We here at the Free Press regret that a story involving the Holy Empire of Reunion is again taking the front cover. However, the fact is Reunion seems to have a knack for creating controversy in the micronational world.
 
    Early last week, Prince William of Valsgraphenstein announced that Valsgraphenstein was joining Reunion. The Freedonian government was not overly concerned by this, but was curious about why Prince William had made this decision, especially since Freedonia offered to annex Valsgraphenstein in late February. To find out why, John I talked with William over ICQ and asked him why he joined Reunion. Prince William said that Emperor Claude had offered him titles in Reunion, and that Claude was also his good friend. In addition to those reasons, another reason William gave was what Emperor Claude said about Freedonia. William proceed to paste directly from an ICQ chatlog where it appeared to Freedonian officials that Emperor Claude was openly ridiculing our nation and making us out to look like a joke. We were shocked by this. Reunion had made themselves out to be our good friends, and they told us that they valued us as an ally. But in fact what we believe they did was go behind our backs and solicit Vals. when they know we had done the same. And not only that, they ridiculed our Prince and our nation in order to do so. When His Excellency told Emperor Claude that we were shocked by what he said, he flatly denied he said it and claimed that it was some kind of joke by William. Emperor Claude and Matt Dabrowski's confrontational attitude in the whole affair brought everything to a boiling point and turned a small but serious issue into a full blown diplomatic meltdown. Prince William has always been a good friend of Freedonia and our Prince; he had no reason to lie to us. We asked William to tell us the truth, and his response was, "I'm, sorry I can not. I would like to... but they ordered
me not to. They would probably kill me or something... "
 
    Even more shocking, Reunion was going to propose a bill taking drastic actions against William for telling
"lies" and harming relations with "a close friend". They were actually going to punish William for telling the truth and not "the truth according to Claudio" (Mr. Debrowski admitted after he resigned that a lot of what Reunion said was not the truth, it was the "truth according to Claudio").
 
    The Prince called an emergency meeting with his cabinet, and in less than 24 hours they had come to a consensus. Freedonia informed Reunion that as of midnight EST The Principality of Freedonia was cutting all diplomatic relations with the Holy Empire of Reunion until further notice. About an hour before the deadline,
Freedonian officialís ICQ boards were lit up like a Christmas tree as things boiled over. Not only from our affairs, but as
the deadline approached we learned that Matt Dabrowski had just resigned all his positions and titles in Reunion. Mr. Dabrowski was the chancellor of Reunion and in charge of Reunionís foreign affairs An article on this appears elsewhere in the Free Press. As the deadline neared, Reunion officially apologized for the incident, but now contended that this was all Mr. Dabrowskiís fault. Which made no sense to us, until his resignation Matt Dabrowski had done nothing but claim the offending statements were untrue, and to later apologize on behalf of Reunion.  As the deadline came even closer, things in Reunion seemed to be in a total meltdown over Reunionís problems with Freedonia combined with Mr. Debrowski's resignation happening at the same time. Emperor Claude suddenly changed his story. He no longer stated that what William quoted from the log was made up. Emperor Claude now said, " I apologize for what I said. I Really said it, but you didn't receive the whole chat. I also said other things, not bad.. I'm sorry, and I don't care if you cut relations with Reunion., I want to apologize with YOU. I'm sorry, "errare humanum est"." With about 20 minutes to go before the midnight deadline, William, now Duke William of Reunion, was appointed special ambassador to Freedonia in an attempt to solve the crisis. Prince William then told His Excellency, "Please do not cut off relations.. I beg upon the name of the Emperor.. We are in a state of Emergency.. Please please please don't!" However, when the deadline came, Freedonia did follow through and cut all diplomatic relations with Reunion until further notice.
 

    Another issue that concerns the Freedonian government is Reunion's annexation policy. Earlier, John I inquired further about how Valsgraphensteinís provincial government would relate to the Imperial one, so we could get some idea of how our annexation policy relates. William's response was "Claudio commands, we do". We later found out William was a Duke, but really had no power over Valsgraphenstein affairs. In fact, we learned that Valsgraphenstein was not going to be a province after all. Emperor Claude ordered the Vals. website closed down, and all traces of Vals. culture (flags, maps, symbols etc.) to disappear.
 
    Reunion has a very aggressive annexation policy. In fact, they have asked Freedonia to join Reunion several times. In the last few months they have acquired quite a few nations. But they are not really annexing them, they are getting the nationís citizens to join and then dissolving the micronation, wiping it and its culture off the face of the earth. And what do they have to gain? Supposedly, due to their coverage in the Brazilian press, they get many applications for
citizenship a week. So why be so aggressive in acquiring these nations of 4-5 citizens? Why go through the trouble? Why are they killing micronational diversity? We can not say for sure. Although we are a bit concerned by what we see.

