Intergalactic Summit

The reason there's a war on is... well, I can see dozens of reasons, but I don't see any GOOD reasons. We've got Home. We're not under existential threat. We've got all the resources we could possibly want in Black Rise, and Placid's been part of the gate network for long enough and is too full of people who would be violently opposed to our ownership of it to be a resource worth claiming.

I accept the reasoning that placing the Front in Placid is of strategic benefit to the State in fighting the war well. I also appreciate that the same logic applies to the Federation and Black Rise.

You yourself are doing nothing to change the situation. You are, however, doing much to perpetuate it.

And if my observation of that fact and my unwillingness to imitate your strategy of throwing prime steak into a meat grinder in the vague hope that it'll pay off somewhere down the line are that damaging to your morale and that of your troops, then I must question how strong your morale was in the first place.

Step out of your ego for a second and look at this with the kind of calm detachment befitting a commander.

You might want to consider why you live in the luxury of this safety. We didn't get Home by sueing for peace, we didn't get independance by writing a letter of complaint to the senate and we certainly are not under existential threat because we are surrounded by nice neighbours.

we strive to produce successes and, above all, maintain tentative control over our sovereign territories.

Like I said, suuolo, it's not my call whether this conflict is prolonged or not.

The problem with warning that the FDU would inevitably storm in with processing facilities and so on is that that's only true if you believe the Gallentean equivalents of Kim-haaniatsa ((AUTOTRANS - literal translation: "anti-citizen".))

As for where I am - talking out a solution with the Federation is something that can realistically be achieved from most places in the cluster with the possible exceptions of Venal, Fountain, Delve, Stain and Curse. Forging a trade relationship with the Minmatar is something best accomplished in the Republic. I am capable of pursuing two complementary goals simultaneously.

And please don't misrepresent what I'm saying by claiming that I'm "blaming the soldiers for the war". I'm not. I'm calling the whole thing a hideous waste of soldiers who need to understand that, appreciated though their efforts are, they should be lending their voice to the call for this conflict's cessation just as much as any other citizen.

If anything, soldiers are the people who should be calling for peace the loudest. Instead, I'm getting outrage and defensive declarations that this conflict is vital.

The service is vital. The conflict itself is anything but.

@Captain Dusette,

You're right. It can be tiresome to disect the flock of capsuleers and find out whose opinion matters on the topic at hand and who better ought to be quiet. Refreshing to find someone with such an astute view on these things.

Feel free to tell me where I have ever passed the buck of responsibility and leadership, because:

When given the option at the time of quiet acquiescence to the CPD when they violated the laws of the CBT in the Intara Affair, I did not remain silent but instead chose to denounce what I rightfully saw as the overstepping of bounds by former Executor and Kaalakiota CEO Heth-guri. Even though I knew as a Kaalakiota citizen, and CEO of a Kaalakiota affiliate the personal and professional consequences such a public denouncement might entail. Did I pass the buck due to lack of backbone then?

When the workers of Kaalakiota decided to speak out against former CEO Heth-guri, I condoned, authorized and supported the firing upon Home Guard assets in order to defend their lives against those who when placed in the difficult and unenviable position of either prosecuting their orders and failing to protect their fellow citizens or following the dictates of their conscience and being damned for it still chose to fire upon unarmed Kaalakiota citizens. I then provided support and protection as an SCC registered entity to those who survived and fell under my care while also providing the same support and reparations to the families of the Home Guard servicemen who died due to my decisions. Did I pass the back due to lack of backbone then?

Do I currently pass the buck today due to lack of backbone when I, even when granted the freedoms of my position as capsuleer choose of my own volition to undertake armed conflict in the name of the State? I do not feel I have ever been remiss in my convictions, my duty and my obligations to my State, my Parent Company, my Corporation or my comrades and my employees whether it is in the Boardroom or on the Frontlines either as Executive or Commander. I certainly don't need advice on corporate or military leadership from a distinguished essayist like yourself.

What I have not done however, is subscribe to the foolish delusions that I, as leader of what is in effect a small and recent private military start-up wields the sort of political clout you yourself might think you possess but which I personally do not. If you want to play the preening peacock in the Imperial Gardens and flash your brocades of White Feathers then that is your own affair, but I'm not going to engage in delusions of grandeur.

What will I do is continue fighting the war I am engaged and defending the honoured memories of the dead who at last may know peace from those who would seek to denigrate their efforts and sacrifices by stating that what they fought and died for was pointless. A wasted effort. That we should spit upon their memories and legacies just as they would spit upon the dignity of the soldiers who must one day return home their service done only to be told that we have decided to stab them in the back because they would prefer disgrace, dishonour and defeat than to continue the fighting until what is secured is the territorial integrity of the Caldari State and peace that advantages our people into the future.

And that is reason enough for me to continue the war if it means that those citizens and soldiers who sacrificed did so for something, and not for nothing at all.