EuropeBoard

Welcome back, nations of Europe, to EuroNews! We’re now returning to the swing of things, bringing you the second, on-time, issue since we restarted the newsletter! It is slightly smaller than the previous instalment, but we hope that this one will be just as interesting!

The flag of St Scarlett who
won the election

Next month's election will be for Second Deputy Commissioner. Should the incumbent South St Maarten choose to run for a fourth term, he will be pitted off against a host of possible challengers. We could also see former election runners-up, such as Yahlia, Suomessa, Potus branada, and Rivierenland, try to finally win an election and assume office. The next election will occur late in the month of August. South St Maarten has won all of his Second Deputy Commissioner elections by considerable margins, with a record of 151 votes for him and 67 votes against him. However, a growing number of nations in Europe have expressed a desire to change the Commission, and South St Maarten has stated that he might not run again come August. The next election might finally bring change to a Commission that has been consistent throughout all of 2019 or prove the region's confidence in the Commission and allow South St Maarten to assume a fourth term as Second Deputy Commissioner.

Written by South St Maarten

The flag of Laver Island who was briefly on
hiatus from Europe

Laver got into an argument with a couple of the nations on the RMB. He believes that he is frequently mischaracterized, his various satirical and joking messages often being interpreted in seriousness. These sorts of disagreements are not uncommon on the RMB. Laver would often feel attacked for doing nothing wrong, as he saw it. Unfortunately, Laver would respond to rebuts with more joking comments which received the exact same reaction. He sometimes felt that people were ganging up on him for no reason, and occasionally would feel the need to distance himself from negativity. This time, however, it was the final straw for close friend and long-time ally, Scarlett. Scarlett has stated that she believes Laver is often unfairly treated by some regular nations on the RMB and hates to see Laver put in this position. She soon left NationStates in protest, Laver following her lead soon after.

The two nations, who between them have close to 30,000 total posts on the RMB (1,200 pages), left a noticeable hole in Europe. The normally very active RMB saw an instant and lasting lull in conversation.

The remaining nations in Europe underwent a period of self-reflection. Many were unaware of how seriously Laver took the arguments and looked back on their past behaviour on the RMB. A few nations acknowledged that, intentionally or not, that toxicity, something that the European RMB prides itself on lacking, was actually more prevalent than was once believed.

Eventually, both Laver and Scarlett returned to Europe (with an unexpected, but well-received, parody of Pokémon’s Jessie and James’s Team Rocket intro), returning the RMB to its usual level of activity, with a population that is now more conscious of the effects of toxicity.

Written by Yahlia

The award for Newcomer of the Month goes to... Sverigesriket!
This new nation has already become an active RMB user and has even created a new political party that has gained a large following in just a couple of weeks! Welcome aboard Sverige!

The award for RMBer of the Month goes to... Serbia-macedonia!
While not the most active poster Serbia-Macedonia is a veteran on our RMB, having been here for over a year now. He showed great concern for the potential decay of the RMB due to squabbles that occurred and has continued to drop by with the odd post. He also announced recently that he is expecting twins in real life, which also deserves congratulations!

The award for Government Official of the Month goes to... Imperium Anglorum!
Let’s all take a moment to appreciate our beloved delegate and everything he has done for our region during his long reign, and let’s also appreciate that he’s a somewhat active member of the community, posting on the RMB from time to time! Thanks for doing what you do IA!

The award for Flag of the Month goes to... Rivierenland!
Riv has tried out a few different flags since he arrived, but the one he has settled on for a while now is a nice mix of Hong Kong and Belarus, all done on a gorgeous shade of blue. This is a flag anyone can appreciate!

The award for Motto of the Month goes to... Kabzeel!
“Every Woman a Queen, Every Man a King”
It’s about time we give an award to someone who isn’t in the spotlight very often, someone who we don’t see on the RMB every day. Kabzeel’s motto is a wholesome message that promotes equality and treating your peers as royalty.

The award for Factbook of the Month goes to... The Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth!

nation=the_poland-lithuania_commonwealth/detail=factbook/id=782041

While this factbook was not created this month, it was finally finished. PoLiet has clearly put a lot of work into this magnificent national factbook which can be viewed in not one, not two, but three different languages! PoLiet has gone above and beyond with this amazing factbook! Nice work!

And last but not least, the award for General Excellence this month goes to... Laver Island!

Laver is always able to bring the activity and discussion, which was proven during our brief hiatus when the RMB really slowed down. Laver has dealt with a lot to keep Europe active and is happy and to turn it into a region we can all enjoy, and was even willing to end his departure despite everything to keep it this way. He’s not our only MOE for nothing!

Written by St Scarlett

The flag of Aboriginal Australians

What are “marsupials”?
Many of you will already be familiar with the fact that the Default NS flag is that of the Australian Aboriginal community. It was chosen by Max Barry to draw attention to the issues affecting Aboriginals. “Marsupials,” therefore, are nations which retain the default flag of Aboriginal Australians. They generally have not joined the World Assembly, or applied for regional citizenship, and as such are viewed with suspicion by the “Marsupial Hunters”, as they may be spies, or simply people who will not contribute anything to NationStates or their region. They are seen as irrelevant, and so it will be of no concern if they are removed from the region.

Why does TEP hunt marsupials?
The aspect of regional maintenance that most governments struggle with is attempting to encourage regional activity. Many ancient and venerable regions over time-lapse into inactivity, thus allowing them to be dismantled and destroyed by raiders, or even just CTEing (ceasing to exist) on their own. Marsupial hunting is TEP’s answer to this problem and it tackles the problem in two ways. First, inactive members of the region are removed, thus leaving the region only with members that will contribute to life in the region in one way or another. Secondly, the government can reward active contributors by allowing them to become “Marsupial Hunters”. This also encourages endotarting (mass endorsing, in the hopes of being endorsed back), as a nation must have over 200 endorsements before it is eligible for a marsupial hunting license.

That all seems reasonable. Why do some people view it as a problem?
Recently, The South Pacific (TSP) voiced its concern with TEP’s marsupial-hunting system, branding it as “anti-democratic purges”. Certain members of TSP’s government also pointed out that legislation Fedele (the delegate of TEP) is trying to pass in his region would enable nations to be banned without cause. There has also long been a concern that the “marsupial-hunting” might enable Fedele and his government to remove from the region any nations that disagree with their governance. The potential for authoritarianism and dictatorship to grow from this system is, in my eyes, very real. There has not yet been any suggestion from TEP that they plan to use marsupial-hunting for nefarious purposes, though, so there seems little cause for major concern yet. However, I agree entirely with the points raised by both TSP and also Osiris earlier this month, and I dislike the authoritarian nature of Fedele’s regime. The excessively aggressive language used by TEP’s government is also somewhat concerning: any government that encourages members of a region to write “Marsupial murder fantasies” (The Angel of Charity, TEP Minister of Culture, in a regional telegram) appears somewhat uncanny.

