SB 113-27: Foreign Arms Sales Amendment Act (Passed)

[Mr. Reactionary]

Amendment fails 1-9-3-5.

Debate resumes.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

So Im going to object for the following reasons:

1. The Ukrainian military is run by actual Nazis.

ATLASIAN PUBLIC ACTS

Russia-Ukraine Stalemate Continues, Zelensky Commissar Order Quietly Repealed.
By NewYorkExpress

As the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine stretches into what looks like a stalemate, causing some observers, such as retired Atlasian diplomat and Ukraine expert Marie Yovanovitch to opine that the situation, which continues to see a stalemated conflict zone of troops fighting near Sumy, and near Dinipro, as well as a third hot zone as part of a Ukrainian offensive towards Crimea, is comparable to the Korean War between North Korea and China and the former United States and South Korea between 1950 and 1953, which technically hasn’t ended, and is only will have considered to end once both countries ratify the Panmunjom framework. That war spent many years bogged down in a stalemate, and Yovanovitch, speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, stated that this one likely would remain one too, unless NATO got involved, or Atlasia intervened by itself.

One of the most aggressive acts of the war, meanwhile, by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, based on the Nazi’s Commissar orders, requiring the execution of any captured Russian soldiers, was quietly repealed after widespread disobedience from Ukrainian soldiers, and threats to bring Zelensky before the International Criminal Court on War Crimes charges.

A UN resolution, proposed by the United Kingdom, to institute sanctions against both Ukraine and Russia is awaiting a vote, but it is expected to be vetoed by Russia, and possibly China.

2. Mauritania is the biggest remaining slaver country.

3. While North Korea is currently at peace, I do not see  flooding them with weapons a good solution for peace.

4. Cuba is still a repressive dictatorship. Id be down to add more to the list but I dont see that as a reason to sell weapons to Cuba.

5. Brunei I also dont know much about and assume it was on the list because it was on the previous list. I will not object to that deletion.

I will open up the amendment vote in a few.

The issue is the selectiveness of the arm sales ban, if you ban selling arms to these, why are certain countries not included that should be included, or in general a ban on selling weapons to any country outside of our alliance network.

Currently, not the same standards are held for each country.

If you want to do it properly include like 100 nations in this list.

4. Cuba is still a repressive dictatorship. Id be down to add more to the list but I dont see that as a reason to sell weapons to Cuba.

If this is the standard, you need to quadruple the list. More than that.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Proposed amendment

FOREIGN ARMS SALES AMENDMENT ACT

1. The Arsenal of Democracy Act shall be amended as follows:

...

2.) In light of the above criteria the following countries are hereby barred from purchasing either non-lethal or lethal arms from Atlasia or from receiving military or policing training; either in their own country or in Atlasia.

2A.) Azerbaijan
2B.) Central African Republic
2C.) China
2D.) Brunei
2E.) Belarus
2F.) Egypt
2G.) Iran
2H.) Syria
2I.) Myanmar
2J.) Zimbabwe
2K.) Saudi Arabia

2A.) Azerbaijan
2B.) Belarus
2C.) Brunei
2D.) China
2E.) Cuba
2F.) Iran
2G.) Mauritania
2H.) Myanmar
2I.) North Korea
2I.) Peru
2J.) Russia
2K.) Saudi Arabia
2L.) Syria
2M.) Ukraine
2N.) Zimbabwe

...

2. This act shall take effect 30 days from the date of passage.

Peru for GM events

North Korea given it is a democracy and it requires protection from China that might not like the status quo in the game and given it is in the process of unification with South Korea. There was no ban at place, it makes no sense to implement a ban on a country that is in the process of democratization and is under threat of hostile neighbours.

See

ATLASIAN PUBLIC ACTS - NEW YEARS 2023 EDITION

Peruvian Army massacres civilians in Ayacucho
By NewYorkExpress
 
Protests against the government of newly sworn in President of Peru Dina Boularte reached a boiling point in Ayacucho, as demonstrators demanding the resignation of Boularte’s government and immediate elections, stormed the airport, leading to eighteen dead, and fifty-nine injured.
The Minister of Education, Patricia Correra, and the Minster of Culture, Jair Perez, have resigned in protest, while Congressman Alex Flores (Peru Libre) has become a rising star in his party after filing a constitutional complaint against the Ministries of Defense and Interior for their roles in the massacre.
 
