Department of External Affairs

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Welcome to the Department of External Affairs
Bienvenue au ministère des Affaires extérieures
Bienvenido al Departamento de Asuntos Exteriores
ברוכים הבאים ל המחלקה לקשרי חוץ
Willkommen in der Abteilung für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten
Bem-vindo ao Departamento de Assuntos Externos
Welkom bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken
Zapraszamy do Departamentu Spraw Zagranicznych
مرحبا بكم في وزارة الشؤون الخارجية
Добро пожаловать в министерство иностранных дел<sup>*


*</sup> The DoEA does not take responsibility for unfortunate errors in translation. Blame Google.  Thank you.

Also, I wish to post this quote, which has been framed and hangs above my doorway:

You have the job I want the most, but I'm sure you will do an excellent job.  Best of luck to you.

I fear for the world's future should you ever get this job

[Franzl]

Times change, don't they....Mr. SoEA?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Indeed they do, Senator.  Indeed they do.

While my office will be open, my first major address will be given on July 14, during my visit to Paris to meet with President Sarkozy.  You will not want to miss this speech.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Communiqué

The Department of External Affairs offers its fullest congratulations to Spain on winning the 2010 World Cup, and congratulates the Netherlands for playing an excellent, competitive match.

[Franzl]

Communiqué

The Department of External Affairs offers its fullest congratulations to Spain on winning the 2010 World Cup, and congratulates the Netherlands for playing an excellent, competitive match.

Did the honorable SoEA watch the same game that I did? Diplomats..

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Transcript of SoEA Ben's speech to the French Parliament in Paris, France :: July 14, 2010

Mr. President, Madame First Lady, assembled dignitaries,

Eleven score and one year ago, a group of men proclaimed liberty, equality, and fraternity as basic rights of man.  In the two centuries since then, though, nation after nation has disregarded these rights.  I cannot emphasize enough the importance of human rights, and of every nation respecting them.  I am proud to call Atlasia a beacon of human rights – we always have, and it is my sincere hope that we will continue to be.

Now, some of you may ask what these human rights are.  I believe that human rights encompass the right to live freely, without fear of persecution for their political beliefs, religious beliefs, ethnicity, or any other distinguishing factor.  Any society that is not tolerant of differences is not a free society, pure and simple.  The right to be oneself is a basic, fundamental human right that every person possesses.  This includes the right to disseminate one’s political views, whether they are critical or supportive of an institution, no matter how popular or unpopular that institution or that view may be.

Another fundamental right is the right to hold one’s own religious beliefs.  To quote a great man, “All men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion.”  Suppression of religion is just the first step to suppression of other personal beliefs, until all differences have been suppressed, and that simply cannot be tolerated.

The right to political representation, too, must remain a fundamental human right.  When the government ceases to represent the interests of its citizens, the government loses any claim to legitimacy, and this is a calumny that must not happen.  Free elections must be a part of every government; to do otherwise is an affront to all of humankind.

These are just a few of the most basic human rights.  I wish to make it clear that this is not in any way an extensive discussion or list of human rights; it is merely a short summary of rights that I consider particularly important, and will emphasize as Secretary of External Affairs.  So I wish you all a Happy Bastille Day, and urge you to remember the Spirit of ‘76 and ‘89!

[Badger]

Transcript of SoEA Ben's speech to the French Parliament in Paris, France :: July 14, 2010

Mr. President, Madame First Lady, assembled dignitaries,

Eleven score and one year ago, a group of men proclaimed liberty, equality, and fraternity as basic rights of man.  In the two centuries since then, though, nation after nation has disregarded these rights.  I cannot emphasize enough the importance of human rights, and of every nation respecting them.  I am proud to call Atlasia a beacon of human rights – we always have, and it is my sincere hope that we will continue to be.

Now, some of you may ask what these human rights are.  I believe that human rights encompass the right to live freely, without fear of persecution for their political beliefs, religious beliefs, ethnicity, or any other distinguishing factor.  Any society that is not tolerant of differences is not a free society, pure and simple.  The right to be oneself is a basic, fundamental human right that every person possesses.  This includes the right to disseminate one’s political views, whether they are critical or supportive of an institution, no matter how popular or unpopular that institution or that view may be.

Another fundamental right is the right to hold one’s own religious beliefs.  To quote a great man, “All men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion.”  Suppression of religion is just the first step to suppression of other personal beliefs, until all differences have been suppressed, and that simply cannot be tolerated.

The right to political representation, too, must remain a fundamental human right.  When the government ceases to represent the interests of its citizens, the government loses any claim to legitimacy, and this is a calumny that must not happen.  Free elections must be a part of every government; to do otherwise is an affront to all of humankind.

These are just a few of the most basic human rights.  I wish to make it clear that this is not in any way an extensive discussion or list of human rights; it is merely a short summary of rights that I consider particularly important, and will emphasize as Secretary of External Affairs.  So I wish you all a Happy Bastille Day, and urge you to remember the Spirit of ‘76 and ‘89!

<French Parliment goes wild, passes resolution of eternal friendship with Atlasia, then unconditionally surrenders>

Ducks items likely to be thrown by Antonio and Fab.