Conclusions
My personal view on “marsupial hunting” is that, so long as it remains simply a means of maintaining regional activity, there is no problem with it. However, the potential for misuse of the system and Fedele’s recent activities make me somewhat dubious of his intentions; further, I am not alone in my distaste of TEP. There are many in the inter-regional community who share my views. I will leave you all with a line from the Pharaoh of Osiris’s public statement concerning the current state of TEP: “[citizens of TEP] must now must watch as their elected leader make the moves not of an upstanding leader of their community, but as an authoritarian putting his own goals and regime above the peace and prosperity of The East Pacific.”

Make of this what you will.

Written by Novgorod-Pskov

The entrance to a private prison in the United
States

Regardless, the reasoning behind the resolution on its own is compelling enough, apparent in its passing. The premise of Prohibit Private Prisons is that profit-driven prisons undermine the fundamental function of such institutions: being to apprehend criminals with their interests kept in mind and to chip away at recidivism. It is implied that the expansion of profit opportunity by private prisons contributes to recidivism rates, and therefore that annihilating criminal justice as a profitable industry will restore humane conditions to prisons and reduce the recidivism rate. While it can be logical to assume that such capitalist incentives would exploit criminals for profit, acquisition of raw data and correlations between private prisons and high recidivism rates has proven difficult.

That aside, there remain several practical and technical concerns regarding the resolution. Textual limitations have already afforded participating nations a bit of confusion, specifically regarding the parameters by which a prison is considered private. Clause Two defines a private prison as “entirely owned and operated or primarily owned and operated by a nongovernmental [sic] corporation, a private individual…” (468), casting doubt onto the objective of the resolution as well as the parameters. For example, some state-run prisons are not primarily run by non-governmental parties but allow said parties to take control of a substantial enough amount of ownership, and by extension: profits. Such cases currently reside in a grey area where if categorized as illegal should prompt a review of the resolution, while categorizing it as legal undermines the goal of eliminating profit incentives in the criminal justice system.

Furthermore, the lack of a universally known data set to back the claim to correlations between privately owned prisons and criminal re-entry rates are simply supplementary to pre-existing doubt of the resolution’s methods to reduce recidivism. For many nations, undertaking what could be a radical change could snuff out their economic livelihoods, in cases where fiscally strained governments rely on private entities to handle institutions such as prisons. In the context of said cases and even beyond, large scale lobbying remains a problem in aligning the interests over prison management; an argument can even be made that these scenarios present an even bigger danger to smaller governments that are lean on private individuals to fund national projects.

Admittedly, these are isolated scenarios, albeit probable ones, where this resolution cannot hold up realistically. But even when looking at the bigger picture, a glaring problem lies in the attempt to address the interest of any party that owns a prison. Targeting privately owned prisons should be able to officially bar criminal justice as an industry, but does not stop it from being exploited fiscally. Historically, several nations have been weaned on the teat of their domestic corporations, to the extent where some operate as corporate bordellos; nations where a corporation has become the government. When the national interest becomes profit-driven, it is not possible to end the exploitation of prisoners by solely targeting private owners. This lack of objective fulfilment, however speculative, does not bode well for the long-term future.

The participating members of the World Assembly might as well appreciate Prohibit Private Prisons for what it does bring to the table, though with a grain of salt. Several assumptions in definition, as well as focus, jeopardize the success of freeing prisons from the grasp of exploitation. In a way, this is simply another snapshot of a longstanding philosophical battle concerning the presence of corporations in what a growing majority worldwide consider to be government affairs. Considering the extent of corporate involvement in most governments already, this resolution is a step in the right direction, but a rudimentary one at that.

Written by Kans

The Steno Impero was seized by Iran

Mr Trump decided to end the States’ obligations under the treaty, claiming that it had many flaws, such as no restrictions on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles. The US has now re-implemented economic sanctions at the protest of the other signatories: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, the EU, and Iran. The countries remaining in the treaty have tried to help businesses do business with Iran by attempting to circumvent US sanctions, but Iran’s economy fell anyway.

In May, Iran suspended its commitments under the treaty, giving the international community a 60-day deadline to shield the Middle Eastern country from the newly reinstated American sanctions.

The crisis worsened after the UK detained an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar that was suspected of smuggling oil into Syria against EU sanctions. Iran claims this action is illegal and threatened a similar response. The UK sent another warship to the Strait of Hormuz in order to safeguard British tankers from potential retaliatory actions, but this did not stop Iran from seizing the British tanker Stena Impero on 19 July, further complicating the situation.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most strategically important waterways on the planet, with approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and one-third of its natural gas shipped through the strait, making the major shipping lane highly important to the global economy. Should tensions escalate further, there could be massive implications on the price of fossil fuels.

Written by Yahlia

Islamic Republic of Iran
If you look closely at the flag of this country, you’ll see Arabic script going between each of its stripes. This text, written out eleven times on the flag is the ‘takbir’ which is the name for the phrase ‘Allāhu akbar’ meaning ‘God is Great’, a clear dedication to their faith. The symbol in the centre is also a stylised version of the word ‘Allah’ meaning ‘God’.

A common misconception about Iran is that it is an Arabic country. This probably comes from its Islamic faith, location in the Middle East and similar name to Arabic Iraq. However, the majority of the people of Iran are not ethnically Arabs, with only around 2% of the county identifying as such. Iran’s people are considered Persian, from the old name from the country and speak the Persian or Farsi language, which uses the Arabic script but is a different language.

Zambia's Victoria Falls

Zambia’s half of the Zambezi contains a magnificent natural wonder: the Victoria Falls, or ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ (the smoke that thunders), are a colossal and beautiful set of waterfalls right on the border with Zimbabwe. In English, they were named by famous British explorer David Livingstone after Queen Victoria. These Falls create a constant mist that shines with the colours of the rainbow on a sunny day, and shallow pools at the top allow you to lie on the very edge of the fall and look down at the water cascading below without being pulled over.

