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Dispatch → Bulletin → News
by 
The Broadcasting Corporation of EuroNews.
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221 reads.
EuroNews - March 2022 - Issue XXIX
EuroNews returns! After a six-month hiatus, we are proud to present our latest issue, courtesy of our dedicated team of writers.
Europe
One of the early suggestions for a EuroNews flag
With what may be described as the first issue of a new version of EuroNews, it feels suitable to look back at the Corporation’s past: its vision, successes - and its failings.
It should be noted that in its first draft, this article was intended to be published in my personal newspaper; its current form has been heavily revised to relate to an active EuroNews.
Europe has, so far as I am aware, only had two media outlets: the government-run Europe Media Union, and the privately-run EuroNews, of which the latter has historically been the more well-known, and is the subject here.
The first item published by EuroNews went live on 27 August 2017, well over four years ago. A very different format from what it would later have, it provided a more intimate newsfeed covering explicitly NS-related topics in short but approachable paragraphs. Feria told me it was written and compiled through a Discord group chat, which might be reflected in that more informal tone.
It received a boost from its association with the Home Office when its founder, 
Feria-Alkaline, became Home Officer and although a lengthy pause followed its first issue, the paper returned in force in June 2018 in what it described as a “reboot”. While, alas, I was not there, the early posts in the public channel of its discord server exude optimistic enthusiasm. Despite a chronic staff shortage, it succeeded in semi-regular issues - always late, but appreciated nevertheless by the community.
By the end of 2018, the manpower shortage finally caught up with the corporation, and it once again went on unannounced hiatus. This ended in July 2019, when it was again rebooted.
2019 EuroNews was a marked departure from before: more polished, with lengthier articles, and (for once) a relatively large writing base.
Notable in this new EuroNews was its “IRL Info” section, introduced for the first time to draw attention to crises in the real world: “Ideally, EuroNews wouldn't have a lot of info about IRL events, but I feel that the Hong Kong thing is actually very important and should be featured alongside Sudan.”
Feria had largely stepped back from the corporation by this time, and 
Yahlia was at its helm as Chief Officer. Under him, the paper flourished throughout 2019 and 2020, publishing around 15 issues covering topics ranging from 
Jim the Baptist’s delegacy campaign, to the coronavirus pandemic. However, he eventually came to view it “as a chore rather than something I enjoy.” 
Regnum Italiae picked up where he left off, but it was becoming apparent that Yahlia’s experience was widespread in the corporation.
Yahlia’s departing advice to Regnum was to “promote a couple people and alternate responsibility for each month; don't do what I did.” Kanokla and I both applied, I was appointed as a Chief Officer. However, the idea of a rotation was never implemented, and Regnum was left to take over sole management of the corporation.
EuroNews under Regnum achieved four more regular issues between February and May 2021, but the issues were slowly declining in length. Following the May issue, EuroNews took a one-month hiatus. It was intended that I would organise a July issue, but by that time most writers had grown too busy, likely because most Covid lockdowns had ended by then - people were able to enjoy real life more. A final, very short, article was published for August, before Regnum resigned and the corporation once more went on indefinite hiatus…
EuroNews’s Future
Until now! After around five months without activity, the Home Office was approached about finding a new Chief Editor: 
NorthPortugal volunteered, and so once again EuroNews is back in action. What follows is in effect an opinion piece where I shall outline how I feel EuroNews should approach its new era.
When I checked with 
Imperium Anglorum what European newspapers preceded EuroNews, he mentioned that the Europe Media Union had been unsuccessful due to lack of volunteer staff. This has also plagued EuroNews, which has multiple times been forced into hiatus after a shortage of active writers. This is not the fault of the corporation or the writers: people’s lives become busy, and no longer have so much time to spare for an online game: the view held by all sane NSers is that real life must come first. However, the other aspect of this problem has been the burden imposed on one member of the staff. Yahlia and Regnum both ended up pulling the entire weight of the Corporation largely unaided, which led to their resignations. Instead of falling back into familiar patterns, my intention this time is for the leadership to be more collaborative; while NorthPortugal will be Chief Editor, I hope that by my lending support with the management of the Corporation, a situation where one person has to take the full weight of EuroNews can be avoided.
EuroNews has had, in my view, a second problem: over time, its focus shifted from being about NS Europe to being more about IRL affairs. As discussed below, IRL articles are not necessarily a problem, but as EuroNews was still attempting to adhere to its policy of neutrality, it felt to me increasingly as though it were regurgitating IRL media articles. There is a space in the market for ostensibly neutral coverage of IRL affairs, but that space is occupied by corporations such as the BBC - real news corporations with professional journalists writing in-depth articles often from a position of close proximity to the events.
