The Mithlond Conference, July 1908

[Desertfox]

Homework struck... I shall have an 'interesting' reason as to why the Swiss Delegation is late...

[Borys]

Document laid out by the Habsburg Ambassador, Count Przewalski, on 8th of July of the year of Our Lord 1908


1 - The Swiss Confederation restores siezed Alliance territory;

2 - The Swiss Confederation relinquishes claims to various Pacific Islands, at the start of the war in Swiss possession, and now in 3rd party hands;

3 - The Swiss Confederation relinquishes all its possessions and claims in and around the Indian Ocean;

4 - The Swiss Confederation desists from assistance to any Kra Isthmus Canal related endeavours;

5 - The Swiss Confederation relinquishes all rights and any claims to Hainan;

6 - The Swiss Confederation relinquishes all rights and any claims to Taiwan;

7 - The Swiss Confederation relinquishes any claim to, and cedes to the Konkilijk Nederlands:
- island of Buru

8 - The Swiss Confederation relinquishes any claim to, and cedes to the Empire and Commonwealth of Japan :
a- Tinian, Aquijan, Saipan
b- West New Guinea
c - Aleutians


9 - The Swiss Confederation relinquishes any claim to, and cedes to the Deutches Kaiserreich Brandenburg:
- South-East Niu Guini
- King's Island in Bass Strait

10 - The Swiss Confederation relinquishes all rights and any claims to the Duchy of Niu Amsterdam;

11 - The Swiss Confederation relinquishes any claim to the island of Tasmania;

12 - issues of compensation will be worked out in an appendix, in separate negotiatons between the interested parties;

[Tanthalas]

Pubilus Rutilius Rufus Stands, and begins walking in a tight Circle.

Pubilus Rutilius Rufus: Gentlemen there must be Peace, and it must be a Peace with honor.  If both sides cannot find honor in whatever peace is agreed upon here then while we may end the current conflict, we will simply be assuring that in 10 or 20 years that there will be another war.  From all appearances the war in the pacific has become a stalemate, with none of the original combatants being capable of continuing offensive operations to any decisive ends.  There for it is the Proposal of the Italian Delegation that a Ceasefire in place be implemented immediately, and that a Neutral observer be taken to each front to ascertain the actual status of each disputed territory so that the actual status might be ascertained.  After which a neutral panel would decide the possession of each currently combated territory, (slams his Fist on the Table) THERE MUST BE PEACE WITH HONOR. Anything less is unacceptable to both sides in this conflict.

[Desertfox]

On the door of the conference room a woman in red appeared, on her neck a bloddied bandage.

"My apologies for being late, but there was a slight complication, a 'shaving' accident you could say."

(chuckles around the room)

"Interesting document you have there Count. I see that the Swiss are very popular, but lets be serious what do you have to back up your claim? But we are reasonable, we can accept certain points you have brought up.

Mr. Rufus the Swiss Confederation can accept you proposal without reservation. "

[The Rock Doctor]

Minister Torres replies, "Senora, welcome.  Could you indulge us with a sense of which parts of Count Przewalski's document New Switzerland does find acceptable?" 

[Desertfox]

"The Swiss Confederation can accept at the present 2,3, 5 and 6 with certain minor modifications, 7 and 12. Number 4 is beyond our control, and we might be able to accept number 1 under certain conditions." 

[The Rock Doctor]

After a few moments of silence, Torres asks, "And does New Switzerland intend to respond to the other items with a counter-proposal or, at least, a policy statement?" 

[miketr]

Till now giving all the appearance of being asleep His Excellency Don Carlos Rubio y Cabeza keeps his eyes closed but shakes his head at the Swiss Statements and then snaps his finger once and points at the Hapsburg Ambassador.  Then the Ambassadors aid stands up from his seat along side of the wall with the other minor diplomatic personnel; then turn walks over to Hapsburg delegation and hands over a note marked with a number 1 on it.

My Dear Count,

   I had to miss my afternoon siesta to hear this?  The Swiss position is virtually the same as at the last peace talks.

