Global Alliance and Treaty Organization

The Global Alliance and Treaty Organization (GATO) is one of Cyber Nations' oldest alliances. It is also the recognized alliance of the Brown Team. It is based on the values of Honor, Justice, Democracy, and Truth.

I. Preamble
This document is hereby created to protect the rights and freedoms of the sovereign nations of the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization, a formal brown team alliance that embraces and promotes world peace. The Global Alliance and Treaty Organization respects the rights of all nations to govern as they please while abiding by this document during their membership. The Global Alliance and Treaty Organization will not interfere in the internal policies of any nation.

IV. Application and Membership Rights
1. Nations who are interested in becoming a part of the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization are always welcome. Interested national leaders should petition the organization through the various mediums supplied. The Minister of Domestic Affairs has the sole authority to grant membership to any nation, however the Minister of Defense and the Chairman may reject any applicant as they see fit. All members of the alliance and applying nations must belong to the Brown team and must resign any other alliance memberships prior to being granted GATO membership. The Minister of Domestic Affairs may be petitioned to grant team color exemptions, but the granting of exemptions is left solely to the minister's discretion.

2. All members are afforded the right to a fair trial. All members are afforded the right to run for government or judicial positions. All members are afforded the right to run for Brown Team Senate.

No member may hold office in a senate of a colour other than Brown, unless the Foreign Affairs or Defense Council gives direct approval with justifiable cause.

V. The General Assembly and Vetoes
1. The General Assembly of GATO consists of every current Member Nation. All member nations are afforded a lifetime position in assembly, barring departure from the alliance or destruction, and each member is allowed one vote in legislative matters. In the case of several nations belonging to one person, only one nation will be allowed to vote while the voting rights of the others will be removed. No legislation may pass into effect without first being put to vote before the General Assembly. All members may propose for a general vote by the assembly any piece of legislation including amendments to the Charter. A two-thirds (2/3) majority of votes cast is required to approve legislation in regards to Charter amendments; a sixty (60) percent majority of votes cast in regards to foreign agreements, such as, but not limited to, non-aggression pacts and mutual defense pacts; and a simple majority of votes cast for all other pieces of legislation that do not fall in either of the two previous categories. A three-fourth (3/4) majority of votes cast is required to overturn a veto. Polls must be open to members for a minimum of at least the standard 48 hours and the poll must be announced in the Assembly Lobby. All polls closing with less than 25% of the amount of votes cast in the immediately preceding Chairman election are to be extended an additional 24 hours automatically.

2. The Assembly Chairman is entitled to grant veto power with the unanimous approval of the serving veto holders. The Assembly Chairman may not appoint himself. The removal of veto powers from a veto holder shall likewise require the unanimous consent of all serving veto holders, excluding the person in question, and the Assembly Chairman.

VI. Elections
1. The Global Alliance and Treaty Organization shall hold monthly general elections, in which any member nation may run for any office, and each member nation of the alliance is entitled to exactly one vote. No person may have more than one voting nation within GATO. Newly elected officials begin their term after the closing of all voting polls, and shall hold their office for a period of four weeks.

2. The electoral process shall consist of nominations, debate, and voting. Nominations will open seven days prior to the end of the month and shall go for two days. Upon the closing of nominations, three days of debate time shall begin. Two days prior to the end of the month, polling will begin and shall last for a period of two days. The Assembly Chairman will be responsible for starting and supervising all election related topics and performing all duties related to the running of the general election.

3. No nation shall stand for re-election as Assembly Chairman if he or she was elected to said position during the two immediately preceding elections.

4. Neither the current Chairman nor the current Ministers may hold an appointed deputy position in any of the respective Ministries. Nor shall they be appointed an Assistant Minister of Defense or Deputy Chairman.

No High Court Justice may hold the office of the Assembly Chairman, any elected ministry and deputies thereof, or of assistant Minister of Defense while serving as a justice.

No member of the Global Alliance may run for election in more than one Governmental or Court position each term.