The main focus of a European newspaper should be Europe. A record of current affairs to look back on in posterity, a tool for those on holiday or hiatus to use to catch up on what they’ve missed, a means of showcasing particularly impressive achievements. Europeans should be able to look to EuroNews to provide a reflection of the region, celebrating its members and culture.
It is also important to disseminate information about what the government is doing, and helping residents understand the implications and consequences. A regional newspaper has the power to ensure its readers are so informed.
Beyond Europe’s borders, it should be able to inform the region of events elsewhere in NS. Despite its neutrality, I believe Europe could benefit greatly from increased engagement with the wider site; that engagement can be promoted by knowledge. In particular, our residents should be aware of what is happening in regions we have embassies with: this includes using EuroNews to promote events Europeans are invited to.
There should also be a place for discussion of the World Assembly. Historically, Europe has been an exceptionally strong force in the WA, and the region is currently known best for our delegate’s prolific WA authorship. Ideally, EuroNews would act here as a conduit for getting Europeans interested in the World Assembly, and so strengthen the region’s presence there.
Crucially, there remains a place for IRL articles. One of the greatest aspects of our community is how varied it is, with members spanning the globe and the political spectrum. Rather than attempting to recreate IRL media, EuroNews here can provide a range of perspectives from its writers about events happening in the real world. I know for sure that my view of the Ukraine crisis and its impact on my country will be very different from that of someone living in Italy or the US, and while I may find their views at times infuriating, I believe it is healthy to read and engage with views from people whose political alignment differs from your own - unless, of course, those views are racist or otherwise dangerous.
Finally, it should be able to entertain. We should not expect our region’s members to sit and read through textwalls of dry, incomprehensible guff: the articles should be interesting to read. “Entertainment” does not mean “comedic”, but instead the articles should all have a specific purpose with a reason for the audience to read: for example, in this article, I am exploring the past of EuroNews and explaining how I think it should move forwards based on that. My own newspaper, the Druzhýna, was made specifically so I could share my opinions if people cared to read them: therefore, I could afford to be dry at times. EuroNews is a more professional platform, and the quality of its writing should reflect that - not in terms of appearing like a professional news outlet, but in its ability to engage.
So, yeah! Hopefully this can be the start of a new era of EuroNews, and we can continue providing the region with trustworthy and top-quality news for a long time to come~
Direct quotations (in italics) are from the public channel in EuroNews’s discord server. My thanks to Feria and IA for helping with details.
Written by 
Novgorod-Pskov
Europe is a region that, despite its age, doesn’t have a long history of establishing embassies and forming close interregional relations. Since records began over 13 years ago, Europe has only formed embassies with a handful of regions. This is an ideology that’s as old as Europe itself and mainly stems from a fear of losing our independence and our policy of neutrality.
However, this month that list became one item longer when the European Parliament approved the construction of embassies with Portugal.
On 5 February 2022 Portuguese Foreign Affairs Minister 
Arquipelago da Coruja reached out to the Cabinet to officially request embassies be established between our two regions. After some deliberation, the Cabinet and Commission approved the request and the matter moved to the European Parliament to be voted on. With record-breaking turnout for an embassy vote, the proposal was overwhelmingly backed by the public.
Embassy construction was completed on 13 February 2022, and Europeans and Portuguese nations are now able to mutually mingle with each other on their respective RMBs.
When asked why Europe was chosen to apply for an embassy with, Portuguese Delegate 
Herya had this to say:
“After participating in an NS photography contest, I, as Portugal's delegate, was fired up to provide my region with a new cultural activity: bigger, better... urgh.... better. And when I heard about your flag design ranking, my team told me we should have something similar. Of course I did not follow their ideas, though their hearts were in the right place, but only because I had a much more awesome idea: We would join a few medium to big sized regions and create a joint cultural event, the Lusitanian Games, or Lusitaniads! But first I had to talk to you guys and because of bureaucratic rules and *democracy* we had to request an embassy first and see that request being polled.
In the end our goal was achieved and the Games were within our grasp. So this is the story of why we requested an embassy with Europe. But what will the Lusitanian Games consist of? Will they have prizes? And most importantly, will Herya's laziness ever let the Games begin at all? For this and much more don't miss the next episode, ’cause we surely will!”
