Rodarion-Belhavia relations

Rodarion-Belhavia relations

File:Flag of Rodarion.png Rodarion	File:NB flag in Pardes.png Belhavia
Diplomatic mission
Rodarian Embassy, Provisa	Belhavian Embassy, Romula
Envoy
Ambassador Giovanni Paolo Trentini	Ambassador Vovel Heimish

Relations between Rodarion and Belhavia have spanned over five centuries since initial trade and commercial contacts between the Papal States and Grand Duchy of Provisa in the late 15th century. The Rodar-Belhavian relationship has been one of the most complicated, sophisticated, and multifaceted global set of relations in the modern era. Both nations alternatively view each other as both a strategic partner and potential adversary. This geopolitical relationship has been described by world leaders and academics as one of the world's most important bilateral relationship of the century.

As of 2016, Belhavia is the third-largest economy in the world, while Rodarion is the second-largest. Both are key global geopolitical, economic, financial, trade, religious, and cultural actors on the international stage, and together form half of the powerful EG4 organization.

According the Global Monetary Fund, Rodar-Belhavian trade links maybe the most valuable in the world, worth an estimated combined $1.1 trillion. Rodarion is Belhavia's number one trade partner, while Belhavia is Rodarion's number two trade partner.

In recent decades, relations have improved, led in great part by strong and warm ethno-religious ties, particularly relations between the Romulan Catholic Church and Belhavia's Jewish leaders, which have been warm since the 19th century. The relationship between faith leaders has greatly influenced the countries' diplomatic ties. The most common saying regarding Rodar-Belhavian relations is: "so much in common, yet such huge differences." Furthermore, both countries operate numerous cultural exchange programs. In 2008, the number of Rodarian students studying in Belhavia reached 54,300 while the number of Belhavians in Rodarion had reached over 18,000.

Rodar-Belhavian relations have generally been stable with some periods of open or indirect conflict, most notably during the Ulthrannic Civil War. Currently, Rodarion and Belhavia have mutual political and economic interests, including the prevention of terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, although there are unresolved concerns relating to human rights in Rodarion and the Central Lusankyan crises of the 2010s.

At the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue in 2015, both countries stated they wanted to work to improve their relationship. Rodarian Consul Ottavio Civitarese stated that a confrontation between the two countries would be "a disaster." Belhavian Foreign Minister Daniel Nobelstein stated that the Empire did not seek to "contain" Rodarion, or is apart of any collective effort to do so.

Country comparison

	Papal Federation of Rodarion	Empire of Belhavia
Populations	1.36 billion (2015)	132.95 million (2015)
Area	1,874,600 sq km	2,867,735 sq km
Population density	274.67/sq mi	TBA
Capital	Romula	Provisa
Largest city	Vistrovio	Dakos
Government	Federal Theocratic parliamentary democracy	Federal presidential constitutional monarchy
Current Leader(s)	HH Pope Constantine XIV Consul Ottavio Civitarese	HIM Emperor Aaron III (head of state) President Eli Goldman (head of government)
Official languages	Rodarian Carpathian	None at federal level but English and Yiddish de facto
Main religions	Romulan Catholicism 97%, Orthodoxy 1.5%, Jewish 1.3%, Protestant 0.2%	Jewish (75.1%), followed by irreligious (9.2%), Catholicism (7.9%), Islam (4.6%), various Protestant Christian sects (2.35%), Orthodox Christianity (0.5%), and Yeosindo (0.35%).
GDP (nominal) (2015)	$10.491 Trillion ($7,160 per capita)	$6.997 Trillion ($51,918 per capita)
Military expenditures	$398.67 billion (3.8% of GDP)	$349.88 billion (5.01% of GDP)

History

Jewish Settlers (1295 - 1301)

Main article: Rodarian Jews

Towards the end of the 13th century, vast numbers of Jewish settlers were moving into southward from across the world, with the final destination being set as the area which now constitutes modern day Belhavia. A large number of settlers moved west, through the current-day Aeolian islands and arrived at the Kingdom of Brăila, there they traveled westward into the various city states and Kingdoms of northern Rodarion, finally settling in large numbers in the Dukedom of Videle. By the early 1300s, both Banari and Videle fell to the Papacy and the Jewish settlers were welcomed as Papal citizens. As of 2015, there are 19.04 million Jews of Belhavian descent living in the Papal Republic, making Rodarion home to the second largest Jewish population outside the Empire of Belhavia.