VII. Impeachments
1. In order to protect the democratic nature of the Global Alliance, any official may be impeached. The impeachment process for Assembly Chairmen and Ministers shall consist of first an investigative request being presented by a member nation to the High Court, which shall have not authority to remove officials. The High Court will investigate the grievance and available evidence before presenting an official non-binding recommendation regarding the impeachment of the accused official. If after receiving such a recommendation from the High Court, a member nation, regardless of the High Court's recommendations, wishes to open an impeachment hearing before the General Assembly, that member should start a topic relating to the impeachment of said official. No sooner than two days after the posting of an impeachment thread in Assembly Lobby, a poll shall be opened where the General Assembly members will vote to remove the specified official from office. The impeachment thread in the Assembly Lobby shall serve as the debate thread for the impeachment poll. A two-thirds majority of all votes cast in the impeachment thread is required to remove an official from office.

2. Should a member wish to impeach a High Court Justice, an investigative request will be presented to the Assembly Chairman and the other ministers. The Assembly Chairman and the other Ministers combined shall investigate the grievance and available evidence before publicly presenting an official non-binding recommendation regarding the impeachment of the accused justice. If after receiving such a recommendation from the Assembly Chairman and Ministers, a member nation, regardless of said recommendation's conclusions, wishes to open an impeachment hearing before the General Assembly, the same process as explained above for debating and voting impeachment cases before the General Assembly shall be used, and a two thirds majority of votes cast shall be required to remove a High Court justice from office.

VIII. Assembly Chairman, Deputy Assembly Chairmen and Ministers
1. The Assembly Chairman is the head of state and government - the embodiment of our democracy. He or she shall preside over the General Assembly, represent GATO alliance abroad and domestically, and serve in the best interests of the organization as the chief government representative of the people.

2. The Assembly Chairman is required to appoint at least two deputies. One of said required deputies shall act as the Chairman’s liaison to the Ministry of Defense and the other shall act as Chairman’s liaison to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Their duty is to keep the Chairman informed of the goings on in the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs must approve the required Deputy Assembly Chairman for Defense candidate and the Minister of Defense must approve the required Deputy Assembly Chairman for Foreign Affairs.

In addition to the two required Deputies, the Assembly Chairman may appoint any number of additional Deputies and assign to them whatever duties he chooses.

3. In the event that the Assembly Chairman is temporarily absent, the two required Deputy Assembly Chairmen combined represent a force equal to that of the Assembly Chairman. Should one of the required Deputy Assembly Chairmen be absent in addition to the Assembly Chairman, the corresponding minister to the absent Deputy may substitute.

4. The Assembly Chairman will directly supervise the activities of all Ministries, and must be regularly informed by the various ministers regarding the activities of each respective ministry. Due to the paramount importance of remaining informed of all activities throughout the alliance, especially during wartime, the Assembly Chairman is strongly encouraged to be as active as possible especially on instant messaging systems.

5. Assisting the Assembly Chairman shall be four ministers presiding over ministries charged with supervising specific areas. All Ministers must appoint at least one Deputy to be their Senior Deputy, but may also appoint any number of additional deputies to aid in day-to-day activities. The respective elected ministers shall individually determine the duties of these deputies.

The Ministry of Defense shall provide for the security and defense of the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization. The Ministry assumes the responsibility of forming and maintaining a competent and capable defense force. During wartime, the Ministry of Defense will formulate attack plans, coordinate with foreign military leaders, and coordinate war aid with the Ministry of Finance for the smooth and efficient monetary support of the war effort. Neither the Global Alliance nor any of her members will be permitted to conduct espionage on foreign nations when the alliance is not at war.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall represent the diplomatic hand of the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization. The Ministry negotiates treaties and agreements, establishes embassies, works towards cease-fires, and secures peace and assistance from third parties alliances during wartime.

The Ministry of Domestic Affairs shall be responsible for overseeing all domestic affairs and institutions. The Ministry will supervise inter-alliance trade, the acceptance or denial of new applicants, all media productions, all informational and educational publications, and will assist new members getting started in GATO.

The Ministry of Finance shall be charged with the maintenance and control of all financial assets and related programs of the Global Alliance including all bank nations and the Monetary Reserve. The Ministry will also administer the filling of requests for aid and loans as well as any other financially related duties.