[Јas]

<French Parliment goes wild, passes resolution of eternal friendship with Atlasia, then unconditionally surrenders>

One presumes given the recent vote in the Assemblée nationale, the speech would be taken as not so subtle criticism - and so presumably woud be rather poorly received.

[Vepres]

<French Parliment goes wild, passes resolution of eternal friendship with Atlasia, then unconditionally surrenders>

One presumes given the recent vote in the Assemblée nationale, the speech would be taken as not so subtle criticism - and so presumably woud be rather poorly received.

In which case they'll get very angry... and then surrender

[Purple State]

<French Parliment goes wild, passes resolution of eternal friendship with Atlasia, then unconditionally surrenders>

One presumes given the recent vote in the Assemblée nationale, the speech would be taken as not so subtle criticism - and so presumably woud be rather poorly received.

Those were my thoughts as well.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Just to clear something up: this should not be taken as a criticism of the French Government; I have spoken with President Sarkozy, and he recognizes that it was not an intentional criticism.

[Јas]

Just to clear something up: this should not be taken as a criticism of the French Government; I have spoken with President Sarkozy, and he recognizes that it was not an intentional criticism.

Rather than admitting such naïveté in your first significant speech and then supplicating to the French (who's surrendering now?, etc.), I think the better spin here would've been to go with the 'friends speak truth to friends' type thing, this issue is of huge importance, Atlasia as a watchdog for human rights, etc. etc.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I would hardly call it that.  This speech had been written for while ; it is merely a coincidence that the French have done this.  I made my criticism clear to President Sarkozy, and I hope that France repeals this abhorrent law - but the speech was written in honor of Bastille Day, not for any other purpose.

[Hash]

and I hope that France repeals this abhorrent law

and I hope that Iraq becomes a stable democracy one day. Things don't work like that in the world.

[Јas]

I would hardly call it that.  This speech had been written for while ; it is merely a coincidence that the French have done this.  I made my criticism clear to President Sarkozy, and I hope that France repeals this abhorrent law - but the speech was written in honor of Bastille Day, not for any other purpose.

So, your speech was unintentionally critical of the French - and you apologised to Sarkozy for that.
Then you proceeded to make much the same criticism to Sarkozy anyway?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

So, your speech was unintentionally critical of the French - and you apologised to Sarkozy for that.
Then you proceeded to make much the same criticism to Sarkozy anyway?

No, I did not apologize to Sarkozy - I told him the criticism was unintentional, but reiterated to him that I fully believed what I said.

[Bacon King]

Why exactly are we interfering with the internal affairs of the French government? Surely there are much bigger human rights issues our government should be dealing with rather than making a silly example of that French law.

[Badger]

<French Parliment goes wild, passes resolution of eternal friendship with Atlasia, then unconditionally surrenders>

One presumes given the recent vote in the Assemblée nationale, the speech would be taken as not so subtle criticism - and so presumably woud be rather poorly received.

Those were my thoughts as well.

In fairness, Secretary Ben's reference to religious liberty was only a small portion of his speech, and was consistent with the overall themes of the speech. Whatsmore those statements regarding religious liberty, while eloquent, were relatively "generic" rather than sounding like even subtle criticism of the recent Assembly vote on burqas.

[Јas]

<French Parliment goes wild, passes resolution of eternal friendship with Atlasia, then unconditionally surrenders>

One presumes given the recent vote in the Assemblée nationale, the speech would be taken as not so subtle criticism - and so presumably woud be rather poorly received.

Those were my thoughts as well.

In fairness, Secretary Ben's reference to religious liberty was only a small portion of his speech, and was consistent with the overall themes of the speech. Whatsmore those statements regarding religious liberty, while eloquent, were relatively "generic" rather than sounding like even subtle criticism of the recent Assembly vote on burqas.

With respect, had say Hillary Clinton made a similar type speech with a similar emphases in the French parliament on Bastille Day - it would be a very significant news story.

In the context of international diplomacy, ben's speech had the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

[Purple State]

Why exactly are we interfering with the internal affairs of the French government? Surely there are much bigger human rights issues our government should be dealing with rather than making a silly example of that French law.

It would be quite hypocritical to urge less friendly nations to allow religious freedom while remaining silent on the French legislation.

[k-onmmunist]

Religious freedom is a farce, quite frankly, but I'll stay out of this one

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Communiqué

The Department of External Affairs strongly opposes the legislation introduced by Senator Bgwah, and vigorously urges the Senate to either reject the bill entirely or radically amend it.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Communiqué

The Department of External Affairs agrees 100% with the ruling of the World Court in regards to Kosovo, and continues to offer its fullest support to the new nation and its government in Pristina.  Furthermore, the Department of External Affairs announces its fullest support for Kosovo's entry into the United Nations.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Communiqué

The Department of External Affairs is beginning it's July 2010 Foreign Policy Review and July 2010 Foreign Aid Review.  If any Senators wish to suggest policies or funding, either post it here or PM me.  The Department's goal is to release everything by next Friday, July 30.

[k-onmmunist]

I'm not too sure about your support of Kosovo.