Senate Confirmation Hearing: Bruhgmger for Secretary of State (Confirmed)

[Lumine]

Executive Order
Appointing a new Secretary of State

Bruhgmger2 has been appointed Secretary of State.

X President Tmthforu94

The nominee has 24 hours to make an opening statement.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I applaud the President for selecting this centrist choice and urge the Senate to confirm.

[tmthforu94]

Just to give a quick background - Bruhgmger2 has been serving on the National Security Council since the start of this administration and has been actively engaged throughout. As will be shown through this confirmation hearing, he has great knowledge of foreign policy and is eager and ready to be an active Secretary of State. I urge the Senate to confirm and am excited to work with him.

[Don Vito Corleone]

Good Evening.

Before we begin, I would like to extend my thanks to tmth for nominating me to serve in this position.

Should I be confirmed as Secretary of State, my chief priorities would be the following:
A) Continuing wxtransit's work in regards to China
B) Forging deep ties to India, both diplomatically and economically. In addition to the obvious economic benefits that this will bring, it will give us a strong regional check on the Chinese.
C) Keeping a "watchful eye", as it were, over the situation in Venezuela. In addition, I feel that while we should avoid using military force if at all possible; if the situation bursts into civil war, we should not rule out military action.
D) Pushing for Democratization in Paflagonia. In this case, I feel we can rule out use of military force.

Of course, those probably will change over the next few months as the situation in the world changes. We will no doubt see new events and storylines from the GM; hence I feel it is important that I, should I be confirmed, keep in close contact with the GM.

Moving to more of a philosophical angle, I'd like to talk a little bit about my own personal views on Foreign Policy. What actions and priorities a person takes/has as a diplomat is dependant on how much emphasis they put on Human Rights vs. National Interest. Personally, I consider myself on the Realist side of Liberal Internationalism, which means that although Human Rights are my foremost concern when it comes to driving Diplomacy, I put more emphasis on the realpolitik of a given situation than you might see from other Liberal Internationalists.

As part of this philosophy I have, I feel it is very very very important that people know in what directions our country is heading and why those directions benefit both us as a nation and the world. For this reason, I will keep an active office which will provide a steady flow of updates to the citizens of Atlasia on the various actions that the State Department takes.

I feel it is important that the nation's foreign policy team moves as one cohesive unit. Therefore, should I be confirmed to this position, I will always seek to forge consensus amongst the National Security Council before taking action.

And lastly, I would like to talk a little about my experience. I have served in the Fremont Assembly since March where I have been an active and bipartisan voice, and since late February I have served on the National Security Council where I worked with the President, the Vice President, the former Secretary of State, and the other members of the NSC to advance our interests and human rights around the globe.

I eagerly await your questions.

[Esteemed Jimmy]

I can vouch for Bruhgmger2 and I have full confidence in him that he will be a great Secretary of State.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

The President has made an excellent choice in Bruhg, and I am certain he will be a fantastic SoS.

[Don Vito Corleone]

Thank you all so much for your kind praise; it's very flattering!

[Devout Centrist]

I will vote in the affirmative on this appointment. I have complete confidence in Mr. Bruhgmger2 and I believe he will do an excellent job as Secretary of State.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Since you mentioned India as a check on China, an approach I certainly see merits in, it does beg the question about the approach to Pakistan since they are not on the best of terms right now.

[Lumine]

Heads up, I'll open the vote on the nominee this afternoon.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Just popping in to say I was glad to see the nominee mention Paflagonia—this was one of the first stories published after the reset by then-GM Kalwejt and continued by myself. That it's still being discussed actively is an excellent sign for narrative continuity and the strength of the GM.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Do you support expanding the Atlasia-Subsaharan Free trade agreement to any new countries and if so which?

Should recent developments in Brunei disqualify it from foreign aid?

If you had to bomb 5 countries we are not at war with, which would they be?

[Don Vito Corleone]

I thank you for your questions.

Since you mentioned India as a check on China, an approach I certainly see merits in, it does beg the question about the approach to Pakistan since they are not on the best of terms right now.

I think the best course of action regarding Pakistan would be to still act as friendly as possible as we can towards them. We should remain on as good terms as is possible with the Pakistanis to prevent as much Pakistani drift towards the Chinese as we can. Of course, some drift is inevitable, but we should prevent as much of it as we can.

And Speaking of Pakistani drift towards the Chinese:

I thought about this issue when I came up with this plan. It is true yes, aligning ourselves closer with India would irritate the Pakistanis. However, in my view, the benefits of such an approach would vastly outweigh the potential downsides. The benefits, of course, would be deeper economic and diplomatic integration with one of the world's emerging economies and a nation which could serve as an effective regional check on the Chinese. The downsides are that the Pakistanis, who are already very close allies with the Chinese, could become closer still to China. So in essence, in exchange for a nation already very close with the Chinese becoming closer to them we gain the friendship of an emerging economic powerhouse which would, I think, given the state of India-China relations, gladly serve as a regional check on the Chinese.

Do you support expanding the Atlasia-Subsaharan Free trade agreement to any new countries and if so which?

I'm afraid I really don't know what agreement you're referring to here. I've tried to find something resembling an "Atlasia-Subsaharan Free trade agreement" and I couldn't find anything.

If you had to bomb 5 countries we are not at war with, which would they be?

Do NHL teams other than the Detriot Red Wings count as countries?

Should recent developments in Brunei disqualify it from foreign aid?

While I'm unsure if we should eliminate all foreign aid to Brunei certainly I think it should be cut significantly. In my view, Foreign Aid should work under a carrot-and-stick approach, and this is surely a situation where we can use Foreign Aid to that end.

[Mr. Reactionary]

We have free trade agreements with Mozambique, Botswana, Tanzania, and Zambia creating a contiguous free trade region within subsaharan Africa.


https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=278299.0

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=289033.0

[Don Vito Corleone]

We have free trade agreements with Mozambique, Botswana, Tanzania, and Zambia creating a contiguous free trade region within subsaharan Africa.

Ah ok, I see what you mean now.

I would be in full support of expanding the Free Trade Zone. In particular, I'd like to see it expanded to Nigeria, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola.

[Lumine]

A vote on the nominee is open. Senators, please vote AYE, NAY or ABSTAIN.

[ON Progressive]

Aye

[MAINEiac4434]

Aye!

[Former President tack50]

Aye

[Devout Centrist]

Aye!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

AYE

[Lumine]

The nominee is confirmed.

[Don Vito Corleone]

Wow. This is a very humbling moment for me. I'd like to thank tmth for trusting me enough to nominate me to this position, the Senators here who had faith in my ability to do the job, and most of all to YoungTexan who is responsible more than anyone for me rising to this position.