After commentary from the "Bazmuyut" we havent gotten a respsonse from President Clenonberg yet but one of our reporters has catched her offguard after a plenary sitting of the Nationalrat where she apparently did find a few words for the politician from a Dual-Republican regional partner. 

Quote:Unfortunately the Bazmuyut is completely incompetent and has absolutely no business in commenting the internal politics of the Dual Republic, its frankly an affront against our democracy and I hope we're getting a public apology for this insolence. If it werent for the opposition of some political forces, this would have had consequences, but luckily for this pseudo-powerful upstart, we're quite busy right now. I can't deal with children at home and internationally. The rhetorics used... the complete absence of substance of the comments and that last weird sentence endorsing Sleyster.. I dont even know what to say... What a simpleton!

In an attempt to clear up what the vanukese media called "miscommunications" President Vanessa zum Clenonberg has finally set a date in her foreign policy calendar for visiting the Jelbic Emperor in Wiel, the capital of the Jelbic Empire. Foreign Policy experts are sceptical if the meeting can serve as a vehicle to overcome the stark contrast in ideological alignment. The progressive Clenonberg represents the left-wing of the big-tent social liberal DRP and has strongly steered the party into a more social democratic direction while the traditional allies of the Dual Republic have been doing the exact opposite. Direct questions regarding a potential shift in geopolitical alignment and an increased focus on searching for new humanitarian partners have been left unanswered. According to Foreign Minister Baumer: "The Dual Republic remains comitted to the 3rd Point and all its current allies. This is not going to change."

After a hard day of work you sit down in your favorite chair, with the favorite fastfood from the foodstand right in front of your building, you switch on the television.

"It is the 1st of January 5572, this is the news. President Clenonberg has been reported missing after taking off from Bannerhafen to visit the Jelbic Emperor in Wiel. - ... wait.. - Excuse us...- 

Dear viewers, unfortunately we have to conclude early today-"

Your television briefly transmits interference before the studio re-appears in the display but with a different reporter. He wears a uniform and still has certain pieces of tactical gear on his body.

"Citizens of the Dual Republic, this is Major Helmut Spitzer. President Vanessa zum Clenonberg is dead, she was betrayed. At the orders of the high command of the following branches of the security forces: army, navy, airforce, police and intelligence  we've secured the government district of all major cities in the Republic and are conducting raids as well as arrests against the treacherous elements of the Clenonberg administration, their collusion with the communist agitators have led this country down a dark path, and us, us patriots can no longer watch this continue. We've made the decision to seize important facilities and have already established control over all relevant ministries and agencies. For the next few hours we ask you to stay in your homes until our special operations are concluded. We're still cleaning out certain buildings and taking a few select individuals into custody. If you are working, stay with your company, we have communicated with the corporate interest groups and they are aware of the situation, if you have more specific inquiries, talk to your supervisor. All occupied districts are issued a temporary Commisar to administrate this difficult situation. If there are any problems talk to them, always take your identification with you, otherwise we will take you into custody and will make you submit with the appropriate force. You are probably wondering what exactly is going to happen next - we understand your anxiety - but we assure you, you are safe. We will protect you from the uncertainty and the red menace. The political situation will be resolved in due time, the responsible officers for the occupation of the administrative branches of the government have cooperated with the respective bureaucrats to guarantee a smooth continuance of public works. Please keep up to date by regularly checking your radio, social media, government websites or your television. Thank you for your attention and long live the Dual Republic of Narikaton and Darnussia."

You get up quickly but as soon as you jumped up from your chair you already hear shouts and yelling in the halls of your apartment block. Swiftly your try to find a match or a lighter or something and grab your Democratic Republican Party membership book - *click* *click* "FUCK" you shout as the lighter appears empty - before you can even move another muscle everything turns white and you only hear a maddening high pitched tone, your vision is blurry and you see armed men storming your apartment. Its all going dark.

You wake up in a tent built on the street somewhere in Bannerhafen, you start to perceive sound again, you see a random grouping of different people also handtied like you and a office sitting at the radio watching over you poor souls.