Early trade and commerce (1300s - 1700)

The Jewish population in Videle and Banari eventually led to a growing trade relationship between the fledging Belhavian and the Papal states, with many Jews leaving Rodarion for Belhavia, including Rodarian Catholic missionaries; critically, this relationship would be the bedrock of centuries of relations between Rodarion and Belhavia. Between 1477 - 1483, 18,000 Belhavian Jews left Belhavia for Rodarion due to famine and the difficulties of building a new home. In 1488, Pope Marcellus V declared that 'brave Christian souls, may redeem themselves, through the journey to and assistance of the Belhavian Jew in the construction of his new home, by giving charity, you clense your soul.' By 1491, 30,000 Rodarian Catholics left Rodarion by ship enroute to Belhavia to assist the Belhavians in constructing what was then the Grand Duchy of Provisa and later would become the Kingdom, then Empire of Belhavia.

In 1497, a Belhavian Jewish merchant travelled to Romula and offered Pope John III the Spear of Longinus; he claimed that his ancestors had come across it during the journey to Belhavia and believed it would be more worth to the Romulan Catholic Church. Pope John III took the spear and declared the Belhavian Jew a brother people to the Rodarian Catholic, opening up every market across the Papal States to Belhavian Jewish traders and Belhavian goods.

For much of the Renaissance, Late Middle Ages, and the early modern period, Belhavian and Rodarian society maintained a flourishing and reciprocal trade network that introduced Belhavians and Taverian goods and products into Central Lusankya while the Global South had warmer-climate goods and products and Rodarian persons in return.

Great Southern War (1704 - 1715)

Main article: Great Southern War

Colonization Era (1720s - 1890)

Main articles: Belhavian Empire, Wars of 1808, and Revolutions of 1854

Papal Republic-Imperial Relations (1905 - Present)

Early 20th century (1905 - 1940)

Between 1899 and 1904, Rodarion was subject to major political unrest, as the Secular-Liberal Anti-Papist movement began to grow in strength. Facing a secular revolution, which aimed to remove the Church from power and replace the Papal States with a secular presidential republic, Pope Pius II set up the Sacred Congregation for Reformation of the Papal States Government, senior civil servants and high ranking Papal officials convened to formulate wide-sweeping reforms that would in essence introduce democracy to the theocratic system. In 1900, the Sacred Congregation began formulating plans for introducing elected assemblies for the Papal States, allowing the states themselves to address problems and needs to the Church itself. However the reform fell apart in 1902, due to major opposition by the Anti-Papist leaders.

In 1903, Pius II died and was suceeded by Pope Julius II. Julius II proved to be a more active Pontiff and become highly involved in the Sacred Congregations work. In 1904 he led the group into producing the Act for the Formulation of a Papal Republic. Within months of his Papacy, Julius II had helped produce reforms that would radically transform the way Rodarion would be governed. He rejected Pius II's reservations to handing over power to the people, claiming "the people are touched by the hand of the Lord, as we are. We can no longer deny the people the right to vote for a government that would enfranchise their wishes and ideals." When the reforms were announced, the Anti-Papist Movement fractured and collapsed over internal divisions towards the reforms. With the main opposition destroyed, Pope Julius II declared that they would take effect in 1905.

