UIF Embargos Basil-Irsmun Axis Over IBC Shootdown
NEW COMBERTH; 2210 - Following the confirmation of the missing IBC news airliner's destruction at the hands of an Irsmuncastine interception over the Basilic-occupied East Hook, the UIF States-General has ratified a joint embargo against both belligerent nations, as Imperial confidence in the provisional governments has shattered among public outrage over the deaths in the attack.
The Imperial Broadcasting Corporation's "Storm Chaser" aircraft, a business jet converted for weather research and live forecasting broadcasts, filed a flight plan through the Lesser Baskay last month, which took them through the maritime airspace of the East Hook Military Administration. Twelve hours after its intended landing time, with no control centers having success trying to communicate with the aircraft, the IBC Storm Chaser was declared missing in a public press release. Given the international scale of the IBC's journalism, as well as the public spotlight on the ongoing Baskay conflict, the story of the missing Storm Chaser received an immediate media frenzy. Speculation and accusations began surfacing across the region as multiple local Coast Guards prepared searching parties for the missing aircraft.
After following a lead from transient signatures picked up by the PLAID SEALINE network, ships and aircraft of the Zokesian Coast Guard and Navy positively identified the wreckage of the Storm Chaser, floating on the waves in international waters within the Hook Island Strait. A salvage operation rapidly went underway, and within hours, the remaining debris was recovered, and the 18 crewmembers of the Storm Chaser were pronounced dead. With the black box recovered by Zokesian Navy divers, the official investigation of the Commonwealth Air Safety Administration announced their findings, a conclusion readily apparent to a majority of the public already - Irsmuncastine Air Battle Managers, operating on the behalf of the East Hook Military Administration, vectored an intercept of the Storm Chaser with orders to shoot down the aircraft, despite its positive identification as an IBC journalist aircraft, and despite the previous permission of the Basil government for UIF aircraft to travel through the airspace.
Delegates from the Basil-Irsmun Axis struggle to downplay the incident as they review the final transmissions of the late Storm Chaser.
COMMUNIQUÉ from the Second Republic of Basil National Salvation Government to the Government of the United Imperial Federation:
This dispatch is to serve as a legal allowance for UIF and Zokesian free passage through East Hook and Basilic Airspace through the duration of the ongoing hostilities.
As appropriate, inform controllers of overhead flight plans, and clearance will be granted for any flight short of a bomber formation.
Code: Select all
TRANSCRIPT of Signals Intelligence collected of East Hook Military Administration communications,
T-08:00 minutes to the confirmed destruction of IBC Storm Chaser:
EAST HOOK DISPATCHER, "SEMYON:" IBC NEWS HELI [sic] OVERFLYING EAST HOOK
IRSMUNCAST AIR BATTLE MANAGER, "ANNA:" CONFIRM EAST HOOK?
"SEMYON:" EAST HOOK
"ANNA:" AIRSPACE IS CLOSED - SHOOT AN IMP [sic] AT IT
[T+01:30]
"SEMYON:" IT'S DEAD - DOWN IN FLAMES
The confirmation of the intentional downing of the civilian aircraft, especially with its pre-established clearance on the flight plan, was met with immediate public outrage, as well as a pouring of international support for the IBC for the lives of the pilots and journalists lost in the attack. Though the official statement from the Irsmuncast government was that the IBC aircraft was mistakenly identified as an IU aircraft, citing the similar names, the UIF's investigation refuted this claim, instead suggesting multiple failures in the "Basil Sphere" chain of command, a disregard to rules of engagement and standard operating procedures, and a disregard for the sanctity of Kerbal life.
Already enraged at the Basil-Irsmun Axis for the carnage wrought on the Baskay with their escalating warfare, as well as the diplomatic blunders over demands for a Newserian land corridor, public dissatisfaction with the Basil regime and their Irsmuncastine puppet state has reached a boiling point within the UIF's population. Demonstrations and murals in memory of the Storm Chaser have surfaced in multiple cities, and the Basilic and Irsmuncastine embassies in Greater Comberth have observed anti-war protests on the adjacent streets for days. Public demand for justice has reached the States-General, as multiple Senators have presented their own legislation drafts for retaliatory sanctions against the Basil-Irsmun Axis. The legislation, culminating in a full trade embargo of Irsmuncast and Basil, was ratified in the States-General and signed by First Consul Kasparov, joined shortly thereafter by The Empress Magdalene Vikus-Ward the following day.
The UIF's economy, having recently surpassed the Imperial Union as the largest in the world at √205 million, is itself worth 25% of the combined Gross Domestic Product of Kerbin. The revocation of this market, on top of the existing embargos from neutral nations including Larrea and Shive, presents another devastating blow to the Basilic war machine. When asked on the nature of the embargo as a punitive measure against Basil exclusively for the IBC shootdown, or simply the devastation of the conflict as a whole, the First Consul's press secretary shrugged her shoulders, and gestured broadly at the state of the world.