Written by St Scarlett

Welcome back, nations of Europe, to EuroNews! We’re now returning to the swing of things, bringing you the second, on-time, issue since we restarted the newsletter! It is slightly smaller than the previous instalment, but we hope that this one will be just as interesting!

The flag of St Scarlett who
won the election

Next month's election will be for Second Deputy Commissioner. Should the incumbent South St Maarten choose to run for a fourth term, he will be pitted off against a host of possible challengers. We could also see former election runners-up, such as Yahlia, Suomessa, Potus branada, and Rivierenland, try to finally win an election and assume office. The next election will occur late in the month of August. South St Maarten has won all of his Second Deputy Commissioner elections by considerable margins, with a record of 151 votes for him and 67 votes against him. However, a growing number of nations in Europe have expressed a desire to change the Commission, and South St Maarten has stated that he might not run again come August. The next election might finally bring change to a Commission that has been consistent throughout all of 2019 or prove the region's confidence in the Commission and allow South St Maarten to assume a fourth term as Second Deputy Commissioner.

Written by South St Maarten

The flag of Laver Island who was briefly on
hiatus from Europe

Laver got into an argument with a couple of the nations on the RMB. He believes that he is frequently mischaracterized, his various satirical and joking messages often being interpreted in seriousness. These sorts of disagreements are not uncommon on the RMB. Laver would often feel attacked for doing nothing wrong, as he saw it. Unfortunately, Laver would respond to rebuts with more joking comments which received the exact same reaction. He sometimes felt that people were ganging up on him for no reason, and occasionally would feel the need to distance himself from negativity. This time, however, it was the final straw for close friend and long-time ally, Scarlett. Scarlett has stated that she believes Laver is often unfairly treated by some regular nations on the RMB and hates to see Laver put in this position. She soon left NationStates in protest, Laver following her lead soon after.

The two nations, who between them have close to 30,000 total posts on the RMB (1,200 pages), left a noticeable hole in Europe. The normally very active RMB saw an instant and lasting lull in conversation.

The remaining nations in Europe underwent a period of self-reflection. Many were unaware of how seriously Laver took the arguments and looked back on their past behaviour on the RMB. A few nations acknowledged that, intentionally or not, that toxicity, something that the European RMB prides itself on lacking, was actually more prevalent than was once believed.

Eventually, both Laver and Scarlett returned to Europe (with an unexpected, but well-received, parody of Pokémon’s Jessie and James’s Team Rocket intro), returning the RMB to its usual level of activity, with a population that is now more conscious of the effects of toxicity.

Written by Yahlia

The award for Newcomer of the Month goes to... Sverigesriket!
This new nation has already become an active RMB user and has even created a new political party that has gained a large following in just a couple of weeks! Welcome aboard Sverige!

The award for RMBer of the Month goes to... Serbia-macedonia!
While not the most active poster Serbia-Macedonia is a veteran on our RMB, having been here for over a year now. He showed great concern for the potential decay of the RMB due to squabbles that occurred and has continued to drop by with the odd post. He also announced recently that he is expecting twins in real life, which also deserves congratulations!

The award for Government Official of the Month goes to... Imperium Anglorum!
Let’s all take a moment to appreciate our beloved delegate and everything he has done for our region during his long reign, and let’s also appreciate that he’s a somewhat active member of the community, posting on the RMB from time to time! Thanks for doing what you do IA!

The award for Flag of the Month goes to... Rivierenland!
Riv has tried out a few different flags since he arrived, but the one he has settled on for a while now is a nice mix of Hong Kong and Belarus, all done on a gorgeous shade of blue. This is a flag anyone can appreciate!

The award for Motto of the Month goes to... Kabzeel!
“Every Woman a Queen, Every Man a King”
It’s about time we give an award to someone who isn’t in the spotlight very often, someone who we don’t see on the RMB every day. Kabzeel’s motto is a wholesome message that promotes equality and treating your peers as royalty.

The award for Factbook of the Month goes to... The Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth!

nation=the_poland-lithuania_commonwealth/detail=factbook/id=782041

While this factbook was not created this month, it was finally finished. PoLiet has clearly put a lot of work into this magnificent national factbook which can be viewed in not one, not two, but three different languages! PoLiet has gone above and beyond with this amazing factbook! Nice work!

And last but not least, the award for General Excellence this month goes to... Laver Island!

Laver is always able to bring the activity and discussion, which was proven during our brief hiatus when the RMB really slowed down. Laver has dealt with a lot to keep Europe active and is happy and to turn it into a region we can all enjoy, and was even willing to end his departure despite everything to keep it this way. He’s not our only MOE for nothing!

Written by St Scarlett

The flag of Aboriginal Australians

What are “marsupials”?
Many of you will already be familiar with the fact that the Default NS flag is that of the Australian Aboriginal community. It was chosen by Max Barry to draw attention to the issues affecting Aboriginals. “Marsupials,” therefore, are nations which retain the default flag of Aboriginal Australians. They generally have not joined the World Assembly, or applied for regional citizenship, and as such are viewed with suspicion by the “Marsupial Hunters”, as they may be spies, or simply people who will not contribute anything to NationStates or their region. They are seen as irrelevant, and so it will be of no concern if they are removed from the region.

Why does TEP hunt marsupials?
The aspect of regional maintenance that most governments struggle with is attempting to encourage regional activity. Many ancient and venerable regions over time-lapse into inactivity, thus allowing them to be dismantled and destroyed by raiders, or even just CTEing (ceasing to exist) on their own. Marsupial hunting is TEP’s answer to this problem and it tackles the problem in two ways. First, inactive members of the region are removed, thus leaving the region only with members that will contribute to life in the region in one way or another. Secondly, the government can reward active contributors by allowing them to become “Marsupial Hunters”. This also encourages endotarting (mass endorsing, in the hopes of being endorsed back), as a nation must have over 200 endorsements before it is eligible for a marsupial hunting license.

That all seems reasonable. Why do some people view it as a problem?
Recently, The South Pacific (TSP) voiced its concern with TEP’s marsupial-hunting system, branding it as “anti-democratic purges”. Certain members of TSP’s government also pointed out that legislation Fedele (the delegate of TEP) is trying to pass in his region would enable nations to be banned without cause. There has also long been a concern that the “marsupial-hunting” might enable Fedele and his government to remove from the region any nations that disagree with their governance. The potential for authoritarianism and dictatorship to grow from this system is, in my eyes, very real. There has not yet been any suggestion from TEP that they plan to use marsupial-hunting for nefarious purposes, though, so there seems little cause for major concern yet. However, I agree entirely with the points raised by both TSP and also Osiris earlier this month, and I dislike the authoritarian nature of Fedele’s regime. The excessively aggressive language used by TEP’s government is also somewhat concerning: any government that encourages members of a region to write “Marsupial murder fantasies” (The Angel of Charity, TEP Minister of Culture, in a regional telegram) appears somewhat uncanny.