On October 18 1905, the Papal Republic was formed. Belhavian thinkers and politicians were split over the reform, many in Belhavia, led by the then-reigning Liberal Party government, supported the liberal movement, as they saw the Church as an ediface to the medieval ages, whilst others saw the Church State as a stable and respectable source of government. Belhavian Imperial Senator Benajmin Begin said in 1906, "The Papal Republic is a fine structure of political moves, the Church yet again has shown that it is as shrewd in politics as any layman. I see a fine balance between Church and ballot." Senator Begin's statement, was an inspiration for the Rodarian Conservative Alliance's 1905 Election campaign, 'The Papal Republic a fine balance between church and ballot', was their slogan. The Conservative Alliance won the election and became the first elected government in Rodarian history.

Belhavian silence over the Papal Republic resulted in a vaccum of relations, however, within the first few months, Provisa established stronger bonds between the two nation-states, through trade and opposition to growing Marxist and leftist revolutionary movements across the world.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Romula and Provisa had some tensions over the rise of fascism in both states. The Church was leery of the electoral inclusion of Fascists into a ruling coalition with the mainline right-wing Federalists for much of the next two decades, considering the Rodarian fascist movement's Anti-Papist sentiments and agenda. In turn, some Belhavian fascists advocated aiding their Rodarian ideological partners, and in fact sent some financial and underground arms, which angered the Papal authorities.

Galarian Autocracy (1940 - 1945)

Relations improved in the early 1940s under the Galarian Autocracy, under which the fascists were arrested, jailed, killed, or exiled. The small Belhavian Catholic community was granted additional legal and de facto protections by the Supreme Autocrat, and they became one of his most potent bases of support.

The proto-National Catholic Party and National Catholicist elements in the late 1940s and early 1950s looked towards Galarian-style right-wing authoritarianism as a sustainable political model, albeit different from the Belhavian context. When they took power in 1955, these leading NCP leaders incorporated some policies they observed under Galarian 10-15 years earlier.

Liberal Heyday in Belhavia (1945 - 1981)

The rise of the NCP's authoritarian Papal Republic regime in 1955 soured relations with the Liberal Democrat-, liberal-, and secular-dominated post-Galarian political order between 1945 and 1981.

However, this hostility and disfavor took a respite in the early 1960s, when the Conservatives retook the presidency and Senate. President Edward Kalian (1961 - 1969), the first Tory president and an ethnic Belfrasian with a distant line of Rodarian heritage, reoriented a more positive and productive geopolitical partnership, allying with Rodarion to oppose the Communist bloc and exchanging cultural programs.

In the last two years of his presidency, however, the Liberal Democrats retook the majority in the Senate and blocked financial aid and arms deals with Rodarion. When Kalian was succeeded by left-wing liberal Vern Callan (1969 - 1977), relations became actively hostile, as Callan attempted détent with the Communist world and sought to undermine organized religion both at home and abroad.

Watermelon era and the Rodar-Belhavian Crisis of 1970-71

Relations crashed in 1970, when Callan attempted to end religious property tax exemption for Catholic properties in Belhavia, part of a subtle public campaign to shame and alienate religious authorities in the Empire, including the whole range of Jewish denominations, Protestants, and others. The resultant public uproar among Belhavians forced the Senate, including many Lib Dems, to oppose and defeat the measure. The Pope, Julius III, took the startling act of publicly praying for Callan's death on December 3rd, 1970, saying, "This man is the devil in disguise, he is as bad as any Godless liberal or Marxist, and uses the brutal tools of state like any coldhearted fascist to crush good, God-fearing people. I pray and hope he joins our Creator quite soon from this Earth."

In reply, Callan expelled the Archbishop of Provisa and levied economic sanctions on Rodarion, and Romula levied counter-sanctions. He labeled Rodarion an 'enemy of modernity' and sought to rally liberal and left-wing global leaders against the Papal Republic.

