Confirmation Hearing: MasterJedi (Secretary of External Affairs)

[Ebowed]

This hearing is called to order.

Senators are encouraged to debate the qualities of the nominee.

[MasterJedi]

Since it doesn't look like much will come this way I'll just say that I'm ready for any questions.

If nominated I would like to continue and complete the Foreign Policy Review and make vists to other countries. And by visits I don't meant just a visit, I mean to make a speech while I'm there.

[Verily]

What is your opinion of former SoEA Al's stance on Russia?

[MasterJedi]

What is your opinion of former SoEA Al's stance on Russia?

I believe that there should be some sanctions on Russia, but not complete sanctions. The main thing is we shouldn't have any economic sanctions on Russia. Where I differ from Al on this issue though is that it isn't my administration, it's Phil's. While I will lobby Phil for certain positions hardly if he doesn't want to change his positions I will modify our foreign policy to show that.

With the Foreign Policy review I will do it all myself and then send it to the President so that he can look it over and see if it matches the foreign policy that he would like Atlasia to follow. If things don't fit he'll give me feedback and I'll either lobby him to keep it or change it to what he'd like.

[MasterJedi]

Since I'm pretty sure Meekmarinor asked his questions to the wrong nominee so I'll answer his questions here.

1) Do you agree with the previous administration's decision to recognize Kosovo?

Yes, Atlasia had the right and the duty to recognize Kosovo. It was done peacefully and with full support of almost all of its population. Serbia didn't have any right to Kosovo anymore after the events in the 90's. Along with that Serbia hasn't run anything in Kosovo since then so it already has pretty much been an independent nation.

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I believe that Atlasia should first take the route of diplomacy. We should send diplomats there to try and work out an agreement between all three countries and try to find a peaceful solution to the problem. If a diplomatic solution cannot be reached and hostilities actually occur I believe we should fully support Colombia by sending them weapons and money.

Venezuea and Ecuador have relations with FARC, so we should in the end fully support Colombia if they illegally attack Colombia with no provocation.

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I believe that Atlasia should only recognize these countries if they have referendums that show that a clear majority of the people support secession.

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What we should do have the SoEA, the President and the Senate work together and come up with an appropriate position we should take with China since it is a very delicate situation. In the end we should level some sort of sanctions against China for all those reasons you listed but also make it so that China can't fail to live up to those expectations or just continue on their present course.

[Sam Spade]

What domestic-related initiatives do you seek to propose and run through the SoFA?

[Meeker]

As our wise nominee figure out, I accidentally posted his questions in the wrong thread.

I thank Mr. MasterJedi for his answers and look forward to supporting his nomination.

[MasterJedi]

What domestic-related initiatives do you seek to propose and run through the SoFA?

Well I don't have anything specifically that comes out of the position of SoEA (at least I don't think it does) but I do have two pharma type bills that I would like to start getting to work on. I won't post it out now but if you would like to hear what they would be ask and I will post it then.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I have the following questions for the nominee.  My apologies if they are a bit broad—I will gladly clarify if necessary.

(1) What is your position regarding the concept of "nation building"?

(2) Under what circumstances should Atlasia declare war on another country?

(3) Should a multi-national conflict arise in the Middle East, what should Atlasia's role be in such a conflict?

[MasterJedi]

I have the following questions for the nominee.  My apologies if they are a bit broad—I will gladly clarify if necessary.

(1) What is your position regarding the concept of "nation building"?

(2) Under what circumstances should Atlasia declare war on another country?

(3) Should a multi-national conflict arise in the Middle East, what should Atlasia's role be in such a conflict?

1. Depends on the situation and the country. Some countries are easier to rebuild than others just based on the similarites between Atlasia and the country that we would be rebuilding. If we ever attack a country we need to have a clear plan based on what we need to do, like Iraq. (Remember, we fixed Iraq in Atlasia with the GM way back in late 2004 and early 2005) But it should be our duty to actually rebuild the countries we destroy so we don't allow them to become an even bigger enemy and a spot for terrorism.