Conclusions
My personal view on “marsupial hunting” is that, so long as it remains simply a means of maintaining regional activity, there is no problem with it. However, the potential for misuse of the system and Fedele’s recent activities make me somewhat dubious of his intentions; further, I am not alone in my distaste of TEP. There are many in the inter-regional community who share my views. I will leave you all with a line from the Pharaoh of Osiris’s public statement concerning the current state of TEP: “[citizens of TEP] must now must watch as their elected leader make the moves not of an upstanding leader of their community, but as an authoritarian putting his own goals and regime above the peace and prosperity of The East Pacific.”

Make of this what you will.

Written by Novgorod-Pskov

The entrance to a private prison in the United
States

Regardless, the reasoning behind the resolution on its own is compelling enough, apparent in its passing. The premise of Prohibit Private Prisons is that profit-driven prisons undermine the fundamental function of such institutions: being to apprehend criminals with their interests kept in mind and to chip away at recidivism. It is implied that the expansion of profit opportunity by private prisons contributes to recidivism rates, and therefore that annihilating criminal justice as a profitable industry will restore humane conditions to prisons and reduce the recidivism rate. While it can be logical to assume that such capitalist incentives would exploit criminals for profit, acquisition of raw data and correlations between private prisons and high recidivism rates has proven difficult.

That aside, there remain several practical and technical concerns regarding the resolution. Textual limitations have already afforded participating nations a bit of confusion, specifically regarding the parameters by which a prison is considered private. Clause Two defines a private prison as “entirely owned and operated or primarily owned and operated by a nongovernmental [sic] corporation, a private individual…” (468), casting doubt onto the objective of the resolution as well as the parameters. For example, some state-run prisons are not primarily run by non-governmental parties but allow said parties to take control of a substantial enough amount of ownership, and by extension: profits. Such cases currently reside in a grey area where if categorized as illegal should prompt a review of the resolution, while categorizing it as legal undermines the goal of eliminating profit incentives in the criminal justice system.

Furthermore, the lack of a universally known data set to back the claim to correlations between privately owned prisons and criminal re-entry rates are simply supplementary to pre-existing doubt of the resolution’s methods to reduce recidivism. For many nations, undertaking what could be a radical change could snuff out their economic livelihoods, in cases where fiscally strained governments rely on private entities to handle institutions such as prisons. In the context of said cases and even beyond, large scale lobbying remains a problem in aligning the interests over prison management; an argument can even be made that these scenarios present an even bigger danger to smaller governments that are lean on private individuals to fund national projects.

Admittedly, these are isolated scenarios, albeit probable ones, where this resolution cannot hold up realistically. But even when looking at the bigger picture, a glaring problem lies in the attempt to address the interest of any party that owns a prison. Targeting privately owned prisons should be able to officially bar criminal justice as an industry, but does not stop it from being exploited fiscally. Historically, several nations have been weaned on the teat of their domestic corporations, to the extent where some operate as corporate bordellos; nations where a corporation has become the government. When the national interest becomes profit-driven, it is not possible to end the exploitation of prisoners by solely targeting private owners. This lack of objective fulfilment, however speculative, does not bode well for the long-term future.

The participating members of the World Assembly might as well appreciate Prohibit Private Prisons for what it does bring to the table, though with a grain of salt. Several assumptions in definition, as well as focus, jeopardize the success of freeing prisons from the grasp of exploitation. In a way, this is simply another snapshot of a longstanding philosophical battle concerning the presence of corporations in what a growing majority worldwide consider to be government affairs. Considering the extent of corporate involvement in most governments already, this resolution is a step in the right direction, but a rudimentary one at that.

Written by Kans

The Steno Impero was seized by Iran

Mr Trump decided to end the States’ obligations under the treaty, claiming that it had many flaws, such as no restrictions on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles. The US has now re-implemented economic sanctions at the protest of the other signatories: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, the EU, and Iran. The countries remaining in the treaty have tried to help businesses do business with Iran by attempting to circumvent US sanctions, but Iran’s economy fell anyway.

In May, Iran suspended its commitments under the treaty, giving the international community a 60-day deadline to shield the Middle Eastern country from the newly reinstated American sanctions.

The crisis worsened after the UK detained an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar that was suspected of smuggling oil into Syria against EU sanctions. Iran claims this action is illegal and threatened a similar response. The UK sent another warship to the Strait of Hormuz in order to safeguard British tankers from potential retaliatory actions, but this did not stop Iran from seizing the British tanker Stena Impero on 19 July, further complicating the situation.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most strategically important waterways on the planet, with approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and one-third of its natural gas shipped through the strait, making the major shipping lane highly important to the global economy. Should tensions escalate further, there could be massive implications on the price of fossil fuels.

Written by Yahlia

Islamic Republic of Iran
If you look closely at the flag of this country, you’ll see Arabic script going between each of its stripes. This text, written out eleven times on the flag is the ‘takbir’ which is the name for the phrase ‘Allāhu akbar’ meaning ‘God is Great’, a clear dedication to their faith. The symbol in the centre is also a stylised version of the word ‘Allah’ meaning ‘God’.

A common misconception about Iran is that it is an Arabic country. This probably comes from its Islamic faith, location in the Middle East and similar name to Arabic Iraq. However, the majority of the people of Iran are not ethnically Arabs, with only around 2% of the county identifying as such. Iran’s people are considered Persian, from the old name from the country and speak the Persian or Farsi language, which uses the Arabic script but is a different language.

Zambia's Victoria Falls

Zambia’s half of the Zambezi contains a magnificent natural wonder: the Victoria Falls, or ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ (the smoke that thunders), are a colossal and beautiful set of waterfalls right on the border with Zimbabwe. In English, they were named by famous British explorer David Livingstone after Queen Victoria. These Falls create a constant mist that shines with the colours of the rainbow on a sunny day, and shallow pools at the top allow you to lie on the very edge of the fall and look down at the water cascading below without being pulled over.

