Intergalactic Summit

This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the universe has been taking.

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. These plain and cruel truths define the peril and point the hope that comes with this autumn.

This is one of those times in the affairs of nations when the gravest choices must be made, if there is to be a turning toward a just and lasting peace.

It is a moment that calls upon the governments of the universe to speak their intentions with simplicity and with honesty.

It calls upon them to answer the question that stirs the hearts of all sane men: is there no other way the universe may live?

New leadership has assumed power in the Gallente Federation and the Caldari State. Their links to the past, however strong, cannot bind them completely. Their future is, in great part, their own to make.

This new leadership confronts a universe aroused, as rarely in its history, by the will to stay free. It is a universe that demands and expects the fullest respect of its rights and interests. It is a universe that will always accord the same respect to all others. So the new leadership now has a precious opportunity to awaken, with the rest of the universe, to the point of peril reached and to help turn the tide of history.

Will it do this?

We do not yet know. We welcome every honest act of peace. We care nothing for mere rhetoric.

We care only for sincerity of peaceful purpose attested by deeds. The opportunities for such deeds are many. The performance of a great number of them waits upon no complex protocol but only upon the simple will to do them. Even a few such clear and specific acts would be impressive signs of sincere intent. They would carry a power of persuasion not to be matched by any amount of oratory.

This we do know: a universe that begins to witness the rebirth of trust among nations can find its way to a peace that is neither partial nor punitive.

With all who will work in good faith toward such a peace, we are ready, with renewed resolve, to strive to redeem the near-lost hopes of our day.

The first great step along this way must be the conclusion of an honorable armistice in the current factional conflict.
This means the immediate cessation of hostilities and the prompt initiation of political discussions leading to the disbanding of the militias.

It should mean, no less importantly, an immediate end to the direct and indirect attacks upon the security of low security systems in the conflict zones. For any armistice in Intaki that merely released aggressive militias to attack elsewhere would be a fraud. We seek, throughout Placid as throughout the universe, a peace that is true and total.

Out of this can grow a still wider task - the achieving of just political settlements for the other serious and specific issues between the Intaki worlds and the Gallente Federation.

None of these issues, great or small, is insoluble - given only the will to respect the rights of all nations. Again we say: the people of Intaki are ready to assume their just part.

We are ready not only to press forward with the present plans for closer unity of the worlds of the Intaki Sovereignty but also, upon that foundation, to strive to foster a broader Intaki community, conducive to the free movement of persons, of trade, and of ideas.

As progress in all these areas strengthens universal trust, we could proceed concurrently with the next great work - the reduction of the burden of armaments now weighing upon the universe. To this end we would welcome and enter into the most solemn agreements. These could properly include:

1: The limitation, by absolute numbers or by an agreed international ratio, of the sizes of the military and security forces of all nations.

2: A commitment by all nations to set an agreed limit upon that proportion of total production of certain strategic materials to be devoted to military purposes.

3: A limitation or prohibition of other categories of weapons of great destructiveness.

4: The enforcement of all these agreed limitations and prohibitions by adequate safeguards, including a practical system of inspection under CONCORD.

The details of such disarmament programs are manifestly critical and complex.

Neither the Intaki Assembly nor any other government can properly claim to possess a perfect, immutable formula. But the formula matters less than the faith - the good faith without which no formula can work justly and effectively.

The fruit of success in all these tasks would present the universe with the greatest task, and the greatest opportunity, of all. It is this: the dedication of the energies, the resources, and the imaginations of all peaceful nations to a new kind of war. This would be a declared total war, not upon any human enemy but upon the brute forces of poverty and need.

The peace we seek, founded upon decent trust and cooperative effort among nations, can be fortified, not by weapons of war but by wheat and by cotton, by milk and by wool, by meat and timber and rice. These are words that translate into every language. These are the needs that challenge this universe in arms.

We are prepared to reaffirm, with the most concrete evidence, our readiness to help build a universe in which all peoples can be productive and prosperous.

We are ready to ask our people to join with all nations in devoting a substantial percentage of any savings achieved by real disarmament to a fund for universal aid and reconstruction. The purposes of this great work would be to help other peoples to develop the undeveloped areas of the galaxy, to stimulate profitable and fair trade, to assist all peoples to know the blessings of productive freedom.

(Continues)

Dear sir,

You will likely be mocked and ridiculed for your idealism for peace, but I am glad that you have expressed it. Voices for peace and non-violence need to keep speaking.

Now, those of us men and women of peace can lead not only with words but also with actions. The Disciples are unarmed, but all can limit their armament and make choices to restrain violence on a personal level. Slowing the arms race begins with individuals slowing their own arms race and choosing to act peacefully.

Thank you, Mr. Hawke for your thoughts.

The Disciples of Ston bid you peace.

And that is why peace can never be truly found. I somewhat agree with you, Saxon, but some people just can't see beyond themselves and their chosen causes.

I think the only real reason why I'm continuing in helping the current war effort is because it's less work than reading that huge block of text.

I'll add that if the Intaki want to 'liberate' themselves from Gallente hegemony, discussion and debate is certainly not the route to take.

Pick up your weapons, take control of your own destiny.

Peace is a dream that mankind has been chasing since the dawn of time. War is the nightmare that we live with everyday.

The text is interesting. The subtext is more interesting still, and much less heart-warming.

Soldiers of the Federation are taught and trained in the values you very much speak of, Suresha. We are peacekeepers and defenders of ideals. Contrast this to those in Caldari; serve the State, unquestioningly and unwaveringly. There's no thought given to such esoteric ideas. If the State moves that way, it moves, and you follow. But a soldier in the Federation is intrinsically a political being as well. We must know why we fight, it is not enough to know that we're doing some duty for some state that allegedly would have the best interests of the greater good at heart.

Who championed the creation of CONCORD and interstellar peace? Who has always pushed for diplomacy and cooperation? Yes, war wages now, and there are those who stand the line to ensure that the conflict does not get out of control. But war will not last forever, and peace will eventually return. Yet, the Caldari thrive in war, and I'm sure many of them would be happy to continue to wage it until the Federation is nothing but a broken coalition of its component territories. The State is built on ruthless hypercapitalism and militarism. The Federation is built (ideally speaking) on interstellar cooperation between multiple nations and planetary bodies. Peace is in its nature.

Who are you going to trust for peace? After all, the Federation can't economically exploit other nations in a wartime environment. To the realm of Morscutus with those in Villore, I speak of ideas that have stood the test of time for hundreds of years, on any world.

You fight because Concord told you that you could fight. They even dictated where you could fight and what you could fight over. I don't recall the CEP or Gallentean Senate issuing a formal declaration of war.

All I can see is a giant Caldari Navy ship in Luminaire and the Empires making hella isk off of sales taxes and you peons thinking you fight for something worth wile. Time will tell that this is just some asinine exercise of the true powers at be and it's hilarious that people wave a flag of fervent patriotism as they do so.

You are all capsuleers here, wise up and quit being tools.

*Astrid snorts in derision*

Considering that even the traditionalists can't agree on that particular point, I'd hardly consider that even a minor victory.