Screaming Red Asses

The Screaming Red Asses (SRA) is an alliance on the Red sphere. It was founded on July 1, 2012, as an alliance largely independent of the treaty web.

Manifesto
GAIBHNITHE ÁR RIAN FÉIN

The Screaming Red Asses are a samall alliance, currently residing on the red trading sphere. The Screaming Red Asses are founded on the principles of independence of thought and action, as reflected in the following points:

1) There are good alliances and good rulers on every strand of the treaty web. The Screaming Red Asses shall not let an arbitrary system of interlocking treaties determine with whom they shall befriend or ally themselves. This may or may not cause tensions when hostilities begin; the Red Asses are confident that reason and discussion between good allies can overcome such obstacles.  Should the issue be impossible to overcome, perhaps the treaty has run its course.  This is neither good nor bad – it simply is.

2) The Screaming Red Asses will not have their foreign policy decisions made by their allies or enemies. If our allies’ loyalty for us is based on who else we befriend, perhaps they are not the allies we are looking for. By the same token, the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. 3) The time appears to have come on Planet Bob when blind allegiance is no longer practical nor desirable. Casus Belli are becoming weak and arbitrary, and the Red Asses do not feel compelled to fight a war in which they believe the cause is frivolous or unjust. To that end, all treaties signed by the Red Asses will be ODAP; however, that fails to capture the spirit of the treaty (this policy has since been superceded by the Lawyers, Guns and Money Doctrine). Independence is NOT synonymous with neutrality. The Screaming Red Asses vow to defend their allies when necessary – these treaties will be viewed as mutual by the Red Asses, with the only exception being we will not automatically support an unjust or frivolous CB, or situations in which an ally has clearly committed an action for which it deserves punishment. In fact, better name for such a treaty would be JMDnoAP – Justified Mutual Defense (non-chaining) and Optional Aggression Pact. This is not intended to be weasel or infra-hugging language. Readiness for war, desire for war or economic condition will NOT drive this decision. Our allies are sovereign and are welcome to engage in whatever wars they wish and for whatever reason – the Red Asses, however, cannot be expected to support unwarranted wars of aggression, nor support foreign policy gaffes which are being justly prosecuted on the field of battle. We expect our own CB’s to be judged accordingly – we do not want to drag our allies into any war for a cause they do not believe in.

A New Alliance
The Screaming Red Asses were founded by Walsh the Beloved, most recently of Hooligans, on the principles of independence of thought and action. The Screaming Red Asses formed on July 1, 2012, as a one-man micro and, spurred on in large part by the awful nature of casus belli used in the prosecution of the Dave War, which was well underway at the time. Kaskus was chosen as a protector, primarily because of their largely neutral position on the treaty web, and agreed to provide limited protection in the form of an ODP, which was the subject of some debate amongst their ranks. The Red Asses wasted no time putting their philosophies into action, and before they were 24 hours old, they had done something many alliances had already done (entered the Dave War), and something else many alliances had not (entered the conflict on both sides).

The Dave War
The Screaming Red Asses fought on three distinct fronts on two sides of the treaty web in the Dave War. Each front had its own casus belli, unique challenges, and different comportment. These fronts are detailed below:

The Nuclear Fire Front
The first front of the Dave War was against the rogue alliance Nuclear Fire in defense of The Apparatus. It was felt by the Red Asses that, in a war rife with the some of the most unworthy CB's to date, The Apparatus had the best DoW while Nuclear Fire had the worst. It was largely w war of principle, as Nuclear Fire had only one nation in range, and that nation's slots were filled by NpO as quickly as they opened. Still, the Red Asses supplied The Biohazard Corporation and Bull Moose with financial aid to carry on the war. For this reason no campaign ribbon was issued—rather, the award was an "expeditionary" decoration.