IX. Defense and Foreign Affairs Councils
1.The Defense Council shall comprise of the Assembly Chairman, the Minister of Defense and the Deputy Assembly Chairman for Defense.

The Defense Council will formulate general military strategy and must approve all military actions performed by the alliance with a two-thirds (2/3) majority. The Defense Council should maintain frequent communication with the entire Ministry of Defense, and during wartime must be kept informed of the progress of the war and any planned actions.

2. The Foreign Affairs Council shall comprise of the Assembly Chairman, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Deputy Assembly Chairman for Foreign Affairs.

The Foreign Affairs Council shall determine general diplomatic policy and must approve all diplomatic actions performed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a two-thirds (2/3) majority.

X. Global Security Network
The Global Security Network is herein be founded with the express purpose of being the sole manager of all counter and wartime intelligence operations within the Global Alliance.

1. During wartime, the Global Security Network shall be charged with conducting active intelligence gathering operations; however, no active intelligence gathering operations will be permitted during peacetime. During times of peace, the Global Security Network operations will be limited to passive intelligence gathering and counter-intelligence operations.

Active intelligence gathering is herein defined as being organized operations conducted with the express purpose of gaining knowledge on the inner workings of any foreign alliance. Active intelligence does not include espionage and does not include receiving intelligence from spies or conversing with spies.

Passive intelligence gathering is herein defined as being disorganized information acquiring through means included but not limited to conversing with a foreign or domestic source or receiving personal correspondence from a foreign or domestic source. Passive intelligence does not include espionage and does not include receiving intelligence from spies or conversing with spies.

The act of espionage is herein defined as any action taken by a member of the Global Alliance to receive intelligence concerning a foreign alliance from one of their members or otherwise embedding themselves within a foreign alliance to gain intelligence.

A spy is herein defined as a person who is a member of two alliances at one moment in time or otherwise within an alliance but loyal to another with the intent to pass information from one alliance to the other.

2. The Global Security Network shall be chaired and supervised jointly by the Assembly Chairman and the Minister of Defense. Subordinate to the two chairs shall be three members directly appointed by the Chairmen. These three members shall comprise a council which shall be charged with managing the day-to-day affairs of all operations including the appointing and tasking of operatives.

XI. Brown Team Senate
1. The Global Alliance and Treaty Organization offers monthly Senatorial elections, in which any member nation within the top thirty of the Brown Team may run for any Senate position. Newly elected Senators begin their terms after the closing of all polls, and shall hold their office for a four-week period. Senatorial elections are held over a 48-hour period. After such a time is over, the current Senators will be required to reset their votes so that the newly elected members may be voted in smoothly. Following the senatorial election, member nations of GATO will be required to cast an in-game vote so as to put in place their elected Senators.

2. Senators shall be responsible for putting up notices on the Brown Team Bulletin Board for general information as required by the government of the Global Alliance. They shall also be responsible for sanction nations as directed by the Global Alliance government.

3. The Brown Team Senate is the only colour senate for which the members of the Global Alliance may run, unless direct approval is given by the Foreign Affairs or Defense Council with justifiable cause.

XII. GATO High Court
The judging of criminal cases shall be vested to an independent non-ministerial institution to be called the High Court. The High Court will consist of three elected impartial individuals serving in an independent solely adjudicating role. The judicial power of the alliance is vested under this one High Court.

All defendants are innocent until proven guilty.

1. Any accused member shall have the right to a speedy, public, and fair trial. Accused and accusing members have the right to represent themselves before the court, or have a selected member of the alliance represent them instead. Previously accused members are not subject to double jeopardy. Members of the alliance shall not be held responsible to answer for a crime unless at least two High Court Justices require otherwise. Members of the alliance choose their representatives, or their lack thereof, at their own risk. Member refusal to answer for a crime is also done at their own risk. The High Court will not be held responsible for false sentencing in either of these cases.

2. The High Court will convene after a grievance and substantial evidence has been brought by a member nation against an offender to a given provision, or provisions, of the Charter. After the Court convenes, the process of trial will proceed for no longer than two weeks. The High Court will hear any testimony and review all evidence for no longer than one week. The High Court will then deliberate guilt or innocence in private for a period of no longer than one week starting from the time the court first entered deliberations. The time specifications given above may be waived by the High Court if the justices feel more time is necessary for the carrying out of justice.

