The Krantz Doctrine

This Commonwealth believes in freedom and democracy.
We have shown this conviction time and time again, paid for it with the blood of our People,
but while we must be willing to do so again, to defend our fellow humanity from injustice and villainy,
is it not far better that freedom be won and shared not by the spilt blood of our children,
but by the friendship and closeness with the nations and peoples who desire freedom?
I say it is better, my dear friends, and I say that if the cost of avoiding a drop of our nations blood
from ever again having to be spilt in the name of freedom is all the money I have, or ever will, or
that it would cost this Commonwealth more wealth than an actual war would,
that would be the greatest deal our Commonwealth has ever made.

— Excerpt from Foreign Secretary Konrad Krantz's Special Address to Parliament

The "Krantz Doctrine" is a term referring to a collection of United Commonwealth Foreign policy goals and methods, mostly developed and championed by the previous Foreign Secretary of the Weslich Empire and the current U.C. Foreign Commissioner, Konrad Krantz, with the primary goal of the prevention of the occurence of another Great War, with the resulting destruction and loss of life, by ensuring the Geopolitical Hegemony of the United Commonwealth.
The Doctrine was first "declared" to Parliament on 15/6/177, when then Secretary Krantz, who had recently arranged for the surrender of the Government of the Tsardom of Vostokya, began his address by encouraging the continued stationing of large military formations within the territory of both Alphanian allies and the newly formed Republic of Kievansk, and the pledging of significant aid to its economy, and those of the other defeated and allied nations, as well as support for democratisation and liberalisation.
The Krantz Doctrine would develop into the central guiding United Commonwealth policy, with regards to topics such as non-U.C. trade and defense treaties, and providing political, economic and even military support to any nation willing to publicly declare support for the United Commonwealth.
Due in part to the prominence placed by the U.C.'s seemingly main rival, the People's Union of Bothnia, on its political and economic ideologies of Populism and Collectivism, the United Commonwealth would often publicly denounce any nation that adhered to these ideologies, but stopped short of initiating unilateral actions against such goverments, instead opting for courting public opinion, and using diplomatic routes to sway these nations to be, if not on the side of the U.C., then at least in opposition to the P.U.B.

The Waldavian Hills Crisis

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The Waldavian Highlands, part of the Central Alphanian Highlands, are a particularly resource rich region resting on the border between the P.U.B. and the Kingdom of Waldavia, a close democratic ally of the United Commonwealth. After the Third Great War, the Bothnian governemnt, backed by its large ground forces orginally deployed against the Vostokyans and now lying in Occupied Territory near the Waldavian border, pressured the Kingdom to accede the region, and its population and resources, to the P.U.B.
The Kingdom resisted, and called upon the United Commonwealth for assistance. This call led to a conference between members of Parliament, the Commission, the Council of Nations and the Foreign Affairs Council. Together, they eventually elected to support the Waldavians, culminating in the instruction of Foreign Secretary Konrad Krantz to deliver an address to Parliament, asking for authorisation to provide the support, and marking the beginning of what would be termed the Krantz Doctrine.
The crisis continued to escalate, however, with both sides increasing their troop and aircraft deployments in the region. However, in the weeks after the arrival of Secretary Krantz, Albionian Prime Minister Grace Meadows, and other officials and diplomats in the Bothnian capital of Laajatorni for a conference with the Bothian leadership, deescalation efforts began and were succesfully able to stop war from breaking out.

The Haakala Incident

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On the morning of the 3rd of September, 178, a police raid was conducted on the Albion home of Prof. Jori Haakala. Mr. Haakala was a researcher on Project Samafar, which was the United Commonwealth military and scientific project behind the creation of Atmoic Arms and energy sources.
Mr Hakaala, it was revealed, had been leaking important details of the project to the People's Union of Bothnia for several years, since he first entered it. This arrest was immediately followed by condemnation from the P.U.B., and the revelation that the P.U.B. had already unlocked the secret of Atomic weaponry, and was rapidly building up weapons stockpiles.
In keeping with the general principles of the Krantz Doctrine, the United Commonwealth defended the Professor's arrest, blasted the P.U.B.'s actions as endangering international peace, and initiated parallel procedures to pressure P.U.B. allies to turn on the P.U.B., to rapidly increase the U.C.'s Atomic arsenal on the World, and conduct diplomatic dialogues with the P.U.B. directly, to attempt to defuse the situation.
This incident would mark the beginning of a long period of distrust between the two political entities, even worse than that during the Waldavian Hills Crisis. From this period onwards, the respective intelligence agencies and organisations of the two factions, primarily the Yleinen Turvallisuuskomitea, or YTK on the Bothnian side and the Security and Intelligence Committee on the United Commonwealth side, comprising the chiefs of member states own agencies, would begin engaging in secret activities in each others territory with the intention of finding out what the other side was doing.