"Ladies and Gentleman, we'd like you to meet the new president of the Dual Republic... Theodora Lackmann, Ordnungsfraktion. *Some odd sounds from the radio* My dear citizens- No. My Dear Republic: Most of you probably know me already, my name is Theodora Lackmann and I have the honor of leading the Ordnungsfraktion and now our country. In a tireless fashion I have worked to ensure that there is going to be a smooth transition of power between the regimes and that all of you stay safe. You're all probably wondering what just happened, I can assure you, either way, it is the best for this Republic. We were threatened, our very lives, our existences, our families.. our fundamental values. Our poor Vanessa - our president! She has been betrayed! By her own party and her communist partners! We all warned her that she had made a deal with the devil, but she wouldnt hear, now she has paid the price.. in blood. That great woman has made the ultimate sacrifice. She will not be forgotten. For your safety and security, I plan to reorganize this Dual Republic, I have been entrusted with the responsibility of governing this nation and will lead you into a prosperous future - in an orderly fashion. I will talk to you again soon my beloved Republic." 

You hear cheering and applause from the soldiers and apparently - what you just realized - a crowd. One of the armed men leads you outside where a noose greeted your eyes at first glance. He pushed you toward it. "There commie scum!"While they were preparing your destiny, a woman from your building, you remember her from debating politics once drunkenly in your favorite pub, she pokes you with her finger. She's standing next to you, fated to share your end. In her hand, her VVP pin. In a voice barely holding back tears she says "This is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause."

After the troubling events that followed the disappearance of former President Vanessa zum Clenonberg, the leader of the authoritarian Ordnungsfraktion Theodora Lackmann has grasped the power and now rules over the Dual Republic with an iron fist. Her government is backed by all sorts of military or security forces as well as international and corporate players. What many are probably wondering is: Who is Theodora Lackmann? How could she manage the task of taking over the Dual Republic? During her regular election campaigning in 5570 she left most of the interviews owing answers regarding her background, now we know more. According to insiders of the administration and the intelligence community as well as her chancellery finally releasing statements, we can offer you a comprehensive overview of the person now leading Narikaton and Darnussia.

The president was born in Narikaton and Darnussia but her parents were a migrant family from Barmenistan, a family with a special history. Her mother's name was Lackmann and due to her parents never marrying so was hers, but her father, as can be confirmed with documents of the national archive, is a long-lost kinsman of the Twin Sultans of Barmenistan: Intrsmor and Jemrjkai, the Thaller Sultans of Barmenistan. Their contributions to the pan-jelbic cause have tied the notorious family from Narikaton and Darnussia to the destiny of the jelbic people's. This trump has given her the opportunities to connect to old money friends and nobilities as well as to political elites of all kinds of thaller-sympathizers. Combined with her career-background it makes sense that she has garnered the loyalty of many heavyweight personalities of the Dual Republic. Lackmann was a member of the Diplomatic Corp to Vanuku and as such has also made good friends there. She was also able to connect to the jelbic side of her heritage. Important positions such as this one, in a time of a resurgent Jelbic Empire has made Lackmann a prime candidate for political ambitions. As such she was recruited by friends of hers to the far-right Ordnungsfraktion, her charme and intellectual capacities were sure to increase their chances of victory in coming elections. As intended Lackmann has rapidly gained a foothold and now her steadfest approach regarding security has allowed her to reap the fruits of her labor. She is the new President of the Dual Republic and has already announced drastic changes to the attitude and a return to what has made Narikaton and Darnussia great in the past. 

In an official press release, the presidential chancellery of Theodora Lackmann released the cabinet to be appointed in the coming days. It seems like Lackmann was able to gain VVP support as seen in the appointment of Matthijs Sleyster as Foreign Minister again. Additionally there are other bureau- and technocrats appointed who've been counted among supporters of other ideological groups in the cabinet. Whats noticable is the lack of party affiliation in the infographic. While we would have liked to ask political pundits about the potential messaging in the press-release no one wanted to talk to us so we have to share the opinion of our own reporters. We think that the government wants to appear united and is trying to seperate executive responsibility from the -until now- disastrous term of the Nationalrat. Many were hoping to get some news on the future of the parliament but there was no plan laid out in the most recent press-release. On queries, the responsible Director of the Nationalrat said that "until the executive order of president Lackmann regarding the temporary freezing of parliamentary activity is out of effect we can only sit here and wait, I know just as much as you. Many MP's are also still in detainment in the facilities of the SaSA or other military forces." There are many surprising appointees in the cabinet such as the more regulation friendly Soosmann, the indicted von Merenbürg as well as the TKP party leader Jerry Thaller-Dinkelberg. We have asked some of them about their future in the government but they all sent us back to the presidential chancellery. 