Several thousand Orthodox Jews, fearful of Callan's domestic attempts to secularize and ostracize traditional Jewish religious authorities, fled to Rodarion. The Church State was also quick to use its influence over the Catholic community in Belhavia, to urge them to vote for the Conservatives at the next Presidential and General elections. Catholic priests also took the Church's line against President Callan. In January 1971, the Church donated $3.2 million to the Belhavian Conservative Party. The same month Rodarian ISI agents murdered Viktor Orbanescu, a key anti-NCP activist who recieved asylum under the Callan Administration.

Tensions flared in February 1971, when a Rodarian Navy destroyer operating close to the Weissland Islands, fired on a Belhavian Navy frigate, causing some superficial damage and forcing the Imperial Navy warship to retreat. In March and April, a liberal businessman with ties to both Romula and the Callan Administration brokered a truce. Belhavian Catholic communities were left alone by Callan's secular liberal allies, and sanctions were progressively repealed between 1971 and 1973.

Late 1970s

From 1971 - 1981, relations remained harsh and antagonistic, with Callan's successor Berel Levine (1977 - 1981), attempting to continue Callan's left-wing agenda, albeit more moderately. However, Rodarian analysts on Belhavia noted with interest the religious and political backlash against Callan-era liberalism, with the anti-Callan political right energizing the Tories from 1973 and onward. Levine barely won the 1976 presidential election, and his Lib Dems lost seats in the 1978 midterms.

Then-Imperial Senator Julian Settas, who ran in the 1976 Tory presidential primary and was gearing up for a 1980 run by early 1978, was pledging to restore relations with Rodarion, a development the Papal Republic watched with keen interest.

Neoliberal Revolution (1981 - 1993)

Settas Revolution of 1980

Main articles: Watermelon era § In reaction, and Political History of Belhavia § Conservative Revolution of 1980

Rodar-Belhavian relations took an ecstatic reversal, with popular celebration in both countries as Settas was elected president in 1980. His campaign had received fervent support by the small Rodarian and Catholic minorities, among other Tory constituencies. The Pope, Benedict XII, praised Settas as a "protector of the Abrahamic faiths, and a true and just friend of Rodarion and the Church." In return, President Settas peaned the Pope as a "ecquisite leader of youth and energy who is leading world Catholicism in a great, beneficial direction."

File:CDJS.jpg

President Julian Settas with Consul Cornelio Mangione in 1983.

In March 1981, Settas visited Rodarion and gave a speech apologizing for the Callan-era actions of the Empire and received the Pope's public acceptance of his forgiveness and the Rodarian Senate's thunderous applause. President Settas also proved a major influence upon Rodarian economic policy during the 1980s, during his 1983 visit to see Pope Benedict XII, Settas visited the Rodarian Ministry of the Treasury, where he advocated the benefits of privatisation and private ownership. By 1982, Consul Cornelio Mangione had begun to devise a number of key economic reforms that would reduce government control over the economy and privatize key state-owned enterprises and utility providers.

In 1984, Mangione suffered a mild stroke and was forced to step down as Consul and leader of the National Catholic Party; however, his economic reforms would be continued under his successor Coriolano Volpacelli. Still, his successor's fear of flying disallowed him to travel far out across the world and repeated efforts for him to overcome his phobia failed. Instead Proconsul Cristian Diaconescu traveled to Belhavia, where he addressed the Imperial Belhavian Senate, saying, "never before has Rodarion found such a friend, such an inspiration and such a comrade in the fight against Marxism, G-d surely blessed with such a companion."

Relations tensed in the early 1980s, however, on the issue of foreign policy, with Belhavian leaders displeased with the so-called "Rodarian withdrawal" from the Anti-Communist World. Despite this, however, bilateral relations stayed strong as Rodarion offered assurances to Belhavia that its "withdrawal" was in light of its view that "Communism was defeated as an ideology and economic system, and was on its last legs and would soon fall of its own rotten accord."

In 1986, Coriolano Volpacelli and Julian Settas signed a trade deal worth $26.5 billion, the most valuable deal signed at that time. A year later, Belhavian economists had become key in the Volcapelli Government's economic reforms penned for implementation in 1989. Between 1987-1995, Belhavian investment into Rodarion increased by 46%, up from $32.3 billion to over $66.4 billion.

