Government hardens anti-GUM policy with new agency

Lazia, 28 February 2026 — The government has transferred responsibility for policy on the Grand Unified Micronational (GUM) from the Ministry of Foreign and Batyr Bloc Affairs to a new body, IB-CONTRA.

IB-CONTRA — the Internationale Bond tegen de Invloed van de GUM, or International League against the Influence of the GUM — has been founded in cooperation with the Coalition of Concerned Citizens against the Propagation of GUM Influence, the newly formed Christian Mums Against the GUM, and the Civic Alliance for the Protection of Minors and Institutional Integrity.

The last of those was formerly known as Concerned Citizens Against the Sexual Exploitation of Children. Its renaming was described as part of an effort to adopt "a more structurally grounded and less reactionary formulation" of its mandate.

The new organisation assumes central coordination of the You Can Say No to GUM Influence campaign, and administers the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Crimes Committed by the Grand Unified Micronational.

Alongside the institutional change, the Lazian Chamber has adopted amendments making the pursuit of GUM membership a censurable offence. A Member of the Lazian Chamber (MLC) found to be seeking GUM affiliation may be suspended from office until a specified date or until the next general election.

Where a majority of the Lazian Chamber concurs, and with the agreement of IB-CONTRA, sanctions may extend to removal from office and, in exceptional circumstances, to exile.

The measure was presented as preventative rather than punitive, and as designed to preserve the integrity of the chamber and to prevent conflicts of allegiance.

IB-CONTRA and the Mahusetan Intelligence Agency (MIA) also announced a limited review of hypothetical links between GUM influence and materials associated with the Epstein files. Both bodies stressed that no direct evidence presently establishes such connections, and that substantive ties are regarded as unlikely.