Intergalactic Summit

Oh, for sure I'm worried about the Drifters. That doesn't mean I'll suddenly stop worrying about the fact that whether or not the Drifters turn out to be a threat to the whole cluster there'll still be many people in all three of the other nations that seek the downfall of mine.

Previous to my recent bitter revelation, I was seriously considering laying that fear aside to work with others. Now I'm not so sure. Now I'm thinking maybe the best course of action is to invest in an asbestos fence and stockpile a hell of a lot of water and fire extinguishers so that when everyone else's house burns to the ground, we can make sure ours doesn't.

I say State stance should be opposite.
I did not say State should just react to Gallente stance. But some people can see it being that way. I would not lead them away from that way of thinking.

And Gallente should take a stance first. Not without a profit to the State.

I suppose State knows how to act and when.

You were the idiots that provided him with a cause big enough to start the Caldari equivalent of a Holy Crusade. Seriously - for a man as pissed off about the way we treated his Homeworld you can be remarkably blind about the way your friends have treated ours.

Don't you get it? Without Caldari Prime there would never have been a cause large enough to unify all Caldari behind Heth.

Respectfully, Mr. Ixiris, it sounds like you're still an idealist and romantic.

Just one with a broken heart.



(Still interested in your recollection of Intaki's recent history; that wasn't a typo, above. I figure if anyone is likely to take a dark view of the State's actions, but have too much integrity to try to hold it responsible for stuff that never happened ... that would be you.)

(In other words, is Mr. Moray's view of history as skewed as I think it is? You may have your own reasons for agreeing with his basic sentiments, but his specific justification seems ... odd.)


Edited to add:



No, no, did notice.

Just maybe wasn't very clear. I'm sorry. I was looking to address you as a historical resource I could rely on to tell me if I was wrong, not as the author of the text I was responding to.

Uh....

Okay.

Thank you for the perspective?

Neatly ignoring the fact that we actually DID get rid of our maniac and dismantle his policies.

No, Andreus, you're missing the point. No, we wouldn't be happy if you did MORE bad things to us - what we're unhappy about are the ACTUAL bad things that the Federation has done to us, in the name of helping us, while pretending to have motives purer than last night's snow. Seriously! Trust a Federal Loyalist to turn this into an argument about perceptions. It isn't and never has been about how you view us and how we view you. Because you know what? Federal marines have done what you described and worse. Caldari POWs are still being held in illegal blacksites and are going on to who knows what fate. The FIO was fomenting unrest, arming militia groups and carrying out a campaign of bombings and murders on Caldari Prime.

The Federation has a nasty habit of doing these sorts of filthy, execrable, things to force a response and then blaming the responder for doing precisely what he has been pushed into doing - and I included the invasion of the Luminaire system and the seizing of Caldari Prime in that scenario.

We secede. You bomb us.
We flee. You chase us.
We stand. You attack us.
We ask for negotiations. You attack the negotiations and kill one of our heads of State.
You make us use force. We use force. You condemn us. Then use force. Then condemn us for making you use force.

What we don't want is more. We want less. All of the contention on our side could be solved by the simple act of continuing the handover process on Caldari Prime that has already begun. Negotiating the end of the proxy war would probably be as simple as a return to original starting lines.

And then? Disengagement by both sides along the whole front. No more war of shadows, no more spies and assassins. Less contact. Less friction. That's what would make us happy.

She is easily the most diplomatic and patient of IKAME's pilots. I'll freely state that I've sent her as an envoy to occasions that warrant an official presence, but that I was unable to attend myself. My faith has not been ill-placed.

As for the remainder of this thread, on the matter of digressions: those who've filled this thread with nationalist bile have identified themselves clearly, and I suspect will be Blaquelisted from future IKAME operations. This isn't a grave and terrible thing, but it allows me to make myself clear: open borders, trade, cooperation, and joint operations cannot be founded on a base of backbiting and rancor.

With thanks to Haritimado-haani's summary, I'll take a moment to state a formal IKAME position on the Drifters:

The enemy of my friend is my enemy.

The State regards the Empire as an ally. Whatever one makes of this alliance, attacks against an ally must be responded to. It was on this basis that IKAME began relocating assets to the Khanid area of operation, and had been planning operations against the Drifters in cooperation with Signal Cartel and Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris before the Vigilant Tyrannos withdrawal.

Similarly, the now-routine Drifter and Circadian Seeker patrols around Jove Observatories and unidentified wormholes must be viewed as pirate activity. To those pilots who claim that they are merely 'defending space around points of interest,' they are acting as if they have a sovereign claim on territory already within the borders of our various empires. Extraterritoriality is usually negotiated with a host nation or by interstellar law, and is usually not enforced with violence save as a response to violence in turn. Even if we assume that the observatories predate our various nations and thus their claim precedes ours, we must regard Vigilant Tyrannos violence as provocative at the least, and militant and intransigent at the worst.

That said, should the Vigilant Tyrannos begin communication, should they desist in their attacks, should we learn more about their motives and origins, IKAME reserves the right to revisit our position. There is much that we do not know about them, and much we must learn.

We have another maniac with policies? Who?

Oh grief, you don't mean Diana Kim, do you? She hates me worse than she hates you, Andreus and her organisation and mine have actively exchanged fire on several occasions but as for 'getting rid of her'... She builds nothing one can attack. She continues to do nothing more than fight the enemies of the State in the warzone. I view her as nothing more significant than a pirate - even the crimes she's committed are no more serious or broad in scale than a pirate might commit.

Reading this Topic Title Inspired me to Create Art.

Behold.

The Caldari State Stance on the Drifters

Yes.

The Full Title of the Artwork is:

The Caldari State Stance on the Drifters, as Represented by a Shirtless Pieter Tuulinen Treading on a Prone Apollo Tyrannos