Invite a multi-national Edencom/CONCORD operation to guard the facility and to share what is learned.
Is that so very unreasonable? More unreasonable that asking me to not be afraid when I see it in the hands of Amarr only?
Also you are entirely correct. I do not need a casus belli. If I wanted a war with LUMEN I could start one tomorrow, and no one would bat an eyelid, including LUMEN. I would not need to justify it in any particular way. Naava Edios would no doubt sigh and roll her eyes and ask us if we must but that would be the worst diplomatic fallout I can imagine.
So-- EDENCOM/CONCORD is whatâs there now, Elsebeth. I get that youâre asking for something more overtly multinational, like, a mixed force of every nation defending the facility.
But isnât it kind of a long-term goal (or maybe more âhopeâ) of a lot of Matari strategists to turn the Caldari against the Amarr and turn the balance of power into something quite else?
At which point that multinational operation becomes ⌠rather more interesting, yes?
I canât say youâre wrong to find this concerning, but Iâd be a little surprised if you could find any power that was willing to share nicely with something like this-- a tool and a weapon on this kind of scale. Even the Federation would almost certainly balk at that kind of security risk. Maybe (maybe) (perhaps) the SoE would be okay with it, but everyone else?
Is it, though? Is it highly illogical for one Empire to see a powerful and largely unknown technology in the hands of another and not express concern? Letâs remove the blatant bias you display against the Matari at every possible opportunity, please? It is exhausting.
Doubt all you like, because I doubt that the Amarrian Empire would ever sit idly by while the Republic possessed the sole military control over such a technology. Donât agree with that? Thatâs fine because my opinion of what a nation would do given a different circumstance doesnât matter. Neither does yours.
I donât care if itâs in Amarrian territory or not. It is an EDENCOM site that should be guarded by militants from every empire.
Stop playing this off as Amarr selflessly acting on behalf of EDENCOMâs interests and acknowledge it as a self-serving attempt to gain control over a technology that could put them ahead of every other Empire in New Eden. I know you will refuse to believe that but that is exactly what it looks like and your refusal to acknowledge at least the appearance of such makes you look like a blind faithful. The only thing you are convincing anyone of is that you follow and wave the Empireâs flag without a single critical thought.
I am so tired of you twisting events to suit the narrative you need to see your Empire as flawless. It is far from Cora. For the love of God, open your damn eyes.
There is an interesting practical conundrum with the idea of bringing Republic and GalFed EDENCOM forces in to defend Arshat, which is that it would set a precedent in which Amarr and State forces should also be deploying outside of CEWPA alliance lines to protect a wide variety of sites in GalFed and the Republic, and vice versa. I do not believe there is any appetite for that in either the Republic or the State.
I would personally welcome a development in which EDENCOM was more clearly organised as a truly cooperative coalition along the lines of the fleet that destroyed the first Sansha Nation and in which we truly got down to the business of removing these serious external threats to all of the CONCORD states. But I am afraid that I cannot see a path for that to happen politically.
Naturally the Empire will try and take what it can. Try to register a complaint, and no doubt youâll be ignored. Whoâs gonna listen, EDENCOM? Isnât an Amarr commander heading up that organization? We all know who they really serve.
If youâre so against what theyâre doing, maybe you should go file complaints in person to the Golden Fleet protecting the stations. Surely the Republic or the eggers who serve it can think of something they can do to get their displeasure across.
Any and all of the EDENCOM fortresses are places where the Triglavians attacked and were repulsed. The Transmuter is the single biggest prize of the war, but all of the Fortresses are key prizes that might hold the key to turning the tables on the Invaders.
Regardless, a fortress system is not in the same category as the only piece of a certain Triglavian technology that we possess. Every empire has fortress systems. Only the Amarr have the stellar harvester. This is a unique circumstance and Iâm not so convinced it would set a precedent like you say. I would hope most would agree that it is in everyoneâs best interests to have all empires involved. This needs to be a joint venture all the way through.
To be fair, youâre only hypothetically being dragged into a hypothetical situation that youâve always known was hypothetically possible.
But with the situation in Arshat, the hypotheticals become much larger than just EM fighting LUMEN. The team that secured Arshat was very much international. Back during the invasions, the Empire itself even praised the international co-operation that saw the system secured from the Triglavians. But in true Amarr fashion, hypocrisy and short-sightedness will attempt to ruin the day once again.
It should be worth bearing in mind that nothing here is surprising anyone involved. âInternational cooperationâ was hailed when it was necessary, and when it was beneficial to oneself, but that the Amarr are now keeping the spoils of war to themselves is exactly what is to be expected. Itâs of course morally and ethically bankrupt and every other nation in New Eden would do the exact same thing in their shoes.
The lesson to take from it is rather simple: âInternational cooperationâ is always temporary and itâs probably a good idea to keep the guns very handy and to be used sooner rather than later.
The Empire will never cease to be an aggressive threat until itâs forced into becoming something entirely different, so why anyone bothers to âcooperateâ with them in the first place boggles the mind.
I figured as a matter of politeness I would neither start a new thread, nor mention it in other locations, but instead append findings here. As youâd figure, ARC affiliates have been observing the system, due to on-going combat between Triglavian and State and Federation forces. ARC remains committed to neutrality in national affairs, though the continued successes of Triglavian forces are demonstrably not ideal. I would enjoin Capsuleers to be dutiful in patrolling their space.
That said, this observation has allowed for measurements of the energetic discharges around the decloaked EDENCOM facility.
The above are initially-filtered reads on acquisition from camera drone. Weâre of course continuing analysis and may have a pretty report established if the findings warrant it, but with only two data points the angle on this line appears to be 0 â which is to say, no shift in frequency is readily identifiable from what limited sampling politeness has allowed.
Iâll see if the researchers have more to say in due course, if theyâd like to describe analytic methods.
edit: oh, I forgot to note. The second images for each dayâs observations are filtered to the same level. Day 1 and day 2 initial filterings were on different calibrations â 50 to 70, respectively. The first processing of the first dayâs readings being noisier is known and an artifact of the assets research provided me, not any particular notable drop in activity. Sorry!
And this is most definitely a long-term result of the failure of EDENCOM to integrate their forces into complimentary doctrines irrelevant of locations. While I agree the odds were never good for Republic/Empire forces or Fed/State forces to act in the otherâs space, Republic/State coordination, or Fed/Empire mixed groupsâalignments where not only are the remote assistance platforms compatible, but the parties lack the centuries of entrenched⌠well, blood-feuds, for lack of a better term1⌠could have not only allowed immediate cooperation, but eased long-term tensions in the cluster, as well.
I think the only chance for that is exactly the kind of coordination, integration, and mingling outlined above.
And the odds of thatâespecially with the political classes acting like the immediate threat is overâare pretty miniscule. The window for real progress passed a year or more ago.
1. Obviously, there have been conflicts and confrontations between the Federation and Empire, and between the Republic and State, those have been of a far more⌠normal? cosmopolitical relations nature than the long-standing, largely implacable opposition of the Expansionist Powers and their respective Breakaway Nations.
The failures of the political class bind fairly tightly on our baseliner families and friendsâand through them, to those of us who still hold them as our first loyalties.
