Balance of Power (Sign Up/Rules/Commentary Thread)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

--Part of the Canadian fleet is sent to the Mediterranean.

Canada has a fleet?  In real life there wasn't even a Canadian Navy until 1910.

It has been amusing to see the military moves made in this game.  Quite often their connection to reality has been quite tenuous.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'd like to point out that in OTL, the Trans-Siberian Railway was not yet complete by the time of our Russo-Japanese War, tho the Trans-Manchurian was complete and did give a rail connection to Vladivostok and via the Chinese Eastern Railway to Port Arthur.  However, the Trans-Siberian and its subsidiaries were single track lines with limited sidings and thus were a logistical choke point during the whole war.

Also, as long as we're on the subject of railroads, German and Russian railroads do not share a common gauge and thus until the lines are regauged to the attacker's gauge (a labor intensive process that takes lines out of service to trains of any gauge until completed) or given a third rail to allow trains of either gauge to use them, they will be of limited use to any attacker.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Did the US already get the Danish Virgin Islands or is the US player more interested in a frozen wasteland than a tropical paradise?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Oh, for a hour of Washington in these dark times!  It was bad enough when McKinley sought to crucify our farmers and laborers upon a cross of gold, but now he seeks to crucify our young men upon a cross of steel.  And as if that were not cruel enough, he does not seek to do so because of any puffed-up insult to our great republic, but seeks to embroil us in a foreign war in the service of foreign princes and potentates!  Shall we meekly accept the vinegary wine of foreign submission that McKinley proffers us upon a soaked sponge as King, Kaiser, Kaliph, and Mikado cast lots for our cloak?  I say no and I devoutly pray that our Congress denies our war-mongering Princeling the Declaration of War he seeks!

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Oh, for a hour of Washington in these dark times!  It was bad enough when McKinley sought to crucify our farmers and laborers upon a cross of gold, but now he seeks to crucify our young men upon a cross of steel.  And as if that were not cruel enough, he does not seek to do so because of any puffed-up insult to our great republic, but seeks to embroil us in a foreign war in the service of foreign princes and potentates!  Shall we meekly accept the vinegary wine of foreign submission that McKinley proffers us upon a soaked sponge as King, Kaiser, Kaliph, and Mikado cast lots for our cloak?  I say no and I devoutly pray that our Congress denies our war-mongering Princeling the Declaration of War he seeks!

Speech from House Speaker Joseph Cannon

Our stature in the world is not merely a matter of pride... becoming a global leader brings us prosperity as well. Our prosperity in large part comes from our alliances... the USA must honor her alliances or other nations will see no value in our treaties, since we would have broken our word. If attacks against not just one- but THREE- of our allies go without a response- that is a direct attack on our national power and it would ruin our credibility and prestige

It also ensures that our allies will come to our aid if we are attacked- with the circumstances in which Russia initiated aggression against our allies they easily could have done so to us....We would expect our allies to come to our aid and it would ensure our security.

Now is NOT the time for this unpatriotic attitude... how dare the good gentleman blame our President for initiating our current conflict. How dare the gentleman not spend his time on the national stage praying for our troops and our nation? How dare that man promote conspiracies and incite hate against our nation in this time of war?

I do pray for our troops and our nation.  I pray that they be saved from bloodthirsty tyrants who care more for the ephemeral vainglory of this world than for the eternal glory of the God of love and righteousness.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It looks like Prince William now has two Kaisers to kowtow to since the Hapsburgs have joined the war.  I do hope he doesn't embarrass America too much by confusing Franz Ferdinand with Wilhelm.  I wonder if our pugilistic prince has decided who he'll be selling Greenland to once he gets it from Denmark.  At least when he does he won't be betraying those who fought with us by selling them off like an old-fashioned slave dealer. The selling will be the same, but the Eskimaux of Greenland haven't fought beside us as the Filipinos did.  Or maybe our posh potentate wants to buy all that snow and ice for himself.  It would be far better if he made made plans to retire as the Graf of Greenland than for him to break yet another of Washington's maxims and seek a third term.  Alas, I suspect Prince William will once again disregard the wise advice of the Father of Our Republic, just as he ignored that of keeping us free from entangling foreign alliances.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

wut

I'm having fun providing anti-war commentary from the American home front concerning Prince William's War.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Clearly Prince William sees everything through the lens of war if he thinks I would ever advocate the cartridge box as preferable to the ballot box as the means to dethrone him.  He needs a new optometrist or at least new spectacles.