The Echelon Front
The second front, following immediately on the heels of the first, was in defense of House Baratheon against Echelon. This was also a war of principle—the defense of friends. Echelon had the classiest DoW of the entire Dave War, merely entering in the defense of allies, and the resulting conflict was cordial, clean and gentlemanly. Echelon fought well but ultimately surrendered to HB.

The PPO/GPF/Argent Front
The Red Asses entered this war in protest of GPF and NEAT entering against LOSS inappropriately by treating a PIAT and ODP with PPO like an ODAP. The Red Asses also entered very late in the proceedings, mostly due to their efforts to acquire treaties with LOSS or TIO which would allow them to enter "legitimately". Failing that, the Red Asses created a ridiculous, and used it as an excuse to "legitimately" enter the war. However, few targets were available, and those that were had been decimated by the TIO/DT counter. The Red Asses gave their targets every courtesy and did not take the opportunity to further destroy their infra needlessly.

However, another front was about to open: unbeknownst to the Red Asses, Argent had warned on the OWF that they would not treat anyone who "bandwagoned" on GPF favorably. Two days into the war, GPF called in their ally Argent to counter the Red Asses—an almost unheard of move by an alliance against a one man micro. Argent responded with a three nation stagger that likely would have brought ruin to the Red Asses had it not been for the surrender of NEAT, PPO, GPF and MHA 48 hours later. GPF attempted to classify the Red Asses as a rogue alliance, but Argent did not concur and granted the Red Asses peace. Later, Argent would dispute the fact that they entered on behalf of GPF, despite their OWF warning that they would, and IRC logs with GPF government stating both that the Red Asses would be treated as "bandwagoners" and that GPF had, in fact, requested Argent's help.

Post-Dave War
Post-Dave War, the Red Asses attempted some recruitment, but the efforts largely fell flat. Serendipity brought the nation of Vuklandia literally into the lap of the Red Asses in late November, 2012. At 104K NS, Vukland more than doubled the size of the alliance. This was a quality addition to the Red Asses, although unfortunately a short lived one: the war clouds were drawing dark on Planet Bob again, and Vuklandia felt he needed to face the coming storm with his old alliance mates at NPL. The war that came was not the war that people expected, however.

Kaskus-NSO War
The war that did come to Planet Bob was the Kaskus-NSO War, a conflict between the New Sith Order and SRA's protector Kaskus in December 2012. Domestic disturbances kept the Red Asses out of the war in the early going, and by the time they were available to help it was too late: the Sith had called in their allies NPO and Shangri-la, and the Red Asses would have been able to field only one nation in their NS tier—a suicide mission. The Red Asses supported Kaskus on the OWF where possible, but were unable to aid their protector in any meaningful way.

The Equilibrium War
When the next great conflict came to Planet Bob, it was vast in scope: every alliance that had ever been wronged by Doomhouse or the Complaints and Grievances Union was determined to get its revenge. Known as the Equilibrium War, it spread quickly, with the Equilibrium (war coalition) outnumbering the aptly named Competence Coalition by a 3-1 margin. Eventually, the Hooligans were drawn in again courtesy of the treaty web. Prior to their entry, five of their membership left the alliance to join the Red Asses, to include most of Red Ass Commander Walsh the Beloved's closest comrades. The next day (February 21, 2013), in defense of GATO,  R&R.

The Talvisota War
After the Hooligans DoW, R&R began attacks on former Hooligan nations flying the Red Ass AA. Although there was no formal DoW by R&R, they acknowledged these attacks on the OWF in the, their leader, EgoFreaky,

R&R cited two reasons for attacking the Red Asses: first, they didn't recognize the sovereignty of the AA, believing that the SRA AA was simply a Hooligans AA under another name. This practice was not uncommon among the Competence Coalition side of the Equilibrium War, with many Non-Grata members flying the Poison Clan, SLCB and Team Rocket AA's that had long before merged into Non-Grata. Second, R&R feared that SRA might be simply providing a safe haven for Hooligans members to avoid war before returning to Hooligans to fight.