In 1989, several months prior to the end of Settas' presidency, Pope Benedict XII traveled to Provisa, declaring him a "Hero of the Papal Republic and a fine human being, who attracts only respect and awe. You are a man of humanity, innovation and kindness, you are a miracle of human spirit and excellence, may God bless you wherever you go, and in whatever you decide to do." Pope Benedict XII awarded Settas with the Hero of the Papal Republic medal, a medal only offered to Rodarian citizens of upmost talent and those who made achievements beyond anyone around them, as he placed the medal around Settas' neck, Pope Benedict XII declared, "you may not have passport, but you are a Rodarian this day."

Despite the height in relations during the Settas Administration, relations would slowly deteriorate as Volcapelli began to introduce further authoritarian measures in defence of the theocratic regime, much to the dispair of Belhavian administrations.

1990s and the End of the Cold War

Main article: Cold_War_(Pardes) § Late_Cold_War:_1978_-_2001

Ragazzo-Fiedler era (1997 - 2001)

The collapse of the Volpacelli government caused shock in Provisa as much as it did across the Rodarian establishment, the election of Cristiano Ragazzo and his National Liberal Party in the snap election left many in Provisa unaware of how to proceed or deal with the new government, after becoming accustomed to dealing National Catholic Party governments continuously since 1955. However, contrary to swift optimism that the NLP government would democratise Rodarion and roll back authoritarianism and state control over the economy, the NLP government immediately proved weak as opposition from the NCP-dominated civil service refused to carry out several of the NLP's manifesto pledges, with the focus being on the NLP's economic liberalisation program.

On March 14 1998, Consul Cristiano Ragazzo travelled to Belhavia to meet President Yehuda Fiedler. Despite being elected in September 1997, Ragazzo had struggled to find the time to make an overseas visit, constantly dealing with the protracted conflict with the civil service and mounting resistance from the Papacy. During his visit, Ragazzo and Fiedler reportedly "hit it off" and formed a friendship during the four day visit; during which $5.4 billion worth of economic agreements were signed including an arrangement for Belhavian economists to visit Rodarion and advise the government on liberalisation of the economy. This agreement was met with vocal opposition from the NCP and even Rodarian Socialist Party in the Senate. Opposition even reached the highest levels of the Papacy, with Pope Benedict XII calling the invitation of Belhavian economists, "something akin to inviting a thief's best friend to steal from his own family." Due to the domestic opposition and growing anger among the Rodarian Worker's Union, the agreement was never implemented.

Between 1998 and 2001, Ragazzo never made another foreign visit; however, Fiedler visited Rodarion a further three times in this time period. Fielder was a vocal supporter of the government's economic reform program, but this only exacerbated the conflict between the Ragazzo government and the civil service. In March 1999, the pro-NCP press and even state-owned newspapers insinuated that Ragazzo was a Belhavian agent, planted to undermine the country's economic vitality, although many commentators at the time and still today, believe that the Rodarian press claimed such things more through their hatred for the liberal government than taking a sudden anti-Belhavian position. Ragazzo's position became so tenuous by 1999, that he feared if he left the country on a visit, his government maybe brought down by a Vatican-ordered military coup. In January 2000, speaking to the Provisa Times, Ragazzo lamented that he had failed his country. The article was reprinted in Rodarian in every major domestic newspaper, further degrading his standing.

Despite being re-elected in 2000, albeit with a dramatically reduced majority, both Fiedler and Ragazzo knew that the NLP government was short-lived. Speaking to students at Imperial Provisa University, President Fiedler said, "the time of liberal government in Rodarion I fear is coming to an end, after five years, it has produced nothing more than polarisation in society and the clear truth that the Rodarian state itself is loyal to only the Church-NCP orthodoxy, I believe that there will never be a liberal government again which is democratically elected."