The High Court will serve as the final decider of all criminal matters. The High Court shall also be charged with the determination of adequate and proper sentencing for guilty persons. Sentences may include but are not limited to: member expulsion, suspension, or loss of privileges. A verdict of guilty by the majority of currently sitting High Court Justices is required before a member may be found guilty. The High Court Justices must come to an agreement on sentencing before a sentence will be carried out.

All High Court rulings and sentencing must be made public.

3. The High Court shall have the authority to hear cases brought against elected officials by any member of the General Assembly seeking to force that elected official to perform their duty under the Charter. Such cases shall be decided expeditiously and no order shall be given except with approval of a majority of the Court.

Should an elected official not follow such an order given by the High Court, any member of the General Assembly may petition the High Court to begin impeachment proceedings against the official pursuant to Article VII of the Charter. Should the High Court rule in favor of the official, the official shall be immune from any suit stemming from the particular alleged failure to perform a duty.

4. Members of the High Court cannot be used as representatives for either defendant or plaintiff. Nor can the High Court deny the representation of a member of the alliance. All cases presented before the High Court will be reserved for the Justices themselves, the plaintiff, and the defendant (as well as their respective representatives). Discussion in these cases will be reserved to those members previously stated and other members the Court may deem necessary to the case. If a member of the alliance has useful or important information concerning a case, he or she is advised to contact a Justice so that a more correct ruling may be laid.

5. Accused and sentenced members of the alliance have the right to an appeal. This appeal must be presented before the High Court and a two-thirds (2/3) majority must approve a retrial. Substantial evidence of the Court’s wrongful sentencing must be presented. The appeal process will work in concordance to the rules laid out in Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this Article. Court sentencing, though, may only reiterate their previous sentencing or overrule it. No new sentencing may be laid. No more appeals may be given to the same case after one has already been given.

6. High Court Justices will be elected every two months. Elections will occur on every even-numbered month. All three Justice positions will be up for election during these times.

XIII. Vacancies and Succession
1. All elected offices shall be considered vacant in the event that the ordinary Minister resigns, is absent without prior notice for seven days, or is forcefully removed from office via impeachment or expulsion, at which time, the senior Deputy will fill the vacancy until such a time as the term is over.

Should the Minister go away with notice, the senior Deputy will act as temporary Minister until such a time as the Minister returns.

2. If a Justice, or Justices, position is vacated during their term, the vacant High Court Justice position will automatically be filled by the immediate runner up in the preceding election. In the case where the vacant position if filled by the runner up, the Justice will not have a standard two-month term, and instead said position will be available in the immediate forthcoming elections. Any High Court member elected during a non-standard High Court election month will serve a shortened term, which will be open for election at the nearest High Court election date.

3. Should the Assembly Chairman go absent for any reason, the Minister of Defense will assume the duties of Assembly Chair for the remainder of the term. Should the Minister of Defense be unable to fill said role, the Minister of Foreign Affairs shall take the role followed by the Minister of Domestic Affairs, and then the Minister of Finance. Should a minister assume the duties of Assembly Chair, the ministerial office shall be filled by the deputy, and should no deputy be available, a temporary appointment by the new Assembly Chairman shall be made, and the assumption of the duties of Assembly Chair due to a vacancy will not count as a term.

XIV. Expulsion of Member Nations of the Global Alliance
1. Immediate Expulsion

Acts that warrant, but do not require, an immediate expulsion from the Global Alliance shall be limited to treason and the unauthorized launches of nuclear weapons regardless of target, except if said launches are in direct response to nuclear attacks on alliance members, in which case the target is limited to the nation who first used nuclear weapons against alliance members.

For any member nation having committed a nuclear attack and having been immediately expelled afterwards, a two thirds majority from the High Court Justices is required to overturn the expulsion. If the expulsion is overturned, the member nation will stand trial according to the guidelines in Article X, Section 2 to determine a suitable substitute sentence.

