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Issue 25,
Volume 9, 11 November 302 AP The Story behind the news. |
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Business
End of the Internet boom? Utania's arms deal with the Empire Politics President Okarvits: a safe bet Langley's appeal to savers Forestry workers protest Law Occidental vs the Greens: Is there a case to answer? International COVER: Pataki Communists walk out of talks in Rovens Zartania's economic highs and lows Rovens and positive growth A queen dies, an Emperor is ill Peacekeepers: Please! Send more! Hochlandia's dissidents thumb their nose Entertainment Football's last hurrah! Elma and that song Planet "Earth" strikes Zartania! |
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What IS a Zeitgeist?
Jerman for "Spirit of the Age". In this case it is to mean the "spirit" of the Utanian people, the magazine reporting the people's thoughts behind the press-releases and reported news. Want an article published? Would you like an article published by Zeitgeist Magazine? Please send the text of the article for evaluation, OR send us an email describing the issue/story you would like published to the email Editor@jaggedblue.com. Article authors It is the policy of this magazine not to identify the authors of any Zeitgeist articles. It was conceived in the early days of this magazine, by our founder, Mr van der Hamm, when authors were being threatened by Guwimithian Authorities for their anti-Imperialist columns. Our founder endured jail time in Imperial prisons for his "insolence". Now, the policy is to demonstrate that this is a magazine, not a collection of authors. |
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© Zeitgeist Magazine, 302 AP.
Email: Editor@jaggedblue.com <TECH> ©Mike Ham, 2002. All rights reserved. No reproduction without, at least, tacit approval. ;-) |
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Mr. Infallible falls on his own sword
President Okarvits today informed the nation that his administration had budgeted over Û121.1 billion (C40.4 bn) over four years for defence, including Û42.7 billion this calendar year. The President gave little forewarning of the stunning announcement, an announcement the opposition, suspecting a budget blow-out, has been trying to drag out of the President for months. In June, a Parliamentary inquiry was held, but the President and Cabinet ministers managed to avoid having to declare the budget citing "national security". No longer. The President calmly told journalists that he was prepared to reveal the figures of his own free will, simply to "clear the air". "The Utanian people have a right to know how their taxes are being spent, and though the revelation has been slow in coming, my administration has always been committed to free and open government. "This announcement will finally clear the air on this issue, allowing the Utanian people to understand that their leaders have been dedicating themselves to protecting and securing this nation. "While the figures are not insignificant," the President said, "the cause is our very freedom, and this cannot be priced." The President told the briefing that his administration had Û18 billion in routine defence costs, such as munitions, clothing, feeding and paying the 300,000 servicemen and women. The average serving member received around Û15,000 in pay. This also included the estimated Û3 billion the government was spending on peacekeeping in Dignania. Thereafter, Û23 billion was committed over two years to building manufacturing facilities around the country, plus research and development, including the Firecat and Caiman projects. (See UMAC site: here for Caimans and here for Firecats.) Finally, the government has signed a Û26 billion contract with the Zartanian Empire to supply thousands of military equipment items, from the aircraft carrier delivered earlier this year, to two thousand 88mm guns. The President noted that much of the Zartanian contract was actually joint development projects, including the Scorpion Armoured Personnel Carrier Project. "The agreement we have with the Zartanians is to co-develop these armoured personnel carriers, build the first 400 in Zartania, and thereafter have Utanian production facilities", the President said. This scenario applied also to the jointly-developed attack helicopter. However, Utania would be buying outright, with only some modifications made in Utania, six frigates, three destroyers and six cruisers, plus the Warbird aircraft carrier. The President did not break down the individual line-item costs. The contract also includes tanks, bomber aircraft, refuelling aircraft, transport helicopters and railway guns. Scandal The announcement came as a shock to most journalists who attended the regular press briefing expecting campaign news. Instead, they had the scandal of the year laid squarely in their lap.
