MLP Leadership Election

With the leadership race now fully announced, the Raikh chose to take the opportunity to be a bit silly. The F.V.R., on behalf of no one in particular, chose to send a financial donation and several gifts to Jon Harvey in a rather public and unobfuscated way. The men delivering the gifts were uniformed, the vehicles were diplomatically marked, and they had armed guards with them so as to protect the cargo. Naturally, this was all meant to sow a bit of confusion and a nice letter was written wishing the man luck in the leadership race and informing him that the Raikh was counting on him.

With the current high tensions with Acielon and WTC, Robert Marshall's popularity has increased within the party.

Lansdown: 44% -4
Harvey: 46% -4
Marshall: 10% +8

After the inadvertent helping hand the Raikh had given Jon Harvey, it was decided to contact both Marshall and Lansdown for a face to face discussion about the future of relations and the Association. The plan being to simply inform them of the Raikh's willingness to support either one and to remain above-board and out of Sheenish politics, as part of its renewed desire to cooperate and foster good relations. Finally, the threat of the communists was brought up and how the Raikh did not wish to see a Red Sheen.

'We are willing to offer men, guns, and shells to fight the Red Menace, but that isn't enough here. We need allies and both of you seem right-thinking Sheenishmen... The Tholes are encroaching on the Ringsea, the communards are threatening to overthrow the social order. Are you willing to take our hand and fight with us?'

A Sadalen pirate ship calls to port, having been paid by the New Respite government they unload many tons of clothing to be given to the Harvey campaign to be used as donations to the poor for the coming cold. Nearly 3/4ths of a million outfits are provided, all made of fine and warm Caudian wool, and while plain they are dyed as well, while they are clearly factory made and not overly fancy, they are of good quality and favour function over form. As well as this there is a letter which asks that whoever wins the election if they would consider starting up trade negotiations with New Respite for agricultural resources that the Association cannot produce for themselves, but that New Respite has in eager abundance.

Recognising the impending disaster of Jon Harvey getting into power, the Raikh quickly extended an invitation for a private meeting to discuss the current threats on the table and cooperation. If he could be swayed, then they would leave him be... If not, then the Raikh would do what it knows it must do. Already, men were being hired to espouse the Lansdown Plan and attack Harvey for his weak positions on international politics.

Abandoning vital trade partners, wishing to align with the Acielonians whose labour practices were the stuff of nightmares, and the Imperium whose republicanism extended as far as their emperor wished it. These places, which were the antithesis of Sheenish values, were what the man wished to rely on. To further hammer home the point, parallels between his policies and that of the N.L.S.D.A.P. and even Communist Part of the Association were drawn. The man was practically a member of those parties, and yet he now wished to subvert the only real opposition? A perversion of Sheenish politics and democracy! These were the angles that would be run should he be unwilling to work with the Raikh and unwilling to give way to Lansdown.

'The Raikh's "presence" in Sheen has been a constant one for decades, our volunteers have guarded your border rather well and we would be more than happy to increase the numbers, as we did for Dunwik and in the southern territories, so as to safe-guard you against aggression. Our falling out with the Tholes, while unfortunate, was ultimately due to their rising hegemonic ambitions, which started with their attempt at assuming our imperial titles and then invading a neutral state. If we had simply stood by, we would have been betraying not only ourselves, but you as well! Look how they are now seizing military ports across the Ringsea and demanding you extradite Sheenish citizens to them when no treaty has been signed to that effect! The Latins on the other hand, they are boring and stable, yes... But they do not come to your aid willingly. They have repeatedly shown their willingness to hide behind red-tape and technicalities to excuse themselves from conflicts, such as in the last war, and they are no more peaceful than us in reality. We went to war for their dead-empress and have seen them establish themselves likewise as hegemons, to the detriments of their brethren in the east. Where were they went Magdalenum was invaded, where were they when the Raikh called upon them to protect trade, and where were they when the Raikh was threatened? They dilly-dallied and waited until our fleet was destroyed before upholding even the most basic of obligations and they sold weapons to our enemies and then they stole our colonies when we treated with them in good faith. Do these sound like allies who would stand by the Association? Do these men love you as we do, as we must for your acts to redeem us in those dark days? If called upon, we would empty our coffers for you, tighten our breads and not eat for you, and even die for you in vast numbers, as we know the Associations causes are just. We do not disagree with your policies, but we must know we have a stable and good ally in you as we now are faced with the looming prospect of communism, a threat which we can not ignore... Please, return our love and friendship.'