President Neina Arana of Milintica has responded to comments made by an Aurian official over the weekend, demanding his complete removal from the Aurian government. She has also demanded an apology for the incendiary comments made by the official.
Alek Render, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, was quoted as calling Arana a “psychotic leftist” and Milintica a “failing state”. Render also called Milintica’s government a “train wreck”.
“The removal of his portfolio is insufficient. Render must apologize for his insults, as must his party. In addition, we expect a formal apology from the Arquette government,” Arana told Milintican National Television. “We also expect that Render either step away completely from government roles, or that the Arquette government get rid of him.” Arana said that her government “is still considering whether or not we want to remain aligned with the UCS states,” and that a final decision on that matter will depend on “an acceptable resolution” to the Render issue. “How can we expect to be allied with governments whose officials make such venomous remarks about us?” Arana asked, adding that “actions, rather than words, will determine whether or not Milintica continues to grace the UCS.”
Arana also raised the issue of her country’s deteriorating relations with Huenya as another “unresolved issue” that will determine Milintica’s future in the UCS. “Huenya, and President Xiadani, have seen fit to ignore our grievances concerning their violation of our electoral process, their espionage against us, and their violation of our sovereignty. They are clearly hoping that we will choose to forget about it, or that the issue will go away. It will not.” Arana reiterated her demands for Huenya to issue an apology for the raid that extracted two Huenyan diplomats, and the return of said diplomats to stand trial. Huenyan officials have been very clear to the media that the Huenyan government has no intention whatsoever to honor either request.
The increasing clamor among Arana’s Milintican Communist Party supporters to leave the UCS has alarmed Milinticans on the other side of the country’s growing political divide. Protests demanding that Milintica remain in the UCS have begun in several cities, led by the rival Milintican Peoples’ Party but including other political parties as well. “Our future is with the UCS. Our future is with the international community,” Kahorere Taimona, leader of a protest in Huānoch, told DTNS. Taimona accused Arana of over-escalating the recent issues with Huenya and Auria to have an excuse to pull Milintica from the UCS. Arana had made leaving the UCS a major plank of her presidential campaign. Taimona said that Arana “is just trying to stir the pot to make it look like the UCS, not her, will be to blame if Milintica withdraws.”
New comments from both sides of the Milintica-UCS divide are not likely to make things easier, either. Yesterday, Minister of Decolonization and Depatriarchalization Chicoātl told a gathering of MCP supporters that “instead of negotiating a peace deal, we should have just armed Bonnet and the UAC and let them finish the job.” Chicoātl was referring to Alain Bonnet and the United Aurian Commune, which briefly occupied the town of Juraceda. A Milintican negotiator helped being about a deal between the UAC and the Aurian government. Chicoātl went further, saying that Milintica “should have never propped up a government led by a crowned head anyway,” criticizing Milintica’s role in the Aurian Civil War.
Meanwhile, in Manabí Rive, the country’s leader Tanqui said that Milintica “has become a patients-running-the-asylum” scenario since Arana’s election. He further said that Milintica “is hardly an asset to any alliance or international organization” due to the “complete chaos” that Arana’s election created. Manabí Rive is the newest UCS member. Tanqui’s remarks are likely to further fuel claims among MCP members that the UCS accepted Manabí Rive either to replace Milintica, or force Milintica into compliance with such a threat.