For any member nation having being accused of treason, which shall consist only of, during wartimes directly involving the Alliance, levying war against the alliance; adhering to her enemies; giving them aid; and during times of peace, overthrowing or planning to overthrow the democratically elected government; or planning war against the alliance, an immediate expulsion shall only occur if credible evidence suggests that a clear and imminent threat to the well-being of the alliance exists. A two-thirds majority of High Court Justices is required to overturn the expulsion and bring the member nation back to stand trial according to the guidelines in Article XII, Section 2. A unanimous decision of all High Court justices is required to convict a person of treason against the Global Alliance.

Any nation having been immediately expelled may petition the High Court, in person or through an appointed nation, to review the events justifying the expulsion of said member. After conducting such a review, a two-thirds majority of High Court justices shall be required to reinstate an expelled nation. Upon reinstallation, the member nation will stand trial according to the guidelines in Article XII, Section 2.

2. Expulsion as Court Sentence

As stated in Article XII of this Charter, expulsion of members from the alliance may be imposed as sentence by the High Court; however any such expulsion sentence must be imposed only with unanimous consent of all justices, and where unanimous consent cannot be reached, a lesser sentence must be imposed. Acts warranting, but not requiring, the expulsion of a member as court imposed sentence after a determination of guilt as outlined in Article XII, Section 2 of this Charter include, but are not limited to:

– The unprovoked attack of another member nation of GATO; – The unprovoked attack of a member nation of an allied organization; – Unauthorized provoked attack on a member of an allied organization; – Crimes committed against an allied organization; – Crimes committed against a non-allied organization; – Public or private harassment defined in Section 3 of this Article; and – Omittance of information on membership applications.

The reasons listed as offences which warrant an expulsion sentence to establish the level of severity warranting but not requiring an expulsion.

3. Verbal Harassment of Members

The maintenance of a friendly and welcoming forum environment being of the utmost necessity for the Global Alliance, the harassment of any member is to be considered a serious matter. Harassment is defined as repeated unwanted, unwelcome and uninvited behaviour, occurring over a sustained period, which intentionally demeans, threatens or offends the victim and results in a hostile environment for the victim. Harassing online behaviour may include, but is not limited to, epithets, derogatory comments or slurs and lewd propositions, threatening physical injury, and visual insults, such as derogatory posters or cartoons.

A GATO member is guilty of harassment when, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another person, repeatedly: – Communicates, or causes a communication to be initiated through electronic means or otherwise, with a person, anonymously or otherwise, by any forum, Cyber Nations, or IRC messaging systems, in a manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm; or – Sends any form of private message, through forum, Cyber Nations, or IRC messaging systems, whether or not a conversation ensues, with no purpose of legitimate communication involving comments or threats based on a belief or perception regarding such person's race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability, behaviour, or sexual orientation, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct; or – Posts or sends, on or through any Cyber Nations related forum, derogatory images, whether specifically involving the victim or not, depicting lewd or otherwise offensive material based a belief or perception, correct or not, regarding such person's race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability, behaviour, or sexual orientation.

4. Expulsion as Extradition of Members

Should information come to light after the admittance into the Alliance of an applicant that such person is sought for punishment, especially physical punishment of that person's nation, relating to offences committed while not a member of the Global Alliance, an extradition hearing for said member, in which the reasons for extradition and the facts of the alleged crime are presented to the High Court, shall be initiated by the Assembly Chairman at his or her discretion in the High Court forum section. Expulsion as extradition of said member shall only occur after a two-thirds majority of High Court justices for expulsion is reached.

A statute of limitations of thirty days, measured from when the crime for which extradition for punishment is sought occurred to the time of the request by a foreign alliance to carry out sentence, is imposed on all expulsion as extradition cases. After such time, the said event will no longer constitute grounds for expulsion as extradition.

Conclusion
Done in Convention by and with the consent of the General Assembly of the Global Alliance Treaty Organization on the thirtieth of October in the year two thousand and six.

A History of GATO
When cybernations started, its third registered player, Depraved, founded an alliance that was called the Cross Atlantic Treaty Organization. CATO's name was to be short-lived; within a week it was renamed GATO, the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization. The first AC was depraved who held the position twice in a row. The MoD was TJ Booth. Levh7 would hold the office of MoFA for an unprecedented 5 times. The MoDA was Jormungand. He, however, would not be elected to this position until after World War I.

