2016 January Crisis

The January Crisis started on December 25th, 2015 and continued until late January. It was the very first crisis between a nation and another nation in year 2016, as well as the first one for months. Fear of a nuclear war was at its highest level. United Provinces and Shops Island both took the USA and Margate's side. President McClark of the United Provinces on December 25th stated his anger at the East Pengolian "terrorist-sponsoring regime", and that East Pengolia will be dealt with in the most harsh way possible.

Prelude
The USA, Margate, United Provinces and Shops Island all together conducted airstrikes around East Pengolia. Bolsheevic Penguinsky already expressed his anger with these bombings, but was not ready to conduct any further action; East Pengolia has all throughout December 2015 already been preparing for a potential war with the four countries. In fact, East Pengolia was ''supporting' the terrorists in secrecy; it was accused multiple times of aiding the terrorists, especially the Red East Pengolian Terrorists, and they denied that every time and tried to assure the counter-terrorist nations that they are supporting the counter-terrorist cause.

On Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2015, Margatian airstrikes successfully killed the leader of the Red East Pengolian Terrorists and also his few advisors. A few minutes later, an Antarctican airstrike also killed a convoy of REPT military leaders. Remaining REPT leaders who managed to survive quickly asked for help from the East Pengolian government. The East Pengolian leader Bolsheevic Penguinsky had a secret conference with the new acting leader of the Red East Pengolian Leader, Mikhail Antonov, who is a general as well. After the conference, the two agreed to tell the world that the Margatian and Antarctican airstrikes killed one of the East Pengolian top leaders, and use that as a demand for a full apology as well as 1,000,000 CP coins, and in case they refuse they would mobilize and attack the Margatians and Antarcticans.

So later in the day, Bolsheevic Penguinsky publicly accused the Antarcticans and Margatians of killing East Pengolian leaders, and called these attacks as "an act of war". He gave the two countries an ultimatum demanding an immediate apology and 10,000,000 CP coins in reparations.

The Crisis
The USA and Margatians were thinking at first that it maybe is true that they accidentally murdered East Pengolian leaders. They could send a full apology, but the question on repaying the casualties is quite hard to answer.

However, soon after the United Provinces, who were also conducting airstrikes at the time, stated Margate and the USA should apologize for the crime against the East Pengolian government; they wanted absolutely no escalation of the incident.

Shops Island, on the other hand, was eager to escalate the conflict and had already started outright bombing East Pengolia, to see how far they could push the envelope.

But then, on Christmas Day, United Provinces and Margatian intelligence discovered they did in fact, kill REPT leaders, not East Pengolian. This was immediately pointed out to East Pengolia, and the East Pengolian government denied it.

After gathering enough intelligence and other data, at midnight of December 25th, 2015 Margate rejected the ultimatum, and the USA did the same shortly after as well. The United Provinces and Shops Island, on December 26th, declared that they were on the Margatian and Antarctican side of the crisis. East Pengolia put its plans for war on halt.

On December 26th, at around 8:00 PM Snowinian time, Simon McClark confirmed that "East Pengolia is a terrorist sponsoring regime that must be dealt with in the most harsh way possible".

January 5th Airliner Downing Incident
On January 5th, at approximately 7:02 PM, a UP military jet was flying over Asiapelagoan international waters. Shortly after, the aircraft was intercepted by East Pengolian fighters and shot down when the crew refused to be escorted towards East Pengolian territory. The UP jet exploded and fell in the water, claiming all three lives on board. The United Provinces were in complete shock.

News headlines all over the USA, Margate, Asiapelago, and the Ninja Archipelago, as well as Snowiny itself, were filled with the headlines "UNITED PROVINCES ATTACKED BY EAST PENGOLIA", "UP JET SHOT DOWN BY EAST PENGOLIAN AIRCRAFT" and, in Snowiny and Margate, most headlines were "WAR? JET SHOT DOWN BY EAST PENGOLIA IN ASIAPELAGO".

On January 6th, McClark in a hurry condemned the incident and stated he was shocked by the fact that the East Pengolians actually want to escalate the crisis. Bolsheevic Penguinsky publically laughed at the United Provinces on the radio that day and stated "They deserve the pain and suffering".

On January 7th, 2015, McClark spoke in the UP parliament to his country and the rest of Antarctica. He condemned the downing of the Snowinn jet but hoped peace will be made at last.

January 7th - January 17th Blockade of East Pengolia
On January 8th, 2015, without any kind of declaration of war, McClark ordered his navy to blockade all ports in East Pengolia and completely burn their economy until they decide to surrender. 2 days later, all Western Union members, as well as the USA, placed sanctions against East Pengolia, and in a matter of days the East Pengolian economy hit its record low and almost went bankrupt. McClark threatened to hurt East Pengolia's economy until it dies if East Pengolia doesn't back down and accept Snowiny's ultimatum:

1. Let counter-terrorist troops send their troops to East Pengolia to combat terrorists

2. Let counter-terrorist countries carry out airstrikes in terrorist-controlled regions of East Pengolia

3. Reparations of 2,700,000 coins for the fallen jet

4. Agree to not send any kind of support towards terrorists, no matter their political orientation

5. Allow counter-terrorist spies to operate in East Pengolia against the terrorists

On January 17th, Bolsheevic Penguinsky agreed to all points of the ultimatum but the 2nd and 3rd one; the 2nd one because they are afraid the counter-terrorist nations will severely damage the East Pengolian infrastructure, and the 3rd one because they believed the price was exaggerated. On January 18th, United Provinces ignored the East Pengolian wishes of not letting counter-terrorist countries carrying airstrikes in East Pengolia and ordered his countries bomb all areas of the country controlled by terrorists.

On January 20th, in a phone conversation with McClark, Penguinsky confirmed he doesn't want a war with the UP and asked for a face-to-face compromise to this issue, and McClark agreed but also brought foreign minister Joseph Schmidt with him. On January 22nd, the two conferred in Metido, the capital city of Castilla, where Bolsheevic Penguinsky agreed to all 5 terms. On January 21st, the crisis was officially declared over, with the counter-terrorist victory.

Aftermath
After the end of the conflict, Penguinsky realized his heart had become bitter, and that he had turned into an angry communist instead of being the socialist he wanted to be. Despite disagreements among the Pengolian Socialist Party at an emergency meeting held by Penguinsky, he (officially) declared that they would no longer fund the Red East Pengolian Terrorists, and that anyone associating with them would be arrested. After the AWOT ended, all of the anti-terrorist forces left East Pengolia, except for the EPF, who Penguinsky allowed to stay solely to aid with anti-terrorism operations. East Pengolia switched from the angry war state it had been in since 2013 in favor of a neutral socialism, focused on making the citizens and the workers prosper.

Most sanctions were removed from the country after significant evidence that it had changed its focus away from conflict, but some in the government disagreed with Penguinsky and continued to fund the Red East Pengolian Terrorists in secret. This would lead to the Pengolian War in 2017, and Penguinsky personally purging his government of the "communists" within.

Trivia

 * This is the first international crisis in 2016.