the party away from its authoritarian past, as she may claim - not at all."

"We have made the decision," they continued, "to leave the Social Democratic Party simply because we believe that Ms. Meier has made it impossible to promote the social democratic ideology within its bounds. She has stifled interparty debate and democracy; she proclaims that it is her way or the highway, that she is to lead and we to obey. This is completely inappropriate, and is the beginning of a corruption that we feel - strongly - will lead to the discrediting of our movement and the end of any hope for liberalization and democratization in our country."

Their move is widely seen as the climax of a long interparty struggle for control between the environmentalist and nationalist factions of which they are leaders and the socialist faction of Meier. Though the party has, since its decision to abandon its prewar ideology, been united by a belief in liberal democracy and social progressivism, it has seen increasing division and discord over economic and cultural policies in particular, especially since the ascendance of the often combative Meier to her position.

The Statebuilding Party, though it has not yet elaborated upon its positions beyond its "transversality," is expected to take a position slightly to the right, in accordance with Uklertal and Laakonen's views, of the Social Democrats, adopting the anti-business-incorporation and laicitic stances associated with the nationalist right while maintaining a left-wing commitment to social progressivism and green policy.

Meier, nor any other high-ranking functionaries of the Social Democratic Party, has not yet reacted.

Íkrat suggests a government led by Arkalis

Amid an impasse in government negotiations over the issue of relations with the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia, Elizabeth Íkrat, the current formateur, has suggested that Antras Arkalis, the Communist Party's rapporteur for finance and economics, become Prime Minister in her own place in order to mollify concerns over a rupture in relations.

"I cannot say that I am in favor of relations with Czech Slavia," said Íkrat, "especially considering the recent rumors of cult infiltration in their government, but I understand that many of those in our establishment and in government negotiations view them as vitally important and irreplaceable. I am not one to put my own personal beliefs and ideology over the health of the country, and so I will, in this case, concede. I am open to someone else from our party becoming Prime Minister - perhaps Mr. Arkalis, who I understand is well-liked and know has a long history in government."

The leaders of the National Republican Party, Grete Reiner and Kaisa Malk, and of the Farmer/Green Alliance, Írenet Isteresskemar and Liris Vesek, have responded to this proposal positively; nevertheless, all have continued to insist that they must have strong assurances that the new government will not change relations with Czech Slavia except to strengthen them.

"Mr. Arkalis," said Reiner, "is, to me, to all of us in negotiations, infinitely preferable to Ms. Íkrat, especially in regards to the Czech Slavia question. Nevertheless, Ms. Íkrat's opposition to the Czechs is so strong that I worry that it may still affect government policy. That she is not Prime Minister is to me, to many of us, not enough, even if it is a significant and good step forwards - we must have an assurance that there will be no change to our policy in regards to Czech Slavia, no antagonization made, that our government, as have all past governments, will be committed to furthering and deepening our relations with them."

Istkalen

Nation: Polling 12/11 - 13/11
conducted by Isdenek, 699 respondents

Party Preference
note that the banned National Union and National Resurrection Movement are no longer polled

Communist Party (far-left, in gov't formation): 34,7% (-0,4)
National Republican Party (center-right, in gov't formation): 15,1% (-0,2)
Social Democratic Party (left-wing): 13,9% (+2,1)
Statebuilding Party (center-left): 12,1% (new)
Farmer-Green Alliance (center-right, in gov't formation): 10,1% (-)
Union/Progress (center-right, in gov't formation): 9,0% (+0,1)
Agrarian Union (left-wing): 4,2% (+4,0)

with inclusion of major banned parties

Communist Party (far-left, in gov't formation): 30,0%
National Republican Party (center-right, in gov't formation): 15,0%
Social Democratic Party (left-wing): 13,7%
Union/Progress (center-right, in gov't formation): 8,7%
National Union (syncretic, banned): 8,1%
Farmer-Green Alliance (center-right, in gov't formation): 7,9%
Statebuilding Party (center-left): 6,1% (new)
National Resurrection Movement (far-right, banned): 5,3%
Christian Democrats (far-right, banned): 4,0%
Agrarian Union (left-wing): 1,2%

Scenario Polling

reintegration of the Farmer-Green Alliance into the Agrarian Union*

Communist Party: 28,7%
Agrarian Union: 25,1%
National Republican Party: 14,1%
Social Democratic Party: 13,8%
Union/Progress: 9,1%
Statebuilding Party: 9,0%

reintegration of Statebuilding into the Social Democrats

Communist Party: 34,1%
National Republican Party: 19,5%
Farmer-Green Alliance; 15,3%
Social Democratic Party: 15,1%
Union/Progress: 9,2%
Agrarian Union: 6,3%

Ayros Tiraki founds a party

Party of Ayros Tiraki: 74,1%
Social Democratic Party: 13,3%
Communist Party: 11,4%
Farmer-Green Alliance: 0,3%
Agrarian Union: 0,2%
Statebuilding Party: 0,2%
Union/Progress: 0,1%
National Republican Party: 0,1%

Government Approval

approve: 72,3%
disapprove: 10,2%
no opinion: 17,5%

Preferred Prime Minister

Kaisa Malk (National Republican Party, right-wing): 25,1%
Antras Arkalis (Communist Party, left-wing): 20,1%
Elizabeth Íkrat (Communist Party, left-wing): 18,2%
Ursula Orlich (incumbent, non-partisan, center-right): 15,1%
Liris Vesek (Farmer-Green Alliance, center-right): 10,8%
other: 10,7%

Istkalen

Republic: Orlich announces restoration of National Duty, Public Distribution Service

Prime Minister Orlich has announced that her government, in order to respond to the "social and economic crisis" she says has developed in Istkalen, will be restoring National Duty, as well as the Public Distribution Service (PDS).

"Poverty and degradation," she said at a press conference held yesterday, "now rule in this country. The old mutualities have collapsed; the majority can no longer meet their basic needs. Assistance has dried up completely, and what little there is comes, now, in the form of cash - useless in so much of Istkalen. For us, this is an absolutely unacceptable state of affairs. We must abandon our present course; we must return to the systems that once served us so well, that ensured every child, every working citizen, every retiree a decent and basic standard of living."

National Duty, a form of corvee, and the PDS, a bureaucracy meant to redistribute the products of National Duty among the Istkalenic people as compensation, were previously abolished by the administration of Vistek Rikkalek and gradually replaced with income tax and a series of "living allowances." This decision was meant to bring Istkalen in line with international law and standards; however, the country has since seen profound economic and social instability, as a direct result of these changes, which replaced the direct provision of goods and services with cash transfers and thus left many of the most vulnerable unable to access the essentials that had once simply been given them by the state. Many experts have, then, long been calling for a restoration - and now, at last, the government seems to be acting.

Implementation will be slow by Istkalenic standards. Unlike previous welfare reforms, says Orlich, which made quick and immediate changes to systems of distribution and redistribution, the one she is embarking on will be "methodical and measured."

"We will not rush," she said, "the process. We will not run heedlessly ahead and break everything, as so many other past administrations have. We will work, instead, with the mutualities and workers' associations to see what is possible; we will discuss, negotiate, and come to a good, smart, methodical, and measured solution."

Nevertheless, she stressed the necessity of ensuring the fastest possible relief for the poorest communities in Istkalen.

"But we are, yes, in a crisis - and a crisis demands immediate action. We are not ignoring this when we speak of methodicality. We have already prepared a number of stopgap measures that establish a system of basic public distribution, through the Ministry of Public Distribution and with the assistance of the military and national police, for rural and degraded urban areas to ensure that the worst-off are relieved in these hardest of times. But we insist - a more permanent solution cannot be created, announced, and implemented in a day."

The decision has received harsh criticism from large swathes of the Istkalenic political spectrum.

"We are returning to the past," said Inge Meier, leader of the Social Democratic Party. "We are abandoning modernity in favor of an outdated, inhumane, and authoritarian model of forced labor. Is our aim not modernization? Is our highest aspiration not, as the Prime Minister herself has repeatedly insisted, equality with the rest of Europe? If they are as such, then why are we taking ourselves off the path to both with such a bizarre and disgusting measure?"