Project Ether

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Project Ether was the designation given to the efforts of various United Commonwealth military and intelligence research organisations to create and deploy a series of equipment to assist in conducting espionage on the People's Union of Bothnia, and their allies on other Worlds, and was initiated at the same time as the Waldavian Hills Crisis was heating up.
While a great deal of the funds were appropriated from the Army, Navy and the newly formed Air Force, and the project began under the designation of a military reconnaissance initiative, the main users of the end products would be inteligence agencies, though the military retained some use. The project itself was divided into smaller sub-projects, aimed towards specific tasks such as Aerial Reconnaisance, Orbital Reconnaisance, Signals Intelligence, and others.
The approval for the project is often attributed towards the case presented by the freshly appointed Foreign Commissioner Kurtz to members of the Council of Nations and Parliament. The resulting information gained by Ether related sources is said to have been instrumental in many of the United Commonwealth's successes in dealing with the P.U.B., and funding towards the many Projects continues to this day.
Project Ether has been lauded by some as having provided an avenue for government fundng to be directed to ends that have helpful civilian public applications. This includes many advancements in Orbital, communications and aircaft technologies made to accomodate the requirements of the Projects.

The Radenstein War

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However, despite the generally peaceful nature of the Krantz Doctrine, there have been situations where Military Force has been applied, most notably against the People's Republic of Radenstein, a totalitarian dictatorship that had close ties with the P.U.B. While originally the policy was to keep relations civil, and "play the long game", it was revealed that the military government of Radenstein had been engaging in atrocities and masacres of various ethnic groups within their country, with an estimated 20,000 people having been murdered by its reveal.
This resulted in heavy international condemnation when the atrocities were revealed by journalists, and the Bothnians, appalled by the crimes and not wishing to be caught up in the uproar, disengaged diplomatic relations with the Radensteians, and issued their own condemnations and embargoes.
In order to put an end to the atrocities, the United Commonwealth declared war via Parliament, and threatened an invasion. The U.C. Air Force and Navy also conducted air and missile strikes on important Radensteian targets, such as power plants, certain bridges and military airplane landing strips.
After a few weeks of bombing, the Radenstein goverment surrendered, and their Premier resigned. He, alongside most major civilian and military officials and leaders who took part in the massacres, was trialed in courts and sentenced to life imprisonment.
These actions were noted for being an example of military actions being undertaken that actually increased the reputation of the United Commonwealth on the international stage, and the creation of a new free and democratic goverment to replace the fallen one in the country, which would soon gain membership into the United Commonwealth.

Long term and International effects

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The Krantz Doctrine is still farely new, and so no one has a great deal of evidence to help ascertain its success rate and future in detail. However, its proponents, including many reputed foreign policy experts and of course Commissioner Krantz himself point out that that the ends and the means to reach them as dictated by the policy, have resulted in many nations following the path of the United Commonwealth and turning their backs on the People's Union of Bothnia, their allies, and other nations seeking to challenge the U.C.
These supporters particularly contrast it to the alternative policies dictated by hardliners in the Commonwealth, who would often proclaim support for taking direct action against the governments of nations aligned with the P.U.B. It is argued that had these actions been taken, regimes like the ones that had been defeated by the U.C. would spring up in their place, and the reputation of the United Commonwealth would be tarnished by such actions.
Instead, the "Krantz Doctrine" has resulted in billions of Cheques in funding from the United Commonwealth being sent to help develop other nations, both recently defeated and officially neutral, in order to act as a, so far successful, balance against attempts by the U.C.'s rivals to do the same.