Boularte has pledged to hold elections no later than 2024, but that is not enough for the protesters, who want immediate elections, and many of whom want the return of Castillo to power.
 
It remains to be seen what this dynamic will do for Peru.

GM Team vote was unanimous

And yes i'm planning to add more amendments if this passes, with all non-democracies and genocidal countries. But i'll need an up-to-date list of what is different from the game compared to IRL (Myanmar, Ethiopia, Yemen are a few coming to mind: maybe Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Qatar, etc.). If we are going to do it, we better do it well.

[Mr. Reactionary]

24 hours to object to the amendment

[West_Midlander]

Is North Korea a democracy ITTL?

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Is North Korea a democracy ITTL?

Yes, it's in the process of reunification with South Korea (which takes ten years).

WORLD LEADERS:

China: President Xi Jinping
North Korea: President Choe Ryong Hae & Prime Minister Ji Seong-ho
South Korea: President Lee Jae-myung

For reference these are in charge in China, North Korea and South Korea.

If China invades North Korea to restore the communist dictatorship, they have no weapons to initially defend theirselves and would be quickly at the border with South Korea (if we ignore the fact that there is a mountaineous border of North Korea with China). But still you get the idea.

Maybe someone else who has more experience and has been around for longer can clarify the context better than I can.

But (from my perspective) choosing to ban arms sales to North Korea is a win for China (in the game).

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

In the end, I do think Laki has a point with NK. China has proven to be our main adversary here and having an exposed flank is not a good idea.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I am fine with the amendment.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Laki Amendment is adopted.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

The following countries are listed as authoritarian (dictatorships often) by the democracy index (not naming nations that are already included in the act).

Algeria
Angola
Bahrain
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Comoros
Chad
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Eswatini
Gabon
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
Iraq
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Libya
Oman
Mali
Mozambique
Nicaragua
Niger
Palestine
Qatar
Republic of the Congo
Rwanda
Sudan
Tajikistan
Togo
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Venezuela (IIRC does not apply in the game)
Yemen

Secondly i'd like to make a case for these nations to be added to this list, given they are in an active conflict and not named yet:

Turkey (vs terrorism/Kurds)
Pakistan
India
Israël (vs Palestine which is already included)
Ethiopia and Eritrea are both already named (and so are Russia and Ukraine already named)
Somalia (civil war)
Kenya (civil war)
Uganda (with DR Congo)
South Sudan
Serbia

My next amendment proposal thus would include every nation listed

FOREIGN ARMS SALES AMENDMENT ACT

1. The Arsenal of Democracy Act shall be amended as follows:

...

2.) In light of the above criteria the following countries are hereby barred from purchasing either non-lethal or lethal arms from Atlasia or from receiving military or policing training; either in their own country or in Atlasia.

2A.) Azerbaijan
2B.) Central African Republic
2C.) China
2D.) Brunei
2E.) Belarus
2F.) Egypt
2G.) Iran
2H.) Syria
2I.) Myanmar
2J.) Zimbabwe
2K.) Saudi Arabia

Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Belarus
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Comoros
Chad
China
Cuba
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Eswatini
Gabon
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
India
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Libya
Oman
Mali
Mauritania
Mozambique
Myanmar
Nicaragua
Niger
Pakistan
Palestine
Peru
Qatar
Republic of the Congo
Russia
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
Togo
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
Zimbabwe

...

So this is a more proper list, instead of the "cherrypicking" before, given we talked about Brunei and we didn't know why, we talked about the slave trade in Mauritania, about Cuba not being a fully democratic nation. And no-one has an idea of why Egypt and Central African Republic suddenly gets a free pass or what they've done to make us want sell arms again to these nations. Maybe some of these officials corrupted some of our senators, who knows?

This is a list of all fully non-democratic nations or nations that have a risk of using military violence to citizens, ethnic groups or other nations.

