- One question: Why does he arrest the player if they help EZIC less than four times, and exonerate the player if they refuse to work with EZIC at all?
- Keeping up the facade, of course. Is getting the officer to join a shady terrorist group more valuable than losing his own job?
- This is why he's personally hunting down EZIC and its collaborators: He has personal experience with EZIC and its methods, so he's best suited for the job. Not to mention, he can't risk having his history with EZIC come to light.
- That, or as a fellow smuggler. Either way, it lessens any Fridge Horror if you cross the Obristan border, but don't have any money left over for you and your family, let alone any stated place to live or work.
- That, or he just wants an excuse to punish anybody he could pin as an EZIC collaborator. Given he's The Political Officer, and this is Arstotzka, I think it's the likelier case.
- Which is still a highly incompetent move. Considering that the inspector has the EZIC decoder and coded document at that point, the smart thing to do is to tell the inspector to have the EZIC agents detained.
- It isn't incompetant in the People's Republic of Tyranny that is Arstotzka. Ruthless, yes. Short-sighted, yes. But it's likely that he only acts this way because the guys in charge of the country are all paranoid dictators who command that their secret police round up as many potential collaborators as possible, and accept arrests if they even have the flimsiest shreds of evidence against them: and since you just handed over the EZIC documents, that's all he needs to send you to the gulags, post another guard who won't cooperate with the EZIC, and get a nice bonus to his state paycheck for getting rid of another "collaborator" with the EZIC.
- But if the position is so randomly assigned again, who's to know it won't be an actual EZIC collaborator this time ?
- He'll make sure - and if he's another EZIC collaborator, he'll do the same thing to him. Again, and again, and again. It's a vicious cycle, but one where he's just fine.
- On the other hand, he can't see the papers if you leave them on your desk. Incompetence is almost certain.
- Which is still a highly incompetent move. Considering that the inspector has the EZIC decoder and coded document at that point, the smart thing to do is to tell the inspector to have the EZIC agents detained.
- It's a game over, but the inspector isn't killed or anything. He is prison being interrogated, away from his job and family. Vogel just arrest you and ask you a fell question, almost certainly torturing you in the process. It's a clever way to get information.
- Innocence proves nothing. Even if you haven't been working with EZIC and is completely loyal to the Arstotzkan government, as a member of the Secret Police, it is his job to leave no stone unturned in ensuring the security of the state that he serves. After all, what is the life and sanity of one man when compared next to the fate of an entire nation?
- Ultranationalist yes, Neo-Nazi... that's kind of stretching it. There's absoultly nothing even hinting of Arstotzka being one of Those Wacky Nazi States, or A Nazi State By Any Other Name.
- Arstotzka is indeed not a Nazi nation (The exact opposite, in fact: it's very communist). However, the theory is about how EZIC, the rebel group, is a neonazi goverment.
- On the other hand, EZIC's final goal is to destroy the border wall and allow free access to the country, which seems too egalitarian to be ultra-nationalism.
- Of course, it's entirely possible that the attack on the border wall was intended to be a false-flag attack.
- Seeing as Arstotzka is clearly based on the USSR, it's possible that EZIC is in fact some sort of neo-Czarist group, or just plain old revolutionaries.
- There is some possibility that the previous regime to which EZIC want to "restore" the country may have been vaguely analogous to Nazi Germany. Arstotzka actually has an awful lot in common with post-war East Germany. It's run by oppressive communists, it's a poverty-ridden hellhole, it has a border wall running straight through a major city ("East Grestin" is in Arstotzka while "West Grestin" is in Kolechia)... the one obvious difference, of course, is that Kolechia is apparently doing even worse than Arstotzka, which is the opposite of the relationship between West and East Germany. That said, their opposition to controlled borders and harming innocent bystanders would seem to imply that the EZIC can't be all that fascist.
- Glory To Arstotzka.
- Alternatively, the words are "Glory to Arstozka" repeated over and over.
- "Arstotzka, Greatest country in the world!"
- Adding to this theory: The good ending theme
is a famous Arstotzkan patriotic song, often sung by the military during marches. The bad ending theme
is the theme to a famous Arstotzkan opera that has very sad themes and ends in tragedy. Arstotzkan theater and cinema is similar to historic Soviet and German media which generally has very dark and negative themes.
- This would also explain why the border rules (which at the beginning were a very blunt "reject all foreigners", and presumably had been that way for a long time) are suddenly in so much flux.
- But than again, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kurdistan aren't Turkic.
- Obristan doesn't seem like an Islamic Country, as it's more like Denmark then Turkmenistan.
- or Molossia.
Separate this seems only to be the work of a paranoid dictatorial government but together with the right perspective it appears some elements within Arstotzka are attempting to reform the government with open boarders being a key part of their political strategy. It's stated Arstotzka is among the least horrible of the local countries and Jorji is quick to break into the new market but we also see independent business that's on the up and up as well as hearing about medical break throughs. For a reformist element introducing foreign culture into Arstotzka in a constructive manner, to appeal to the people breaking down old stereotypes and conservative views on outsiders, as well as establishing relations with others would be likely to win them a lot of support. As a result the Inspector is held to a very high standard through the Ministry of Information since the success or failure of the boarder issue will help determine the future of the country. To many screw ups and public opinion will turn anti-immigrant or migrant stymieing reforms.
As for M. Vonel he's a pro-reform member of government on the sly. His arrest of you when you present EZIC documents is not just being capricious. EZIC is anti-reform and actively seeking to make the boarder fail to discredit notions of change which threatens their power structure. They certainly have a lot of money to give out suggesting members with deep pockets and any change to the political or economic system could threaten those pockets. When M. Vonel arrests the inspector he is doing so to remove a potentially compromised person and assure they can issue a quick replacement rather then risking so much on a man who may turn on them. The confiscation of old travel documents is in preparation for issuing new updated passports in a different format with more information to encourage people to travel.