More about the games can be found here.
Written by 
The Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth
Real World
The Ukrainian Flag
Ukraine
As I wrote in my article above, EuroNews is hoping to begin a series where a general topic is provided, and its writers produce opinion pieces on that theme. This month, that theme was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Views expressed may not be those of EuroNews itself.
To state my biases: I’m Scottish, very left-wing, and my main news source is the BBC.
I shall begin by saying that back in January when I proposed this subject for Euronews’s IRL focus for this month, I was worried it might not be relevant by the time the issue would be released. At that point, I was confident that, somehow, there could be a diplomatic solution to the crisis: I appear to have been very wrong.
For those who have spent the last month in a dark cave somewhere, a rapidly escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine, with Russia claiming Ukraine’s prospective future NATO membership to be a threat to Russia’s security, has now resulted in Putin ordering troops into eastern Ukraine under the pretext of “defending the sovereignty” of two Ukrainian breakaway provinces he considers independent republics.
First, Putin: I had said previously on the RMB that his mindset is one that belongs to the 19th century in its imperialism and disregard for national sovereignty. This, to me, has been confirmed by what I heard first from BBC news correspondents in Russia, and again from 
Einswenn on the RMB: the Kremlin is its own world, with little regard for the situation in real life.
Putin, in both his essay and recent speech on Ukrainian history, attempts to validate his invasion by presenting Ukraine as never having been a separate entity: instead deeming it historically, linguistically, religiously, and culturally Russian. This is misguided - Ukrainians clearly view themselves as Ukrainian: that, in my eyes, is proof in itself that Ukraine has become, even if it was not originally, a separate state with a separate identity. Again, Putin is mired in the 19th century; Ukraine has become a modern nation.
The response in the UK has been far short of what I would have hoped, and most MPs seem to agree: the sanctions we have imposed are not nearly enough. Simply freezing the assets of a couple of oligarchs and restricting a few minor banks is insufficient, especially when there are banks that could be targeted that would hurt Putin more. I applaud Germany’s decision to scrap their planned gas pipeline, and hope other nations will take similarly decisive action.
As for the US’s role in all of this, I am distinctly disillusioned. Biden has been remarkable in his unhelpfulness, making claims about Russia without providing evidence, and seemingly causing panic without any intention of taking real action. I do not know how much of that is my distrust of America that remains from Trump’s term, but I have seen little positive from Washington. The EU is, for once, working together; Boris seems to understand the pressure from the British populace to take action; Zelensky has, so far as I can see, acted masterfully. While I have not paid him as much attention, my perception is that Biden has swung wildly from warmongering rhetoric to idiotic appeasement. For someone so determined to end the war in Afghanistan that he would ignore his allies and abandon those who risked their lives for America, he seems only to have contributed to escalating tensions in Ukraine.
I was on a video call with my mother and sister yesterday. My sister was intensely fearful of the coming conflict, asking if we thought WW3 was about to start, and commenting that it’s difficult to focus on university studies when the general atmosphere is one of pervading existential terror at the coming end of the world. That, I believe, is a view common among people in Scotland, probably in Britain. To quote what I said about a month ago on the RMB: “Listening to the description of what Boris has been saying about Ukraine, it sounds scarily like the British promises to Belgium in WW1. Not sure how that's going to play out.”
This crisis has been long in the making. People have long been warning about Putin’s intentions, and now that the steps he’s taken to defend Russia’s economy against sanctions have become apparent, he clearly has been planning this for years. If this does become a European war, posterity will likely see the West’s actions now the same way we do the unpreparedness of the Allies prior to WW2. There is a serious risk of sleepwalking into war.
Written by Novgorod-Pskov
An Open Letter with regards to the Ukraine Situation
To Whom it May Concern,
My name is [REDACTED], I am [REDACTED] years old and I am a citizen of the United States. I am writing this letter in hopes it will make it to the desk of someone of importance that can have an impact at stopping the distressing situation in Ukraine. I am from the state of Kansas, which has a very similar geography to Ukraine; rolling plains and an obsession with wheat and grains. When I see citizens fleeing cities and military personnel on both sides of the conflict dying, it is extremely heartbreaking, if not soul crushing, to see bodies on the streets. My heart truly aches thinking about an uncertain future. I am writing this letter as a plea, as a citizen of the world, to end this conflict peacefully. My friends have been starting to have children, one who recently brought into the world two very special girls and another who is expecting, and it is truly frightening thinking about what kind of world they will grow up in. The 21st century was supposed to be a continuation of peace following the Second World War, a war in which twenty-seven million people of the USSR gave their lives to end the bloodiest war in human history. I plead with the Russian Federation, do not become the catalyst for a third. Civilization as we know it will not survive with the policy of Mutually Assured Destruction looming overhead. Sabre-rattling will get Russia nowhere in the modern world, and it will continue to find itself isolated on the world stage if it continues down this path of unprovoked attacks.