The Red Asses did not concur, pointing out that they had been a sovereign AA for over 230 days, and were not simply a Hooligans sub-AA, although founder Walsh the Beloved was a proud former Hooligan. SRA also felt the attacks were not politically or diplomatically justified, whether R&R's assumptions were true or not: no Hooligans member joined SRA after hostilities commenced between Hooligans and R&R, nor had any nation flying the Red Ass AA had returned to Hooligans prior to the R&R offensive against SRA. No nation in SRA had sent aid of any kind to Hooligans. The Red Ass position was that since no alliance-hopping, aid or other act of war had been committed against R&R by any SRA member, and no diplomacy had taken place to determine SRA's intentions, that the attacks by R&R against SRA members were unprovoked.

Walsh the Beloved made a diplomatic mission to R&R on the IRC on February 22, 2013, which resulted in a temporary suspension of attacks. However, R&R renewed their attacks over the following three days (although at no time was any SRA member who had been on the AA for more than 5 days attacked).

On February 26, 2013, the Screaming Red Asses formally recognized hostilities with R&R. The war was entitled Talvisota War due to its similarity to the 1939 war of the same name, in which the Soviet Union attacked a heavily outnumbered Finland pre-emptively, fearing they would provide safe haven for German forces.

The Red Asses did not perceive their actions to be a part of the Equilibrium War nor did they consider themselves a part of the Competence Coalition; R&R concurred. Public opinion, however, was divided on the issue.

R&R's initial offensive targeted only those Red Asses who were former Hooligans and had been on the Red Ass AA for two days or less. After the initial failure of diplomacy and the official recognition of hostilities, there were only two members left of the SRA AA: Walsh the Beloved and Dan Sherratt. The other members had return to the Hooligans AA, or in some cases, none. At this point, both R&R and SRA recognized them as Hooligans. R&R responded to the SRA counter-offensive in a measured fashion, instead of using overwhelming force. Fighting was spirited but civil. Peace discussions were underway within two days of the official recognition of hostilities. An amicable cessation of hostilities was announced on March 2, 2013. In it, R&R agreed to cease attacks against all current members of the Screaming Red Ass alliance, and the Red Asses agreed that if any current member entered the Equilibrium War on the side of the "Competence Coalition" it would be considered an act of war against R&R. Ironically, this was the initial agreement proposed to R&R in the original diplomatic mission undertaken by Walsh the Beloved, but a technical glitch prevented it from being forwarded to R&R government.

The Great Expansion
"The Great Expansion" describes the tremendous growth of SRA in membership, nation strength and foreign affairs in the wake of the Talvisota War. Immediately following Talvisota War, the Red Asses received rebuilding aid unexpectedly from some old friends in Swash Plates and Tail Rotors. Many months earlier, during the SPATR-NG Kerfuffle, Walsh the Beloved had designed their flag. After the Talvisota War, in gratitude, SPATR sent many millions of dollars in tech and cash in war rebuilding aid unbidden. These events led to the first ever alliance treaty for either alliance -- an ODAP entitled, a nod to the themes of both alliances.

SPATR also aided SRA in getting their flag in-game, which coincided with the great SRA expansion. SRA quickly moved to four members (it would have been 5 if not for the deletion of Dan Sherratt). The expansion was spearheaded by Xanth, whose recruiting efforts begat more members, and the collapse of Hooligans which netted a few more members. SRA broke 10 members and 400K NS in September 2013.

As 2013 wore on, the Red Asses continued to make foreign affairs moves; first with old Hooligans foe Pirates of the Parrot Order, and  with the United Republic of Nations, who they met and fit in with like "peas and carrots." Both treaties were ODAP, in keeping with the Red Ass charter. Later, the Red Asses even over the fledgling TEEN alliance.

All in all, the post-Talvisota period was a fruitful one for the Screaming Red Asses in terms of building alliance strength in numbers and treaty partners. The clouds of new global war were gathering, however, and eventually burst in the form of the Disorder War. As the Red Asses contemplated their possible role in this war with their new allies, a new and unexpected conflict sprang up.

