Friends, Despite the History (Franerre-Lusatia Diplomacy)

[callmedelta]

"If that's how O'Donnell treats his allies, I'd hate to see how he treats his enemies," Janos muttered. "I would be surprised if even a half-hearted apology didn't take the brunt off of it. Seeing as how that isn't likely to materialize, I feel like your proposal could work, though I would like to propose one alteration. I don't believe Franerre should need to buy all of the Gaelian goods in an event of a decline in trade. Perhaps half or three quarters of the drop in volume, but the entire order would be too difficult to pass without some other concession from the Gaelians, like importing more Franerri goods, but that may not be likely."

"As far as your second proposal is concerned," Mattieu continued, "While the idea has merit, those bases would only materialize if Franerre joined Gaelia's alliance which...is a tall order at this point. Especially considering what the Gaelians have offered Franerre is almost nothing we're interested in. They offered to sell us weapons we could already buy licenses of from you at far cheaper rates, the only item excluded from that list being the planes. I thought of the idea for a few destroyers and cruisers as a concession on Franerre's part. Navies are expensive, and everyone who thought they justified the cost is currently sitting in a watery grave off the coast of Elenerre, for all the good it did them. Franerre has a different set of needs than what the Gaelians were offering, and from Mesny's report, it seemed like the Gaelians didn't even attempt to see that when a little bit of compromise on their part could have avoided this entire situation."

[alxeu]

Kaminski shrugged, "It's ultimately up to the Gaelians to decide what assurances they want, I'm merely suggesting what they might demand. Please make no mistake, you need them more than they need you, Franerre will need to give more to repair relations than Ulster-Gaelia does."

"That being said, you do know that whatever agreements Ulster-Gaelia was offering to the Touli nations in that conference paled in comparison to the concrete alliance that was being negotiated? If all of Touli along with Ulster-Gaelia were paired together in a defensive pact, that's easily more than enough regardless of whatever minor side-incentives you got from membership," Kaminski noted, raising his eyebrow. "I recognize your nation has taken more lumps than any self-respecting people ought to take, but another day of sucking it up and signing an alliance agreement you didn't wholly agree with to get your foot in the door might've been preferable than having us play go-betweens."

[callmedelta]

“You’d be surprised by how important those ‘minor concessions’ are, Kaminski,” Janos said. “Evidently Mesny has his doubts as to whether Gaelia would be willing to defend us all if a war did break out, and it’s not hard to see why. If Kumo moves against this alliance, Gaelia can’t deploy the bulk of their fleet and military without depleting the defense of their home islands in case of a Galran invasion, which may not be enough to beat back Kumosenkan. If Galra invades, Gaelia’s fleet and armies wouldn’t be able to leave the Gaelian home isles, leaving us Toulians to fend for themselves. Not to mention potential political unwillingness to intervene regardless.”

[alxeu]

"Well, we can continue to discuss the merits of a Gaelian alliance with Toulian states in circuits, but I think we both know where each other stand on such ideas, and getting hung up on that will only muddy the real focus of repairing Franerre's relations with the Gaelians. My only concern is that by avoiding this alliance, you're sacrificing a mutual alliance with all the other Toulian states, as well, where all of you as a whole would certainly be able to offer more comprehensive resistance to any invader than alone. Furthermore, unlike Lusatia, Ulster-Gaelia actually has a significant territorial presence on Touli that makes their defense of the continent more realistic."

"At any rate, I doubt I can help much more until I've spoken with the Gaelians, myself. Is there anything in particular you'd like for me to pass on to Ambassador Anton McCaig?"

[callmedelta]

“Franerre’s tried her hand at extended an alliance to fellow Touli states before,” Janos said. “Only Ashinara and Tafatu have been receptive. The Kithium League doesn’t like Franerre for reasons beyond my understanding. Mil’Nor’s reception has been lukewarm. The UST’s out of the question, not many in Franerre aren’t fond of Eleria’s expansionism. Any of the remaining smaller tribes in the interior Franerre can’t reach. I don’t know if us being in this grand Gaelian alliance together would actually change their opinion of Franerre. Regardless, it’s worth considering, but I don’t think that’s enough sugar to help Franerre swallow the bitter pill that is Gaelia at this current time. I don’t think I have any words for the Gaelians that haven’t already been said. Nothing polite, at least.”