Kalistani Major History

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Kalistani diplomats offer overture on Strait"Provocations must stop or we will have war," says FM Delgado
Dulnerstaad, Ananto
March 8, 4694


Foreign Minister Delgado watches Ananto Strait apprehensively as war looms over the horizon, but hopes for final resolution

We have received reports of yet another Dorvik provocation in the Ananto Strait, as a massive Dorvish and Dolgarian armada slipped north through waters claimed for centuries by Kalistan.  This movement did not go unnoticed or unanswered though, as Kalistani submarine units quietly tailed the fleet until it passed without incident from the Strait.  But the movement of the foreign navy through the Ananto Strait has raised alarms in the Kalistani Government.

How to address this provocation remained entirely unclear until earlier today, when the Foreign Minister of Kalistan, Joaquin Delgado released the following Statement:

"The Government of Kalistan has, in the interests of peace and security, approached representatives of the Dorvish Kingdom and has opened negotiations with them.  Negotiations between Kalistan and Dorvik took place in a neutral location, set to ensure the safety of each side's representatives.  The negotiations themselves were quite tense in their early stages, but ultimately, the discussion boiled down to a matter of interests.  We can assure the public that a final agreement on the Straits has been drafted, and offers us the possibility to finally open the Straits once and for all time, reducing Kalistan's commitment to patrolling such a vast stretch of water, and dramatically decreasing the potential for war to erupt accidentally.  We feel that these provocations must stop or we will have war.

"But how do we stop them?  Do we force others to accept our viewpoint on the Straits, or do we see where we can bend so that we may come closer to the legitimate concerns of our neighbors, while still promoting our own national interests?  In the negotiations, it was revealed that Dorvik sought to ensure freedom of navigation.  To us, freedom of navigation often meant a decrease in security.  So how then could we better enhance Kalistani security, while at the same time acknowledging the desires of other nations to transit that stretch of water safely themselves?  Were the two interests mutually exclusive?

"At the end of the day, I believe we discovered that they were not.  An opening of the sea lanes between Ananto and the Mainland to peaceful commercial traffic is obviously in everyone's interests.  But so is reducing our commitment to prevent military transit which has no aim toward Kalistan but which is just going somewhere else.  In the end, our position on the matter was a practical one, and not an ideological one. We have moved from the position that starting wars enhances our potential for peace.  And we believe that Dorvik and other nations have moved from the position that Kalistan is merely a speedbump in their quest for world domination.  Neither position helps anyone acquire anything but war and heartache.  So, to resolve the conflict, we must be committed to the notion of peace.

"I believe our negotiations will bear fruit.  The treaty our joint negotiators have drafted and forwarded to the Dorvish Foreign Minister for consideration and contribution I believe shall form an important international framework.  It will allow Kalistan to continue to maintain a role in the Security of the Northern Anantonese region, and most importantly, it will finally acknowledge and respect Kalistan's sovereign desire for peace and security in and around the Republic.  From a personal point of view, as a Brethrenist, I believe that this treaty finally allows us to actually achieve a more permanent peace, which has eluded our nation for more than 1000 years while we maintained a militarized presence in the Strait.

"More than anything, more than in any other nation, the chance for peace in Kalistan is one in a million.  We still have a few hills to climb regarding this Treaty.  But if we are able to pass this Treaty, we will have a much greater chance to see our sailors come home after their patrols.  We will have a much greater chance to dedicate our national resources to national improvement, rather than to blindly creating machines of death.  We will obtain the chance to finally gain the fruits of Kalistani Socialism, rather than simply spending all our time trying to weed the garden.  When the Treaty is tentatively accepted by Dorvik, I will advance it to the National Assembly for ratification.

"We may finally see true peace for Kalistan, which is something all seek.  Thank you for your patience and both the Premier and I ask you to hold Kalistani and Dorvish negotiators in the Light of the Truth during this process."