Kaskus-SL War
On November 4, 2013, Red Ass ally Kaskus on Shangri-La, setting off the Kaskus-SL War. The motivating factor for the Kaskus attack was Shangri-La entering the Kaskus-NSO War against Kaskus. Kaskus had been fighting the combined 12 million nation strength of New Sith Order and New Pacific Order for over a month, and as stated in their DoW Kaskus perceived Shangri-La's entry as unwarranted "piling-on". When the Disorder War broke out on Halloween 2013, Kaskus saw their chance for revenge due to Shangri-La's allies, NSO and NPO, being tied up in the swiftly expanding global war.

The Red Asses were not prepared to enter this fray, as they felt this was a one-on-one grudge match between Kaskus and Shangri-La. Shangri-La's allies did not see it this way, however. The Random Insanity Alliance declared war on Kaskus a mere hour and fourteen minutes after the initial Kaskus blitz. At 77 nations and nearly 3.5 million nation strength, RIA was larger than Kaskus and Shangri-La combined. Later, the Die Linke boc also entered en masse in support of Shangri-La as well.

Though it would be suicide, the Red Asses prepared to counter RIA in defense of their ally.

Things changed on November 5, however, when Kashmir entered into the fray in support of their ally the New Sith Order. Although NSO was not involved in the Kaskus-SL conflict, Kashmir saw Kaskus' attack on NSO's ally SL as robbing NSO of help in the NpO-NSO war. NSO had publicly urged Kashmir keep Kaskus busy until NSO was free from the current global war and could join in. The Red asses, seeing a better match up and the possibility of taking some future pressure off their ally by aiding on this front, on Kashmir on November 7. Because of the odds against them and the plethora of communist-themed alliances in the fray, the Red Asses began to refer to this as "The Frozen Chosin War" in reference to a famous battle in Korea at the Chosin Reservoir wherein the U.S. Marines were surrounded by communist forces.

Kashmir called in their allies The Javahouse League to counter The Red Asses on November 12 (tJL concurrently entered the NpO-NSO war against The Legion). The next day the Red Asses were again countered by The Sandwich Confederation, who joined The Javahouse League in the global war against Legion.

On November 27, Riot Society initiated hostilities against the Screaming Red Asses. The announcement was not made on the OWF, but reported to Walsh the Beloved on IRC.

After over a month of fighting, between Kaskus and the Red Asses and the Kashmir Coalition, although the wording of announcement itself was not without controversy.

Post-Frozen Chosin War
In the aftermath of the Frozen Chosin War, the Red Asses concentrated on rebuilding. There was a brief military altercation involving the Greater Jedi Order, but Xanth dealt with the matter and reduced the threat through military intervention. After providing it for three months, the Red Asses  This was at TEEN's request, who felt they had outgrown the Red Asses, and selected the New Sith Order as their new protector. Within six months, TEEN was down to five members and floundering for survival.

In March of 2014, the Red Asses, who normally took an invite-only or "people who want to be a Red Ass will come to us" stance on recruitment, made efforts at a small recruiting drive. The drive had mixed success -- while the alliance reached a high of 16 members, there were incidents in which two of these recruits raided The Order Of The Black Rose in one case and NpO and TOP in another, resulting in one expulsion from the alliance. The Red Asses returned to their "quality not quantity" brand of recruiting, which garnered excellent results: March 2014 saw Dre4mwe4ver become a Red Ass, as well as the return of Lord Caparo to the Red Ass fold. Not only were they excellent additions to the alliance, but for the first time, the Red Asses. Within a few days the Red Asses were over 500,000 NS. Smurthwaite was recruited a few days later, and the Red Asses took advantage of the situation on the OWF, on April 3, 2014.

Later that month the Red Asses signed an Amity and Cooperation Treaty with the Zulu alliance, whose leader, Ubuntu the Great, had shared good relations with Red Ass Commander Walsh the Beloved since Zulu's inception.

