Well! If the CBT keeps being as busy as it has been, perhaps a general thread of State lawfare is in order. The latest (and a bit late, pardon!) is that Hyasyoda and Ishukone are pushing the CBT on Practical smuggling during the temporary border closure. Notably, it would appear that the Practicals leveraged the Patriot reaction to the Kyonoke Crisis to secure some financial advantage: essentially, maximizing short-term losses to others while shielding themselves from it. Might even be a case where the Patriots and Liberals might be inclined to make common cause against Practical dealings. We’ll see, of course.
If things keep heating up, I’ll try to make this an index post.
Considering the border closure restricted travel for Gallente baseliners and baseliner traffic from the Federation, it seems a bit ridiculous on the face of it. All any megas would have needed to do was use, I dunno, Caldari shipping, and have the products come back either through Domain or Metropolis (the Metropolis route adds 31j if turned aside at the border. Not nothing, but still manageable. The Domain route adds 1j less from the border, and gets shorter the deeper in the Federation the materials are coming from).
More, the folks bitching now are the ones who voted against the border closure, acting against the people who voted in favor of it. Hidden agenda there? Like a reprisal move that includes some bad press for their rivals?
There’s not much of a hidden agenda, I’d say. One may as well put a sign on it. Insofar as the press side is concerned, it’s a fairly natural push to demonstrate to the Patriot bloc that the Practical bloc isn’t a reliable political ally.
Of course, all else aside, if there’s substantial evidence of centrally-managed illegal activity, then both CBD and NOH have opened themselves up to penalties.
From a legal standpoint, this is fairly cut-and-dry.
Indeed, even from a political stand-point, it’s fairly cut-and-dry.
Considering how ruthless Caldari culture tends to be even among entities that don’t explicitly take pride in it, it seems like the idea that the Practicals aren’t to be treated as reliable would be a little more … obvious?