WesWorld

Some of this should be under the Andaman Sea thread, but due to the amount of time since the last post on that thread, I will post annual updates instead under their own headings.
Starting with a partial 1924...........



Dagblatet Politiken November 2nd 1924, Evening Edition.

As a result of the events in the Folketing yesterday morning after the release of the report of Justice Van Der Zee on Foreign Arms Dealings, the Speaker of the Folketing issued a warning to all members of the chamber at the commencement of the day’s proceedings.

As the chamber was closed to the press, the following is a short section of the transcript of the proceedings that has been leaked to this paper.

“It was with deep regret and shame that I witnessed the proceedings in this chamber yesterday. It has been my honour to hold the position of Speaker of the Folketing for 17 years and during that time this nation has faced many trials, among them The Virgin Islands Debate, The Great War, The Nordmark Incident, and recently The Andaman Sea Crisis.”

“As a result, and after deliberation with the Chief Justice, I hereby invoke ALL the conditions of the Rules of Custom and Procedure with relation to the conduct of members of the Folketing, and will brook not deviation from these conditions for as long as is required to bring this current issue to a final resolution. Be fore-warned, any breach of these conditions or dissent from any member, will result in their IMMEDIATE removal from the Folketing and suspension for a period of one month.”

After an initial short outburst from the back benches on both sides of the chamber, resulting in the removal of 4 deputies by the Stewards, the assembled members settled down and the Prime Minister, the Rt.Hon. Carl Theodor Zahle, made a statement concerning the Foreign Arms Report.

“I will keep my statement brief, as I have not yet had an opportunity to fully digest the report of Justice Van Der Zee. At first glance, it would appear that there are some issues that need to be answered. However, until such time as the Cabinet and I have had a chance to study the report, I will not be in a position to answer any questions on the issue.”

With the removal of the 4 deputies fresh in their minds, the only response from the house was a low, rather ugly murmur that ran through the opposition benches.

The leader of the opposition, Niels Thomasius Neergaard, stood to receive the attention of the Speaker as per the Rules of Custom and Procedure, and having been recognised by him, he addressed the members of the Folketing.
“I wish to ask two questions of the Prime Minister. The members of the opposition parties and I would like to know if he is going to address this issue with the alacrity it deserves, and if he is in possession of information relating to the location of his brother?”

In response, the Prime Minister said “I refer the honourable gentleman to my previous statement”, gathered his papers and left the house with the members of his party, to the frustrated sounds of all the opposition members trying to gain the speakers eye.



Jytlands-Posten, November 3rd, 1924
Editorial Comment

To paraphrase the celebrated English Playwright, William Shakespeare,
“Something is rotten in the state of Danish politics!”

I call on all readers to write to their elected representatives, and demand a full accounting from the government for the events of recent times that have brought this nation to the very brink of a major conflict, have sullied the name and status of Denmark internationally, and cost the lives of many of our brave seamen. The response of the Prime Minister in the Folketing yesterday is not acceptable, and the Danish people deserve the truth.

WE AWAIT YOUR REPLY!!!!



The Siamese Sentinel, November 10th, 1924


After taking approximately 6 times longer than was expected for their deliberations, the 3 judges in the Siamese Gun Running trial have found Quartermaster General Kriangsak Chomanan and 5 of his 6 co-defendants guilty of all charges laid against them. Of these charges, the charge of Treason carries an automatic death sentence. When the verdict was read out to the court, the senior judge Kukrit Khwan Sai, made the following statement.

“Due to the nature of your crimes, and the damage that they have caused the Kingdom of Siam, We have discussed your sentences at length. As your motives seem to have been driven by avarice, it has been decided that you are each to be condemned to ‘ Sharing’, sentence to be carried out in 2 weeks.”

Upon hearing of their fate, one of the defendants climbed over the front of the dock and threw himself on the guards below, impaling himself on one of the ceremonial spears they were carrying. He was taken away for medical treatment after being tended to by one of the court stewards, “Unfortunately for him, he will live” he was heard to say to a colleague later.




