Intergalactic Summit

I hope Mr. Heth makes a speedy recovery.

Well lets be honest for a bit, shall we? Yes i hope he recovers and Retires and or resigns. So he can die happily of old age.

That being said, It ain't going to happen. He will still hold public appearences. He will still make himself a target. He will get attempts on his life.

As for his judgement? *stifles a laugh* Ummm, did you seriously write that? Let's see a assassin tried to kill me and i'm going to be merciful? *Coughs*

Misha.

You can interpret that way or my way. *Shrugs* It's his judgement that's in question.

Misha.

Forgive my bluntness, ma'am, but I could interpret the word sound to mean merciful in the same way I could interpret the word red to mean blue. I could do it, but I would be wrong in so doing. The words we choose are important.

Semantics. Gotta love it. Trust me young lady, altho you may be older then me. But i have trained or was attemptted to train to read not was written, nor implied but also the context.

Ahhhh the life of a paranoid counter-intellingence officer. I'm the living proof of an oxy-moron if there ever was one.

Misha.

If I were you, I'd hope that the Executor continues to exercise sound judgement. After all, he does have a sizable taskforce within strike range of the Gallente homeworld and precious few reasons to feel any love towards you all.

You must really be as crazy as Heth is if you think that taskforce would ever get close to making any harm on our homeworld.

That stooge would already have struck Gallente Prime if he believed he had the slightest chance of success.

Recently a group of stooges with far less equipment managed to glass an entire city in sovereign federal space. I wouldn't say that it happened without ample time for countermeasures. It's good to see that you're feeling so comfortable, because isn't it so nice to be underestimated?

Besides I would like to know what you think assaulting Gallente Prime would accomplish. Even without a chance a madman would surely have attacked by now, especially if driven by a desire for vengeance or lust for blood?



Needless to say, Syagrius, your analysis might be your opinion yet it lacks clarity. By following the same rationale the federal government is afraid to assault State core regions as well as said taskforce. I wonder if your comment was trying to illustrate this situation or just a weak attempt at demagogism.
At any rate I've sated my curiosity regarding your latest public display of benevolence and must say I'm impressed.

First and foremost, nations are seldom attacked for humanitarian reasons.


You are all so busy painting yourselves as victims that it does not occur to you how stupid you look when you then pat each other on the shoulder over the mere fact of calling a man - the very man who has lead the assault on Caldari Prime from the front instead of hiding behind his staff - who is doing the sane thing of not going to go on a genocidal killing spree for the very reasons you've already illustrated a mad coward.

The deal is closed and Caldari Prime is under our sovereign control, since years. I call this pretty successful for such an ad-hoc operation. Needless to say that you're still victim to the assumption that the State fights to destroy the federation - quite the contrary.
This is a fight for survival. With all its size and economic might the federation was not able to break the caldari spirit, not two hundred years ago, not now. We might win in the long run or we might lose, but we will never cease fighting for our continued independence.
What is your motivation?
Is your existance threatened?
Does someone seek to end the system of governance and set of values you're standing behind?
Has someone ripped the foundations of your own culture forcefully from under you in the past?

What do you fight for. Think about it before talking about hate, spite and other petty emotions again.

I see strategic thinking is in short supply over in the Federation right now.

First things first. That taskforce Mekhana is talking about? It's quite capable of inflicting a significant amount of damage on Gallente Prime, almost all of it thanks to that titan. Should the State decide on a pre-emptive strike, all it would take is a short warp, and that ship will glass a good portion of your capital. The Gallente Navy would surely destroy it in time, but not fast enough to stop it from doing its thing.

Second, from Heth's position, it would be a bad idea to try a pre-emptive strike to remove the threat of the Gallente once and for all. The Federation might not be the most unified group of peoples out there, with all their internal politics and Gallente-Intaki issues, but let's consider a few things:

- Federal leadership should (if they're doing their jobs) have prepared for the possibility of a quick strike against Gallente Prime by State forces assigned to Caldari Prime. They should in turn have redundant government offices out of system, perhaps in places like Dodixie, Oursulaert, Botane, etc... This will minimize the effect a sudden strike will have against the Federal government.

- The ruthless symbolism that Heth would display by such an act would rally the Federation together, especially as most of the damage on Gallente Prime could be in the form of civilian casualties. More to the point, a negotiation might end the conflict before much territory was lost, or people killed, but to do so would be to say "you can attack us without provocation, kill our people, and steal our stars, and we'll just sit here and take it".

- Caldari may be practically united on the importance of securing our homeworld, but an open and aggressive war is sure to cause dissent in the rank and file. Most individuals will likely not act on it, staying loyal to their corporations out of fear for their livelihoods (and lives), but the corporations themselves may revolt at being associated with such an act. Especially since such an move will likely result in a loss for the Caldari State and its population (see below).

- The Minmatar Republic and Amarr Empire may or may not intervene during a conflict. The main motivation to do so would be to avoid a situation where one side (namely their ally) loses, and as a reult the new order might be a strengthened State and Empire versus only the Matari, or a war-hardened Federation and Republic considering pushing a war of emancipation against the Amarr. By the same token, the temptation to stay out of such a fight will be strong, especially if the other empires are weakening themselves and making your relative position in the cluster stronger.

- Capsuleers will likely side with the Gallente in large numbers. Even if CONCORD keeps them from rendering direct assistance in high-security Gallente and Caldari space, some damage could be done to low-security Caldari systems. Not to mention that if the Gallente Navy could secure high-security pipelines connecting the two empires, capsuleers could interdicts the low-security entrances, like the one near Tierijev, and thus constrict the movement of State forces.

To summarize, I hate Heth, but I have to believe he and his advisors have done this basic strategic calculus. While the temptation to strike Gallente Prime exists, it would likely yield few short-term gains for the State, and put it at a high risk of fighting a two-front war with the Federation and Republic, not to mention secondary forces like capsuleers, CONCORD, or internal corporate strife. This offers little prospect for victory.

As such, he's content to keep a weapon of mass destruction in Luminaire, one short warp away from the Federal capital in the hope that if a situation arises, he can threaten the Gallente and get what he wants without firing a shot. In short, I'd argue that if anyone's afraid, it is the civilian population of Luminaire. They shouldn't be, though - if Heth is actually stupid enough to start a war, it's one he'll likely lose, and although they may die in the opening salvos of it, the results could see a far less dangerous Caldari State in the long-run.

Little comfort, you say? Eh, we all have to die sometime, even capsuleers.