CNS News Bulletin: A recap on the Kusari-Rheinland crisis to the hour

[Empire of Kusari]

-= Evening News Bulletin =-

Good evening, and welcome to another edition of Colony News Service news bulletin. Today's top story: the ongoing crisis in the Sigma cluster escalated following clashes between armed forces of the Federal Republic of Rheinland and the Reformed Kusari Empire over tensions in the Sigma-21 system.

We look back to the events that transpired yesterday, as reports of armed engagements between military forces occurred in space, both House governments condemned each other stances and issued declarations that confirmed the current state of war between Kusari and Rheinland. We bring you now the recorded speech by the Kusari Prime Minister to the National Diet on the onset of the conflict.

[Images provided by the North Star News Bulletin]

The small rumbling of tension quiets down, as the Prime Minister takes the center stage to address those present.

=Prime minister - Yukihara Reijiro

Your Imperial Highness.
Esteemed members of the Government.
Honorable members of this Parliament.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens of Kusari.

No more than a month ago I addressed this Noble House with our intention to bring a new future to this new region of space, this new member of our family of stars. Shizuoka.
Before that, we of Kusari expressed concern and sadness upon witnessing the discord that had befallen our neighbors of Rheinland, and the corporate heads of the Gas Miners Guild, that threatened the stability of the region and could eventually put in danger our House and our people's way of life.

With effort, we established a security corridor linking to Rheinland, and pledged to both conflicting sides that we would do the utmost to prevent the bloodshed in the Sigma-21 system, ensuring free traffic and relief from the strains of war that would engulf the rest of the sector, unless the House of Rheinland made efforts to sit at the negotiations table with the Guild to settle for peace.
We hoped for intelligent heads to prevail, to see the demerits of a prolonged war, of a vague quest for vengeance and grievances that were well below the amount of wrath that the Rheinland spirit demonstrated. We expected that they would know who they were looking for, fighting for, defending from.

We were ignorant. No, Kusari demonstrated a naiveness that has become too common in its complacency. By believing in our apparent strength and the pride we hold for ourselves, we made ourselves victims to Rheinland Military, who blinded by bloodshed, had forgotten who was their enemy. From seeking justice to just meeting any other human being they found on the battlefield with their destructive force, they struck. And they struck those who held no blame.

On the past day, KNF local forces had confirmed our suspicions that the Rheinland Military had indiscriminately attacked and annihilated joint Kishiro and GMG civilian installations part of the Shizuoka Colonial Comission project to colonize the Planet Saigon, as it is commonly known. Neither Kishiro or GMG units were of military flair, and all transponders were clearly identified as a civilian operation, just a dozen clicks away from KNF sanctioned security corridor. It is with sadness that we have confirmed the death of Commissioner Akemi Yamashita, senior Kishiro executive and well known promoter of Kusari economy and society development for many years.

Rheinland Military, without quarter, attacked these installations, destroyed these peaceful efforts for progress. They ignored the pleas for mercy, and then expected the Kusari Naval Forces to stand idle before these onslaught. They were not idle.

Upon confirming the destruction of Kishiro Survey Vessel Unzen, Kusari Naval Forces took the initiative of retaliation against RM breach of the peace of the Shizuoka system, and notified the government of these horrible crimes.
The Diet of Kusari has just now through its processes condemned the actions of the House of Rheinland, validated the Naval Forces actions of retaliation, and pressed further.

By decision of the Diet of the Reformed Kusari Empire, and by the name of our august Emperor, the House of Kusari has entered a state of war with Rheinland. Such state and any special provisions related with it will remain, until Rheinland ceases all military activities in the Sigma cluster, agrees to withdraw from the Shizuoka system, and accepts the necessity of sitting down to negotiate peace with the Gas Miners Guild and the people of Kusari.

Furthermore, due to the crisis situation in the Shizuoka system, the mandate of the Shizuoka Colonial Comission is suspended
for a yet undetermined period, and the control of the affairs of the system placed under the military command of the Shogun Ikeada Yamato, as commanded by the Emperor.

We hope that our people remain strong and vigilant against the threats to our House, and that together we prevail against the challenges ahead of us. Kusari will prevail.

The Prime Minister ends his statement among a thunderous applause from the members of the Diet, as the news bulletin cuts into a political commentator debate on the implications of the war....

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