    Recently, we have also learned of something else to make us wary of Reunion. As you may know, Freedonia wanted to create a new micronational UN called the UAM. However, Freedonia recently abandoned that effort after talking with Porto
Claro. Porto Claro suggested we should try and reform the LOSS and reform it into a meaningful organization. We agreed, and we did tell Reunion at the time our friends we were doing so. Reunion got back to us saying they had approached Talossa about the idea. There were some problems. Freedonia had to be a member of LOSS in order to make reforms. Freedonia was
going to be in charge of the effort since everything was the result of our initiative. But the Secretary General of LOSS had resigned, and the vote for Freedonia's admittance could not happen without a Secretary General. Reunion told us that Talossa had to nominate the Secretary General because they were the only people powerful enough to do so. And
in fact, a new SG was appointed without our knowledge and without the knowledge of current LOSS members such as our friends in Porto Claro. We addressed Reunion of being kept in the dark and losing control of the reformation effort. Reunion assured us Freedonia was still running the reformation effort, and Reunion told us that Mr. Stolfi (Minister of Micronation affairs in Talossa) said he was "waiting to hear from Prince John about ideas". But when we wrote to Mr.
Stolfi about developments in the LOSS he said:   "Right now I don't know much of what's happening in the LOSS. I agree with the nomination of David Kendall of Port Colice as the new Sec.Gen., and that's all I know. Perhaps you should talk to Matt Dabrowski and Pedro Aguiar instead."

    Now this makes it seem to us that Reunion, in fact, is  trying to run the reformation effort and the LOSS on
their own, and without any kind of consensus from current LOSS members or Freedonia. We see this as another instance of Reunion saying one thing to Freedonia, but doing another.

    So it is a combination of all the above issues and developments that have brought forth present conditions between the Principality of Freedonia and the Holy Empire of Reunion. Diplomatic relations remain cut, and it is unclear when, or if, they will be reopened.

    Chancellor of Reunion, Matt Dabrowski, resigned last week. His resignation occurred on the same day Freedonia cut diplomatic relations with that nation. In an email sent to more than 20 people, Mr. Dabrowski stated "Dear colleagues, Tonight, at 10:32 PM EST, I resigned all my Reunian titles and positions. I am still a citizen, but this means that I no longer have diplomatic credentials. Micah Kubic is now in charge. I will not answer any questions about this matter." From what we have learned, this resignation came about because Mr. Dabrowski was upset with Emperor Claude because the Emperor was trying to take away Mr. Dabrowskiís powers and put the chancellery under the control of Pedro Aguiar, now the premier of Reunion.
 
    When asked for an explanation, Mr. Dabrowski stated "Yes. Pedro wanted some of my powers, so he took them. I told him that he couldn't, so he had Claudio change my whole agency to be under Pedro. So I quit. Effective immediately." Mr. Dabrowski also said, "He's (Emperor Claude) fu--ing lucky I'm still a citizen. I may emigrate. I don't know where, though." And also, "Pedro is just an as---le. I warned Claudio. I mean, I leaked a fu--ing chat log of what  Pedro said. Every one warned Claudio as well. Now Pedro has fu--ed me over." Finally, he said, " Well, the Emperor is an ass that sells out his friends. Forward that to him if you like. All Reunion citizens are on my ICQ ignore list now." Emperor Claude showed us the photo you see on this page as evidence of Mr. Dabrowskiís insanity, and we assume it is a gesture from Mr. Dabrowski to the Reunion government or the Emperor himself. Mr. Dabrowski has since recanted these statements, attributing them to wide mood swings. However, it remains that Mr. Dabrowski is no longer Chancellor of Reunion. Although he is still a citizen and does have some official government duties.

    As you know, it has been said that Valsgraphenstein has been annexed by Reunion. However, not all Valsgraphenstein citizens agree with that statement. Duke Regent of Valsgraphenstein, Brian I, has issued the following declaration, "We, His Highness Grand Duke-Regent Brian Martin of the Supreme Principality of Valsgraphenstein, do hear-by
declare the government of Valsgraphenstein to be in-exile, status-quo. The Prince, HSH Prince William I, has relinquished his title, but he will always be the rightful Prince and heir to the Throne of Valsgraphenstein. He is now listed as His Gracious Excellency Duke William I of Valsgraphenstein, but will always be addressed in Valsgraphenstein as HSH Prince William I von und zu Valsgraphenstein. This issue to announce to all the illegal taking of the Princely Throne of Valsgraphenstein by the Government of Reunion and its leader, Claude I. We are in a state of emergency currently, and welcome diplomatic relations. By the interest of the State and People of Valsgraphenstein, His Highness Grand Duke-Regent Brian I of Valsgraphenstein Grand Duke-Regent of Valsgraphenstein  <signed, sealed, and made official>"

    Freedonia has decided to recognize this Valsgraphenstein government. Further, the Freedonian government believes that Valsgraphenstein was not annexed by Reunion, only that Prince William abdicated and joined Reunion as a citizen. Brian I has set up a new Valsgraphenstein website, available from the Freedonian Embassy's link page.

    Freedonia has a new name, and new face. This month Freedonian government officials decided to modify the nationís name and change it from Republic of Freedonia to Principality of Freedonia. The new name will more accurately describe what Freedonia has been for nearly a year. Prince John said, "The name Republic of Freedonia was a throwback from the early days of the country. The country has really been a monarchy for almost a year, and staying with the Republic name served only to confuse people.  So therefore, we are now a Principality. We also think that by becoming a principality our chances of becoming a recognized nation are greater than with the old Republic name." New state symbols including arms and flags were unveiled coinciding with the name announcement.