The Morovian Telegraph

Speaking of Morovia, has anyone else noticed that our Parl. has a Morovian majority, and the Morovian Assembly as a Hanoverian majority?

The Rt. Hon. Christopher McQueeny
Prime Minister, The Kingdom of Hanover

Indeed...

The Kingdoms of Morovia and Hanover share a love-hate relationship involving intertwined histories, intertwined systems of government, intertwined cultures and - probably the root cause of it all - intertwined citizenships. With an evolving and strong core of both seasoned (e.g., Thomas Cutterham) and newbie-but-learning-quickly micronationalists (e.g., Michael Fors) providing strong leadership in both nations, Morovia and Hanover have been twins conjoined at the hip from Hanover's beginning to this very day.

The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Hanover, who made the observation, also epitomizes the situation, holding elected legislative positions in both nations.

The November-December 2003 gunfight over union between the two nations (see Hanover and Morovia) which highlighted our two nations' mutual suspicions, jealousies, zero-sum ambitions, etc. may have disguised the more significant truth - while formal relations between the two siblings have not been defined by even so much as a mutual recognition or friendship treaty, the two nations are already informally joined in many ways, ranging from the trivial to the fundamental.

One might consider this a worrying trend, this editor himself (jokingly) suggesting that our common, core citizenships may constitute the coming reign of the micronational Illuminati.

And there is a point to the joke.

With issues where Morovia and Hanover cross paths, citizens - and particularly legislators - must work to remember which "role" they are playing (whether their Hanover role or their Morovia role) when they speak and vote. Otherwise, as a saying from Cricket puts it, one might end up batting and bowling at the same time.

This paper's official position however (as distinguished from Bill Bekkenhuis' private delusional rantings) is that Hanover's and Morovia's shared common resource of committed citizen-leaders is a blessing, not a curse.

Hanover and Morovia are destined / doomed (take your pick :-) to follow parallel paths using similar (not identical) means to reach similar (not identical) goals.

Both Monarchs, both Assemblies and both Cabinets should work towards formalizing what already exists informally, setting a path towards ever closer relations that nonetheless recognizes our separate sovereignties and distinguishable national identities.

What that might look like, this paper hasn't a clue.

It won't be union. It may not be something as tight knit as a Commonwealth (although it might), yet it seems it must be something tighter than mutual recognition and an exchange of ambassadors. (And Lord knows we certainly don't need Yet Another Micronational Uber-Organization :-)

It may be that it takes a series of more formal treaties before it becomes evident to both citizenries what we are groping towards and where our shared interests lie (though citizenship recruitment and retention comes to mind).

But the time to begin the discussion is upon us.

Bill Bekkenhuis
Editor-in-Chief, The Morovian Telegraph
bekkenhuis@fast.net
8/3/2004.