"That the abolition of National Duty and the PDS," said Kaisa Malk, co-leader of the National Republican Party, "was a tragedy is something no one denies. We are therefore in support of this measure. We are, however, not in support of its timing, nor its implementors. The Prime Minister ought to remember that hers is a transitional government - that she is not in her position to make ideological decisions, but simply to re-establish order and ensure a smooth return to normalcy and democracy."

"Ursula," said Andrus Liiv, the leading presenter for the Northern Radio and the leader of the far-right National Resurrection Movement, "reveals herself to be a Reitzmo-Vardic agent. Her proposal is an attempt to appeal to and pervert our traditional sentiments and beliefs to enslave us to the hordes in the North and the snakes of the South. Don't be fooled - the continuing J-TAI is making but another attempt to place us under its yoke!"

"Istkalen," said Colonel Kuldar Loime, the leader of the banned "National Union," "is not in need of slow and 'methodical' measures. We are a country on our deathbed; what we need is a shock to bring us back to life, not this diluted solution dripped at snail's pace into our mouths. Now, more than ever, we need immediate and decisive action - and this is absolutely not that. The National Union stands not for tepid prodding but for the immediate restoration of National Duty and the PDS."

Nevertheless, Orlich's decision enjoys broad popularity among the Istkalenic people, and is unlikely to be rejected when it comes to a vote in the National Assembly.

Istkalen

Republic: Polling 10/11 - 17/11
conducted by Kaitmulen, 2.144 respondents

Party Preference (+/- from 10/10 - 17/10 poll)

Communist Party (left-wing to far-left): 35,3% (+5,3)
Social Democratic Party (center-left to left-wing): 17,2% (+2,1)
Statebuilding Party (center-left): 14,3% (new)
Union/Progress (center-right): 11,5% (+1,0)
National Republican Party (right-wing): 9,1% (-1,5)
Farmer-Green Alliance (center-right): 6,3% (-3,7)
Agrarian Union (syncretic): 6,1% (+5,3)
other: 0,2%

Government Approval

approve: 90,5% (+40,1)
disapprove: 5,0% (-35,1)
no opinion: 4,5% (-4,0)

Istkalen

Republic: Issue polling 10/11 - 17/11
conducted by Kaitmulen, 2.144 respondents

Was the country better off under the prewar government?

YES: 81,3%
NO: 15,2%
other: 3,5%

Was the revolution of the 18th of April (fall of the prewar government and the beginning of the capitulation to Reitzmag and Vayinaod) positive or negative for the country?

POSITIVE: 27,5%
NEGATIVE: 68,0%
other: 4,5%

Are you in favor of the restoration of National Duty (corvee) and the Public Distribution System (state distribution of basic goods in the place of Western-style welfare)?

YES: 97,1%
NO: 1,9%
other; 1,0%

Are you in favor of the continued control of the labor exchanges (formerly elected institutions that connect the underemployed to work and provides retraining opportunities) by the Ministry of Public Distribution?

YES: 59,3%
NO: 39,7%
other: 2,0%

Are you in favor of the continued appointment of local and regional people's committees (local governments) by the Ministry of the Interior?

YES: 29,8%
NO: 60,3%
other: 9,9%

Do you believe that the mutualities (mutual-aid/social welfare organizations organized by local people's committees) should continue to exist?

YES: 97,0%
NO: 2,0%
other: 1,0%

Do you believe that the workers' societies (local, vocation-specific organizations that organized social welfare, access to equipment and work, for members, now integrated into the broader, sectoral workers' associations) should be restored?

YES: 9,5%
NO: 89,5%
other: 1,0%

Do you believe that prewar public clothing and appearance regulations (modesty laws, ban on gender non-conformity) should be restored?

YES: 60,5%
NO: 38,5%
other: 1,0%

Do you believe that sex segregation should be reinstated?

YES: 61,1%
NO: 38,0%
other: 0,9%

Do you believe that censorship on moral grounds, as was practiced in the prewar period, should be restored?

