Declaration of Neutrality (and solutions)

In response to the Deckerton-Melon war, Luna has been attempting to decide a stance, as an ally of the USSRz who has quite recently attacked another nation due to a detected espionage attempt; this statement was made to clarify our stance, go in-depth into the issues at hand and to offer a potential solution. Anyway, here's our Declaration of Neutrality!

In these times of war, we are forced to choose a side between our allies and the ones who we believe are truly right here. Before this causes rifts that will take weeks to mend, much like past mistakes made by both Luna and other nations have done before, we would like to issue a statement regarding what we can do.

Article I: The Situation

So, the situation began when Deckerton published a bulletin regarding the execution of prisoners from Bedland; however, the bulletin contained a link to a rickroll, which seemingly angered The Melon, who attempted a spy operation to assassinate Deckertonian spies. In response, Deckerton declared war on The Melon, citing the espionage as a valid Casus-Belli for the war.

Now, let's look into a different conflict: the one between Luna and the Rocky Mountain Republic. It began due to hostility towards a close ally of ours and massive political/ideological differences, but that initial hostility to an ally was due to a failed espionage attempt; later on, the R.M.R. was caught attempting to sabotage Lunar nuclear weapons, and this resulted in first the destruction of the R.M.R.'s spy forces by Luna and our allies, and later on a war which was soon brought to a truce. You may be wondering why we are bringing this up again, but it is simply to prove a point, which is that espionage is a valid reason for war.

Due to this, we believe that Deckerton's initial attack on The Melon was justified.

Now, back into the situation: after The Melon was attacked, Lunoria called for other members of the USSRz and allies (Luna included, as we are allies of the USSRz but not a member due to not being a socialist/communist nation), to help to defend The Melon (bulletin archived). After this, Deckerton explained their stance in another bulletin regarding how the attack was justified.

Once again, we would like to reiterate that we agree with Deckerton in this situation, as espionage is a valid reason for war. However, both sides' responses have begun to grow a little bit out of control, and at this point, these conditions are reminiscent of the ones in which the first major rift (since Luna became well-known from the global standpoint, a.k.a. when I began RP), begun -- at the end of the NADP-PCDP-AFC war, where the instability in Luna, combined with the hostility of various others, led to massive rifts within our community that almost forced some nations to disappear into the shadows.

That being said, let us begin Article II, regarding our official declaration. 

Article II: The Declaration

Due to our standpoint in this war -- first of all, as an ally but not a member of the USSRz, second as a nation that has attacked another for espionage-related reasons -- we must say that we are officially declaring complete neutrality in terms of military assistance. 

Especially in these times, with the founding of The Aequitas International imminent, we look to strengthen our nation and prepare for our government position within the alliance; while we have mostly repaired the damage we sustained in the war in which we were nuked three times, we still have some rebuilding to do in terms of our cities, some of which still lack in infrastructure.

Additionally, we worry that this conflict will destroy the fragile peace we have attempted to keep in Orbis; while wars continue, the toxicity and issues that have come in past wars have at least mostly been eliminated; we fear that this conflict will compel them to return. Due to this, we have decided to formally declare a statement of neutrality to avoid it as best we can.

In the event that the conflict grows to the point where we are unable to maintain overall peace throughout Orbis, Luna will most likely provide economic support to all affected nations, both on Deckerton and The Melon's side, in order to assist with rebuilding and efforts to retain both peace and a sense of community within this group of nations.

Article III: The Solution

Now for a global situation: declarations of complete neutrality such as our own may not work for all nations, especially some in the USSRz who have looked to defend The Melon due to being fellow alliance members, and we understand that the war had a justification and therefore Deckerton may not want to simply reach white peace without any terms.

We instead ask that Deckerton and The Melon be allowed to negotiate independent of other involved parties, letting each of the nations directly involved in this conflict decide what happens. 

If one nation refuses to accept peace or a similar situation occurs, the war may continue, but, unfortunately, due to The Melon's initial spy operation being the reasoning behind the attack, the USSRz's counter-attack was unjustified and did not make sense in the context of this attack.

While it may feel like betraying an ally, it is a sad truth that this is said ally's mistake, and their mistake to repair; while the USSRz can assist in rebuilding in the case that the war continues, countering for The Melon is not an option in this case. To Uchama, please offer peace to Deckerton, as a counter is not valid in this case, and no other declarations of war should be made pertaining to this situation.

In conclusion...

It is truly a sad fact that we, the nations of Orbis, have almost torn a community apart for... a rickroll? It simply does not make sense that we have even let this situation get this far, but we can't travel through time and fix it now. What we can do, though, is fix it before it gets worse.

Let's repair the damage done so we can continue to get better and thrive as a community.