Jytlands-Posten, November 16th, 1924
Editorial Comment

2 weeks after leaving the Folketing to study the report of Justice Van Der Zee on Foreign Arms Dealings, the Prime Minister, Carl Theodor Zahle, and the cabinet returned to the Folketing for what was expected and assumed to be the much awaited answer to their deliberations on the report’s contents.

However, as has been proven many times before when dealing with the current government, assumption is the mother of all errors!

I will not bore you with the full version of the Prime Minister’s statement, so here are a few of the salient points.

1 = He APPRECIATES that there are issues arising from the arms dealings with Siam.

2 = He is aware that the Minister of Defence MAY HAVE BEEN IN ERROR when he conducted a deal with the Siamese Quarter Master General, General Kriangsak Chomanan.

3 = He ACKNOWLEDGES that questions need to be answered, but due to the disappearance of his brother, Christian Anders Zahle, the Minister of Defence, these questions will have to wait until a later date.

I have asked a friend of mine, a constitutional lawyer, what the Prime Minister’s comment may mean and was HORRIFIED when he told me that a little known clause in the Rules of Custom and Procedure for members of the Folketing, when taken to it’s extremes, allows the Prime Minister to shelve this issue until the member of the Folketing most capable of answering these queries, or in other words until his brother, re-appears; or 1 year after the date of that member’s (a.k.a. his brother) last appearance in the Folketing.

So, dear readers, you and I may well be left in the dark about this whole nasty affair for some time yet!!



The Siamese Sentinel, November 24th, 1924.


On the day assigned for the execution of the sentences on Quartermaster General Kriangsak Chomanan and his fellow condemned, they were taken under heavy guard to the Royal Park where the ancient form of execution was to be conducted.

The King was present for the executions, and issued an instruction that after the ceremonial dishonourary discharges of the military condemned, Kriangsak Chomanan was to be spared the pain of ‘Sharing’ as a result of his co-operation with the investigation into the arms smuggling.
The former general was dispatched with a single pistol shot to the head, but the rest were to suffer the full horror of the ‘Sharing’.

As is traditional after such executions, the severed heads of the condemned were placed on pikes outside the Royal Palace, with the written warning below “SO DIE ALL TRAITORS!”




Jytlands-Posten, December 17th, 1924


After a meeting in Congress Hall in Copenhagen, Niels Petersen, Leader of the Shipyard Workers Union, was asked about the continuing reduction in naval shipbuilding and the effect it was having on his members.

“We had been in contact with the Minister for Defence about the situation regarding the level of ship-building in the naval yards around the country, but as he is now missing we have been left without any definite response to our concerns.”

When asked about his member’s feelings on the ongoing situation, he replied “I believe that the majority of my members hope the current reduction in building is only a temporary measure and that when the new year rolls around, the traditional batch of new vessels will bring back the usual level of activity in the yards. And I do truly hope that this is true.”

"Tigers," muttered the Foreign Minister. "They should have thrown them to the tigers..."

Sharing?

Don't know what that is either, but I have the impression that it is too gruesome to put into words.
:-)

Sharing = being tied equally between 4 elephants and the rest you can guess, and if you manage to survive, you get beheaded for your trouble

Nasty eh?

How perfectly delightful!

Good to know somebody's being as gruesomely creative as me.

Foreign Minister: "I still say they should have thrown them to the tigers."

:-)

In Atlantis we have a much more comical way to deal with undesirables. We dress them up in red jump suits and set them loose in a bull pen with 3 or 4 Lyrian Bulls.

The fun part is watching several people in red jump suits running arround frantically with ill tempered bulls stomping around with chips on their sholders.

Wes, I have the feeling that the Atlanteans are one step removed to something that is similar to "The Running Man".
:-)
The Tokugawa Shogunate also have some nasty ways to dispose of undesirables. However, they are smart enough not to hold it in public or release any details to the public through AWNR: CFJ. This way the Citizens will not complain about the cruel methods that are used by the Shogunate.

Quoted

The fun part is watching several people in red jump suits running arround frantically with ill tempered bulls stomping around with chips on their sholders.

Cow chips?

Another hazard for the undesirables!