[War] World Report, Volume 1

[John Penta]

World Alliances and Rivalries: World Report

Volume 1

For all actions since Game Start, advancing the timeline to 4 February
2013 to 18 February 2013.

United Nations Security Council (Permanent Members): United States,
United Kingdom, France, China, Russia

United Nations Security Council (Non-Permanent Members as of 3 February 2013):
Until May 30, 2013: Canada, South Africa, Panama, Poland, Australia
Until July 31, 2013: Japan, Brazil, Ethiopia, Denmark, Afghanistan

Pending UN Security Council Actions: none
Pending UN General Assembly Actions: None
United Nations Secretariat: No news.
=======================

GM Notes
=======================

Trying out something new - what I'm calling 'Dynamic Start'. The old
50/50 start of the approval ratings is gone where I could figure out
better numbers (which wasn't in too many places, and usually not to
anyone's advantage, lo siento). Exception is International Favor,
where a flat 50% for everybody seemed the best course.

Mike Downey gets his barely-disguised one-time prize for being first
off the mark with his post "A Marred Beginning". I decided to forego
bopping anyone for being slow and pokey.:)

Some other quick notes - intent with the UNSC non-perms is to rotate
them every 3 months on a staggered basis. Of course I probably flubbed
in calculating when that would be.

>From this point forward, WR periods will run from 2359 Friday to 2359
on the *Friday after next*...Using Saturday and Sunday to write the
WR, then I get it out as late as Sunday evening.

OOC post counts will cover the same time period.

Otherwise: It's been a slow start, but welcome back to WAR, everybody!

-John

ACTION RESPONSES
=======================


BRAZIL
=============
Population Approval: 50%
Government Approval: 50%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 5%
Inflation: 5.8%
Unemployment: 9%
----------------------------

The Inauguration of the new President being followed by
anti-corruption legislation so swiftly is greeted with applause - and
no small degree of skepticism - from voters. However, it remains to be
seen whether any such legislation can survive the legislative process.

Meanwhile, the military prepares the as-yet-unnamed favela operation -
so far, it hasn't leaked. Knock on wood.

CANADA
=============
Population Approval: 45%
Government Approval: 40%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 3.1%
Inflation: 1%
Unemployment: 6.8%
----------------------------

Brutal murders never do much for the Government's popularity; when
there's a string of em, it only gets worse. The announcement of new
funding for First Nations communities, while appreciated *by* the
First Nations involved and their advocates, is seen as being in part a
diversion. The fact that there's been more murders, by what the papers
are calling a serial killer, has only sparked more panic - as Muslims
arm themselves, and non-Muslims arm themselves in response, all aided
and abetted by eager gun sellers on the other side of the border.
Tensions are, by even the most optimistic estimates, at an explosive
level.

CHINA (PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF)
==============
Population Approval: 50%
Government Approval: 50%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 2%
Inflation: 6%
Unemployment: 9%
-----------------------------

The inauguration of the new People's Estate is greeted...predictably.
On the one hand, old-fashioned Communists (about 20% of the people,
contrary to the administration's portrayal of them as a dying-off
bunch of old men) see it as too extravagant, thinking that the leader
of a Communist nation should live more modestly. Nationalists see it
as finally befitting a Great Nation. Most people wonder when *they'll*
live in such a Western fashion, not in Brutalist apartment blocks.

JAPAN
======
Population Approval: 55%
Government Approval: 50%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 2%
Inflation: 1.8%
Unemployment: 4.4%
-----------------------------

The Government gets a bit of a sympathy bump from the out-of-the-blue
assassination of the DPJ's Secretary-General, but it seems unlikely to
last - already, people are asking how a Zainichi got a gun, and who
sent him to do the deed. In the absence of information, rumor is
taking over the media and the internet - some even claiming that this
was ordered by the new Prime Minister.