YES: 60,9%
NO: 38,2%
other: 0,9%

Did you support the NSC?

YES: 0,1%
NO: 99,5%
other: 0,4%

Did you support the J-TAI?

YES: 0,9%
NO: 98,1%
other: 1,0%

Are you in favor of the new arrangements between the state and religious organizations, as defined bv the Concordat with the Arian Church and the 15 December Decrees regulating religious activity?

YES: 60,3%
NO: 38,7%
other: 1,0%

Were you in favor of Indras Uskeled's economic reform (replacing all welfare with non-means-tested cash allowances, abolishing pensions, increasing the role of state planning, allowing the state to forcibly move workers between sectors), of 6 January 2023?

YES: 5,1%
NO: 93,9%
other: 1,0%

Do you agree with the decision of the government to order the second imprisonment and dissolution of the House of Kareskenet (imprisonment of, forced name changes for, all the members of the former royal house of Istkalen)?

YES: 95,5%
NO: 3,5%
other: 1,0%

Do you believe that the government should create a framework for the incorporation of economic enterprises?

YES: 5,3%
NO: 94,0%
other: 0,7%

Do you believe that unskilled workers should legally be allowed to participate in non-government sponsored or organized economic activity?

YES: 37,9%
NO: 60,1%
other: 2,0%

Istkalen

Republic: Farmer-Greens withdraw from government negotiations

The Farmer-Green Alliance has withdrawn from government negotiations, citing irreconcilable differences with the other involved parties on the issues of industrial development and economic management.

"We stand, firmly, for our own national tradition in all spheres - and above all on the question of the economy," said party leader Irenet Isteresskemar at a press conference earlier today. "We do not believe that, simply for the sake of convenience and so-called national prosperity, we ought to abandon our own methods for those of the West, for we would be selling our souls to the foreigners by doing so. So it is a no to their factories, a no to their plans for the parasitical unskilled, a no to all of it. Our Istkalen comes first, always."

The disagreement stems from an issue that has long been central to Istkalenic politics - the essential contradiction between the country's cultural commitment to smallholding and the preservation of the crafts and the need to remain competitive in an increasingly efficient and more industrialized world. While much of the political spectrum has accepted the need for compromise in strategic sectors, particularly mining, energy, and heavy industry, almost all which are socialized and run according to national economic plans developed by their corresponding workers' associations in concert with the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Public Distribution, significant parts of it - the Farmer-Green Alliance foremost among this sector - have rejected it, insisting that competitiveness is possible in a system that completely preserves the traditional economy, and that whatever lags or losses that may be caused by this choice are a necessary sacrifice.

Governments before have been formed between forces on opposite sides of the issue, but they generally have been led by and conceded completely to the anti-modernizers. The current situation is without precedent in Istkalenic history.

The formateur, Elizabeth Ikrat, has condemned the Alliance's decision as "irrational," "unpatriotic," "detached from reality," and "an unnecessary barrier to the formation of a democratic barrier" and reached out, in place of offering concessions to Isteresskemar, to the pro-industrial Statebuilding Party in order to create a parliamentary majority. Acting head of state Ilmaras Kalessed has made no objection to this; she has expressed, in fact, her continued desire to further extend Ikrat's mandate until she is able to form a government.

None of the other partners, Union/Progress and the National Republican Party, in negotiation have yet commented; both, however, are strongly pro-industrial, and are not likely to push for reconciliation.

Istkalen

Republic: Mass arrests across Istkalen

Over fifteen thousand people have been arrested across Istkalen today in a mass operation meant to paralyze the work of a number of political and social organizations the government has deemed to be working against the state and the democratic transition.

Arrests were focused on leaders and influential members of and within the National Union, the National Resurrection Movement, the "original" rump Social Democratic Party, and the Christian Democratic Party, in addition to the executive and creative staff of a number of illegal media groups, particularly the Northern Radio, Awakening, and the Popular Appeal. Almost all of the targeted groups are notable for their nationalist outlook, support for the prewar government and ideology of Istkalen, and ardent opposition to the government.

