Letter to the Aegis Union

TO:
America JB and
The Leadership of the Aegis Union

Honourable Leaders,

I thank you sincerely for your offer to invite Kodiak to the Aegis Union.

I have discussed this with the rest of the Kodiak Cabinet and we have come to the conclusion that we cannot accept at this time. The Union Constitution would require us to surrender a level of sovereignty that we are not willing to accede at this stage, as well as a few points on the distribution of power within the Union that we feel is incompatible with the principles of the Kodiak Republic (such as the exceptional power of the Chancellor over the Union and its legislature).

I am aware that you have given reassurances on these particular matters, but as they remain in the published structure of the Union constitution, unfortunately verbal reassurances are not sufficient to assuage the concerns of our Cabinet. This is not a comment on TDR or the wider Union, simply that our governing institutions do not appear to be compatible. We hope to be able to retain our present relationship with TDR and the various member states.

Additionally, as we have been discussing your invitation, it has come to our attention of the recent diplomatic actions by Union member Alcris who have seen fit to publish very clearly leaked internal government communications (either through espionage or through a decision to platform a disloyal official of one of their embassy partners).

Frank discussions within government are an essential part of good communication and Kodiak holds concerns that if some Union members are more concerned about the content of those discussions than the philosophical implications around publishing controlled internal communications, then it would only be a matter of time (and not ethics) that a Kodiaker Official would be caught out on the same sort of complaint. As it is the nature of a democratic executive that opinions evolve and change, we wouldn't feel comfortable having our foreign relations scuttled because of the clearly private opinions of just some government officials. We condemn the publication of these leaks as a matter of ethical concern more so than we dislike their contents as a matter of disrespect.

I thank you for your patience and for your invitation and I wish the Democratic Republic and the Aegis Union good luck in the future. I am sorry that our government was not in a position to expand that relationship, but we stand by our existing treaty obligations and will continue to maintain a diplomatic presence in TDR.

Kind Regards,

𝒥𝑜𝒽𝓃 𝐸𝒹𝓌𝒶𝓇𝒹𝓈

The Hon. John Edwards, MGA
Executive Chancellor
The Most Serene Republic of Kodiak