South Antarctic Treaty Organization

The South Antarctic Treaty Organization (SATO) is a large organization based around the south-Antarctic regions of Antarctica that concentrates on warfare ally coalition and aid. The current president of the treaty organization is Tom Saworton. It is an allied coalition of nation that most of the time help each other during war. It was founded in 2004, however the big boost of the treaty organization was in 2007, when many people joined. A dozen countries have joined as of 2013. Even though not all countries are a part of SATO, it still takes a yearly population census for all countries.

Summits
Summits have been held annually since 2012, with as many as 4 a year depending on Antarctic events such as war. Each summit is held in a different city, and new applicants for SATO membership must be approved in a summit first.

Potential UP Exit
The United Provinces have stated multiple times in 2017 their intention to quit SATO in favour of closer cooperation inside the Western Union, but on February 19, 2018, President Simon McClark stated "my government is officially examining the possibility of a UP exit from the South Antarctic Treaty Organization, possibly dragging several other countries out as well". Tom Saworton was quick to ask President McClark to "reconsider this decision".

President McClark ended up putting the decision to exit SATO on hold, but at the 2018 SATO summit he openly questioned the entire alliance's existence and asked its member states: "What's the point of this defensive alliance if it is merely just on paper? Acadia is always in a spat with the United States of Antarctica. Shops Island always threatens little nations. My country is no goody two-shoes either, plus Shops Island is additionally represented unfairly by three more states - Chill Island, Moon Island and Freezestonia - giving it additional voting power in the organization. Four of the alliance members are already part of the much larger and much more integrated Western Union. What is the purpose of this alliance? It is completely obsolete."

None of the leaders at the meeting managed to successfully reply to McClark's question, instead calling for enhanced interrogation, and Lavender stated that the alliance must 'learn from past mistakes' and 'seek to enhance military and defense cooperation'. Additionally, he rebuked McClark's comments regarding the membership of Shops Island's three autonomous states. President Brant Esser echoed McClark's remarks, accusing the USA of openly supporting Pengolian terrorism. The President of Tropicalis, who was the host of the summit, said that he 'does not see SATO as obsolete' and believes that international cooperation could be enhanced.

Donal Tenorio, Treasurer and future president of the USA, was quick to cheep about the matter, agreeing that SATO was bad, but for different reasons. He stated "The USA being part of SATO is a terrible Deal. Other countries taking advantage of us and not paying their way for Defense, like Crybaby Brant and Whineman McClark. Sad!"

Trivia

 * It's a parody of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
 * The first time SATO had fought together as an alliance was during Great Snowzerland War VI.
 * NATO was disbanded in late 2012 in favor of SATO, and all NATO members had expected to join SATO. However, only Turtly and Pengonia have so far.
 * West Pengolia was told to join SATO under the USA.
 * New Maverick declined an offer by SATO to join the alliance.
 * Acadian president Esser threatened to leave SATO after Acadexit in late 2016 because the USA is also in it, but was convinced not to by Simon McClark and other Western Union allies.