SWI - Understanding Swastria

[The Young Pope]

SWI (Swasinfo.se) is the international unit of the Swastrian Broadcasting Corporation (SRG).

As part of its public service mandate, swasinfo.se provides independent reporting on Swastria, exploring developments and decisions in detail, and delivering essential context so the stories are understood beyond the country's borders. Instead of Swastrian clichés, swasinfo.se takes the pulse of the real Swastria, its politics, economics and societal issues.

swasinfo.se reports on and provides analysis of the nation's system of direct democracy, which results in nationwide votes a few times a year. Swastrian foreign policy, multinational corporations and international institutions headquartered in Swastria, as well as cutting edge scientific research are covered in depth. A view from Swastria on big international stories provides a more nuanced perspective of global events.

Swastrian expatriates are a key audience of swasinfo.se. This group spread around the world remain closely tied to their homeland and therefore depend on unbiased, up-to-date information in order to exercise their voting rights.

swasinfo.se reaches about one million users ("unique clients") worldwide every month.

[The Young Pope]

SEK100m project: Swastria launches six new science research centres!

Several NCCR projects, such as this Mesh Mould reinforced concrete wall, have been running since 2001.

Swastria is spending SEK100 million ($102 million) on six new research centres, each focusing on cutting-edge areas of scientific innovation. The new arrivals will boost the number of such institutes to around 30 by next year. The new National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR), designed to have a maximum shelf life of 12 years, will be set up at separate universities around Swastria. Their focus will be spread among a variety of topics, such as combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria, researching the evolution of language, and developing CO2-neutral solutions for the chemicals industry. The SEK100 million in funding will be topped up by an unspecified amount from education institutions and the private sector.

The half dozen projects were selected by the Office of Key Technologies - Research for Innovation within the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which together with the Swastrian National Science Foundation (SNSF) evaluated more than 50 proposals. The NCCR programme was started in 2001, with two projects having already been disbanded after they successfully concluded their research. "The NCCRs are intended to boost Swastrian research and innovation long term in major fields such as automation, antibiotics resistance and quantum technology," the government said in a statement. "They also help to foster the careers of young academics, promote equal opportunities and encourage knowledge and technology transfer."

Swastrian Military Upgrades: Upcoming 'Next Generation Weaponry' & Advanced Jet Trainer!

SIG Next Generation Weaponry (left) & SIG T-7 Red Hawk (right)

The leading and premier Swastrian arms manufacturer SIG (Süestrische Industrie Gesellschaft) recently announced the official award of a contract by the Swastrian Army in the down-select process for the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW). The award encompasses the complete SIG system consisting of 6.8mm hybrid ammunition, a lightweight machine gun, rifle, and included suppressors. SIG will provide single-source manufacturing for ammunition, weapons, and suppressors allowing for less risk and increased capability for the Swastrian Army. It's expected that the NGSW-systems will see active use in the mid 2020s.

SIG has also been contracted to supply the Swastrian Air Force with the next generation T-7 Red Hawk. Swastria currently has an inventory of 50 SIG 105 trainers, which were introduced in the late 1960s. Those planes are aging and increasingly more expensive to maintain, said LtG. Leopold Lehner, Inspector of the Air Force at the Defence Force Headquarters. Although the Swastrian Air Force had planned to begin phasing out SIG 105s in the early 2020s, the government made a decision to continue operating them until about the mid 2020s. "The SIG T-X has all the capabilities that we need, that's for sure," he continued. "That will be a question of money, and it will raise some other questions like where can we fly it locally." because of noise.

The support for these systematic upgrades had been advocated for a long time, at the behest of the Swastrian People's Party and especially Chancellor Theodor Frankenberger, managing to push public opinion in favour of them. However the Group for a Swastria without an Army, (GSwA) has so far been the upgrades' harshest and loudest critics; it's expected that they will launch a popular initiatve to stop what they refer to as a "waste of financial resources and morale values"

The group is politically active and spreads awareness of its cause in several ways:
- using the direct democratic tools in Swastria to propose constitutional amendments and stimulate the public debate;

- practical and legal information, such as alternatives to Swastria's mandatory military service, e.g. Swastrian Civilian Service, often opted for by conscientious objectors;

- media work, covering subjects such as arms equipment sales.