Less than a decade ago, Uncle Sam and Columbia were living in a shining city upon a hill, a example to the world of how people from all the diverse nations of the world could come together in amity and cooperation to build a better society free from the scourge of war and militarism.  While Prince William has caused Uncle Sam to tumble down that hill, I hope that come the 1904 election we break Prince William's crown and help Uncle Sam begin the trek back up that glorious hill rather than allow Prince William to cause noble Columbia to come tumbling after Uncle Sam in the next war his reckless militarism will inevitably lead our country into.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

We see that the decision to drag America into foreign conflicts it has no business in has attracted opposition within Mr. McKinley's own country. Perhaps it is time for him to negotiate out of this before his party collapses in the coming election?

Don't mistake my disapproval of Prince William's policies for support of the Tsar.  I'm objecting to our pointless participation in your well-deserved thrashing.  The Japanese had already bottled up your Pacific fleet before our ships ever arrived, so all Prince William is accomplishing is the spending of American blood and money to no useful purpose.

Perhaps the gentleman wishes we pretend we are in the 18th century rather then the 20th? A nation cannot thrive if she does not engage the world.

I would rather have us engage the world with a open hand offered in friendship than a closed hand striking out at random.

Does the gentleman not realize that if we allow Russian aggression against our friends- then it is only a few years before the Russian Navy bombards our coasts!

A navy that was already contained within its ports by your cobelligerents before American ships ever came near is a threat? If it is, are you saying that all that money you have poured into the navy has been a waste?

Those foreign potentates that sing your praises now for siding with them against the Tsar will readily enough turn on you and this country when it suits their purposes.  Indeed, all your rash actions have done is make it more likely they will attack our fair shores so as to strike us before we strike them. It is time for us to put up again our sword into its place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.  Our country needs to give ear to that saying of The Prince of Peace before it be lopped off as penance for not using it heed the word of the One True King.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I hope that our firm reaction to the Russian threat will finally convince Venezuela that the patience of the united nations cannot be tested indefinitely.

President Castro, please do yourself and your country a favor.

I order the second regiment of troops, awaiting in Beirut, be dispatched to the Carribean (Italy: since we're on the same side on Venezuela and you're not warring with Russia, could we have a hand in transporting the regiment to Cuba? We're low on our own available transport.)

(US: These two regiments and our Navy Task Force is all we can committ now there.)

Italy, are you there?

Will do.

Expect a pretty Harem girl as a prove of our gratitude.

If our Prince William is also receiving these sorts of favors from his cobeligerents, one wonders where he has chosen to maintain his seraglio.  Given all he has done for foreign potentates of late, I doubt the White House would be large enough.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I hope that our firm reaction to the Russian threat will finally convince Venezuela that the patience of the united nations cannot be tested indefinitely.

President Castro, please do yourself and your country a favor.

I order the second regiment of troops, awaiting in Beirut, be dispatched to the Carribean (Italy: since we're on the same side on Venezuela and you're not warring with Russia, could we have a hand in transporting the regiment to Cuba? We're low on our own available transport.)

(US: These two regiments and our Navy Task Force is all we can committ now there.)

Italy, are you there?

Will do.

Expect a pretty Harem girl as a prove of our gratitude.

If our Prince William is also receiving these sorts of favors from his cobeligerents, one wonders where he has chosen to maintain his seraglio.  Given all he has done for foreign potentates of late, I doubt the White House would be large enough.

Your dirty tongue and dirty thought are an abomination in the eyes of our Lord the God, sir. The President is a deeply devouted Christian faithfully married to his wife till death do they part. He would never accept such a "gift".

You, sir, ought to be ashamed for saying such things and making Mrs. McKinley upset with your vulgar projections. How dare you?

I would think saving defenseless females from Ottoman abomination would more than justify our Prince William accepting such gifts not for any carnal benefit of his own but for the spiritual benefit of the gifts.  However, I will accept your word that you only offer harem girls to those who are not devout Christians devoted to their wives.  What the people of Italy choose to think about the insult you thus have proffered to their king, I will leave to the Italians to ponder.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I urge all Americans to disregard this agent of chaos and focus on our impending victory alongside our friends and the rewards this victory will reap for our nation

Rewards?  Does that mean you plan to annex the other side of the Bering Strait?  Or are our "friends" going to gift pieces of silver upon you for our treasury as a reward betraying the Prince of Peace much as another received silver.  I do hope that if this is the case, you get more than thirty considering the blood and treasure you have caused us to expend in this war.  If you are expecting gratitude from them, then you clearly have paid no need to history.  The potentates of this world have seldom shown a sense of honor or gratitude when doing so would impede them from taking what they want.  I hope that it may yet be a good while before they prove yet again the virtue of the advice concerning placing your trust in princes that Machiavelli penned some centuries ago.  I fear that we shall be the next target of their thirst for blood and plunder.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

SnowstalkerKalwejt, clarence, spamage, Cranberry, SJoyce, and Oldiesfreak received yet another stay of execution

ftfy

And I have a few tricks up my sleeve for the next turn.