Carlos

[Desertfox]

"As to the other proposals? Well we just don't see why we should turn over places such as Tasmania, when it is the Allies who are losing. Last time I checked the Allies where stuck in a tiny fishing village of about 3 square miles of land, and no ammo. Well we still control twenty six thousand square miles of land there. New Guinea? All Allied troops there are cooped up in their fortresses. Only Allied troops in Saipan are dead ones. As for New Amsterdam, the Allies land troops in one tiny corner and decide to claim half of Australia?

We can listen to reasonable proposals, the Count's 8 through 11 are anything but reasonable."

[Borys]

And if the Alliance evacuates Tasmania and North Australia, i.e. drops points 10 and 11 altogether, and puting aside the issue of compensation, would the Swiss Confederation agree to the other points? To points 1 to 9?

[Desertfox]

As the Count spoke, a messenger arrived and gave the Lady in Red a folder.

"Interesting... Gentlemen an announcement, as of 7 days ago Saipan has been relieved."

She paused to give the delegates time to digest the information before speaking again.

"My dear Count, what about points 8 and 9?"

[swamphen]

Had a busy week. Count von Bülow is in attendeance, and will be commenting soon...

[Walter]

General Prinzregent Alaricus Ludwig Isidor Eldrich Nickolaus Praeger, Grossherzog von Korea und Graf von Pranger/Grand Duc de Coree et Comte de Pranger/ Grand Duke of Korea and Count of Pranger, stood up and spoke:

"Milady, I would like to know exactly what is wrong with proposal 8? Tinian and Aquijan are already ours. Saipan is only a matter of time. The same is true for West new Guinea (OOC: okay, so that one will take a wee bit longer than what the General claims ^_^ ). Our attacks on the Aleutians are barely contested and that, too, is only a matter of time.

"Looking beyond Proposal 8, Proposal 8b, West New Guinea to Japan, would be linked to Proposal 9a, Southeast New Guinea to Brandenburg. When West New Guinea falls, it won't take long for Southeast New Guinea to follow. Regarding the Duchy of New Amsterdam and Tasmania. I would think that it is only a matter of time until both territories will fall... and they will fall the moment the reinforcements arrive.
(OOC note: The General does not mention King's Island in Bass Strait as he currently has no idea where it is)

"As for what you said about Saipan. That's true. The Saipan landing was a botched job as one vital element of the operation failed right away. This meant that the few troops that were landed there as part of the first wave ended up doing the job of that element and they ended up pulling out faster than they got onto the island. Our losses would have been much greater if the whole landing force had gone ashore and if we did not have proper backup from naval artillery.

"With all due respect Milady, considering the length of the blockade of Saipan as well as the thousands of shells that have been dropped onto the island, there is no doubt that Swiss casualties on the island are much, much, much higher than the combined casualy figure of those Japanese soldiers who died on Hainan, Tinian, Aquijan, Saipan and those who went down with the various warships that were sunk.

"But as for your claim of Saipan having been relieved...
*slight laughter*
"I fear you are gravely mistaken about the extend that it has been relieved... I have reports that show a completely different picture.
(OOC: While the battle reports still haven't reached the talks yet, the General is aware of all the planned IJN movements)

"To be honest, Milady, I fear that there will be no living Swiss soldiers left on Saipan once the second phase of Operation Black Death starts within a few days, when Allied Naval Forces and Landing Forces will head straight for New Switzerland itself. I always thought that New Switzerland cared for its soldiers. Don't tell me that during the last few years, the Swiss have abandoned this path and turned into ruthless butchers, leaving all those young soldiers to die in a meat grinder?"

Mumbling to and only hear by Count Przewalski:

"I would believe that the Swiss refusal to accept proposal 8 has probably to do with the fact that the Japanese refused to believe in the Swiss lies. We resisted the Swiss bribery attempts and refused to turn against our Allies."

... and additional thoughts of the general in the pic's title

[Korpen]

Number 4 is beyond our control" 

In no way is §4 beoynd swiss control. It simply means that New Switzerland simply never get itself involved in projects there in any way.

[Desertfox]

OOC von Bülow? Didn't he "resign"?

Reply to Japanese coming soon.