SPQH Withdraws
Great Powers Forum Decides Against the League

At 6:05 PM, troops from the Hanseatic League (SPQH) withdrew from non-annexed Buenos Altos. The move follows a period of tense occupation as 20,000 SPQH troops were stationed alongside 25,000 Gorditas and 25,000 Lindsholm soldiers.

SPQH forces moved into Buenos Altos on January 20, 2002 because Lord Somerset, the former leader of that nation, had stated support for his nation joining the nascent Hanseatic League. However, Lord Somerset's words carried no weight as he had abdicated all power to the Ethnarch of Rattanjeetland. Because the Ethnarch's power was questioned by many after his surrender to Gorditas and Lindsholm in the War of the Three Great Powers, the SPQH seized upon the ambiguity to send troops into a nation they considered rightfully theirs.

By January 26th, the SPQH troops had occupied Buenos Altos for nearly seven days. Under international law, after one week, the land would have become automatically incorporated into the SPQH. To prevent such an annexation, 50,000 Gorditan and Lindsholmian troops entered Buenos Altos under the orders to not fire unless fired upon.

Following a series of provokative SPQH press releases, the development further upped the tension in the Northeast. However, by this time, international opinion had swayed far towards Gorditas and Lindsholm and away from the SPQH. After a request to deploy the Defensecorps in Buenos Altos to protect SPQH troops from Gorditas and Lindsholm was rejected 4-1 in the Great Powers Forum on the 28th, the Emm of the SPQH ordered his troops withdrawn and recognized Rattanjeetarr jurisdiction in Buenos Altos.

The SPQH acknowledgement of the Ethnarch's control in the area coincides with a Congressional statement released the day before. Although many expect tensions to defuse, the situation in the Northeast has proven to be anything but predictable.