Asterian Intervention in Marirana
| Asterian Intervention in Marirana | ||||||||
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| File:FedMarinesMarirana1.jpg Federal Marine Raiders conducting a raid somewhere in Umbertide Province | ||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
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Template:Country data Federation of Asteria |
Paramilitaries and cartels (Right-wing) |
Guerrillas (Left-wing) | ||||||
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Mariranan government: | TBA | TBA | ||||||
| Strength | ||||||||
| TBA | TBA | TBA | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| TBA | TBA | TBA | ||||||
| Total casualties: TBA | ||||||||
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(De): Demobilized (Dis): Dismantled | ||||||||
The Asterian Intervention in Marirana is part of the greater Mariranan insurgency, an asymetric conflict currently being fought extensively in parts of Marirana. Because of the nature of the conflict, there are not two clear belligerants, but rather dozens of factions battling against one another, as well as the Mariranan government, which is supported by members of the Joint Defense Force-- namely Federation and Roeselle.
The Federation of Asteria, then under President Ronald White, made the decision to directly intervene in the conflict - which had been raging off and on since the 1970s - following the Martinsburgh Depot Bombing that killed eight Federal Army soldiers. Under President White, Asterian intervention was largely limited to ground support-- primarily FIS agents sent to assist government authorities, and coordinated airstrikes on facilities confirmed as cocaine laboratories. Upon taking office in January of 2017, President Benjamin Avery drastically-increased Federation military and counter-terrorism operations in Marirana, bringing the conflict to where it stands now.
As of early 2018, the increased intervention by JDF members (Roeselle and Asteria) has caused public support for the conflict, which was already dangerously low, to seemingly collapse entirely. The election of Lorenzo Occhetto in 2017 - a harsh critic of the war and staunch anti-Federation, anti-JDF figure, as well as a lifelong Socialist, signaled to the JDF a drastic change in Mariranan politics. Since Occhetto's election, the Federation has further-increased their operations in parts of Marirana in an effort to cripple the various cartels and militant groups as much as possible before JDF forces are inevitably asked to leave. The conflict is currently ongoing, though many believe it will not last much longer-- at least not with the Federation involved.
History
Background & Past Conflicts
2016 Re-Escelation & Federation Support
When the situation in Marirana deteriorated into yet another large-scale insurgency, President White was extremely hesitant to directly involve the Federation. Having already lost the Conservative Primaries to then-Senator Ben Avery, White was soon to be leaving the office of President, and was strongly opposed to throwing the Federation into a conflict just as he was about to hand off the Presidency-- not only because it could damage the ability of the next president to perform, but it would also be a permanent black mark on his record. As a president that was already widely-disliked by the general public, White was not looking to tarnish his reputation any further. He sought a different course of action instead.
President White publically announced that, unlike the insurrection the mid-to-late 1990s, the Federation would not be directly intervening in the conflict. He boldly stated that "no more Asterian blood will be shed in Marirana", and told the Joint Defense Force that "indirect support" will be the greatest extent of Asterian assistance. Other than a number of Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) agents sent to Marirana to console Mariranan intelligence, the Federation refused to help the overstretched and low-on-moral Mariranan government forces. White did, however, recognize the correlation between the growth of Marirana's cartels and the surge of cocaine, heroin, and other illegal drugs into the Federation. Border Security began severely cracking down on travel to and from Marirana, and random searches of people and vehicles spiked at the border spiked dramatically. Civil Rights groups, namely the National Center for Civil Rights Defense (NCCRD) criticized White's policies, citing them as discriminatory-- especially after stories surfaced of visitors and immigrants being wrongfully detained. Still, President White stood by his decision, stating that "it is vital to our national security that we stop the flow of these drugs - that kill thousands of Asterians every year - into our country. There will certainly be collateral damage, but in the end, we must look out for the Asterian people first."
Entering the Conflict
Martinsburgh Depot Bombing and Retaliation
President White's desire to keep the Federation out of the fighting in Marirana did not serve as a reason for insurgent groups - mainly the cartels - to leave Asteria be. In fact, groups like the notorious "Red Army" saw Asteria's inaction as cowardly, and began to look at the giant to the north like a massive, sleeping teddy bear-- oblivious. It was not uncommon for Mariranan insurgent groups to have a burning hatred for Asteria-- many Mariranans didn't like Asterians, and usually, it is because of events that unfolded decades ago, and even stretching over a century. Between the Federation's economic imperialization of the country in the late 1800s - the end of which collapsed Marirana's Asterian-dependent economy and fueled poverty - as well as the Federation's victory in the Great War and subsequent establishment of democracy in the country, Marirana's recent history has been largely-defined by Asterian action.
Though, of all the insurgent organizations, there was one that the Asterian government had been keeping close eyes on for decades: the Red Army. A far-left militant group that had grown richer and stronger after becoming involved in the drug trade, the Red Army had already considered themselves in an ideological war with the Federation, as many of its members viewed Marirana's government as nothing more than a puppet of Jackson. When the Red Army began battling with government forces in mid-2016, it is believed that President White sanctioned the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) to conduct covert operations in Marirana. The FIS denies any presence in Marirana before military intervention officially begun. In retaliation for what the Red Army saw as "imperialistic attacks on Mariranan sovereignty", members of the organization embedded in the Federation plotted an elaborate attack to force White to reconsider his covert intervention. At the Martinsburgh Depot on September 1st, 2016, a Federal Army storage facility in central Freeman, a lone driver plowed through the compound's gates and rammed into a barracks, detonating a bomb within the car that killed eight soldiers. The Red Army immediately claimed responsibility, warning the Federation that there would be more if they did not leave Marirana's problems to be "resolved by her own people-- not Asterian neoliberal imperialists".
The domestic response was overwhelming. Calls for retaliation by the Asterian population in the aftermath of the attack prompted the White Administration to take action-- holding a private meeting with the Mariranan president just two days later. This closed-door meeting was not televised, and the contents of the meeting were only revealed to the public when President White announced the immediate deployment of Federal air units to Mariranan airfields. He announced that the Federal Air Force would be engaged in "retaliatory strikes" against Red Army holdings in Marirana. In the following week, the Federation would launch twenty-seven airstrikes on targets in Marirana. On September 9th, President White held a session with Congress where he requested their permission to sent active combat units to Marirana. Support was mostly divided among party lines, which meant that the President's request to involve the nation in Marirana's conflict was ultimately approved. WIP.