Written by St Scarlett

Welcome back, nations of Europe, to EuroNews! We’re now returning to the swing of things, bringing you the second, on-time, issue since we restarted the newsletter! It is slightly smaller than the previous instalment, but we hope that this one will be just as interesting!

The flag of St Scarlett who
won the election

Next month's election will be for Second Deputy Commissioner. Should the incumbent South St Maarten choose to run for a fourth term, he will be pitted off against a host of possible challengers. We could also see former election runners-up, such as Yahlia, Suomessa, Potus branada, and Rivierenland, try to finally win an election and assume office. The next election will occur late in the month of August. South St Maarten has won all of his Second Deputy Commissioner elections by considerable margins, with a record of 151 votes for him and 67 votes against him. However, a growing number of nations in Europe have expressed a desire to change the Commission, and South St Maarten has stated that he might not run again come August. The next election might finally bring change to a Commission that has been consistent throughout all of 2019 or prove the region's confidence in the Commission and allow South St Maarten to assume a fourth term as Second Deputy Commissioner.

Written by South St Maarten

The flag of Laver Island who was briefly on
hiatus from Europe

Laver got into an argument with a couple of the nations on the RMB. He believes that he is frequently mischaracterized, his various satirical and joking messages often being interpreted in seriousness. These sorts of disagreements are not uncommon on the RMB. Laver would often feel attacked for doing nothing wrong, as he saw it. Unfortunately, Laver would respond to rebuts with more joking comments which received the exact same reaction. He sometimes felt that people were ganging up on him for no reason, and occasionally would feel the need to distance himself from negativity. This time, however, it was the final straw for close friend and long-time ally, Scarlett. Scarlett has stated that she believes Laver is often unfairly treated by some regular nations on the RMB and hates to see Laver put in this position. She soon left NationStates in protest, Laver following her lead soon after.

The two nations, who between them have close to 30,000 total posts on the RMB (1,200 pages), left a noticeable hole in Europe. The normally very active RMB saw an instant and lasting lull in conversation.

The remaining nations in Europe underwent a period of self-reflection. Many were unaware of how seriously Laver took the arguments and looked back on their past behaviour on the RMB. A few nations acknowledged that, intentionally or not, that toxicity, something that the European RMB prides itself on lacking, was actually more prevalent than was once believed.

Eventually, both Laver and Scarlett returned to Europe (with an unexpected, but well-received, parody of Pokémon’s Jessie and James’s Team Rocket intro), returning the RMB to its usual level of activity, with a population that is now more conscious of the effects of toxicity.

Written by Yahlia

The award for Newcomer of the Month goes to... Sverigesriket!
This new nation has already become an active RMB user and has even created a new political party that has gained a large following in just a couple of weeks! Welcome aboard Sverige!

The award for RMBer of the Month goes to... Serbia-macedonia!
While not the most active poster Serbia-Macedonia is a veteran on our RMB, having been here for over a year now. He showed great concern for the potential decay of the RMB due to squabbles that occurred and has continued to drop by with the odd post. He also announced recently that he is expecting twins in real life, which also deserves congratulations!

The award for Government Official of the Month goes to... Imperium Anglorum!
Let’s all take a moment to appreciate our beloved delegate and everything he has done for our region during his long reign, and let’s also appreciate that he’s a somewhat active member of the community, posting on the RMB from time to time! Thanks for doing what you do IA!

The award for Flag of the Month goes to... Rivierenland!
Riv has tried out a few different flags since he arrived, but the one he has settled on for a while now is a nice mix of Hong Kong and Belarus, all done on a gorgeous shade of blue. This is a flag anyone can appreciate!

The award for Motto of the Month goes to... Kabzeel!
“Every Woman a Queen, Every Man a King”
It’s about time we give an award to someone who isn’t in the spotlight very often, someone who we don’t see on the RMB every day. Kabzeel’s motto is a wholesome message that promotes equality and treating your peers as royalty.

The award for Factbook of the Month goes to... The Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth!

nation=the_poland-lithuania_commonwealth/detail=factbook/id=782041

While this factbook was not created this month, it was finally finished. PoLiet has clearly put a lot of work into this magnificent national factbook which can be viewed in not one, not two, but three different languages! PoLiet has gone above and beyond with this amazing factbook! Nice work!

And last but not least, the award for General Excellence this month goes to... Laver Island!

Laver is always able to bring the activity and discussion, which was proven during our brief hiatus when the RMB really slowed down. Laver has dealt with a lot to keep Europe active and is happy and to turn it into a region we can all enjoy, and was even willing to end his departure despite everything to keep it this way. He’s not our only MOE for nothing!

Written by St Scarlett

The flag of Aboriginal Australians

What are “marsupials”?
Many of you will already be familiar with the fact that the Default NS flag is that of the Australian Aboriginal community. It was chosen by Max Barry to draw attention to the issues affecting Aboriginals. “Marsupials,” therefore, are nations which retain the default flag of Aboriginal Australians. They generally have not joined the World Assembly, or applied for regional citizenship, and as such are viewed with suspicion by the “Marsupial Hunters”, as they may be spies, or simply people who will not contribute anything to NationStates or their region. They are seen as irrelevant, and so it will be of no concern if they are removed from the region.

Why does TEP hunt marsupials?
The aspect of regional maintenance that most governments struggle with is attempting to encourage regional activity. Many ancient and venerable regions over time-lapse into inactivity, thus allowing them to be dismantled and destroyed by raiders, or even just CTEing (ceasing to exist) on their own. Marsupial hunting is TEP’s answer to this problem and it tackles the problem in two ways. First, inactive members of the region are removed, thus leaving the region only with members that will contribute to life in the region in one way or another. Secondly, the government can reward active contributors by allowing them to become “Marsupial Hunters”. This also encourages endotarting (mass endorsing, in the hopes of being endorsed back), as a nation must have over 200 endorsements before it is eligible for a marsupial hunting license.

That all seems reasonable. Why do some people view it as a problem?
Recently, The South Pacific (TSP) voiced its concern with TEP’s marsupial-hunting system, branding it as “anti-democratic purges”. Certain members of TSP’s government also pointed out that legislation Fedele (the delegate of TEP) is trying to pass in his region would enable nations to be banned without cause. There has also long been a concern that the “marsupial-hunting” might enable Fedele and his government to remove from the region any nations that disagree with their governance. The potential for authoritarianism and dictatorship to grow from this system is, in my eyes, very real. There has not yet been any suggestion from TEP that they plan to use marsupial-hunting for nefarious purposes, though, so there seems little cause for major concern yet. However, I agree entirely with the points raised by both TSP and also Osiris earlier this month, and I dislike the authoritarian nature of Fedele’s regime. The excessively aggressive language used by TEP’s government is also somewhat concerning: any government that encourages members of a region to write “Marsupial murder fantasies” (The Angel of Charity, TEP Minister of Culture, in a regional telegram) appears somewhat uncanny.