We have some too

Sounds like Europe needs some sleeves control talks.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

SnowstalkerKalwejt, clarence, spamage, Cranberry, SJoyce, and Oldiesfreak received yet another stay of execution

ftfy

And I have a few tricks up my sleeve for the next turn.

We have some too

Sounds like Europe needs some sleeves control talks.

Alas, first the honorable gentlemen wants America to stay away from the European affairs and now he tells Europe what to do.

Well, you Europeans have such a terrible sense of style, someone needs to set you straight.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

• The scheming, licentious, decadent British Empire has hit a new low. How dare you accuse my Tsarina of being an adultress?!?

Technically, they claimed she's passing off her nephew as her son not that she's an adultress.  Still fairly low, but even so I would have thought the British upper crust would have left such slander to others.  They rarely wish to be seen having dirty hands of their own.  Not because dirty hands would indicate that they are sleazy, but because dirty hands would mean they actually did some work.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Prince William is hardly one to be accusing others of being warmongers considering all the wars he has sold to the American people in his time in office.  Does he not comprehend the folly of thinking that the way to resolve war is with more war?

Mr. Bryan has crossed the line...

A debate in Washington to determine the best course of action is a legitimate discussion to be had..... comparing our President to the tyrant wreaking havoc on our world- to an international audience no less- is treasonous in this time of war

I order the Attorney General to prosecute Mr. Bryan for treason and I order he be seized by the Bureau of Investigation immediately and interrogated to determine if he is an enemy agent sent to divide our nation

I had given Prince William the benefit of the doubt in choosing to not also call him a tyrant.  I am sad to see that I erred in assuming that he would not be so brazen as to abandon our constitution and its right to speak freely.  While I am not yet so despairing that this land would trade liberty for fetters that I would seek to leave it, this situation does bring to mind a quote from Abraham Lincoln concerning the dangers of the Know-Nothings of his day and their efforts to pervert the constitution in the name of defending it: "When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy."  A particularly apt quote considering the actions of our hypocrite-in-chief.

He also appears to be our anachronist-in-chief considering that the Bureau of Investigation won't exist for another five years in real life.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Hey! No talking after lights out or you go to the hole.

I doubt that Prince William would ship me all the was to Constantinople, tho he has attempted to do with me what a predecessor of his did with Vallandigham.  At least that had the veneer of legality as habeus corpus had been suspended.  I am unaware that habeus corpus had been suspended and fail to see how constitutionally it could be unless the Russian Navy has somehow managed to best that of the Allied Landgrabbers and place the United States in danger of invasion thanks to the recklessness of Prince William.

Mr. Bryan, you are under arrest for the time being, and everything you say can be used against you in a trial.

If need be, I am prepared to be a martyr for freedom and liberty.  I remind our American Caesar that ultimately making martyrs is a fruitless task.  If he does manage to silence me, I expect that twelve more will rise to take my place, and that if those twelve be silenced, that seventy more will rise.  If I prove mistaken in that belief that there will be an upwelling of the apostles of liberty, then I truly weep for our once great nation.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

While his nation is at war, Mr. Bryan has explicitly stated he's hoping for his Russian comrades to invade America and rescue him from a well-deserved arrest. Is he gunning to be General Governor of occupied America? Or does he simply hates his own people?

You, sir, have just condemned yourself by your own reckless words. TRAITOR!

Nay, I stated that Prince William's recklessness could lead to an invasion of our proud land, not that I desired such a thing.  Indeed, my desire to keep my land safe from any foreign invasion is a major reason I wish our country to stay out of foreign wars.

I have never advocated supporting any foreign realm over the United States, nor have I ever advocated any act against the United States.  My only "crime" is to criticize the mistakes the present administration has made.  If we only have freedom to say good things about our government and those in it, then we have no freedom.  McKinley seems to think disagreeing with him in time of war is traitorous.  I trust that no judge or jury interested in truth or justice will convict me of treason for there is no validity to Prince William's baseless charge.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Who is Bryan?