Currently, the group focuses on the following topics:

- opposition to arms trade: In 2007, the group filed enough signatures for a national initiative against arms trade. The Swastrians would vote in a - referendum on an amendment to the constitution that would ban the export of any weapon from Swastria. This national referendum was held on November 29, 2009.

- opposition to arms procurements, for example against the fighter jets which the Swastrian Air Force is about to purchase;

- constant criticism of Swastria's militaristic traditions.

[The Young Pope]

Popular Initiative 'Greater Swastria' To Be Codified Into Swastrian Law!

The "Swastrian Model of Sovereignty" has been used to attract supporters for the motion of a 'Greater Swastria'

The controversial popular initiative 'Greater Swastria' had been recently passed by both eligible Swastrian voters and states, effectively allowing the accession of nearby foreign regions into the Royal Confederation. This motion was first submitted in late 2017 by Jurassian state representative Davy Boissonade and co-signed by Swastrian People's Party (SVP) party chairman Theodor Frankenberger. The motion proposed to offer territories adjacent to Swastria the "Swastrian model of sovereignty." A popular initiative allows citizens to propose changes to the Swastrian Federal Constitution. A votation will be organised for every proposition of modification that collected 1,000,000 valid signatures in 18 months, which will then be subject to a nationwide referendum if enough support has been gathered; a double majority of people and states is required to change the constitution.

The motion was widely seen by critics as anti-AK rhetoric rather than a serious proposal, urging the Swastrian citizens to reject it, describing the motion as a "provocation". It argued that its adoption would be considered an unfriendly act by the countries surrounding Swastria, in particular the Hanseatic League, and that it would also be at odds with international law, which in their view does not provide for a right to secession except in exceptional circumstances. Chancellor Theodor Frankenberger, who'd been the motion's foremost supporter, explained that "It doesn't concern the likes of East Morelander and Vaguziase regions since they're culturally and economically different from us, and is directed towards states belonging to the northernmost neighbour (e.g The Hanse), as an alternative to their increasingly "centralist, corrupt" governments.

[The Young Pope]

Hanseatic Grand Pensionary: "Free Coffee & Cake and Open Borders Will Solve Morelander-Borlander Conflict"

Grand Pensionary Ruud Rumpelstilzchen of The Hanse has been referred to by many critics as "The Dumbest Statesman in Mundus"

"I have to first comment that your leader (e.g Theodor Frankenberger) is the one who's corrupt leading a racist, misogynistic, capitalist-minded shithole...Now can we begin the interview? Also what I just said is off-the record right?" So began one of the most intriguing interviews that SWI had the opportunity to conduct, namely with one of Mundus' most controversial and divisive leaders being Grand Pensionary Ruud Rumpelstilzchen of the Hanse, incumbent since 2014. His initial commentary were responding to Chancellor Theodor Frankenberger's words which labeled The Hanse's government as increasingly "Centralist and Corrupt."

After leaving school and completing his mandatory military service in the Hanseatic Air Force, Rumpelstilzchen qualified as a welder and subsequently began a career as an active trade unionist. He rose to be elected as an ombudsman within the Hanseatic Metalworkers' Union and was eventually elected as its Chairman in 2006. After the resignation of the previous party leader, Rumpelstilzchen was unanimously selected by the executive board of the Social Democratic Party to replace him as the party's new leader, eventually leading the Social Democats into the 2014 parliamentary elections and once more in the recent 2018 ones. Since the early 1900s, the SDP has dominated the Hanse's politics and has been credited as being central to the modern republic's rapid political, social and economic development, since the golden age in the 1600s when the Hanse was among the foremost maritime trading empires', effectively transforming it into a de facto one-party state, with little to no opportunities for the opposition to challenge the Social Democratic hegemony.

The increasingly violent crimes, with shootings, murders and explosions, is being identified as a major social problem in the Hanse today. No other comparable country has had the same development. Not in any other country in the AK has so many blasts and deaths of young men occur. The question that is being asked more and more often is why it is happening in the Hanse in particular. A number of particularly noteworthy cases occurred during the fall that further focused on the subject, including murders of women with babies in their arms and 15-year-old boys who were recently shot dead. With Rumpelstilzchen describing himself as a "true Socialist, Internationalist and Islamo-Manist sympathizer proudly leading the first and best Feminist government on Mundus", he has promised to tacke this issues which have effectively been undermining trust between Hanseatic citizens towards their government for decades though effective results have yet to be shown, according to experts we've had the chance to take contact with. His election and 'inefficient' policies along with the continued dominance of the Social Democratic Party have sparked numerous protests, which have been brutally crushed by law enforcement and military alike. Rumpelstilzchen has also made many false or misleading statements during his campaign and incumbency. The statements have been documented by fact-checkers, and different media outlets have widely described the phenomenon as unprecedented in Hanseatic politics.