FRANCE
====
Population Approval: 45%
Government Approval: 45%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 1.8%
Inflation: 1%
Unemployment: 9.2%
-----------------------------

"Shaken up" might best be the words to describe the reaction of the
French people to the attack on what are being called the "New Holy
Innocents", the children attacked at the Cathedral of Notre Dame -
never mind that, whether it be by the intervention of the Patroness of
the Cathedral, or sheer luck, none of the children were hurt: The name
stuck. It took repeated desperate interventions by the
Cardinal-Archbishop of Paris to prevent memorial Masses from turning
into near-riots against the Algerian communities in the suburbs of
Paris, where the perpetrators are (seemingly absent evidence) believed
by the vast majority of the French population to be in hiding.
Already, the Do Something drumbeat has begun in the National Assembly.

UNITED STATES
==============
Population Approval: 55%
Government Approval: 55%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 1.9%
Inflation: 4.8%
Unemployment: 6.2%
----------------------------

The new President, having come basically out of nowhere since 2008, is
getting both the usual honeymoon - and the by-now-usual dose of
suspicion - from what remains a demoralized and disillusioned country.
Already, people are waiting to see the new President's policy
priorities - and speculating widely in absence of clear data.

UNITED KINGDOM
==============
Population Approval: 50%
Government Approval: 50%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 2.0%
Inflation: 3.8%
Unemployment: 7.1%
----------------------------

As the State Opening of Parliament approaches, Westminster becomes
abuzz with speculation on what'll feature in the new Government's
Queen's Speech. Britain is limping and wounded after the last few
years, and the recent turmoil doesn't help much. People are pretty
anxiously awaiting to see what direction Prime Minister Campbell will
take the country in - namely, to what extent, ask critics, will
Campbell put the government in hock to the unions and the hard-left
for their continued support, and what will that do to British policy,
both in foreign policy and domestic spheres?

RUSSIA
===============
Population Approval: 50%
Government Approval: 50%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 6.2%
Inflation: 13.9%
Unemployment: 6%
----------------------------

The President isn't the only one heading to Divine Liturgy on Sundays
- new polls funded by a think tank show that church attendance in
Russia is up from its "Last in Europe" lows - admittedly, from 10 to
12 percent on a monthly basis, but it's something.

ETHIOPIA
===============
Population Approval: 50%
Government Approval: 50%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 8%
Inflation: 41%
Unemployment: 11%
----------------------------

The Prime Minister's proposal to invite the Imperial House of Haile
Selassie back gets a lot of raised eyebrows, not least from the
Imperial House. They had, after all, been fairly clear since 2004 that
they weren't interested in politics. They already run a fair number of
charitable initiatives in Ethiopia and return there fairly often; they
also, they make clear, really would have no interest in taking back
the throne.

ITALY
===============
Population Approval: 50%
Government Approval: 50%
International Favor: 50%
Economic Growth: 1.1%
Inflation: 3.6%
Unemployment: 10.1%
----------------------------

No sooner did the new Government form than a previous Prime Minister
found himself the target of the courts' tender mercies. Silvio
Berlusconi was arrested in Milan on charges of soliciting prostitution
- if that wasn't bad enough, he was arrested for soliciting
prostitution from an undercover cop posing as a 13-year-old girl. This
has only made the continuing saga of Berlusconi's divorce proceedings
even nastier, with his wife now pushing for 75% of the assets, rather
than the usual 50%.

In other news, the Government's new proposals on immigration are
catching flak from everybody; human rights groups are generally
against it, lawyers object to the restrictions on due process,
minorities fear that even Italian citizens will be swept up and
deported, and budget hawks are asking how much it'd cost (nobody knows
yet). Despite that, they're popular with the public.

However, the opposition hints, in not so many words, that perhaps the
Prime Minister is trying to seek vengeance for the tragic death of his
wife through trying to be tough on immigration. They're not being so
uncultured as to -say- that, but the point is being made in its own
way.

Nobody ever said politics was played nicely.

----

And that's the way it is.