By mid June, 2014, the Red Asses had garnered 21 members and over 800,000 NS. Shortly thereafter, they announced the, essentially a one-way treaty with R&R in acknowledgement of shenanigans undertaken by some Hooligans members under the Red Ass banner during the course of the Talvisota War.

Into the Third Year
July 1, 2014 saw the Red Asses celebrating their second year anniversary at 25 members and over 900,000 NS. In their, Walsh the Beloved announced the Lawyers, Guns and Money Doctrine. This doctrine proclaimed that the previous Red Ass policy of only signing ODAP treaties would be abandoned, and that all treaties would now specify that the Red Asses reserved the right to intervene politically, militarily and economically on behalf of treaty partners, who would have reciprocal rights. This doctrine was also applied retroactively to all existing Red Ass treaty partners. The doctrine did not represent a change in Red Ass treaty obligations, perceived or actual; it merely more accurately embodied the spirit of their treaty partnerships than any existing treaty template.

On July 26, 2014, the Red Asses hit a new milestone: 1,000,000 Nation Strength.

Red Asses Accept and Reject Political Influence
Admin changed the senate rules to now employ five senators, and Red Ass shakespeare became the first member of SRA to be elected to the Red Team senate. Shortly thereafter, NPO and Invicta spearheaded an effort entitled Union for Sphere Stability on Red. The Red Asses were invited to become a part of the union, which stipulated that NPO would receive three of the five senate seats, Invicta would be granted one, and UCR and the Red Asses would share the final seat. NPO argued that this would promote coordination, prevent an outside takeover, and ensure unity among the Red team. The Red Asses declined to sign, as the only outcome seemed to be that NPO was guaranteed a senate majority, and the outcomes being prevented by the treaty were not likely to transpire. In the of the treaty, there was some criticism of the Red Asses for not working with the rest of the Red sphere.

War Returns to Planet Bob
After months of stagnant, pervasive peace, the long clam of Planet Bob was shattered in late September 2014 when Red Ass ally Kaskus declared war on MI6 over what was likely an internal GOONs mis-communication, sparking the Kaskus-MI6 War. Kaskus and MI6 tentatively agreed to limit the scope of the war, although numerous postings on the OWF led to antipathy between the Red Asses and MI6.

Although Kaskus did not request the Red Asses, that did not mean war did not find them: ex-MI6 member Mastabadey formed an alliance called Pee Wee's Playhouse and attacked Kaskus. The resulting Red Ass defense of their ally led to the Pee Wee War against both Pee Wee's Playhouse and their protector, Los Pollos Hermanos, led by long-time Xanth rival Rey the Great.

The Pee Wee War
The Pee Wee War had a complicated an circuitous beginning. Near the onset of the Kaskus-MI6 War, Mastabadey (of the nation DanceAThon 2005) left RIA to create his own alliance, the one-man micro Pee Wee's Playhouse. Los Pollos Hermanos announced Shortly after doing so, Pee Wee's Playhouse attacked two Kaskus nations. In defense of Kaskus, a nation from Badlands, a SPATR protectorate, engaged Mastabadey.

In the meantime, two nations from the Screaming Red Asses, oblivious to both Pee Wee's Playhouse's attack on Kaskus and the LPH protectorate, also engaged Mastabadey in a "grudge raid", who  LPH followed suit.

