Roquentin

It's really not. The talks ended at an impasse with it being stated there was no perceived need to end the raids. A bunch of the original raid targets having been beiged left it ambiguous whether or not they would resume and the safe assumption given Mensa members had done sporadic raids the month before is that it would resume. A ceasefire cannot be effectively implemented unilaterally after the opposite impression is given. It's still Vanguard here on the last part: it was just stated plainly that we were in a position where we'd be open to perma raids and that it was not incumbent on your leadership to stop the raids. The discussion happened between MrHat and Pfeiffer.

If you're really interested in rehashing that: the actual initial Mensa-Vanguard talks broke off at an impasse so there was no reason to believe raids would stop. You may have decided to stop raids internally after the talks broke off and after Mensa nations had started raiding en masse, but it was only after a bunch of nations were beiged and no communication of it was given so there was no reason to believe they would stop. No one externally decided to attempt a diplomatic resolution until the initial week of war was up and the threat of outside intervention by Rose was looming. Given other mass raids have been responded to with recognition of hostilities and weren't perceived as offensive declarations, it's really not as black and white as you put it. If you tell alliances that they are are subject to perma-raids if they don't sign with a top 10 alliance or one of your allies, it's easily perceivable as a de facto state of war. I'm sure by now your policies have been adjusted for handling those situations, but if we're going to be on this subject, it's best to clarify. People who were in Vanguard don't have the OWF presence nor care to come out en masse against the posting gallery out here to constantly repeat this argument, but this has always been the point of view from the other side of that war. It's not particularly relevant to the current situation aside from Steve mentioning that situation briefly, but it's simply not as clear cut as how you were summarizing it.

Congratulations to our allies in Alpha and their new allies in Sparta.

As MrHat said, it's a sad day indeed, but also a new beginning with a lot of potential. I'm happy to have been a part of GR/Vanguard from the start and happy to be part of NPO.

Need my money. https://politicsandwar.com/nation/id=11527 Roquentin

Well, I can't wish you good luck, but here's to a good fight. Mensa seem like a quality alliance.