The Faster You Run From Destiny, The Faster It Catches Up to You

May 23, 2098 |

The Age-Old Principle of FAFO

Remember this, future enemies of freedom and democracy: we will call your bluff. Evidently, the Soviet Federation believed that an unprovoked attack against Raritania and the United Imperium would go without a response. This was a poor judgment. The United Imperium and her allies will defend Jan Mayen and all Raritanian shipping to the fullest extent of the law. The United Imperium will enter into a wartime economy. And unlike the genocidal Soviet Federation, we will make every effort to limit the extent of the violence that is perpetrated by this pointless war. We will fight to defend ourselves. We will not bow to terror or tyranny.
 

Defending Free Trade and Jan Mayen

An extensive effort is currently being made by the United Imperium and her allies in order to protect international shipping. Every Imperium Theater Command has been mobilized in order to defend our shipping interests. Soviet Naval vessels and shipping vessels will be shot and sunk on sight. Naval Aviation will provide aerial anti-shipping and combat air patrol coverage on critical shipping routes both to defend our ships and to attack hostile ones, while our satellite infrastructure will give us the ability to more effectively track hostile vessels. Critical seafaring chokepoints such as the Malacca Straits, Bering Strait, Gibraltar Strait, and GIUK Gap are being shut down by TUI Naval Theater Commands and allied navies. In Jan Mayen, the European Theater Command Navy and allied Naval Forces are setting up to defend the island. Imperium ground forces and combat assets (such as anti-ship and anti-air missiles) from the Homeland Theater Command are being airlifted into Jan Mayen in a non-stop airlift operation in order to reinforce the island.

The Skies Are Ours

Over Jan Mayen, we begin Combat Air Patrol operations through our European and Homeland Theater Commands. Across the outside border of Soviet International Airspace, our regional theater commands will commence similar operations. If the Russians attempt to strike from the skies, we will know about it and we will thwart it. If they attempt to escalate by attacking Zukesa, China, or any of our other allies, we will thwart it. Our early warning and IADS systems in allied territories are online and at full alert. Advanced IFF is also online, meaning we will be able to effectively distinguish Soviet combat aircraft from civilian airliners (which the Soviet Federation will no doubt use as cover to carry out their schemes). Zukesan aircraft will also assist our operations in this, bringing the total allied aircraft count in the region to approximately 3,000 across Imperium, Zukesan, and other allied aircraft.

DEFCON II

The United Imperium will not drop its "no-first-strike" nuclear policy in spite of blatant Soviet aggression. Our satellites, however, will be able to track nuclear ICBM launches from the Soviet Federation. In the event that these nuclear ICBM launches from the Soviet Federation are detected (and verified!), the United Imperium will launch a proportional retaliatory nuclear strike. In order to be at the highest level alert for a potential nuclear conflict while still attempting to limit the possibility of a nuclear conflict, the United Imperium moves from DEFCON V to DEFCON II, the first time that the Imperium or the former United States have done so since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Point

The United Imperium has the weight of the free world behind it. We rule the skies, and we rule the seas. We rule space, and in spite of the enemy's best efforts to shoot down our satellites, they are simply too far behind technologically for this to be a legitimate possibility. The Soviet Federation now has three options: 1. End the war now, and end the pointless loss of life, 2. continue attacking Jan Mayen and international trade, and slowly whittle their combat forces into non-existence, or 3. nuclear war, which the United Imperium is fully ready for. We will not live kneeling.