The move is widely seen as a last-ditch effort to limit and control the influence of the radical and revolutionary right in Istkalen. Since the beginning of the occupation, these groups and others within their general ideological current have worked to delegitimize and destabilize the Istkalenic state, disseminating conspiracy theories, provoking intense xenophobia, encouraging mass and violent hysteria, and orchestrating coordinated takeovers of local government as to give themselves an organizational and political base for outright rebellion. Though the state has taken often violently suppressive action against these activities - perhaps most notably with the 2021 ASPIS raids conducted prior to the launching of a European peacekeeping mission in the country -it has hitherto been fairly limited in scope, focusing primarily on detaining only those at the very top and curbing active violence, and has in general not been successful in the long term.

With the chaos of the far-right NSC still in extremely recent memory, however, the urgency of solving this issue has intensified - and the threshold of acceptability lower. Suppressive action that might have been unthinkable a year ago began to enter public and government discourse as a possible solution - and this, it seems, is the result.

The arrests have overwhelmed policing and justice systems across the country. Almost every jail is at or above capacity, with overcrowding, especially in rural areas, common. Police forces and local state-affiliated militias have, in many cases, had to requisition abandoned or empty housing or other buildings to house the detained because of the extreme lack of space in normal facilities; some, including in Kirelesile, have made the decision to place some in hastily built corrals, out in the open. Courts are also ill prepared to deal with the sudden influx of cases; several judges, who wish to remain anonymous, have told Republic that the justice system will likely spend years going through all the arrests, with other cases being deprioritized. While the government has proposed a bill, to the National Assembly, establishing a system of special courts, with special, faster procedures, for those arrested in this sweep, whether it passes is still unknown.

Istkalen

Republic

Ikalsser and Raadik demand withdrawal from negotiations

Makketis Ikalsser and Eliise Raadik, who led the National Republican Party from March 2022 to February 2023, have called for the party to withdraw from government negotiations, arguing that it must completely rule out the "austerity-minded" Communist Party in order to "defend the welfare of the Istkalenic people."

"The National Republican Party," a joint statement authored by the two reads, "has always stood against those who seek to undermine our Istkalenic solidarity. Every attempt to chip away at our welfare state and republican economic tradition it has resisted. It must not stop now, at this most crucial of points in history. The government that is to be formed will be the first government of a new era in Istkalenic politics - and thus, in the decisions it takes, definitive. Its composition and the direction it takes will affect not just us, but our children, and their children as well. To acquiesce to an austerity government - the almost certain result of supporting a Communist-led coalition - would be to betray them. Let us keep to our party tradition then; let us remain stalwart against the threat before us."

Ikalsser and Raadik further insisted that the party return to the basic principles and redlines they set at the beginning of their tenure as leaders - protection of National Duty and the Public Distribution Service, restoration of the indecency laws of the prewar period, and opposition to legal business incorporation - in order to "preserve the country for the generations after us."

The debate reflects a growing division within the ex-communists who have become the majority within the party, with strict nationalists, like Ikalsser and Raadik, on one side and pragmatists, like current leaders Kaisa Malk and Grete Reiner, on the other. Though united in nationalism and a strong commitment to economic egalitarianism at the time of their mass departure from the Communist Party and entrance into the National Republican fold, the past year has seen increasingly harsh friction within their ranks, especially at times when, like now, government participation in exchange for ideological concessions is a likely prospect.

The party's mainline leadership has not yet responded, nor is it expected to ever do so.

Uskeled releases notes, recordings that suggest Arkalis to be primary drafter of unpopular economic reform

Former Prime Minister Indras Uskeled, most notable for her unpopular economic and welfare reform that abolished pensions, replaced all welfare with flat, universal cash allowances, and allowed the state to forcibly move workers between sectors, has published, ostensibly for the sake of "transparency," a collection of notes, journals, and recordings written and made during her tenure in office.

The vast majority have to do with the formulation and drafting of the reform, and implicate many of the figures involved in current government formation - especially Antras Arkalis, Uskeled's Minister of Finance and the Communist candidate for the Prime Ministership - in the development of its worst aspects.