It all started with the INC. They were a loose alliance of roughly 50 members, at that time the biggest. GATO was weaker and smaller. The two alliances were very uncivil and eventually there was War. Old' Freedonia took a hard bashing from Ninja but Depraved stuck it to Chris Miller, the INC Vice President.

Nobody won the war. Chris Miller asked a ceasefire. The next day, Jormungand left for GATO along with other members. GATO for awhile became the sole hyper power. This was short-lived however. From the darkness, leapt the New Pacific order.

Around the end of the INC-GATO war, Cybernations was discovered by a massive simulator game called NationStates. People flocked over in droves. Karpathos founded the New Pacific Order on the Red Team headed by a controversial Ivan Moldavi. The NPO was close friends with GATO, signing the Dove Doctrine, an NAP, and the Unity Covenant, an MDP. GATO fell from its supreme power into second place.

In order to combat the rising power of the New Pacific Order, LUE, ODN, GGA, and UCS formed the Independence Council. It however began to fall apart when all alliances were invited to join it. However, before it died, something called the Entente Cordiale was to be created by GATO, Legion, and NAAC. It was vetoed by the AC Jormungand due to the wording if any EC member went to war; it HAD to back up its fellow. Legion voted it down. IC dissolved as a failure soon after. However, it was the first sign of major opposition to the NPO.

GATO fought a couple small wars after WWI, the Chessania Campaign, FrUCK War, and the UN War. However, a bigger war would soon erupt over the blue team. It was discovered the NAAC had a spy in the NPO. NPO declared war and began to attack every NAAC nation. It was soon discovered a spy was in GATO as well so GATO joined the war. Legion joined the NPO due to the Imperial Accords. NAAC was crushed down to less then 50 members yet would rebound amazingly quickly.

After Emperor Ivan announced the creation of a New Polar Order, the new AC Vercingetorix gave a speech opening his term criticizing NPO formation of the Blue Alliance the New Polar Order. GATO-NPO relations began to erode. The pinnacle was reached in June with the GARO incident.

Grenval, always a bit of a prankster himself, made a post announcing the Global Alliance Red Organization. The NPO was insanely outraged and suspended the unity covenant. Also, Grenval was forced to resign as MoDA. Grenval was soon back writing Cox News Articles, known for the hilarity and parody of the NPO.

After the brief foot note of the WSA War, which had the largest use of nukes ever, one poke set the whole house of cards tumbling. Yaridovich, ex-LUE co leader, posted a LUEicide. NpO Emperor Tygaland was livid and nuked LUE member duffman04. NPO declared war to back up the NpO. IGC followed. GATO intended to repeal the MDP with LUE but the pre-emptive nuking hadn't given them time. GATO declared war on NPO followed by a flurry of other alliances.

The war was furious. Dasgirl shot off 5 nukes, hitting Vladimir the first day at 11:59:50, literally seconds before update. Yuuzhan Tar took 5 nukes for GATO and plummeted in strength horribly. The lower GATO echelons crushed the NPO forces, yet their highest ranked nations suffered extreme losses. More alliances joined, making an NPO defeat seem inevitable. But then, there was the coven scandal.

Nosdondekistan, EvilCartyen, and Yoda turned out to be spies for an information gathering group called Coven of the Lost. Nosey was a NPO Alliance Councilman. EC was Legion Director of Intelligence. And Yoda, was the Assembly Chairman of GATO. A 24 ceasefire was called immediately to allow team to regroup from the shock. Just afterward, EC gave the Legion logs proving the NPO intend to knock off Legion for not coming to their rescue. Legion joined the war and bashed NPO down hard. Legion was now #1.

Minister of Defense Chris_Kaos took up the AC job in full vigor and returned to the war effort. Chris was the CoaLUEtion's official negotiator and was primarily the man who set down peace terms. As the war wore on, will to fight was sapped in both sides. Ivan Moldavi admitted the Orders had acted rashly and had been defeated for it. The war was over.

During and after the war, GATO established MDP's with its CoaLUEtion partners, NAAC, CDS, and Legion. August was a month of intense rebuilding under Chairman Chris_Kaos, with vigorous diplomatic moves being made by him and Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacksonians (the pirate c'ptain. ARRR!).