On July 10th, 2002, Cristiano Ragazzo formally requested that Pope Benedict XII dissolve the Senate and declare a general election, on September 3rd, Ragazzo and the NLP lost the general election, with the National Catholic Party re-elected under Urbano Tucci.

Many commentators have been somewhat negative of the 1997-2001 period, although both countries were successful in the defeat of communism, bilateral relations stagnated mostly due to the Rodarian government's chronic problems domestically. Few deals were signed in the four visits made by the respective leaders and investment and trade remained stagnant also, both Rodarian and Belhavian commentators have been negative of Ragazzo and his government, calling him "weak" and "ineffective" as well as unwilling to challenge the NCP-aligned establishment.

Law enforcement

Belhavian and Rodarian law enforcements agencies have a long and storied history of interstate cooperation. Such is the bilateral crime-fighting initiatives between the two main domestic law enforcement agencies in both countries that the Belhavian DISE and Rodarian National Police Service each have a standing liaison staff to collaborate with the other.

The two nations have formal treaties as well as informal arrangements to cooperate and work together on such trans-border crime such as the global drug war, domestic terrorism, and smuggling. In 2015, both countries' governments signed and ratified the Joint Program for Combating Extremism. Both countries have a reciprocal extradition treaty with one another.

However, on some crimes, such as cyber attacks, hacks, patent thefts, and corporate espionage, many Belhavian authorities have posited that their Rodarian counterparts are unwilling to, or drag their feet on, investigating into such crimes, usually with allegations of Rodarian criminal conduct and Belhavian victimhood. In 2015, allegations of Rodarian authorities' unwillingness to protect their facilities led Belhavian corporate giant Roth Industries to move part of its production offshore to Skandera.

Military and security

Before the rise of CDI and RCO/WECA geopolitical tensions in the 2000s and 2010s, Rodarian and Belhavian military units performed joint war games and exercises in the 1980s and 1990s during the late Cold War. The Papal Armed Forces and Imperial Armed Forces service branches not only performed twice-annual exercises but also shared military intelligence on the OttPact bloc, particularly on Bogoria, Ankar, Hornatyia, and Estovnia.

Such military cooperation was warmly recalled by contemporaries such as Rodarian Enrico Sciarra and Belhavian Zalman Yitzchak Katz, who have remained friends from their mid-1980s contact. The older Katz has an older brother-style relationship with the younger Sciarra. Both served as head of their respective war game units in joint exercises between 1985-87, with Sciarra among the youngest Rodarian commanders in history.

However, after 2002, military cooperation and intelligence sharing petered off, and then ceased entirely, as CDI-WECA tensions emerged as a stumbling block between the two countries.

Intelligence "special relationship"

Interestingly, analysts note that the Belhavian IBI and Rodarian ISI maintain strong ties and, allegedly, informal intelligence-sharing contacts, much to the chagrin of other agencies. The senior leaders of both agencies, now in their late 40s, 50s, and 60s, came of age as intelligence operatives during the "era of good feelings" between Rodarion and Belhavia in the 1980s and 1990s, when both organizations cooperated closely on anticommunist operations. Critics in other agencies, such as the Belhavian Military Intelligence Division and Rodarian Office of the Holy Inquisition, respectively, view the IBI-ISI relationship with suspicion and wariness in light of the CDI-RCO tensions of the last 15 years. National security officials in both governments have accused their respectively foreign intelligence services of "going rogue" or "committing treason" by the maintenance of this relationship, although their defenders have said, according to one diplomatic report leaked in 2013 by Freeleaks.org, that "the IBI-ISI relationship has prevented several world wars between the CDI and RCO by stopping extreme elements in both governments."

Religious and ethnic ties

Main articles: Romulan Catholic Church, Chief Rabbinate of Belhavia, and Rodarian Jews

See also

• Belhavia
• Rodarion
• Belhavian Jews
• Rodarian Jews
• CDI-RCO relationship