A walk through the city

As we walked through the streets of Bannerhafen, we noticed that for most of the people walking and working through their day-to-day business it almost seems like the government wasnt radically changed by violent means two months ago. People are casually shopping, eating at restaurants during their lunch breaks and communal services are cleaning the streets. Evidence of alledged gruesome acts during the night of January 1st is not to be seen. Questioned pedestrians mostly reacted with apathy when we asked them about their opinion regarding the current political situation of their country. The few times we got an answer usually went something like "Man, what a tragedy, what these red bastards did to our Clenonberg." or "Good riddance to Lackmann, she cleaned up these pests, I do not see any more riots." The only major difference is the constant presence of armed police forces and frequent patrols of riot police. According to our own data they're slowly decreasing the usage of security forces in the public space but it is still highly perceivable.

Panic at the Fiskus?
 

If one believes the press releases of the Ministry of Defence, the military support forces for the government take-over have already left the cities again and have gone back to their posts. Most of have been ordered to return to their bases as one of the first thing the Lackmann administration according to their own publications wants to do is the a strict reorganization of all branches of government and military hierachies. We expect first reports from the Ministry in may.

The International Reactions:

Obviously, the allies of the Dual Republic have been hurt by the instability the coup made visible. While the government of Beiteynu has been completely silent on the happenings in the Dual Republic proper, it has reacted to domestic struggles connected to our own. Narik and Darnussian communities in Beiteynu have been protesting violently against the alledged human rights violations and the political 180 degree turn. Many Clenonberg sympathizers see a scheme by the conservative corporate forces of their own homeland against its president and do not believe the official statements of the government regarding the communists fault.

The dundorfian chancellor has reacted in a worried tone and has demanded certain assurances from the Lackmann government. Foreign Minister Matthijs Sleyster has personally been in contact and has leveraged his personal relationship based on mutual trust with the Bundesrepublik to cool heads. According to the Minister himself, they've had long talks and the Dual Republic has assured the safety of Dundorfian citizens and a certain respect for the most basic human rights in Narikaton and Darnussia. "We're not uncivilized, we're just looking for security." is what the VVP-leader and once-again Foreign Minister said. 

One year after the takeover of Theodora Lackmann, the government has finalized its plans to reorganize structures in the country. While many administrative agencies have been slimmed down and some holding structures have been scrapped to increase efficiency, two specific hierarchies have been completely overhauled. First of all the Foreign Ministry: From now on the foreign affairs of the Dual Republic are going to be more seperated from politics and have been transferred to 'administration' or rather governance. The Ministry is now called Directorate and its led by Matthijs Sleyster. To assist the globalized network of the Dual Republic, the Director of Foreign Affairs gets several Vice-Directors which are responsible for specific parts of the world. The most prominent ones are the officers for continents these are Majatra, Seleya and Dovani. There are more Vice-Directors but the other posts are a lot more specialized e.g the Vice-Directorate for Federation Affairs, which oversees Dual Republican involvement in the 3rd Point. 

The second bigger overhaul is in Defence. Jerry-Thaller Dinkelberg has streamlined the hierarchical structures of the Navy and is currently busy with subsequently reforming the Army and Airforce. In addition to that, he got the Clenonberg-Era financial restrictions on the military modernization lifted and has told the press that there is going to be a sharp increase in aerial defence structures as well as anti-missile systems around the country. "While we think that the Dual Republic is capable of defending itself, our government formed on the mandate of increasing the security capabilites of the nation, as such we will continue to do so. We need to have a sizable defence independent of yeudi assistance."

Infographic: Naval Structure

After a highly anticipated meeting between Emperor Bunjamín and the President Lackmann concluded, the speculations surrounding the potential entrance of the Dual Republic into the imperial framework of the Jelbic Empire have been proven to be truthful. Many expected this outcome considering that Narikaton & Darnussia have already been geopoliticly aligned with the Empire. The last straw for this heavily weighing decision is probably thre relationship between Theodora Lackmann and the Jelbic Emperor, after all they're relatives. The President of the Dual Republic said that it is important for her to embrace and honor her heritage therefore she has decided to stay and enjoy more of what the Empire has to offer after her more political visit to Wiel. Correspondence with the Directorate of Foreign affairs suggest that the Dual Republic will ascend as an associate state since the cultural difference between the two nations is considerable. OF politicians and the inner circle around Lackmann have been preaching about the "undestructible bond the people of Narikaton and Darnussia share with the Jelbic people." While the details and specifics of this process arent finalized yet, experts suggest that this isnt gonna change a lot for the average citizen of our nation, how it will redistribute weight in the geopolitical situation is still up for debate.