Surely, I am no expert on Russia-Ukraine relations, but it seems to me that there is more in common with the two than what contrasts them. Russians have families in Ukraine; why hurt those who are of the blood of your fellow countrymen? It simply baffles me why Russia would want a potential nuclear showdown. Why risk the extermination of Russian civilization, along with most of the northern hemisphere’s? If the figures are correct and not just propaganda, Russia is suffering heavy losses for what should have been a quick and easy victory, and troop morale will continue to decrease everyday as the “military action” continues.
Frankly, I am terrified of a Russia that is being beat back into a corner. A world power with the largest nuclear weapons depot on Earth can make some very irrational decisions if they themselves are scared. Mr. Putin, if you are a rational man, I demand an end to this conflict for the sake of this world. Most of the world is not with you in this war. They are not buying into your justification for it, especially your constituents, or your trading partners in Europe and around the world. As likely the most powerful person in the world at this moment, it is your moral obligation to do the bare minimum and make sure the world continues existing. I thought we were past the age of the threat of global extinction from war. I beg you and the state, please do not prove me wrong.
Respectfully,
[REDACTED]
Terrified World Citizen
Written by 
Kanokla
Einswenn to ask if he would write a piece for here: given he lives in Russia, his proximity to events would be worth sharing. His response was thus: I tried it a couple of times but it didn’t work out well to write things on purpose in a more organised, less randomised way. It gets too emotional or impulsive, it drags me away from core topic and would be too massive if I ever finished that. There’s too much to say.I would ask EuroNews readers to remember that this war is Putin’s, not that of the Russian people.
Written by Novgorod-Pskov
National Trivia
This month, Apab brings us Honduras, a small Central American nation, and Ukraine - a country doubtless on all our minds at present.
Honduras
When I think of the Mayan historical sites I usually think of countries like Mexico or Guatemala – but Honduras had them too! Copán is an UNESCO World Heritage Site in western Honduras. During the Classical Maya Period, it was a thriving city with a population of 20,000. Now its ruins contain spectacular stone ruins of temples (including one reconstructed!), pyramids, many squares and stelae. The most famous attraction is the hieroglyphic stairway, with beautifully carved hieroglyphs carved onto 63 steps.
Honduras’s national bird is the extraordinarily beautiful Scarlet Macaw. Honduras’ flag was changed this year as it switched from a dark blue shade to turquoise. This move came after the country recently elected its first female president, Xiomara Castro.
Ukraine
Ukraine once owned thousands of nuclear weapons stationed by the Soviet Union in their territory. The nuclear arsenal was the third largest on Earth. But in the 1990s, Ukraine agreed to give up its weapons in exchange for promises guaranteeing its security, signed by the US and Russia.
Promises that got broken.
Ukraine is a beautiful country. It is home to many beautiful cities, rich culture, and great people. It has a history that is interesting but also very tragic. Ukrainians have always fought for independence – one they ultimately achieved. But their future is uncertain right now. People are suffering because of one man’s ambitions. People are losing their homes, dreams, their loved ones. Not just Ukrainians I have to say. The current situation is dark. But Ukraine will stay strong no matter what. Please find ways to help if you can.
The Tunnel of Love is a railway in Klevan, Ukraine, surrounded by green arches that make the tunnel awe-inspiring and romantic. Hopefully one day, we will all be able to walk that tunnel, putting aside political differences and motivated only by love.
Written by 
Apabeossie
Edited by
Novgorod-Pskov, Kanokla, and Feria-Alkaline.We Need You!
We cannot continue to consistently put out fantastic newsletters like this month's without volunteers from Europe. If you would like to help us out in future, as a writer, or editor, or in any other way, please do not hesitate to get into contact with our founder,
Feria-Alkaline, or Novgorod-Pskov and NorthPortugal, Chief Officers of EuroNews, for more information. We understand that real-life commitments always take precedence over a project such as this, so none of our members are obligated to assist with every issue. More staff simply means less work and pressure for all of us. We hope to see you on our Discord server soon!