Instead of nitpicking about what nation we should include or what side you're on, it's a more generalized and neutral list, and one where we generally can agree on that we should not entrust these nations with arms. And one that does not give a free pass to nations one could consider irrelevant (though Brunei with 450.000 people apparently was).

The above one is thus my next amendment proposal.

EDIT: Israël and Turkey are removed because of existing treaties

[Mr. Reactionary]

24 hours to object to the Laki amendment

[Mr. Reactionary]

So Im fine with most of these.

I selectively object to Israel and Turkey, due to treaty obligations.

I will wait to open a vote until the 24 hour mark so we can see if there are any other selective objections, and then we can vote on each individually at the same time. That way, all the ones that we are all fine with are adopted and we dont have to duplicate amendments

[LAKISYLVANIA]

So Im fine with most of these.

I selectively object to Israel and Turkey, due to treaty obligations.

I will wait to open a vote until the 24 hour mark so we can see if there are any other selective objections, and then we can vote on each individually at the same time. That way, all the ones that we are all fine with are adopted and we dont have to duplicate amendments

That's fine to me, do you have links to these treaties of Israël and Turkey? (or do you just mean NATO?). I get the point of treaty obligations, but we will have to take a look at it to consider the status of NATO and whether it is possible to remove nations from NATO (from an Atlasian viewpoint) or alternatively leave NATO (in the game).

[Mr. Reactionary]

Turkey is NATO yes

Israel found here https://www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-israel/

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Well I will accept the changes already (given that would open a whole different discussion for now), even if i personally disagree with those. But it is a valid point that these cannot be added because of existing treaties.

So I edited the amendment now.

I know it's a large amount of countries, but it would at least be somewhat consistent, even if the democracy index itself (as an example) isn't perfect either (which i acknowledge). And it might include potential strategical partners (like Vietnam to China) that do not pose a threat which need to be evaluated.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Well I will accept the changes already (given that would open a whole different discussion for now), even if i personally disagree with those. But it is a valid point that these cannot be added because of existing treaties.

Cool, in that case my proposal is just a friendly amendment and we wont have to vote if there are no objections.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Lakis Amended Amendment is adopted.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Any other countries?

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

FOREIGN ARMS SALES AMENDMENT ACT

1. The Arsenal of Democracy Act shall be amended as follows:

...

2.) In light of the above criteria the following countries are hereby barred from purchasing either non-lethal or lethal arms from Atlasia or from receiving military or policing training; either in their own country or in Atlasia.


Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Belarus
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Comoros
Chad
China
Cuba
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Eswatini
Gabon
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
India
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Libya
Oman
Mali
Mauritania
Mozambique
Myanmar
Nicaragua
Niger
Pakistan
Palestine
Peru
Qatar
Republic of the Congo
Russia
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
Togo
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
Zimbabwe

...

Amendment. We're currently working on a trade deal (or are already in one) with these countries, and this could be a big roadblock to that. I definitely understand the wish to keep them on, but for these deals to continue we should probably still allow this.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Friendly to Mr. R and WB proposed amendment/state department.

I also request removing Vietnam from the list, given it was a nation that only (very narrowly) fell into the authoritarian line I used and given they'll be important as a future partner to curb potential Chinese agression

For that reason i offer an amendment removing Vietnam too.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Proposing amendment (including WB / Mr. R changes)

FOREIGN ARMS SALES AMENDMENT ACT

1. The Arsenal of Democracy Act shall be amended as follows:

...

2.) In light of the above criteria the following countries are hereby barred from purchasing either non-lethal or lethal arms from Atlasia or from receiving military or policing training; either in their own country or in Atlasia.


Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Belarus
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Comoros
Chad
China
Cuba
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Eswatini
Gabon
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
India
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Libya
Oman
Mali
Mauritania
Mozambique
Myanmar
Nicaragua
Niger
Pakistan
Palestine
Peru
Qatar
Republic of the Congo
Russia
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
Togo
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
Zimbabwe

...

[Mr. Reactionary]

24 hours to object to the 2 amendments.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

I'll withdraw mine in favor of Laki's

[Mr. Reactionary]

Amendments are adopted.

[Mr. Reactionary]

So are we all in agreement now?