2. We should invade another country if that country poses a direct threat to either Atlasia or one of our very close allies. And maybe then not even, we should first try diplomacy obviously and maybe even try taking out parts of their military that threaten us or our allies before a full declaration of war.

3. Depends on what it is before we actually get involved. If everyone tries to gang up on Israel than we should probably intervene on their side or one of the other few moderate Islamaic countries. Otherwise, and obviously before anything happens we should try and moderate what happens through diplomacy first. I want this Senate to know though that before this administration, or at least what I advise the President to do, will be diplomacy before military action.

If you would like to have me be more specific please let me know you would like to specifically know and I will respond further.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A couple of issues regarding the nominee's views and record on foreign affairs should be raised during this hearing (and, frankly, the same should go for any nominee to this position).

[Meeker]

Do you still believe that Pacifica and Puerto Rico should be admitted as states?

[Sensei]

Do you still believe that Pacifica and Puerto Rico should be admitted as states?

Puerto Rico is still a state, if I am not mistaken.

[Meeker]

Do you still believe that Pacifica and Puerto Rico should be admitted as states?

Puerto Rico is still a state, if I am not mistaken.

My mistake.

Same question, but only relating to Pacifica.

[MasterJedi]

Do you still believe that Pacifica and Puerto Rico should be admitted as states?

Well as Sensei has said Puerto Rico is still a state. Moving on from that, yes, I do believe that Pacifica should still be a state after a majority of the people vote for statehood. But since the position of Game Moderater has been eliminated it is actually pretty impossible for it to happen since there is no one that can officially do the vote. The papers just report stuff that has happened, they don't make the news like the GM used to.

[Meeker]

Do you believe Atlasia should acquire more territories?

[MasterJedi]

Do you believe the United States should acquire more territories?

Yes, I do believe that the US should acquire more territores but only in certain circumstances. They would be if the majority of the residents of said country, or part of a country, vote in favor of becoming part of the US. The other would be if other countries put up their island possessions for sale which happens every so often.

I'd like to have lots of other territories that would eventually be states but I realize that won't happen. So it's not like we would be using force or coercion to try and get any new territories.

Just a funny story, back when Seige was President and I was in the Senate behind the scenes I actually got him to support a bill, that was never introduced, that would have urged Canada to allow their provinces to vote on whether to join Atlasia or not.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I'm not a Senator, but what is your position on Israel and the Middle East?

[MasterJedi]

I'm not a Senator, but what is your position on Israel and the Middle East?

First I'll start out with Israel. I do support a two state foreign policy for Israel and Palestine. The first thing we need to do though, and it is probably impossible, is to stop both sides from attacking each other or at least get it so it isn't as bad as it is where there are barely any suicide bombings and retaliation attacks. What I'd like to happen, or something like it, would be to have a Palestine consisting of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. There is the problem though of Israel's settlements there. There are two ways to go about solving this, either forcing the settlers off their land or to keep the settlements and offer Palestine money and/or other land for compensation. Until all this though I do support Israel and its right to build its protection wall to try and help control the suicide bombings and I do continue to support full aid to Israel.

Moving on to the Middle East I would ask you to be more specific in what you want to know because it is way too broad to answer anything on.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I'm not a Senator, but what is your position on Israel and the Middle East?

First I'll start out with Israel. I do support a two state foreign policy for Israel and Palestine. The first thing we need to do though, and it is probably impossible, is to stop both sides from attacking each other or at least get it so it isn't as bad as it is where there are barely any suicide bombings and retaliation attacks. What I'd like to happen, or something like it, would be to have a Palestine consisting of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. There is the problem though of Israel's settlements there. There are two ways to go about solving this, either forcing the settlers off their land or to keep the settlements and offer Palestine money and/or other land for compensation. Until all this though I do support Israel and its right to build its protection wall to try and help control the suicide bombings and I do continue to support full aid to Israel.

Moving on to the Middle East I would ask you to be more specific in what you want to know because it is way too broad to answer anything on.

Of course; I was talking especially on the subject of our policy towards Iran, as well as the subject of human rights violations in Muslim law countries (freedom of women, press, etc.)

[MasterJedi]

I'm not a Senator, but what is your position on Israel and the Middle East?