Conclusions
My personal view on “marsupial hunting” is that, so long as it remains simply a means of maintaining regional activity, there is no problem with it. However, the potential for misuse of the system and Fedele’s recent activities make me somewhat dubious of his intentions; further, I am not alone in my distaste of TEP. There are many in the inter-regional community who share my views. I will leave you all with a line from the Pharaoh of Osiris’s public statement concerning the current state of TEP: “[citizens of TEP] must now must watch as their elected leader make the moves not of an upstanding leader of their community, but as an authoritarian putting his own goals and regime above the peace and prosperity of The East Pacific.”

Make of this what you will.

Written by Novgorod-Pskov

The entrance to a private prison in the United
States

Regardless, the reasoning behind the resolution on its own is compelling enough, apparent in its passing. The premise of Prohibit Private Prisons is that profit-driven prisons undermine the fundamental function of such institutions: being to apprehend criminals with their interests kept in mind and to chip away at recidivism. It is implied that the expansion of profit opportunity by private prisons contributes to recidivism rates, and therefore that annihilating criminal justice as a profitable industry will restore humane conditions to prisons and reduce the recidivism rate. While it can be logical to assume that such capitalist incentives would exploit criminals for profit, acquisition of raw data and correlations between private prisons and high recidivism rates has proven difficult.

That aside, there remain several practical and technical concerns regarding the resolution. Textual limitations have already afforded participating nations a bit of confusion, specifically regarding the parameters by which a prison is considered private. Clause Two defines a private prison as “entirely owned and operated or primarily owned and operated by a nongovernmental [sic] corporation, a private individual…” (468), casting doubt onto the objective of the resolution as well as the parameters. For example, some state-run prisons are not primarily run by non-governmental parties but allow said parties to take control of a substantial enough amount of ownership, and by extension: profits. Such cases currently reside in a grey area where if categorized as illegal should prompt a review of the resolution, while categorizing it as legal undermines the goal of eliminating profit incentives in the criminal justice system.

Furthermore, the lack of a universally known data set to back the claim to correlations between privately owned prisons and criminal re-entry rates are simply supplementary to pre-existing doubt of the resolution’s methods to reduce recidivism. For many nations, undertaking what could be a radical change could snuff out their economic livelihoods, in cases where fiscally strained governments rely on private entities to handle institutions such as prisons. In the context of said cases and even beyond, large scale lobbying remains a problem in aligning the interests over prison management; an argument can even be made that these scenarios present an even bigger danger to smaller governments that are lean on private individuals to fund national projects.

Admittedly, these are isolated scenarios, albeit probable ones, where this resolution cannot hold up realistically. But even when looking at the bigger picture, a glaring problem lies in the attempt to address the interest of any party that owns a prison. Targeting privately owned prisons should be able to officially bar criminal justice as an industry, but does not stop it from being exploited fiscally. Historically, several nations have been weaned on the teat of their domestic corporations, to the extent where some operate as corporate bordellos; nations where a corporation has become the government. When the national interest becomes profit-driven, it is not possible to end the exploitation of prisoners by solely targeting private owners. This lack of objective fulfilment, however speculative, does not bode well for the long-term future.

The participating members of the World Assembly might as well appreciate Prohibit Private Prisons for what it does bring to the table, though with a grain of salt. Several assumptions in definition, as well as focus, jeopardize the success of freeing prisons from the grasp of exploitation. In a way, this is simply another snapshot of a longstanding philosophical battle concerning the presence of corporations in what a growing majority worldwide consider to be government affairs. Considering the extent of corporate involvement in most governments already, this resolution is a step in the right direction, but a rudimentary one at that.

Written by Kans

The Steno Impero was seized by Iran

Mr Trump decided to end the States’ obligations under the treaty, claiming that it had many flaws, such as no restrictions on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles. The US has now re-implemented economic sanctions at the protest of the other signatories: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, the EU, and Iran. The countries remaining in the treaty have tried to help businesses do business with Iran by attempting to circumvent US sanctions, but Iran’s economy fell anyway.

In May, Iran suspended its commitments under the treaty, giving the international community a 60-day deadline to shield the Middle Eastern country from the newly reinstated American sanctions.

The crisis worsened after the UK detained an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar that was suspected of smuggling oil into Syria against EU sanctions. Iran claims this action is illegal and threatened a similar response. The UK sent another warship to the Strait of Hormuz in order to safeguard British tankers from potential retaliatory actions, but this did not stop Iran from seizing the British tanker Stena Impero on 19 July, further complicating the situation.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most strategically important waterways on the planet, with approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and one-third of its natural gas shipped through the strait, making the major shipping lane highly important to the global economy. Should tensions escalate further, there could be massive implications on the price of fossil fuels.

Written by Yahlia

Islamic Republic of Iran
If you look closely at the flag of this country, you’ll see Arabic script going between each of its stripes. This text, written out eleven times on the flag is the ‘takbir’ which is the name for the phrase ‘Allāhu akbar’ meaning ‘God is Great’, a clear dedication to their faith. The symbol in the centre is also a stylised version of the word ‘Allah’ meaning ‘God’.

A common misconception about Iran is that it is an Arabic country. This probably comes from its Islamic faith, location in the Middle East and similar name to Arabic Iraq. However, the majority of the people of Iran are not ethnically Arabs, with only around 2% of the county identifying as such. Iran’s people are considered Persian, from the old name from the country and speak the Persian or Farsi language, which uses the Arabic script but is a different language.

Zambia's Victoria Falls

Zambia’s half of the Zambezi contains a magnificent natural wonder: the Victoria Falls, or ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ (the smoke that thunders), are a colossal and beautiful set of waterfalls right on the border with Zimbabwe. In English, they were named by famous British explorer David Livingstone after Queen Victoria. These Falls create a constant mist that shines with the colours of the rainbow on a sunny day, and shallow pools at the top allow you to lie on the very edge of the fall and look down at the water cascading below without being pulled over.