"We have to do away with it all," Arkalis is heard saying on one recording, dated 26 December 2022. "We are in over our heads. It's unsustainable. We have to cut now, and we have to cut hard. We can't afford anything else."

Arkalis went on to insist upon the total abolition of all welfare, with only a meager basic income - "perhaps 200 to 250 ketsels, and then limited only to the bottom half of all earners, or even the bottom quarter, or even the bottom eigth" - taking its place. Though the actual welfare reform would be significantly less harsh, the influence of this remark - particularly in its proposal of a basic income to replace traditional welfare =- can be seen.

Arkalis, in another recording, also appears to have been the first to suggest the idea of seizing and abolishing pensions in order to service state debt.

"What use," he can be heard saying, "is there in showering money, in such an unequal way as well, upon the unproductive? It's a money hole, that's what it is, a money hole and nothing more. And we have nothing to spare. I think we ought to take this money we're essentially burning and spend it on something more pressing."

He becomes, in later recordings and notes, the loudest and most enthusiastic advocate for the measure.

Uskeled, for her part, appeared to have served as a foil to Arkalis. Though she consistently supported reform and outright austerity in her notes and in her recordings, she also consistently refused his radicalism, and generally acted as the most fiscally generous of the cabinet members.

"It needs to be social, it needs to be equal, it needs to be sustainable. That is our exigence on the welfare question," she is heard responding to Arkalis on the 26 December recording. "We must cut, but we must cut with a bit of sense, not willy-nilly but in a way that affects the Istkalenic people as little as is possible."

The proposal she goes on to make is one that is more generous than the ultimate reform, ending most of the in-kind welfare system, but replacing it with a low universal basic income, which she terms a "basic allowance," on top of which would be created vaguely Western-style, if spare, systems of social insurance for health, retirement, disability, and under or unemployment. It is one that she holds to until the last stages of the drafting of the reform, where she finally concedes to Arkalis in the wake of the conflict in Svarna Surya.

The public has received the collection with shock, but also skepticism. While there has been an immediate turn in opinion against Arkalis, the vast majority appear to believe that the extremity of his suggestions - and the apparent softness of Uskeled's - has been either exaggerated or taken out of context.

No political forces, including Arkalis, have yet commented.

Istkalen

Republic: An interview with Kalju Ilves

I: Thank you for having agreed to meet with us, Mr. Ilves.

KI: It's my pleasure.

I: Now, you headed the country's cabinet at some of the most turbulent times in its history: through the transition away from socialization, through the aftermath of Rikkalek's resignation, through Orlich's "restoration of order," through the NSC period. Your competence, your record, in doing so has - continues to be - very hotly debated among the public. What, then, is your own evaluation of your tenure?

KI: I don't think anyone sane disputes the necessity of my administration's actions towards the socialization - it was a poorly thought out mess from the beginning that I am very proud of having forced an end to - so I think I will turn to the issue of my leadership after that particular episode.

What people have to understand is that Rikkalek's departure threw the state into complete disorder. He had spent his tenure dividing its branches and sectors against themselves so as to enshrine himself as the only uniting factor, and so, of course, as soon as he left, everything fell apart. Governance became virtually impossible. That my administrations were able to hold the country together in any sense was a miracle, and I think people should be more appreciative of that. There is much that I regret - but at the same thing I think I, I think my administration, ultimately did as good as a job as was possible under the circumstances.

I: But the NSC -

KI: I had no power during the NSC period. No one in the civilian cabinet did. I think it's ridiculous to bring anything that happened then as an indictment of me or those in my administration.

I: Alright, then. As much as you say that nothing better was possible, people don't seem to believe it. They look back to the relative successes of the Social Democrats in '05 or '06, when the internal situation was much more fraught, or to Communist rule after '89 and the certainly more fruitful efforts of that administration to maintain stability and basic welfare, and then back to your government, and they can think only that, well, if these other people were able to do so much better, in considerably worse conditions, then why can't these people do the same now?

KI: I don't think there's any comparison to be made here. We did not have a state apparatus; they did. Again, I do not think people quite understand the damage that Rikkalek did. He destroyed all the bonds and institutions that had defined Istkalenic governance for decades to put himself in their place, and then decided to vanish and leave us with the burnt out shell he left behind. No one else has ever had to deal with this; only us.