During this same time however, some of the internal conflicts of the alliance begun surfacing. Fueled by a lack of organization during the war and the rogue conflicts that followed, the military grew to a state of unrest. At the same time, Chairman Chris_Kaos and former Minister of Domestic Affairs Letum begun being at loggerheads over the latter's activities with a covert group known only as "The Black Dawn".

As tensions grew and elections neared, Chairman Chris_Kaos brought Letum to court on charges of treason and attempting to overthrow the Global Alliance government via an alleged plot involving the mass use of nuclear weaponry. However, it was soon apparent that the evidence presented was highly circumstancial and Chairman Chris_Kaos dropped the charges, apologizing for the accusations. Whilst the Court Case was ongoing, Letum was elected as Assembly Chairman by the General Assembly.

The next two months saw Letum being re-elected to the position of Chairman, as well as significant improvements to the state of the Global Alliance's Military Forces, making it one of the most, if not the most, powerfull armies in the world. At the same time the Immigration and Financial systems underwent rehauls that greatly benefited the alliance.

At the same time however, conflicts within the Leadership of the Alliance begun to rise, and relations with the NPO, NpO and GOONS begun to deteriorate.

The conflict begun when GATO's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Grenval, made a statement in the GATO's embassy with the NPO concerning espionage conducted against the Order by a third party. However, his reception was anything but polite, and after being repeatedly insulted by NPO members and the emperor of the NpO, Grenval made a statement that GATO maintained a secret policy of not recognizing the NpO. In the ensuing firestorm, the already developing conflicts between factions in GATO exploded, resulting in the resignations of Minister of Foreign Affairs Grenval for his comments against NpO, and of Chairman Letum for his recognition of NpO without prior agreement by the General Assembly.

Following Letum's resignation, Minister of Defence Beryl succeeded as Chairman. During his short tenure as Chairman, he attempted to calm down tensions, and oversaw the debates as well as the vote regarding recognition of the NpO. However, Beryl unexpectedly resigned from his position and from the alliance, and Letum, who had been appointed as Minister of Defence succeeded him and regained the position of Chairman.

With some moves to calm internal conflict being made, the Global Alliance government begun to reach an tentative agreement to recognize the Polar Order. At this time, an Ultimatum by the New Polar Order was made, demanding GATO answer within 24 hours "or else". GATO's government as a whole decided to ignore this ultimatum, and talks of severing all diplomatic ties with the Polar Order begun to surface. When the Ultimatum Deadline passed, the NpO made a statement revoking recognition of GATO (instead claiming they are a colony of LUE) and cutting off diplomatic ties, followed by statements from the NPO and GOONS, also cutting off ties. During this chaos, Chairman Letum, and Deputy Chairman Chris_Kaos made an announcement in which GATO condemned the insulting behavior of the NpO's emperor and recognized the NpO as a sovereign political alliance, but not a military one. In other words, they would act independently of the NPO on political matters, but would tag along on military ones. The announcement also destroyed the embassies of the GOONS, NPO and NpO, relegating them to a status of "No Diplomatic Relations".

It appeared that the situation had been resolved, when a new crisis rose: Depraved, founder of GATO, returned to the alliance and distraught with the government and the concentration of power, decided to launch a coup, abusing his powers as founder of the forums. However, GATO rose against this coup, and soon moved to new forums created by Letum. Whilst Depraved had support from the NPO, NpO and GOONS, he had no support from within GATO, and no support from GATO's allies, which rushed to the side of the Letum administration. He soon gave up, delete the forums, and fled to the GOONS.

GATO launched into a furious process of rebuilding, managing to successfully hold elections with a record turnout within 24 hours of the Coup. The sunsequent month saw Octavian being elected to the position of Chairman, and efforts made from all sides to reduce the level of conflict within GATO, until it stopped being an issue. November saw a number of programmes made to improve GATO, the most important of which was a series of large Aid Chains, which significantly boosted the average strength of the alliance.

Related Articles
The GATO/INC War

The Chessania Campaign

The Legion/Global Alliance N.A.P.