Mike Brewer

Okay, so we're cruising. We've got:

TTEscrima - The President

Treelizard - The Press

Dick Hardman - The People

Ghost - The Opposition

Anyone for allies? Anyone? Anyone?

Tant01

Oui, oui...

I'll be france? LOL

__________________
While the old form, jujutsu, was studied solely for fighting purposes, Kano's new system is found to promote the mental as well as the physical faculties.

T. Shidachi, 1892

Ghost

are they technically allies though, they try to block most of what the US does and no one really likes the french do they.
They are kind of the 3rd side that no one likes.

Wheres Liberty?

__________________
Skills: Numchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills.
Favourite animal: Liger, bred for its skills in magic.

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”

John McCain promo vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-F...eature=related

Tant01

Really, I'll pretend to be "friendly" and make clandestine deals with our enemies!

Ho Ho Ha Ha...

__________________
While the old form, jujutsu, was studied solely for fighting purposes, Kano's new system is found to promote the mental as well as the physical faculties.

T. Shidachi, 1892

Mike Brewer

Alright, we'll call that "allies."

So we're set.

Here's the total picture, and everyone's roles.

President:
You are dealing with three major issues and several smaller ones around the world and at home. They are:
A faltering economy. Growth has stalled, and showed only .6% growth in the last quarter. For the purposes of this exercise, this is not an election year, and you have been elected to a second term.
War in Iraq and Afghanistan are in the forefront of the American consciousness. Pakistan appears to be unstable, but holding. India is an ally, but they are concerned about your willingness to assist Pakistan.
You have been fairly proactive in regards to energy policy, which has created rumblings in Saudi and other OPEC countries. They are contemplating whether or not to drive the price of oil still higher in order to stall your efforts at home, or dropping the price to dissuade you from pursuing more expensive alternatives.
Smaller issues include the maneuvering of China on the African Continent. China is courting major resources from a number of African countries by trading with a "no strings attached" policy. In other words, China doesn't care who it funds as long as it gets the resources it needs. Major revenue is being sent to areas like Sudan despite the genocide in Darfur, and this has obvious appeal to those dictatorial and extremist countries. They are taking the same approach with our allies, such as Australia. In fact, Australia has become deeply dependent on China for its coal export market.
You also have a problem with domestic support and support form our allies regarding the policies abroad. You were re-elected, so these have obviously not hit catastrophic levels, but you are on a slow downward slide.

Press Release:
The President will be holding a press conference regarding his plans for handling the major issues facing America and its allies. This will be made public at the time of his choosing.

Allies:
The President needs to know where you stand on the major issues. He needs to know what your interests are in terms of trade, foreign relations, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Your input will help him decide how to modify current policy in our mutual best interests.

Enemies:
America is positioned to pursue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan regardless of cost or duration. For those countries directly affected, the implications are obvious. For those countries not directly affected, but which are semi-adversarial such as China and Russia, this presents an opportunity to leverage American commitments in those regions for your own political, economic, and military advancement. Act accordingly.

People:
You can read the news, and you can interact with the press. You are the population, so if you are interested in a given issue, ask the press and show them that it matters. Very often, your influence will shape policy.

-------------------------

This exercise has a timeline. Since we don't want it to go on forever or get mired in little squabbles, I'll set the endgame at one week from today. During that time, we'll compress timelines and I'll offer guidance for changes in direction. Everyone needs to keep in mind the additional resources I've PM'ed you with, and use those resources often. As with reality, it is often the back channels that have the most real influence.

Let the game begin!

Tant01

Where are my advisors and fellow allies? I don't mind admitting I may be in over my head here.

Fact of the matter is I haven't concerned myself with world politics since the early 1980's

I see the west(?) as being on the verge of economic depression. The war is only modestly disguised as being against "terrorists" to secure oil interests in the middle east.

Of course we respect and fear the power of the last superpower but it might level the playing field a bit if OUR economy was stronger than yours...

Toward that end we really don't care so much about your domestic policy or economic woes...

Long live the queen...

Etc...

__________________
While the old form, jujutsu, was studied solely for fighting purposes, Kano's new system is found to promote the mental as well as the physical faculties.

T. Shidachi, 1892

kingoftheforest

I'd like to be the people if that's ok. I have to admit during the week I can really only read from 2:30pm EST to about 9:15pm EST but all weekend is a go.

I'm pretty blue collar and work with the lowest common denominator at my job so if it's cool with everyone.........

I know I'm a king and all but that's just make believe on the forums.

Just let me know.

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These opinions and views described above may not be the opinion of forum moderators or owners. These are owned only by this forum member protected by his 1st amendment rights. You do not have to agree with these views.

This punch is heavier than life.
Treat other people as you would like to be treated

[

DickHardman

ok you can be the people if you want. mike said id have to listen to treelizard, im afraid treelizard might try to make me read her poetry. i dont like that. i dont want to read any poetry.

kingoftheforest

I have no prob with you being the part of the people who are outside the mainstream.

I mean let's face it there are 2 sides to any populace, the ones who read and process the mass media and the people on the outskirts who attempt to see past the facade and the rat race.

If this is going to be a real social experiment I think Dick is the Hardman for the job as far as non mainstream news goes. In fact Mike I'd like to suggest Dick be the non-liberal media and tree be the liberal media. I think those are the two best personalities on this forum for those jobs. Just throwing it out there.

And Dick I am sorry I missed the post where you asked to be the people so if Mike wants to keep it as is I want to extend my apologies for missing that.

__________________
These opinions and views described above may not be the opinion of forum moderators or owners. These are owned only by this forum member protected by his 1st amendment rights. You do not have to agree with these views.

This punch is heavier than life.
Treat other people as you would like to be treated

[

Mike Brewer

Whatever you guys would like to do is fine by me, but I've already communicated some things to Dick that can't be shared with other players, so if he bails on the "people" role, he can't play and he has to stay quiet about my PM. It's important to the experiment that every player has resources the others don't understand or know about.

Also, don't sweat it if you're missing elements of what a real society might have. This experiment focuses on one leader - the President - and in a very small time frame. A lot of things are left ambiguous on purpose to get the game focused on the major obstacles under study.

The next step in the game here is for the President to issue his State of the Union Speech and address the key issues I outlined. Then it'll be up to everyone to respond to those. Once we have the President's statement and the basic responses, the public dialogue can begin, and the back channel dialogues will take place according to our PMs.

So, President Escrima - The Podium is Yours.

Ahsen

ok can i be one of the allies,

Mike ?

__________________
eat ma shorts

Tant01

I'll take all the help I can get...

__________________
While the old form, jujutsu, was studied solely for fighting purposes, Kano's new system is found to promote the mental as well as the physical faculties.

T. Shidachi, 1892

TTEscrima

I'm currently at my ranch relaxing, I had a long week at Camp David, I'll be available to the press and people shortly, now where's my intern with my cigar?

Tant01

"I'll allow it!"
Mills Lane.




LOL

__________________
While the old form, jujutsu, was studied solely for fighting purposes, Kano's new system is found to promote the mental as well as the physical faculties.

T. Shidachi, 1892

Mike Brewer

Sure. Tant, can you forward the PM I sent you to Ahsen?