First I'll start out with Israel. I do support a two state foreign policy for Israel and Palestine. The first thing we need to do though, and it is probably impossible, is to stop both sides from attacking each other or at least get it so it isn't as bad as it is where there are barely any suicide bombings and retaliation attacks. What I'd like to happen, or something like it, would be to have a Palestine consisting of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. There is the problem though of Israel's settlements there. There are two ways to go about solving this, either forcing the settlers off their land or to keep the settlements and offer Palestine money and/or other land for compensation. Until all this though I do support Israel and its right to build its protection wall to try and help control the suicide bombings and I do continue to support full aid to Israel.

Moving on to the Middle East I would ask you to be more specific in what you want to know because it is way too broad to answer anything on.

Of course; I was talking especially on the subject of our policy towards Iran, as well as the subject of human rights violations in Muslim law countries (freedom of women, press, etc.)

Toward Iran what we need to do is keep full sanctions on them and pressure the rest of the world community through the UN and the GTO (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Global_Treaty_Organization) to also put complete sanctions on Iran as well, specifically Russia and China. We need to push for complete inspections and to have permant inspectors with full access to Iran's nuclear program at all times.

I also don't support military action against Iran until there is a clear and present danger that Iran will attack either us or one of our allies around the world. With this we should also send aid to pro-democracy factions in Iran to try and help them moderate over the long term.

As for the second part of your question we need to aggressively push for these basic rights for everyone in all countries, not just the middle east. We need to give aid to groups in these countries that push for these rights and publicly support them at all time. Along with this we should threaten sanctions against countries that are specificaly bad in this regard. And though we need to pursue this we should know that it won't happen overnight. It will take a long time and it will be a process because we will need to change the law and the mindsets of the people there.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I'm not a Senator, but what is your position on Israel and the Middle East?

First I'll start out with Israel. I do support a two state foreign policy for Israel and Palestine. The first thing we need to do though, and it is probably impossible, is to stop both sides from attacking each other or at least get it so it isn't as bad as it is where there are barely any suicide bombings and retaliation attacks. What I'd like to happen, or something like it, would be to have a Palestine consisting of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. There is the problem though of Israel's settlements there. There are two ways to go about solving this, either forcing the settlers off their land or to keep the settlements and offer Palestine money and/or other land for compensation. Until all this though I do support Israel and its right to build its protection wall to try and help control the suicide bombings and I do continue to support full aid to Israel.

Moving on to the Middle East I would ask you to be more specific in what you want to know because it is way too broad to answer anything on.

Of course; I was talking especially on the subject of our policy towards Iran, as well as the subject of human rights violations in Muslim law countries (freedom of women, press, etc.)

Toward Iran what we need to do is keep full sanctions on them and pressure the rest of the world community through the UN and the GTO (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Global_Treaty_Organization) to also put complete sanctions on Iran as well, specifically Russia and China. We need to push for complete inspections and to have permant inspectors with full access to Iran's nuclear program at all times.

I also don't support military action against Iran until there is a clear and present danger that Iran will attack either us or one of our allies around the world. With this we should also send aid to pro-democracy factions in Iran to try and help them moderate over the long term.

As for the second part of your question we need to aggressively push for these basic rights for everyone in all countries, not just the middle east. We need to give aid to groups in these countries that push for these rights and publicly support them at all time. Along with this we should threaten sanctions against countries that are specificaly bad in this regard. And though we need to pursue this we should know that it won't happen overnight. It will take a long time and it will be a process because we will need to change the law and the mindsets of the people there.

Thank you for your very detailed and comprehensive answer.

[Хahar 🤔]

Do you consider sanctions on Iran to be important compared to sanctions on countries like Turkmenistan?

[MasterJedi]

Do you consider sanctions on Iran to be important compared to sanctions on countries like Turkmenistan?

More important in the short term because Iran actually is a threat to us and our allies in the area while Turkmenistan isn't. Though in the long run sanctions on both countries would be vitally important for the improvment of democracy and safety into the Middle East.

[Хahar 🤔]

Do you favor preëmptive attacks?