Intergalactic Summit

Thankfully capsuleer traffic hasn't been impeded by this... I'll watch this cautiously.

Quite a time to come back from planetside life...

Too many people which I think is why it is so difficult to untangle this all.

F I N A L L Y.

Glory to the State!

It's naive to suggest that the State decided to do this unilaterally because a couple of loudmouth Senators were posturing. Quitting the talks? Sure - that was posturing too, but this?

Don't expect to be financially bailed out when this goes **** up on you, like last time.

The reaction by many since the FIO announced its investigation into the Kyonoke outbreak within the Federation and the possibility that it was the result of a ‘state’ actor, has been interesting to watch. It is strange that the most likely explanation is so readily ignored. The current situation regarding the termination of diplomatic relations between the State and the Federation at the bequest of some withing the CEP brings the question into finer focus. We should remind ourselves that at this point, we are all guessing, but some explanations are more plausible than others.

I am reminded of the old saying, ‘be careful what you wish for…’ This certainly puts my recent concerns regarding other matters into perspective.

Many have bemoaned the ‘Forever War’ as a tragic and immoral waste of lives and property. True enough. Some including myself, after recent events, have formed the opinion that the ‘question’ between our respective people's is too deep and ingrained to be decided peacefully. In short that there will be no peace, until one side or the other wins. It would seem that we are collectively about to test the premise.

I have avoided until recently the idea of ‘total war’, being pragmatic regarding relations between the State and the Federation and the possible outcomes of said conflict. I personally believe in the concept of 'The Just War.' It isn’t a moral equation but one based on proportionality. Resorting to war might be proportionate in relation to fending off a threat of something truly terrible such as the intentional exposure of a population to Kyonoke, when the likelihood of the successful defense is low. The scale of harm unleashed by war, including the probability of collateral harm on both sides, means that a state can be justified in exercising this right only if there is a reasonable prospect of success. That a political authority has no right to initiate the evils of war in a cause that is unlikely to succeed.

The nature of this threat, however, supersedes all such consideration.

So a war is only 'just' if you think you can win it? Sounds like you're conflating 'just' with 'justifiable', which is not the meaning of 'Just War'. Nor is victory a factor in determining if a response is proportionate. It's like you sifted through a linguasoft of politico-military theory and picked out a pair of terms you'd heard people use before, then slapped them down to try to rationalize out a path that's both bloodthirsty and cowardly.

If there is something you are fighting to retain, something you want badly enough to die to protect it, then crass considerations of victory are nonsense. Victory becomes something you engineer. Even if it takes, for example, centuries of biding your time in order to retake your homeworld, you make it happen. A Just War is not a war you can justify, but a war whose purpose is Just, which stands upon and upholds the principle of Justice. It's not always clear, and it's not always agreed upon by all those on the side claiming to be Just.

If the Republic were to launch an all-out war of liberation, for example, its proponants would cite the slavery of our people as an evil and declare the war Just. The odds of winning would be irrelevant. Justice is not served by hedging your bets, but by striving for Justice at all cost. But not everyone would agree with that. Many would say that the Tribes were endangering lives—including those of the people the war was intended to benefit—and doing do needlessly. After all, they would likely offer, the new Empress is a business woman. Arrange a program where the Republic buys the freedom of the remaining Matari slaves.

Now, if the Imperial policy toward slaves were, say, that of Nauplius... well, then I doubt very much if any in the Republic would hesitate to call a war of liberation, of deliverance 'Just'. But even then, it would have nothing to do with the chances of victory. Whether or not that war became a cultural necessity would have nothing to do with the odds of victory. It would be a matter of Justice, and nothing else.



The nature of which threat? The threat posed by... still unidentified parties who may, for all we know, be Serpentis, SoCT, the Drifters, or the legandary Terrans, behind all this? This is a time for thoughtful reaction, not this lizard-brained lurching about to try to look decisive.

It took you 8 years to figure that out?

Am I?


So instead of answering a serious consideration or simply remaining silent, you decide to belittle and insult. A valid tactic but somehow I expected more, especially from a group clamoring for speculative cooperation. But I suppose if you can’t find fault in the message, discredit the messenger. Indeed my courage is of the tidal kind, it ebbs and flows. If your research were more thorough you would know that my recent restructuring was a preparation. As to significance, a demonstration perhaps, of how little things can become burdensome.

When it is found that it was the State that is responsible, what will your ‘multilateral solution’ look like?

Well, I'm sorry basic logic and the meanings of words are too much for your cognitive abilities.



The irony is just amazing.