Fight the Axis of Evil

Fight the Axis of Evil carries the distinction of being both the first resolution in the history of the game, and the first resolution to be repealed. Authored by Maxtopia, it was widely considered illegal under the rules for proposals, even though the rules did not exist at the time the resolution was implemented. Nor did the game or even the United Nations, the body that supposedly adopted it. The resolution "passed" two votes to one the day before the NS site went live; it was only introduced as a beta-test for the UN voting system and consequently, some players argued that it was not a valid resolution anyway.

Ironically, the resolution to repeal Fight the Axis of Evil was arguably just as illegal as the original resolution. While FtAoE contained formatting errors, "bloggy" language and no operative clauses, its repeal suffered from the same issues. (Players also took issue with the original resolution's RW reference to the Axis of Evil.) The repeal took a somewhat leftist approach to the issue of terrorism, arguing that robust military responses to terror are not needed so much as health care and education, which the author implied should be bigger domestic spending priorities. It also claimed that "intelligence" is a better solution to terrorism, though it did not explain how nations ought to respond to terror threats revealed by intelligence if not through boosting military/police budgets (or indeed, why beefing up one's intelligence capabilities would not itself require more police/military spending).

As to the original, it did not make much of an argument at all, save that terrorism is a threat and that nations needed to boost military spending and build "lots of new weapons" to counter it. It stayed on the books for nearly two years, because the repeal function would not be added to the game till 2004. Prior to its repeal that year, FtAoE was briefly removed from the books along with several other resolutions for game-mechanics reasons when the game switched servers, but administrator Salusa Secondus objected and quickly re-added it as an important historical document. As soon as repeals were added, FtAoE became the most popular target for repeal authors by far. The first to make it to quorum, by New Western America, came to vote in October 2004 and passed by a hefty margin.

FtAoE was replaced by UN Counterterrorism Initiative in 2006.

Resolution text

Description: As the world become a more dangerous place, UN member nations must act swiftly in the interests of peace. This means, of course, building lots of new weapons. Only by massively increasing military budgets world-wide will we be able to restore peace and global security.

Repeal text

UN Resolution #1: Fight the Axis of Evil (Category: International Security; Strength: Strong) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

Argument: While there is much fear surrounding the issue of global terrorism, the answer is most definitely not for UN members to build massive numbers of weapons.

Four reasons:

Member nations should not be forced to have a large military budget, especially when so many are struggling to pay for domestic costs like healthcare and education.

The "Axis of Evil" could be use to label any country as an excuse for other countries to invade.

Terrorist organizations are just that, organizations, not armies, and therefore large forces are not necessary to eliminate them.

Finally, massive mobilization of troops and building of weapons only serves to bring about fear in the minds of the people.

The best way to combat global terrorism is through intelligence; perhaps a new resolution regarding this should be brought to the floor.