Some 35 hours later, the Red Ass Commander, Walsh the Beloved, returned from vacation to find the incident unfolding. He made an in which he acknowledged that SRA's raid on what was a protected alliance was against policy and improper; however, the fact that Pee Wee's Playhouse had attacked Kaskus prior to the raid ensured that the action would have been sanctioned anyway, rendering the point moot. Walsh the Beloved offered LPH's Rey the Great three options: 1. Pee Wee's Playhouse makes peace with Kaskus, and SRA makes peace with all parties 2. Pee Wee's Playhouse continues war with Kaskus; SRA forgives LPH attacks as "raid protection" by an alliance unaware of attacks on Kaskus by its protectorate 3. LPH continues protection of Pee Wee's Playhouse in spite of attacks on Kaskus

Rey the Great decided on the third option, and the Red Asses  Nations from Umbrella provided financial assistance to LPH during hostilities. Los Pollos Hermanos, hopelessly outnumbered in the conflict, began turtling shortly into hostilities. In exchange for peace, and in the absence of any communication from their protectorate, LPH agreed to cease protection of Pee Wee's Playhouse on October 5, 2014. No agreement between SRA and mastabadey was reached, and so the Red Asses continued to prosecute the war against them. By October 11, all Red Ass wars against Pee Wee's Playhouse had expired and SRA had no nations of small enough size to continue prosecuting the war.

Shortly after the war, both Rey and Masta deleted and their alliances disbanded, confirming Xanth's standing as "the one=time, two-time, three-time world champion" over Rey the Great.

Another Christmas, Another Global War
The global war fuse that looked thar sputtered out during the FAN-UCR War and the Kaskus-MI6 War slowly but finally made it to the powder keg following DoomSquad's surprise attack on Invicta. Unmoved by the CB, a molassas-like expansion and with no allies involved, it looked as if the Red Asses might sit this one out. Operations OfficerDre4mwe4ver raised diplomatic eyebrows when he joined Invicta as a UN Peacekeper. Other Red Asses ghosted other alliances at war. However, SRA's newest ally Kashmir entered the war against SUN and NADC on November 18, 2014 made circumstances different. When they were countered by The Legion a week later, the situation for the Red asses crystallized: on November 29, in defense of their old foe Kashmir,. The Red Ass blitz was anything but a surprise to Legion -- several hours before the SRA DoW, concerned that the little-publicized nature of their "non-treaty" with Kashmir made it akin to a secret treaty, Walsh the Beloved had informed Legion government of both the treaty and tSRA's intent to honor it. Legion, who were also fighting Anarchy Inc. and The Javahouse League, did not pre-empt with this knowledge, letting the Red Asses come to them. Despite the multiple adversaries, the Legion enjoyed a sizable NS advantage.

ARTICLE I -- Membership
Application to join the Screaming Red Asses is made on the appropriate thread on the forums. Prior to applying, members should ensure that they meet the following criteria:
 * Not a member of another alliance
 * Not at war with another alliance
 * Not a rogue.
 * Treat people respectfully in war and peace, and maintain a respectful presence on the forums, IRC and the OWF.

Members failing to meet or maintain these criteria will be denied acceptance/expelled from the alliance.

ARTICLE II -- Government
The Screaming Red Asses are a dictatorship, run by the Screaming Red Ass Commander. He will be assisted in governance by the Executive Officer, Operations Officer, Flight Leaders and the Top Kick. Government functions (FA, IA, MoD) will be delegated to these and other members as membership grows and as the Red Ass Commander sees fit.

ARTICLE III -- War
Members may NOT go to war without the express permission of the Red ass Commander.

When the Screaming Red asses go to war as an alliance, the entire alliance goes to war unless the tactical or strategic situation dictates otherwise. In any case, that decision will rest with the Red Ass Commander or his designee.

ARTICLE IV -- Foreign Policy
Red Ass treaties will conform to the Lawyers, Guns and Money Doctrine pronounced by the Red Ass Commander on July 1, 2014. These will most often be regarded as "mutual" on our end—however, we will not feel obligated fight a war for a meaningless CB not of our choosing, coalition-style warfare or for an ally that has made a foreign policy gaffe and is now paying the price. SRA may still fight such a war, but will not be obligated to.

ARTICLE V -- Changes to Charter
See Article II.

Appendix 2: Awards, Decorations and Medals of the Screaming Red Asses
A guide to the Awards, Decorations and Medals of the Screaming Red Asses