Intergalactic Summit

The question I'm inclined to ask is just how fake and plastic this politician must be if his robotic duplicate could conceivably imitate him well enough to fool two women who intended to have sex with him.

I mean, even the very best drones don't stand up well to close and intimate scrutiny. Implying either that the politician in question has all the personality of a lump of silicon, or else that his girlfriends between them have the combined intellect of one.

Or both.

EDIT: also the editors went with "Drone Double Debacle"? as opposed to "Drone Double Trouble"? Alliteration's Alright, but Rhyme is Sublime.

Question is, would anybody have noticed if he hadn't?

The real tragedy here of course is that he didn't accidentally send the drone along to the meeting with orders to seduce.

An attack promped by cowardly threats of violence against Gallente civilians by provist forces preceded by an unlawful incursion into sovereign Gallente space, the attack was justified. It was a stupid move on the Caldari navy to move that titan closer to the planet anyway, who wouldn't bring orbital support to an engagement like that? The only reason that titan fell on that planet is because provists were too arrogant. They could have left the titan in high orbit knowing it was a priority target and destruction in low orbit would be a disaster.

The other possibility, is that one or both of the girlfriends, were also drone doubles !

Are you suggesting that being a capsuleer is not a farce in itself ?

I could not agree more.

hence: "Arguably". as in, we can argue about it.

Or, and this is my preferred option, we can file it firmly under "past events", derive whatever lessons can be learned from the whole debacle - which I think has been done - and get on with the business of the future.

There is (or should) now no longer an ongoing grievance concerning our homeworld. Ongoing grievances regarding the situation in Placid and Black Rise are the next order of business, and hopefully a rather easier one to resolve.

Easy in what way? From where I'm sitting, it looks like a clusterfuck that's never gonna get solved.

All unnecessary loss of life is regrettable, but sometimes it takes the sacrifice and/or destruction of a few lives to ensure the safety of a great deal more. Being a soldier means being willing to make that sacrifice when called upon to do so.

The Caldari under Heth were able and willing to use the Shiigeru to inflict unimaginable suffering and destruction upon innocent people within the Luminaire, and as such were a threat that needed to be stopped. I do not believe the Federation soldiers that died to destroy the Shiigeru would regret their fate if they could speak on the matter now, and I do not think those who survived would have regretted giving their own lives as well to ensure the safety of the people they vowed to protect.

To most people in the Federation, the losses were "acceptable". A select few pacifists might disagree, as would the insignificant amount of U-Nat holdouts that won't be pleased until every strand of Caldari DNA has been sterilized from the known universe. But for the most part you'd be hard-pressed to find Federation citizens that do not condone Operation Highlander and applaud its results.

Actually the talk about firing on planets occurred years prior, when the Caldari launched an illegal invasion, violated every interstellar treaty they had signed, and threatened genocide if they didn't get their way.

Admiral Yanala was hero, no doubt, but she was also a single, individual person. Can you be so confident any other Caldari would not have fired upon the planet, if commanded to do so by the hero and idol of the State, Tibus Heth? It's important to remember that a hero is a hero because they have proven themselves exceptional, and I don't think it's unfair to say that Admiral Yanala was an exception amongst a society which condoned and supported the threat of using a doomsday weapon against civilians for the sake of revenge against old enemies.

And as for the silly notion that because the Shiigeru had yet to fire, that it would not? I don't really know you personally, Mr. Tuulinen, but I know your posting history well enough to confidently say that I believe you are a very intelligent person. Too intelligent to fail to realize that there are some threats that simply can't be ignored. You don't get to put a gun up to an innocent person's head and force them to live in a constant state of fear for years on end without consequences.

Let us say that (given the conceit of similar circumstances of a breach of security in the State's perimeter defenses) President Roden decided to launch an Erebus class titan (with support fleet) into the system of New Caldari, and threatened that should any attempt to remove it occur its doomsday weapon would fire on one or more planets within the system. Would this be acceptable? Would you be content to allow an extreme threat to your people, answerable only to one of your nation's greatest enemies, reside unharassed in the heart of your nation until such a time as it decided it felt like striking for whatever reason it cared to fabricate (or even for no reason at all).


The Federation played with the hand the State dealt it. It chose to make a great deal of sacrifice for the sake of securing the future safety of its people against an angry and vengeful invader.

You say that the Caldari came for Caldari Prime; nothing more, nothing less. That would have been very nice, and I very much would have preferred that was the case. But the truth is a little different: as early as the signing of CEWPA there were cables and documents circulating within the Caldari navy (and intercepted by our good friends at the FIO) suggesting ambitions far beyond that. They didn't make the news, but they're easy enough to find if you have contacts in the intelligence game. Maybe you're familiar already, being fellow former military man yourself. The gist of it: that the lowsec militia zones be conquered and used as a springboard for a full-scale invasion of Luminaire.

The truth is the Cadari as a whole were out for blood, their frenzy driven on by the madman at the reins. A degree of anger from the State is to be expected and certainly can't be begrudged considering our shared history. But when you nurse your bitterness, and anger, and humiliation for centuries, you don't come out of that wanting nothing more than fair-handed justice. Unless you possess the grace of an Amarrian saint, I suppose.


I've seen it many times. It's very sad. It is a shame that the State under Heth chose a path of violence, treachery, and revenge. Such things never reach their conclusion without their share of bloodshed and destruction. Something I'm sure Heth was well aware of and counting on.

And the Federation has largely recognized the crimes it committed in regards to the history of Caldari Prime. Unfortunately, the people of the State have yet to do the same.

TL;DR: Choices were made, consequences happened. Coulda been better, coulda been worse, but unless someone has a time machine lying around we don't get any do-overs and have to work with what we've got.