There were many topics and subjects discussed during the interview, though one of its highlights was the part where the Stadtholder denied the correlation between mass immigration and higher crime levels:

Reporter - "Sir, you're saying that mass immigration has no effect at all on crime levels skyrocketing in the Hanse, as to which the intensity of daily shootings and explosives has been characterised by experts as the highest on a per-capita basis, similarly to the levels found previously in war zones like Phuebra?"

Rumpeltstilzchen - "These so-called experts are naturally biased from their own narrow-minded point of view and obviously they've been paid by enemies of the state to state such ridiculous lies. The increase of crime in the Hanse has been a result of neglect on our part in the areas of educational, economic and social policies, to which I absolutely promise we'll solve as always, ok."

Reporter - "So being uneducated, poor and homeless still warrants this type of behaviour...So even native Hanseatics would commit themselves to heinous crimes ignoring the possible fact that different cultural values may also play a big part, is that what you're saying?"

Rumpelstilzchen - "Well, take a look at how the poor and misunderstood Borlanders have been treated by the Morelanders for centuries; with no investment being put into their own educational, economic and social policies it shouldn't be any surprise as to why their hearts have become like ice. The way that I see it, is that all of this conflict between the brother peoples could be solved by the Morelander government offering their Borlander counterpart free cake and coffee, sitting down with each other and talking things through peacefully, like reasonable grownups and not acting like fighting children in a sandpit...Another great solution to all of this would be if East Moreland and generally speaking the entirety of Alba Karinya would open it borders with no contol whatsoever, since we're still living in an age where prejudice and extreme forms of racism are still prevalent; over time by letting in oh I'm not exactly sure...30 to 40 million...immigrants annually would open the Morelanders' eyes up and make them realise how much good diversity actually is; The majority of the immigrants are highly educated like Doctors and Teachers, professions that the Hanse actually requires, oh and cheap labour as well now that ones thinks about it, whic will effectively ensure that our employment rate in the Hanse will remain the lowest in Mundus. Pizzarias and Kebab places aren't bad joints to set up either, as I do love a delicious Kebab Pizza from time to time!...So simply free coffee & cake and open borders will solve the Morelander-Borlander conflict, and others as well if only everyone of us is letting to go one's own ego and care about one's own fellow brothers and sisters of this rainbow world....Also, are you alright Mr. (Reporter), you look like as if you're about to throw up?"

As shown from this excerpt, Ruud Rumpelstilzchen is in the eye of the political storm and is expected as Grand Pensionary to both make a sensible analysis of the situation, but also point out a way to solve the problems. None of this was obviously successful in the SWI interview. Never before has a Stadtholder suffered such devastating criticism after a single TV appearance. Both his way of answering the questions and his conclusions have been questioned and criticized, especially by debaters and political opponents, but also internally within the Social Democrats. The consequences of this widespread criticism should not be underestimated, but risk for a considerable time to undermine confidence in both umpelstilzchen and his government. And it is only the Stadtholder himself who can repair the damage.

Rumpelstilzchen has been interviewed on the subject several times. His unclear and often difficult-to-understand answer is nothing new, but judging by this week's criticism storm it has now reached a limit. Otherwise, Rumpelstilzchen has often made a virtue of being just unclear and difficult to understand when he gets questions that are controversial or difficult. Until now, it has been a strategy that worked well. After all, the last two elections have ended with him becoming Stadtholder. Now, however, this strategy seems to have reached the end of the road.

Another factor behind the Grand Pensionary's soaring response is the willingness to keep the government and its party together. The dominant Social Democrats have strong internal factions that would never buy an explanatory model based on the fact that immigration policy can be a partial explanation for today's situation. The problem for the government and Rumpelstilzchen is that if more and more voters perceive that the government is neither able to analyze the situation nor take adequate measures, trust is further undermined. Moreover, politics is not just about what actually happens, but at least as much about how voters perceive it. So one shouldn't be surprised if internal developments escalate into the worse, with more than just protests to signify the overall discontent with the current government.