I started off by making one post here in the commentary thread attacking McKinley (aka Prince William) in the style of William Jennings Bryan (the Democratic nominee in 1896 and 1900) and it sort of grew from there.

Austria-Hungary will join Chancellor Bulow's attack in Poland.  Russia must not be able to further strengthen its sphere of influence in Europe, and Chancellor Bülow and I are committed to preventing that.

OOC: Thanks for telling me your war plans.

Lol!

Sigh.  If Prince William had to drag us into foreign wars between predatory pilfering piratical potentates, I do wish he had chosen competent conspirators to work with.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Given the decimation of the Russian Navy, it is clear that if there ever was any threat to American interests from the bellicose Tsar, there is none now.  Furthermore the attacks by the Kaliph and the Mikado against peaceful neutral nations makes it clear that even if American interests could be advanced by involving ourselves in foreign wars, the Ottoman and Japanese Empires are not peaceable nations worthy of being allied to our great republic.  Hopefully Prince William will see the rashness of dragging down the reputation of America further when there is nothing to be gained and instead seek to end this war quickly with an honorable peace for all and begin to disentangle us from the machinations of foreign potentates.  It is time to end the McKinley Doctrine and restore the Monroe Doctrine that has served America so well in the past.

Nonetheless, lest my words be taken out of context, while McKinley has been a shameless warmonger, it was our fair republic that to its great shame bought the war he sold.  Until our participation is ended, either by him and his war party if they prove wiser than past experience would indicate or by the winners of the next election if Prince William continues to lead our country on the road to damnation, then those who have enlisted in our army and navy should follow his lawful orders, despite however detrimental they may be to the interests of our country.  Our republic is great enough that not even his folly is irreparable by the ballot box, assuming that the Republican Party does not decide to abandon our republican form of government and make my hyperbole of denominating our president as a prince into a reality.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I see that sadly, yet as expected, that Prince William fails to comprehend that by treating war as a legitimate tool of diplomacy he makes it far more likely that said tool will be used against us.  Unlike the bellicose nations of the Old World, our republic has been blessed by Providence to have no nation on our borders dangerous enough to be a threat to us or our prosperity.  Yet by his actions, Prince William has in the absence of natural enemies to our republic sought to cultivate unnatural ones.  What interest would the cossacks have ever had in attacking us ere this war?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

OOC: Now that we have advanced quite a lot and the butterflies are getting more and more evident, I would like to say that if you thing this world is looking a little bit more grim than OTL Belle Epoque, we're only getting started. (Muahahaha!)

I see that sadly, yet as expected, that Prince William fails to comprehend that by treating war as a legitimate tool of diplomacy he makes it far more likely that said tool will be used against us.  Unlike the bellicose nations of the Old World, our republic has been blessed by Providence to have no nation on our borders dangerous enough to be a threat to us or our prosperity.  Yet by his actions, Prince William has in the absence of natural enemies to our republic sought to cultivate unnatural ones.  What interest would the cossacks have ever had in attacking us ere this war?

Mr. Bryan, I am sad to be the one to send this notification, but you are technically dead, sir. (Despite that, those speeches have been quite fascinating, and a great way to add flavor to the game)

I saw that.  Under the circumstances, I presume that the previous was his final Letter from an Omaha Jail.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Senator William Joel Stone of Missouri will be preparing a response to McKinley's upcoming address.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Mr. President pro tem, I rise to speak in response to the recent remarks of Mr. McKinley on the House floor.  Let me first address his revocation of habeus corpus.  The Constitution clearly places that power in the hands of Congress, not the President.  Even Lincoln during the Civil War only did so as an expedient until Congress could convene and we are already here.  If habeus corpus is to be suspended, it is Congress that must do so, not Mr. McKinley.  However, we have more pressing concerns than to be a rubber stamp for the tyrant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Mr. McKinley insults our intelligence by claiming that a Russian agent was responsible for the murder of the honorable former Congressman from Nebraska.  Given what he alleged Bryan to have done, it can only be the grossest incompetence or the vilest conspiracy that would let any Russian be close to him.  I do not think Mr. McKinley to be incompetent.  I consider him to be a criminal who plotted the death of his political rival and is attempting to use it to make himself a dictator.  I call upon the House to quickly send us Articles of Impeachment for McKinley and the head of the Bureau of Assassination, excuse me I spoke of its function not its title, of the Bureau of Investigation, and for the Senate to quickly approve them and remove these foul villains from office and send a clear signal that this country will not tolerate those who imprison and kill their political foes.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Out of character, let me say that if this game doesn't end up having a Second American Civil War, I will be greatly surprised.