The issue has dogged the President for months, with the federal opposition launching a full Parliamentary investigation in June to ascertain the truth. The issue was opposition leader Kemp's favourite, punching away at the government, but without success. But, curiously now, the numbers the opposition so desperately wanted, to scandalise the government, have been revealed by the President six weeks before an election, and seemingly without resistance. The timing of the announcement is also disastrous for the country with the international community, if not the electorate, starting to recoil at the rapid expansion of defence forces around the world. That the President would admit all now, with his own job on the line, has raised quite a few eyebrows. The Presidential election is a mere six weeks away, and a revelation such as this, that the President overspent his own promises and then attempted to hide the fact, can only damage the President's hard-earned respectability. "With all this lying, quietening, diffusion, and using the OSA (Official Secrets Act) to hide an overspending of the budget," suggests one analyst, "makes the President actually start to look like just another politician. "I think the electorate expected him to be above all this." So, why do it? One possibility is that he was forced to do so, that the figures would have come out anyway. Another suggestion, scoffed at by the cynical, is that he is genuine in his claim of wanting to "clear the air". However, consensus is building amongst commentators and analysts, albeit a cynical consensus, that the President is attempting to head off Kyle Langley at the pass. "It seems convenient that Ogden's poll tells us Langley will have the best chance against the President," suggested an analyst on Zeitgeist News this evening, "and then the President unveils figures that enhance his 'militarist' appeal, eroding Langley's base support." 
It is clear that he is unfit to continue to lead the country.
If pre-planned and part of a political strategy, then there is no doubt it is the riskiest path to take for the President, to trade his integrity for some "national security" votes. Perhaps the President believes he can keep both with an open debate on the subject -- for as he has made his revelations mere days before the presidential debates, there is no doubt he plans to debate the situation. Furthermore, there remains the issue of "why so suddenly"? If this is strategic politics, then why the appearance of spontaneity and haste? Perhaps the haste is a strategy in itself. Vindication However, ultimately, the scandal will be about the figures: over 120 billion Pund spent over four years on defence, including 26 billion on foreign purchases. In March last year, initial defence department figures were leaked suggesting the planned foreign purchases were three times the President's foreshadowed ten billion budget, generating major embarrassment for the President. Now, it is revealed that the truth is little different to the then leaked figures. Opposition leader Kemp says it demonstrates that the President tried to hide the extent of his foreign purchases budget, that it was planned to be thirty billion all along. "This demonstrates that the President will promise to spend only Û10 billion, gets exposed, restates his pledge that Û10 billion will only be spent, then goes and spends Û26 billion anyway!" opposition leader Kemp said on hearing the news. "This is precisely the sort of shady dealings that the President has been guilty of all along, and it is clear that he is unfit to continue to lead the country!" For Kemp, this is the ultimate vindication. Told by his own party to "calm down" over the issue when the President blocked the numbers in June, yet convinced there was "something being hidden", Kemp has never really given the issue up. It would appear that he was right, all along. Not infallible However, this is less a vindication for the opposition leader, as a test for the President. The President will have his chance to justify the over-expenditure in the presidential debates, and then it will be up to the people to decide. A shrewd and calculating President, or a liar and spendthrift? Numerous companies are even now rushing to produce polls in the aftermath of this announcement, so there will be little wait before the people will have spoken. If this is a strategy, then it is a risky one. Electorates do not like being lied to, least of all by the men they regard as pillars of integrity, as President Okarvits is, or at least was. Furthermore, now, the President's entire budget is open to debate. It is clear that with an average of Û43 billion a year, plus Û15 being spent on water infrastructure this year alone, that the President's expected Û70 billion in
This will be a bitter pill for his loyal fans. Many will be disillusioned,
perhaps even vengeful.
revenues will not pay for everything. The President must now either reveal all,
or face the charge of hiding more overspending, hiding a perhaps massive budget
blow-out. Alternatively, he can be accused of mismanagement, not having complete
control of the budget.
But, more than all this, the President's infallibility has been ruptured. He is a mere mortal now, not the demi-god of virtue. He is open to attack, and open to character assassination, a season formerly only open on his challengers. Now, the President is fair game, at least for a while. He has proven himself to be a politician like the "rest of them". This will be a bitter pill for his loyal fans. While, no doubt, many will deny that this revelation changes anything, many more will be disillusioned, perhaps even vengeful. Thousands of devoted supporters could yet desert the President, and his vulnerability in February's run-off election may extend beyond just Langley to other candidates as well. Perhaps. The President may have faltered, but he is now down yet. He is heir to a dynasty that created the Peoples Party, and his supporters are unlikely to forget for whom they vote. Furthermore, his contrition may prove far more effective than most cynical journalists and analysts would like to admit. Regardless, the President has been dealt his first blow, albeit self-inflicted, and he must now prove he is worth the faith millions of Utanians place in him. |
Self-immolation?
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