Zhe idea :) - Foreign Policy Convention Idea

[SaraD]

Well Phx is in pieces - I admit I had prior warning as Iain Keers is an old pal from my eUK days - before they became 'perfidious Albion'.

Foreign Policy and new alliances are therefore up for grabs. Those of you who know me well will know I am something of an MoFa specialist - been MoFa 14 times in 5 countries (though once in eRussia as a spy).

Anyway I wrote to Wilhelm as follows:

The wars with eUK and firstly with eFrance were started by Derek Haarland. I was MoFa at the time and none of the cabinet agreed at that time with President Haarlands decision. Through this invasion - supposedly to help our Spanish 'amigos' we later got involved in war with eUK after they helped their French allies. From this came what we could call 'the Acacia Doctrine'.

Acacia Doctrine

The basis of this 'doctrine' is that we at war, war is good for the eCanada economy, we must kill them! Well firstly this neglects the fact that start of the war was a colossal mistake. Secondly it prejudices you to any peaceful options and thirdly - and most importantly - they have nothing we want whereas we have lots they want. I disagreed with the Acacia war on eUK in the first place (see past articles) and disagree with the war against eFrance - as I have done since Derek Haarland launched it.

WE CANNOT INDEFINATELY HOLD DOWN eUK or eFRANCE!

So the 'Acacia Doctrine' would then suggest that its good for the economy... Rubbish! Without the gold spent invading eUK many countless and pointless times we could have built a satisfactory weapons stockpile with the Government investing in the markets. So the final excuse for the Doctrine is "for the lulz"... By the 'lulz' arguement nobody would have lived through the Cold War inreal life - "I have button - must push rofl". It is the 'no decent excuse left arguement' and then they say "it's just a game" which is self consolation for someone who knows they have made a mistake. (When Presidents are winning it's a 'war' - when they losing it's 'fun' etc...).

Well this result of Derek Haarlands decision - which he had a right to take - gave rise to this ingrained doctrine with our Presidents and as many of the older heads predicted at first we now fight for own land. Were the 'lulz' worth it? Was the gold worth it? My answer is no.

CPF Conference

From January 4th -7th the Canadian Progressive Front will hold a Conference for all interested in Foreign Policy. We want to know if you can think of a better way for us to expand rather than the Acacia Doctrine. All are welcome to send me a message or speak to our Party on IRC, Rizon #CPF. It ios time for a national debate on Foreign Policy and the CPF, as servants of our enation, will host it.

I have some finishing to do and hoorah raising at the end but thought you should agree first...

Our esteemed PP replies:

Hi Sara Smile

Foreign policy is a fun topic, isn't it? But I do like the idea of the CPF hosting a Foreign Policy convention (publicity for party, generate truly good ideas for eCanada - which is the CPF's true aim: the betterment of eCanada). I see these as nights of brainstorming by eCanadians from all political stripes.

How do you propose to do it? Hold it at a specified time, each night from the 4th to the 7th, on IRC? I would say 7pm EST would be a good time for most - although that is midnight GMT for you.

Do you plan to run it/moderate it? Would there be a group of moderators? Do we run it on an IRC channel with +m (moderator), giving voice to one or two people at a time? I think I could 'chair' it for one of those nights.

Also, as soon as you get this message, please create a thread in the Boardroom part of our forums (only CPF members can read here) and share with the party BEFORE we go public. When addressing the Party - and then the public later as a newspaper article (Auk Rest, our PR guy can run it in the Party paper - just PM the text and he'll dress it up with pics, etc.), it should be presented as a policy forum, with the CPF seeking constructive criticisms and ideas. Especially with Foreign Policy being in the news with the Public promotion of PANAM by the eUS - this may very well be well attended.

Each night, the 4th thru 7th (Tues - Frid) will it run for what, 2 or 3 hours each session? How structured will it be? Will you design it so that a different question is asked each night? Do we discuss the same questions each night so that those who were not able to attend on Tues, could share their views on Wed, etc.?

Do we take requests for those who want to speak PRIOR to the event - to make it less chaotic during the event? (ie, register to speak?)

Also, what will you/we do with what is generated? Someone (each evening chair?) take notes, or logs of the event, and then we present it on the eCan forums and/or in the CPF party newspaper? Do we form a consensus of what is presented, and make a summery, or do we simply list the ideas?

I really like your idea. Lots of questions, but I think we have TIME to pull it off.

SOrry I took so long to respond... let's get the ball rolling!

Wilhelm.
__________________________________________________________________________________

I now follow these instructions.

I shall answer his questions for you all:

CPF will 'Chair' these debates - I can do midnight -2am for 3 nights though setting the dates for a weekend would be kinder to me. Evidently the more senior CPF members that turn up the better as the secondary objective is naturaly recruitment to the Party. We shall listen and point out faults if useful. The debates will be held in #CPF IRC. Naturaly anyone who wishes to help Chair is welcome.

I think it would be useful to give the three nights one hour of a topic debate and then let people discuss the comments arising for an hour, so perhaps the first night should be on the "Acacia Dogma" as above, the second on "Alliances and the Future" and the third "A Realistic eCanadian Empire". Topics can be changed - these are just ideas. Each days debate would be announced through Blue Moose with introductory article so all citizens are aware of the basics before hand.

As for results once we have agreed and decided the topics notable comments within the debates will be selected for an article which would juxtapose the views taken from each debate and national vote added to the article for each issue. Evidently some of the convos will need logging but that is not hard - I shall get my silly sis whatdoozie back if nobody else can do.

Well that is my idea - evidently the same idea could be applied to economic policy and military organisation etc... The Party President awaits your views.

PS Happy New Year!

[Wilhelm Gunter]

So, what does the party think? Is this something worthwhile? Is it doable? Is there enough time to organize and pull it off/do we delay the time frame?

Some pros is that we get more party visibility, and hopefully increased membership.

It also shows that we are a viable party with ideas (if we pull it off well)

[Spencer Magee]

I'll be in support of it but we need people to show up first to do it.

[curtis l]

I think the biggest problem might be getting people from outside the CPF to join in.

I think the best thing is to try and just advertise it as a Foreign Policy convention, try and leave out the CPF name as much as possible, perhaps even set up a special IRC channel just for the event, #foreign-policy perhaps?

I know we need to advertise, but if we over do it we won't get anyone from outside the CPF to participate.

[Wilhelm Gunter]

I think the biggest problem might be getting people from outside the CPF to join in.

I think the best thing is to try and just advertise it as a Foreign Policy convention, try and leave out the CPF name as much as possible, perhaps even set up a special IRC channel just for the event, #foreign-policy perhaps?

I know we need to advertise, but if we over do it we won't get anyone from outside the CPF to participate.

Advertising would be great, but since the admins have suspended (removed?) the ads module, that makes it a tad more difficult.

I don't think getting others to attend will be such a great issue. I like your channel suggestion, curtis. Perhaps if we got the current Minister of Foreign Affairs involved, and Sarah herself is a former Canadian MoFA. If we billed it as a "Canadian Foreign Policy Convention, hosted by the CPF", I think that would fly.

[SaraD]

Go? y/n. Dates? I think maybe after Presidential election...

[James McNamara]

Can the CPR have it say

[Bob Turkee]

I think it's a great idea, and would love to attend.

I don't really have any ideas immediately but think we should make an effort to make it happen

[Wilhelm Gunter]

Go? y/n. Dates? I think maybe after Presidential election...

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Yes, let's make this a go.

What works for you Sarah?

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