Written by St Scarlett

Welcome back, nations of Europe, to EuroNews! We’re now returning to the swing of things, bringing you the second, on-time, issue since we restarted the newsletter! It is slightly smaller than the previous instalment, but we hope that this one will be just as interesting!

The flag of St Scarlett who
won the election

Next month's election will be for Second Deputy Commissioner. Should the incumbent South St Maarten choose to run for a fourth term, he will be pitted off against a host of possible challengers. We could also see former election runners-up, such as Yahlia, Suomessa, Potus branada, and Rivierenland, try to finally win an election and assume office. The next election will occur late in the month of August. South St Maarten has won all of his Second Deputy Commissioner elections by considerable margins, with a record of 151 votes for him and 67 votes against him. However, a growing number of nations in Europe have expressed a desire to change the Commission, and South St Maarten has stated that he might not run again come August. The next election might finally bring change to a Commission that has been consistent throughout all of 2019 or prove the region's confidence in the Commission and allow South St Maarten to assume a fourth term as Second Deputy Commissioner.

Written by South St Maarten

The flag of Laver Island who was briefly on
hiatus from Europe

Laver got into an argument with a couple of the nations on the RMB. He believes that he is frequently mischaracterized, his various satirical and joking messages often being interpreted in seriousness. These sorts of disagreements are not uncommon on the RMB. Laver would often feel attacked for doing nothing wrong, as he saw it. Unfortunately, Laver would respond to rebuts with more joking comments which received the exact same reaction. He sometimes felt that people were ganging up on him for no reason, and occasionally would feel the need to distance himself from negativity. This time, however, it was the final straw for close friend and long-time ally, Scarlett. Scarlett has stated that she believes Laver is often unfairly treated by some regular nations on the RMB and hates to see Laver put in this position. She soon left NationStates in protest, Laver following her lead soon after.

The two nations, who between them have close to 30,000 total posts on the RMB (1,200 pages), left a noticeable hole in Europe. The normally very active RMB saw an instant and lasting lull in conversation.

The remaining nations in Europe underwent a period of self-reflection. Many were unaware of how seriously Laver took the arguments and looked back on their past behaviour on the RMB. A few nations acknowledged that, intentionally or not, that toxicity, something that the European RMB prides itself on lacking, was actually more prevalent than was once believed.

Eventually, both Laver and Scarlett returned to Europe (with an unexpected, but well-received, parody of Pokémon’s Jessie and James’s Team Rocket intro), returning the RMB to its usual level of activity, with a population that is now more conscious of the effects of toxicity.

Written by Yahlia

The award for Newcomer of the Month goes to... Sverigesriket!
This new nation has already become an active RMB user and has even created a new political party that has gained a large following in just a couple of weeks! Welcome aboard Sverige!

The award for RMBer of the Month goes to... Serbia-macedonia!
While not the most active poster Serbia-Macedonia is a veteran on our RMB, having been here for over a year now. He showed great concern for the potential decay of the RMB due to squabbles that occurred and has continued to drop by with the odd post. He also announced recently that he is expecting twins in real life, which also deserves congratulations!

The award for Government Official of the Month goes to... Imperium Anglorum!
Let’s all take a moment to appreciate our beloved delegate and everything he has done for our region during his long reign, and let’s also appreciate that he’s a somewhat active member of the community, posting on the RMB from time to time! Thanks for doing what you do IA!

The award for Flag of the Month goes to... Rivierenland!
Riv has tried out a few different flags since he arrived, but the one he has settled on for a while now is a nice mix of Hong Kong and Belarus, all done on a gorgeous shade of blue. This is a flag anyone can appreciate!

The award for Motto of the Month goes to... Kabzeel!
“Every Woman a Queen, Every Man a King”
It’s about time we give an award to someone who isn’t in the spotlight very often, someone who we don’t see on the RMB every day. Kabzeel’s motto is a wholesome message that promotes equality and treating your peers as royalty.

The award for Factbook of the Month goes to... The Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth!

nation=the_poland-lithuania_commonwealth/detail=factbook/id=782041

While this factbook was not created this month, it was finally finished. PoLiet has clearly put a lot of work into this magnificent national factbook which can be viewed in not one, not two, but three different languages! PoLiet has gone above and beyond with this amazing factbook! Nice work!

And last but not least, the award for General Excellence this month goes to... Laver Island!

Laver is always able to bring the activity and discussion, which was proven during our brief hiatus when the RMB really slowed down. Laver has dealt with a lot to keep Europe active and is happy and to turn it into a region we can all enjoy, and was even willing to end his departure despite everything to keep it this way. He’s not our only MOE for nothing!

Written by St Scarlett

The flag of Aboriginal Australians

What are “marsupials”?
Many of you will already be familiar with the fact that the Default NS flag is that of the Australian Aboriginal community. It was chosen by Max Barry to draw attention to the issues affecting Aboriginals. “Marsupials,” therefore, are nations which retain the default flag of Aboriginal Australians. They generally have not joined the World Assembly, or applied for regional citizenship, and as such are viewed with suspicion by the “Marsupial Hunters”, as they may be spies, or simply people who will not contribute anything to NationStates or their region. They are seen as irrelevant, and so it will be of no concern if they are removed from the region.

Why does TEP hunt marsupials?
The aspect of regional maintenance that most governments struggle with is attempting to encourage regional activity. Many ancient and venerable regions over time-lapse into inactivity, thus allowing them to be dismantled and destroyed by raiders, or even just CTEing (ceasing to exist) on their own. Marsupial hunting is TEP’s answer to this problem and it tackles the problem in two ways. First, inactive members of the region are removed, thus leaving the region only with members that will contribute to life in the region in one way or another. Secondly, the government can reward active contributors by allowing them to become “Marsupial Hunters”. This also encourages endotarting (mass endorsing, in the hopes of being endorsed back), as a nation must have over 200 endorsements before it is eligible for a marsupial hunting license.

That all seems reasonable. Why do some people view it as a problem?
Recently, The South Pacific (TSP) voiced its concern with TEP’s marsupial-hunting system, branding it as “anti-democratic purges”. Certain members of TSP’s government also pointed out that legislation Fedele (the delegate of TEP) is trying to pass in his region would enable nations to be banned without cause. There has also long been a concern that the “marsupial-hunting” might enable Fedele and his government to remove from the region any nations that disagree with their governance. The potential for authoritarianism and dictatorship to grow from this system is, in my eyes, very real. There has not yet been any suggestion from TEP that they plan to use marsupial-hunting for nefarious purposes, though, so there seems little cause for major concern yet. However, I agree entirely with the points raised by both TSP and also Osiris earlier this month, and I dislike the authoritarian nature of Fedele’s regime. The excessively aggressive language used by TEP’s government is also somewhat concerning: any government that encourages members of a region to write “Marsupial murder fantasies” (The Angel of Charity, TEP Minister of Culture, in a regional telegram) appears somewhat uncanny.