I: But people do know that Rikkalek did these things. There is a reason why his approval rating is currently in the sewer; there is a reason he had to disappear. It simply is that much worse has happened to the country - look at the chaos of '96, or of '03, for example - without the government failing quite as it did under your watch.

KI: You prove my point. What he did was worse than '96 and '03, but people don't understand that.

I: In what way?

KI: He destroyed the civil service. He pitted the workers' associations against the courts and the Censorate. He constantly shifted state power between this faction and that solely to create disorder and to force everyone to rely on him. We have never had a head of state so egotistical and destructive as this in our modern history.

I: I don't think there's anything more to say on this subject, so let's move to another. You left the Social Democratic Party recently for the Statebuilders; why?

KI: Ms. Meier has led the party away from its foundations and towards an extreme liberalism. She has effectively abandoned its committment to the social state in favor of promoting austerity politics and the type of uncontrolled, libertinian behavior that undermines the trust needed to maintain a solidaristic society. I will have nothing to do with it. The future of true social democracy in this country, I feel, lies not with her but with Ministers Uklertal and Laakonen, who are far truer to the original principles of the ideology and who I trust to lead it back to power.

I: You yourself supported "austerity politics," at least in the eyes of the people, during your leadership of the party; why the change?

KI: There has been no change; I never supported them. I believed - still believe - in a more active state that provides people basic insurance complementing what the mutualities and workers' associations offer. That is the opposite of austerity politics; it is an addition, not a substraction, that brings togther, not takes apart, our society.

I: And the difference between this and what Ms. Meier proposes?

KI: Ms. Meier wants to abolish the mutualities and workers' associations in favor of a very weak, Western-style welfare state, and one, at that, whose primary principle will not be the people's welfare but instead "fiscal sustainability." Hers is an attack on the social state, it is an attack on all social principles, it is a path towards egotism, poverty, and collapse. It is the perfect distillation of austerity politics; I don't see how one can conflate it with any of my proposals.

I: Nevertheless, the Statebuilders don't make the same distinction; they have called politics like yours "austerity politics."

KI: That is not true. I don't know where you got that from.

I: "There are social politics, and there are money-politics. There is no overlap between the two. Whoever speaks of such things is an austeritymonger." So said Kondres Uklertal just last month.

KI: I don't see the relation.

I: I think it's very clear: Uklertal - and by extension the Statebuilders - believes that there is no place for money in the solution to the social question. They believe, in fact, that anyone who even suggests that there is is a proponent of austerity. Your proposal is to involve money in the Istkalenic welfare state; you, then, in their eyes, support austerity politics.

KI: This is a very gross misinterpretation of what Kondres said. He was expressing what is a very common social democratic sentiment, that profit - money-politics - has no place in our social system.

I: I've never heard of "money-politics" being used to refer to profit. I've only seen it used to refer to the literal usage of money as a solution to political issues.

KI: Then you don't get around much, not in politics, at least. What a shame, I used to believe Republic had a higher caliber of staff. Regardless, even if the Statebuilders did genuinely believe me to be an advocate for austerity, what difference would it make? It's a matter of semantics; regardless of what they think or do not think, I am not a supporter of austerity, and can only be made one through the distortion of definitions.

I: You and your new party criticize Meier and the Social Democrats as they stand under her direction for being supporters of austerity politics solely because of their desire to intoduce cash-transfers to the welfare state, before then advocating for very similar policies which you claim are different because of but a few minor details. Isn't the hypocrisy of this clear?

KI: Firstly, our proposals are hugely divergent from those of the Social Democrats, we are not for a replacement of the social state with money, we are very much for the opposite. I don't see how anyone sane could see it otherwise. So you are making things up wholesale; perhaps we are hypocrites in this fantasy world you have created, but certainly not in the real one. Secondly, what on earth does this have to do with the issue of whether or not I myself am a proponent of austerity? Stop with these diversions.

I: Well, I'm sorry, but that seems to be time. Thank you, again, for having come, it was very enlightening.