Intergalactic Summit

Another interesting development in these affairs.

I'm starting to think that the nations of New Eden believe that international law as a much more serious affair than we do.

Oh, no, no. These were senators supporting Blaque's efforts. I'm certain they'll find themselves in a cushy job somewhere, lobbying the Federation Senate for more stringent 'counter-terrorism' laws to stamp down on dangerous thinking.

Loose ends have a habit of getting tied off (read; dissappeared).

Point. On rereading, it appears I missed. This is what happens when one skims the news while working on financial reports. I think what this means isn't that Meis resigned as a senator, but stepped down as head of the Senate. Alternatively, he may be moving to an appointed staff position in support of the Senate Security Council, as opposed to his currently elected position.

It's curious that his assistant Jovingeur was dismissed for her involvement in the scandal. While I would expect an assistant to go with her boss, that she was explicitly noted as being dismissed for involvement...

I'm pretty sure that even the Empire has something resembling a covert operations cadre. Nothing here is surprising, though the appointment of Meis to the Security Council is of interest.

We do not live in a Provist State, even if you would love to believe otherwise.

Neither do we.

You have the Black Eagles. The only difference between the two organisations that I can see is that one is of the past and the other very much active, still.

Maybe a bit of both? It's not something we're unfamiliar with. But, at the least, you can theoretically vote your head of state out of office if enough people are unhappy with him... Right?

I believe the term used was 'disarray' and even that is best characterised as journalistic hyperbole. There is always some element of chaos and confusion when the head of an organisation is removed or steps down. There'll be a new head of Senate named in due course, just as there was when Meis took the reigns from Blaque back in YC112.

What is more interesting is that the list of potential suspects for the leak of the report seems to have narrowed quite a bit with Meis' resignation.

There were two other candidates for Senate Head in YC112, both of whom were ideologically opposed to Meis and both of whom have more than just that motive to see him humiliated in public and removed from the position.

Vance Opheron may still be eyeing the top Senate position and if he obtains it one doesn't have to make a huge leap of faith to presume that either Blaque, Roden or both would be quite happy to see him there. Opheron in charge of the Senate, Blaque heading up the special security branch of FIO and Roden running the entire show is perhaps the worst possible scenario for anyone hoping for a cooling of hostilities in Black Rise and Placid and a return to the negotiation table.

Meis was accustomed to making hard decisions from years spent as a diplomat in Amarr and service in the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, but she was never a great friend of either the current president or his attack dog and was often criticised for being overly willing to negotiate.

The other candidate in YC112 was Suvio Bellaron, an arch-conservative but also one of Mentas Blaque's harshest critics. He co-supported and was rumoured to be a major driving force behind the legislation that eventually saw Blaque unable to hold the dual roles of leader of the Senate and director of SDII / FIO. As a senior and influential member of the Senate it seems probable that Bellaron would have had direct or indirect access to the Highlander report. Any leak that paints the FIO, SDII or Federal military leadership as acting illegally in the name of state security would serve to undermine Blaque and this would certainly work to Bellaron's advantage.

And of course, neither Blaque nor Roden - acting either together or at odds with each other - can be excluded from the list of suspects.