Conclusions
My personal view on “marsupial hunting” is that, so long as it remains simply a means of maintaining regional activity, there is no problem with it. However, the potential for misuse of the system and Fedele’s recent activities make me somewhat dubious of his intentions; further, I am not alone in my distaste of TEP. There are many in the inter-regional community who share my views. I will leave you all with a line from the Pharaoh of Osiris’s public statement concerning the current state of TEP: “[citizens of TEP] must now must watch as their elected leader make the moves not of an upstanding leader of their community, but as an authoritarian putting his own goals and regime above the peace and prosperity of The East Pacific.”

Make of this what you will.

Written by Novgorod-Pskov

The entrance to a private prison in the United
States

Regardless, the reasoning behind the resolution on its own is compelling enough, apparent in its passing. The premise of Prohibit Private Prisons is that profit-driven prisons undermine the fundamental function of such institutions: being to apprehend criminals with their interests kept in mind and to chip away at recidivism. It is implied that the expansion of profit opportunity by private prisons contributes to recidivism rates, and therefore that annihilating criminal justice as a profitable industry will restore humane conditions to prisons and reduce the recidivism rate. While it can be logical to assume that such capitalist incentives would exploit criminals for profit, acquisition of raw data and correlations between private prisons and high recidivism rates has proven difficult.

That aside, there remain several practical and technical concerns regarding the resolution. Textual limitations have already afforded participating nations a bit of confusion, specifically regarding the parameters by which a prison is considered private. Clause Two defines a private prison as “entirely owned and operated or primarily owned and operated by a nongovernmental [sic] corporation, a private individual…” (468), casting doubt onto the objective of the resolution as well as the parameters. For example, some state-run prisons are not primarily run by non-governmental parties but allow said parties to take control of a substantial enough amount of ownership, and by extension: profits. Such cases currently reside in a grey area where if categorized as illegal should prompt a review of the resolution, while categorizing it as legal undermines the goal of eliminating profit incentives in the criminal justice system.

Furthermore, the lack of a universally known data set to back the claim to correlations between privately owned prisons and criminal re-entry rates are simply supplementary to pre-existing doubt of the resolution’s methods to reduce recidivism. For many nations, undertaking what could be a radical change could snuff out their economic livelihoods, in cases where fiscally strained governments rely on private entities to handle institutions such as prisons. In the context of said cases and even beyond, large scale lobbying remains a problem in aligning the interests over prison management; an argument can even be made that these scenarios present an even bigger danger to smaller governments that are lean on private individuals to fund national projects.

Admittedly, these are isolated scenarios, albeit probable ones, where this resolution cannot hold up realistically. But even when looking at the bigger picture, a glaring problem lies in the attempt to address the interest of any party that owns a prison. Targeting privately owned prisons should be able to officially bar criminal justice as an industry, but does not stop it from being exploited fiscally. Historically, several nations have been weaned on the teat of their domestic corporations, to the extent where some operate as corporate bordellos; nations where a corporation has become the government. When the national interest becomes profit-driven, it is not possible to end the exploitation of prisoners by solely targeting private owners. This lack of objective fulfilment, however speculative, does not bode well for the long-term future.

The participating members of the World Assembly might as well appreciate Prohibit Private Prisons for what it does bring to the table, though with a grain of salt. Several assumptions in definition, as well as focus, jeopardize the success of freeing prisons from the grasp of exploitation. In a way, this is simply another snapshot of a longstanding philosophical battle concerning the presence of corporations in what a growing majority worldwide consider to be government affairs. Considering the extent of corporate involvement in most governments already, this resolution is a step in the right direction, but a rudimentary one at that.

Written by Kans

The Steno Impero was seized by Iran

Mr Trump decided to end the States’ obligations under the treaty, claiming that it had many flaws, such as no restrictions on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles. The US has now re-implemented economic sanctions at the protest of the other signatories: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, the EU, and Iran. The countries remaining in the treaty have tried to help businesses do business with Iran by attempting to circumvent US sanctions, but Iran’s economy fell anyway.

In May, Iran suspended its commitments under the treaty, giving the international community a 60-day deadline to shield the Middle Eastern country from the newly reinstated American sanctions.

The crisis worsened after the UK detained an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar that was suspected of smuggling oil into Syria against EU sanctions. Iran claims this action is illegal and threatened a similar response. The UK sent another warship to the Strait of Hormuz in order to safeguard British tankers from potential retaliatory actions, but this did not stop Iran from seizing the British tanker Stena Impero on 19 July, further complicating the situation.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most strategically important waterways on the planet, with approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and one-third of its natural gas shipped through the strait, making the major shipping lane highly important to the global economy. Should tensions escalate further, there could be massive implications on the price of fossil fuels.

Written by Yahlia

Islamic Republic of Iran
If you look closely at the flag of this country, you’ll see Arabic script going between each of its stripes. This text, written out eleven times on the flag is the ‘takbir’ which is the name for the phrase ‘Allāhu akbar’ meaning ‘God is Great’, a clear dedication to their faith. The symbol in the centre is also a stylised version of the word ‘Allah’ meaning ‘God’.

A common misconception about Iran is that it is an Arabic country. This probably comes from its Islamic faith, location in the Middle East and similar name to Arabic Iraq. However, the majority of the people of Iran are not ethnically Arabs, with only around 2% of the county identifying as such. Iran’s people are considered Persian, from the old name from the country and speak the Persian or Farsi language, which uses the Arabic script but is a different language.

Zambia's Victoria Falls

Zambia’s half of the Zambezi contains a magnificent natural wonder: the Victoria Falls, or ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ (the smoke that thunders), are a colossal and beautiful set of waterfalls right on the border with Zimbabwe. In English, they were named by famous British explorer David Livingstone after Queen Victoria. These Falls create a constant mist that shines with the colours of the rainbow on a sunny day, and shallow pools at the top allow you to lie on the very edge of the fall and look down at the water cascading below without being pulled over.

Written by St Scarlett