Since the tender ages of this competition, many peoples, inside the den areas and on its periphery, have been prattling that the key to the ultimate strategies is to overdose on reality TV viewing. And it is maybe true that this helps. But not in my case. I have never watched the reality TV, although it is also the latest craze in my areas (in our game the contestants make awesome competitions of eating many herrings and likesuch). I have not had the pleasures (or displeasures) of television ownerships for many years and I do not think this gives me disadvantage in daily being, nor in my high-energy performance on the strategic stage of Ultimate Blogman competitions. I never watched reality TV, but I have read the history books...

RIBBENTROP MOLOTOV PACT

In the nervous summer of 1939, my hometown areas were squatting quietly inside the newly reborn Polish Republic - a country uncomfortably sandwiched between Nazi Germany and the USSR. Six years later, we found ourselves stuck on the western edge of the Byelorussian SSR, looking with the fat eyes of regrets at our extended cousin networks, which were thriving on the other side of the border. How did this happen?

On August 23rd 1939, when the rest of the world was closing eyes and producing wet dreams instead of looking Hitler in the eyes, the foreign ministers of Germany and the USSR, Ribbentrop and Molotov, met to put their pens upon the greatest and most diabolocal pact that was ever produced. Their primary concerns were to secure non-agression in the case of war, which at that time was already in Hitler's oven. It may seem strange that two such radically oposed ideologies can reach this common agreement, but then like now it is not ideologies that are primordial in strategies, but the real Politik.

What is most profound about this pact is that it contained the famous secret clause that cut up Eastern Europe between Stalin and Hitler. In the end, it is because of this that I am now in Byelorussia and my cousins are not. It is also for these reasons - because these lands upon which I have grazed throughout my life were so deeply impregnated by the blood of many battles - that this history sprints through my cardio-vascular tract. I have learned from the greatest masters how to play these games. These men that I hate but which I must emulate in order to become primo. Everybody knows what the outcome of these old histories is, so I will not bore you with it, but there are three things that are of particular importance to our game:

1. Hitler betrayed Stalin in 1942 and launched operation Barbarosa.
2. Stalin emerged victorious and the USSR was the only country to gain territories in the war.
3. Remember, the most essential clause of the Ribbentrop Molotov Pact was secret.

OUR RM39: The Present Era

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship:

This is how it began. A message posted soon after I received the first immunity. Clearly this Ritchey was also a keen strategist and deft with politics. She backed the winning horse, unlike Eddie, who became our first victim thanks to his attitude and post.
We formed the core Politbyuro cell of RM39 between us. The agreement was to each occupy ourselves with the recruiting of various sub-cells, to which each of us would have exclusive access as controller, thus gaining our sub-cells' trust and also keeping the greater structure disconnected. The fundamental idea is to make it difficult (or ideally impossible) for the various cells of the structure to communicate with each other independently. Everything must thus pass through the Politbyuro. Furthermore, we endeavour to blur the chain of command by not revealing exactly who was involved in the alliance and certainly not saying who was in the Politbyuro! In this way, we could achieve several results:

1. Our sub-units could not debate with one another about strategy.
We would always create an artificial debate with our sub-cells, giving them two or three options to vote off but always directing them more in one direction. The debate was rigged. The result was expected and programmed.

2. Our sub-units could not plot against us.
Not knowing who was in RM39 meant that each unit was at immense risk if they tried to contact other supposed members of the alliance. If they made the wrong choice, they would be revealing our alliance to the opposition, thus weakening themselves, because they were, after all, members of the strongest group. Also, they risked betraying themselves to the Politbyuro itself, since they did not know exactly what bonds we had with the other sub-cells.

3. Our sub-units could easily be manoeuvred against each other.
In the example of the vote against Lois for instance: she would have been able to foresee her defeat (and possibly defect) had she been aware that RM39 had sentenced her to exile.

I was primary controller of Medya, whom I recruited off the den with this message:

As controller, it was my duty to nurse him into trust, however I never agreed to give him the iPod which he demanded from the very beginning. Ritchey had Lois under her wings and, as far as I am informed, she cooperated suitably with us. Mimi was on a different level. Ritchey and I both had contacts with her, although Ritchey was doubtless her primary contact. Mimi was not part of the Politbyuro (as far as I am concerned) but we always held her in highests esteem and discussed truly and sincerely with her the votings. We also had more reasons to fear her because her posts were always top class and she was more independent in her contacts with the oppositions. I take this occasion, once again, to tip my hat to her, eventhough we are now in opposition.

RM39 also frequently voted in coordination with the so-called "Merit Badgers", although the coordination was only achieved through Politbyuro of course: mainly Ritchey who would iChat with James or Willow. These coordinated votes also helped us mask our identities and number. The sub-cells of our organization would look at the results and wonder if there were really seven members. We also did not seek to crush the Merit Badgers when we could have because we found that it was useful to keep two alliances in order to draw people closer to us (for protection from the other alliance). We also kept Joel in the game longer than expected. This was because I personally appreciate his provocative character but also - from strategics' poinnt of view - in order to polarize the other votes. As long as he was here, the lone voters would vote for him, whilst the alliances voted off the lone voters, thus preserving themselves.

Around Challenge no.5, the threats and rumours of defection grew higher and, surely enough, Medya went across to the Badgers (probably enticed by iPod bribes). It was also very worrying for almost everyone in our organization when Mimi received a vote against her. This further created suspicions against Lois.

Finally, I would like to point out that RM39 was truly the greatest and most massive (visible - because, despite your words Ritchey, it was never secret, never meta) alliance in the competition. Not only from the points of view of strategy but also of excellence: five out of the eight challenges were won by our elites, and this is not the result of strategies and trickeries, but of solid work, creativity, humour and commitment.

R.I.P. : The Bitterest End

I voted my dearest comrade, Ritchey, off. This was by far the hardest, most painful and emotional moment in this game. At the beginning I believed we were but allies in class struggle; in the end I came to realize we had become close friends. Throughout this competition, we spent many hours discussing animals, music, politics and such things over emails and iChats. We shared stories from our homelands, our childhoods, our dinner plates. I gave her tales of famous slavic bisons that wandered far and wide, she gave me the rocky mountains and the giant elephants that swim unto the shores of the Pacific Ocean. These past months have been hard for me here, far from home and missing it, but thanks to my comrade there were many pleasant times and stimulating exchanges.
She was my friend. I loved her. I killed her.
Please accept this homage: