Marad ha-Mussafi

Marad ha-Mussafi (born June 21, 1959) is a Haksar politician, statesman and military official who has been serving as the regent general of Haksarad since December 21, 2020. He was also first officer from October 17, 2013, minister of war from June 23, 2005 and an officer on the Chamber of Officers from February 8, 1991, all of which ended upon his inauguration to the office of regent general on December 21, 2020.

Ha-Mussafi was born and raised in Gosir and studied theology and history at Agushad Tashur State University, later returning to complete a master's degree in philosophy. At age 22, he joined the religious paramilitary group Arwad Tanashirin Tashur—which at the time was endorsed by the state and loosely incorporated into the Armed Forces of Haksarad—and he would remain a member for 10 years. In 1991, he was selected by the regent general to become a sitting member of the Chamber of Officers, the upper house of the Haksar legislature, the National Diet. Ha-Mussafi was special liaison to the arwads for 9 years, until the cooperation between the arwads and the central government was drastically reduced by the Arwad Divorce Act of 2000 following a series of controversies surrounding the presence of arwad soldiers in Agarad, thereafter becoming special liaison to the Haksar ruwadhs. As a member of the Chamber of Officers, ha-Mussafi was tentatively supportive of Haksar intervention in the 2004 Watanese coup on the side of the government, though he was opposed to involvement in the 2016 coup attempt. Following the death of the former first officer Rahbad Ghatrami in 2013, ha-Mussafi was selected to replace him.

During his 12 years as first officer, ha-Mussafi frequently functioned as negotiator for the administration when dealing with political opposition in the government, foreign delegates, religious leaders and media outlets. He was crucial in the renegotiation of several trade deals that were considered to be injurious to the Haksar economy, as well as in the procurement of investment in the burgeoning Haksar industry. He also continued to utilize the extensive connections he had built over his long career—particularly those with the ruwadhs, who are closely linked to the Haksar courts—to strengthen his position within the government and to further develop his public image as a bold, resolute and authoritative leader. This coincided with a sharp downturn in the already declining public opinion of Yasteffa. In 2020, shortly after winning reelection, Yasteffa was impeached, making ha-Mussafi the provisional regent general.

Ha-Mussafi, at the head of his newly-formed National Action Party, swept the snap election, winning the regent generalship with 73% of the vote. Much of his first year as regent general was spent wrestling with the entrenched elite, primarily those in the Chamber of Officers, all of whom had been appointed by previous regent generals, many several decades ago. The chamber selected Shafed h'Odrami, a staunch proponent of Yasteffite policy, to be the new first officer. This struggle  ultimately culminated in the regent general's victory in September 2021, when many of ha-Mussafi's political opponents in the government were arrested and removed, causing snap elections in the Chamber of Deputies and allowing him to stack the Chamber of Officers with Mussafists. His tenure as regent general has seen wide-ranging changes to labor laws, trade policy, corruption laws and foreign policy, as well as the introduction of several aimed at increasing the centralization of power around the regent general. Since his inauguration, many experts have begun to evaluate Haksarad as an, whereas the nation had been considered a for nearly a hundred years.

Early life and education
Marad ha-Mussafi was born on June 21, 1959 in Gosir. His father was Wadim ha-Mussafi, a factory worker and veteran of the First World War, the Haksar Civil War and the Second World War, who was severely injured in the last of these. His mother was Lazala ha-Mussafi, the daughter of a military commander that died during WWI. Marad was born into a poor family, and his parents had had five sons before him, Baidar, Pashir, Shafed, Ahrash and Qeldim. However, all of these sons died in the !PROXY WAR in Agarad a few years before he was born. If his brothers had survived, Marad would have been the youngest by far, being born over 20 years after the second youngest to two parents both in their 60s. An only child born to two grieving parents, Marad was doted on by his parents, but also largely responsible for taking care of them from a young age. He showed a great filial love for both his parents, largely manifesting as rigorous care and attendance to his mother and a deep respect and reverence for his father, whom ha-Mussafi would later describe as a "resilient, rigid and virile man," despite his age and his old wound, who "death only took when he decided to permit it." Ha-Mussafi and his family lived in Gosir until 1966, when they moved to Kheder to live with his uncle as a result of his father's declining health.

Wadim died in 1968, and Lazala followed suit a year later in 1969. These two deaths had a great impact on the young Marad, who was now to be raised by his uncle Pakhur, who had no children of his own.

In 1979, ha-Mussafi started at Agushad Tashur State University as a student of theology and history. During his education at the university, he became increasingly radicalized, and was particularly fond of the writings of Tashrak Khulwat and Drakat Mown. Soon, he began associating with likeminded students and professors who shared his ultranationalist, paternalistic and ultraconservative views on foreign policy, domestic policy and social issues. In 1981, he joined the religiously extremist militia group Arwad Tanashirin Tashur, which was, at the time, attached to the state's armed forces.

Arwad Tanashirin Tashur
After graduating, ha-Mussafi devoted himself full-time to the arwad, deploying with the paramilitary to the Agar Civil War. In 1988, he was promoted to a command position, allowing him regular returns home to visit his wife, who soon gave birth to their first son, named Wadir after Marad's father. In his leadership position, ha-Mussafi increased the level of cooperation between the Arwad Tanashirin Tashur and the Armed Forces of Haksarad, and other arwads in Agarad followed suit. His ascension to command closely followed the collapse of the Republican Front into several splinter factions, including the Jarader Forces, which Haksarad soon sought to support, hoping to reconcile the more moderate rebels with the Rukhul Loyalists. While he was already rather prominent in Haksarad and Agarad, it was during the negotiations between Haksarad and the JF that he would first catch the eye of the international public. In a 1988 interview, ha-Mussafi condemned the RF and any foreign nation who supported them as terrorists, specifically naming Riyude as the "instigators and profiteers of the war." Around the same time, he was famously dismissive of questions and criticism regarding the high casualties and supposed abuses by the arwads in Agarad, blaming the international community's concerns on "a delusion that we left war and death behind three decades ago," claiming instead that "war and death are the foundations of peace and life; we will turn the war and death wrought here by foreigners into new peace and new life." Ha-Mussafi would remain an influential member of the Arwad Tanashirin Tashur until he was made a member of the Chamber of Officers in 1991, which involved a transfer from the paramilitary organization to the army.

Officer of the National Diet
Ha-Mussafi's effective command of the Arwad Tanashirin Tashur attracted the attention of then regent general Manrak Sharmat, and when a seat on the Chamber of Officers was made vacant in 1991, Sharmat selected him to fill it. In order to make use of his tight bonds with the arwads, ha-Mussafi was made a special liaison to them, operating as the primary representative of the government's interests when negotiating with and directing the holy orders. He performed this function for almost 10 years, until the state distanced itself from the arwads in 2000 with the Arwad Divorce Act. This legislation followed international controversy surrounding the presence of the paramilitaries in Agarad and accusations of human rights abuses, unnecessary casualties and extreme tactics. With this, ha-Mussafi's position as special liaison was done away with, though he was quickly made special liaison to another influential group within the nation: the rawudhs, qualified religious jurists from among whose ranks the judiciary is drawn. In 2004, during the events of the Watanese coup, ha-Mussafi expressed support for the Watanese government. In 2005, he was selected as minister of war of Haksarad.

Special liaison to the arwads
During his time in Agarad, ha-Mussafi had become de facto representative of the arwads in dealing with the government. Starting in 1991, he was the official intermediary between the arwads and other organizations including the Haksar military, the Loyalists and the Jarader Forces. He acted as mediator in many negotiations, and as advocate for the arwads within the government. The collaboration between the arwads and the forces of the factions supported by Haksarad continued to deepen, and the holy orders were transformed into an efficient tool for the Haksar military. However, this increase in the status of the arwads brought with it a closer eye from the international community, and the paramilitaries came under higher scrutiny. In 1999, a particularly bad incident in which arwad soldiers fired upon World Forum peacekeepers resulted in heavy condemnation from several nations, and, despite ha-Mussafi's best efforts, the Arwad Divorce Act of 2000 severed the close relationship between the arwads and the military and revoked many of their special privileges. With this act, ha-Mussafi's role as special liaison to the arwads was dissolved, though he was soon named special liaison to the ruwadhs instead.

Special liaison to the ruwadhs
As a result of the elimination of the position of special liaison to the arwads, as well as ha-Mussafi's knowledge of philosophy and theology, he was made special liaison to the ruwadhs in 2000. In this capacity, he largely filled the same role he had with the arwads, but now with the ruwadhs, though this position involved much more in the way of domestic and social policy and much less in the way of military policy. During his time in this position, ha-Mussafi advocated heavily for adherence to the hardline socially conservative policies, which the administration had been moving away from since the 1990s. Representing the ruwadhs, he also often railed against the ever more liberal economic policy, calling it an "economy of death" that "demand[ed] that man sacrifice his family and his life on the altar of success" and "reek[ed] of a distinctly foreign type of individualism."

Minister of war
In 2005, despite their political differences, ha-Mussafi was named minister of war by the new regent general Bahur Yasteffa in an effort to appease him and his followers. In a phone call soon after assuming office, he reaffirmed the importance of Haksarad's relationship with Gemurtrak. Ha-Mussafi met with the League of Manuak Nations in March 2006 to discuss the possibility of closer military cooperation. In August 2007, he met with the International Jarader Authority for Cooperation alongside representatives from Waremat, a Haksar aerospace manufacturer and negotiated a contract outlining the establishment of several aircraft assembly factories throughout the Jarader world by 2012, wherein parts manufactured in Haksarad by Waremat would be assembled by the agreeing countries.

Policy positions
Ha-Mussafi's politics have been described as, ,  and , and neither he nor his supporters seem quick to deny these claims. Before forming the National Action Party, ha-Mussafi frequently supported the Homeland Party and the Clerical Republican Party, and would even quite often work with the National People's Party and the National Revivalist Party, all of which would later be absorbed into the National Salvation Party. Ha-Mussafi's strongest base consists mostly of the young and the to. His particularly strong support among the youth, especially the educated youth, indicates that Haksarad is likely trending toward right-wing extremism.

Ha-Mussafi is known as a strong opponent of and economic liberalism, and is seen as an. His hardline Jarader views and his support of  and  have put him at odds with  conservatives among the Haksar Unity Party, liberals among the Liberty Party and social democrats among the Progressive People's Party.

Economic policy
Ha-Mussafi represents a radical divergence from previous Haksar economic policy. Whereas the early republic pursued a  and the governments of the last 30 years pursued  toward a more  model, ha-Mussafi has condemned both mainstream  and mainstream  as "un-Manuak" and "un-Jarader." He has instead sought to reinforce the deeply-rooted - system present in Haksar culture, leading to reforms that have brought the nation closer to. While has increased in his time as regent general, the Haksar economy is still starkly different from what it was under the early republic. The regent general has claimed that a system of based on common interest will lead to a "self-strengthening cycle," in which people are initially artificially organized into such communities, but their common interest leads to the natural formation of organic communal identity, which then leads to greater common interest. Ha-Mussafi has suggested this solidarity as a solution to a problem he identifies as a "general, detached nationalism [of the Haksar people], in which they are very supportive of the nation in the political abstract, but have no tangible sense of community with their countrymen."

Related to his ultranationalism and, through  is another important aspect of ha-Mussafi's economic policy. In particular, he has drastically increased Haksar self-sufficiency in manufacturing, especially in the field of military equipment. As minister of war, he negotiated a deal between the government and several Haksar and vehicle manufacturers, including the aerospace manufacturer Waremat and the Etudar Arms Company. Since his inauguration, Haksarad has begun producing some of its own arms, designed and manufactured in Haksarad, for which it previously relied on foreign companies.

Foreign policy
Ha-Mussafi has always argued that Haksarad needs to take a more aggressive foreign policy stance and seek to involve itself more in the affairs of the global order, though in a very different way from the pursued by the preceding governments.

On February 21, 2022, ha-Mussafi delivered a speech in Jaliyah, accompanied by Ajir h'Awleyya, the 12-year-old rukhul of Agarad. The event was the young rukhul's first public appearance, and soldiers of the Arwad Tanashirin Tashur were also in attendance. This likely indicates that Haksarad is soon to take a more aggressive stance on the matter of the Agar Civil War, and possibly that the regent general intends to reinstate the special privileges of the arwads done away with by the Arwad Divorce Act. In response to ha-Mussafi's speech, the Eduran delegate to the World Forum propose that the WF officially take a side in the civil war, and Riyude canceled their 2013 arms deal with Haksarad a year early and withdrew from negotiations for a renewal of the arms deal planned for 2023. On February 22, 2022, three Haksar Waremat-27s breached sovereign Watanese airspace off the Coval Islands in the Abayadi Sea and passed over the city of Tradine. All Watanese attempts to hail the planes were unanswered, and after flying over the city, the Haksar fighters turned around and returned to Fort Jefrit Military Base.

Trade policy
From his appointment to the Chamber of Officer in 1991, ha-Mussafi argued that many of Haksarad's trade agreements with foreign nations were unequal and not mutually beneficial. He renegotiated many of these trade deals as first officer, and has continued to do so as regent general.