Cortath

It's hard to tell these days. Give a guy a break. My apologies to Virillus.

Did you read what I said, or just posted that blindly?

When you don't read, using words that sound "big" makes it sounds like maybe you do read. That's been my experience at least. [edit sp]

[double post]

Indeed. Vox was happier when GATO was under the Viceroyalty because they could use it as a punching bag against us. Now that that's gone, they're desperately trying to find another reason to hate us. *chuckles* Good luck, Vox.

The answer is, "No."

I look forward to engaging in our friendship with GATO as equals. I'm puzzled by those who call these terms "forced." No one forced GATO to accept these terms. They are free to make any treaties they wish and do all Things and Acts which alliances may do.

Speaking with the Economic Viceroy staff at GATO, it was a pleasure to be able to work with you and learn a bit more about GATO and GATOans.

Fyi, it's "Moldavi" not "Moldovi."

Props on the Odrade quote.

OOC: Sorry, I probably went a little too harsh there. IC: I suppose if people want to fight "the man" they're welcome to attack Red nations. We shall destroy them. *shrugs*

I suppose I'll start by taking issue with the "I'm going to make a statement of fact but then say it's an opinion" little bit you have at the end. You, my friend, made statements of fact. You made a statement on why people attack red sphere nations. That's a statement of fact. A statement that can be proven to be true or false. A statement of opinion is one that cannot be proven true or false by demonstrable means. "I think that if I jump, I will never fall" isn't an "opinion" because I put "I think" in front of it. It's a statement of fact and it's wrong. "Babies taste good," is an opinion, because it cannot be demonstrated absolutely true or false. Now, to move to your argument. We give the greatest blessings to Red Sphere nations. Whereas the unaligned of most of the other Spheres can fall prey to mercenary tech raiders, petty wars, expanding alliances looking for tech, Red Sphere nations live under the protection of our peace. This is a gift, and one of the greatest gifts any alliance has ever offered anyone on Planet Bob, let alone a group so exploited and stomped on as the unaligned. Those who attack Red Nations do so for one of two reasons, they are ignorant or they are irrational. Those who attack because they are ignorant do so ignorant of the Moldavi and Revenge Doctrines, being simple tech raiders who wish for a bit of tech. We find them, and make them un-ignorant. Once un-ignorant, if they attack again, they are simply irrational, for the pain we exact for a second encroachment on the Red nations we protect far outweighs the petty gains a few tech raids can give one.

Probably. Complete English sentences need a subject.

That was an excellent contribution.[/sarcasm] Francos Spain left that past world during the great battle in the torrential waters of the North Pacific. He shall always be remembered.

I do not command Pacifica's war machine, nor do I pretend to be involved in military matters. I specialize in economics. Generally speaking, it has been my observation that we take all of our conflicts very seriously, particularly the clean-up. We take people who raid on our smaller nations very seriously, and we take people who continue to raid on Red Sphere nations very seriously. Particularly in regards to the Red Sphere, we take it seriously. The Moldavi and Revenge Doctrines are two sides of the same coin. Because we permit no other alliances in Red, we must take the greatest pains to be sure that those nations on Red who do not wish to join the NPO and cannot join another alliance while remaining on Red are adequately protected. Jarheads threatens that protection and the Red Sphere, and for that they shall and must die.

I do not doubt this.

War is war. You don't train soldiers to shoot "softer" because the enemy is weak. You kill your enemy when they come, regardless of their strength. We respect our soldiers and we provide them with some of the greatest benefits any alliance can give them. We have an outstanding war machine, and our people know it. That we are privileged with such fine soldiers we all know, and that we are privileged with a war and economic system to support them so well we know too. Our soldiers appreciate that when we go to war, we mean business on all fronts, and that we ask that we all treat war as a serious matter is a small price to pay for the protection and support we give all our members, and indeed, the entire Red Sphere. I don't have numbers on any such requests. It's not my business to keep them. You could ask the Emperor.

The facts do not seem to bear out your argument. Firstly, Francoism is not based on our enemies' struggle. Francoism existed long before our present enemies existed and will continue exist long after they have been wiped from the earth. I don't see "destructiveness to [...] the whole body." As far as I can tell, the majority of the world is in peace and has prosperity.

I believe I have. See the links to my collected works, as well as what Vladimir and others have written. We've taken great pains to write a great deal about Francoism. I'm sorry that you don't think they're clear. Philosophy isn't always easy. Your analysis was flawed because you shifted your arguments. First the Jarheads war is unjust. Now you're swinging your argument around to NPO's policies towards its own members, when before it was this great injustice against new players. I shall address this new argument you've brought up below. People who leave during war without applying for dispensation from the Emperor are deserters. This is simple. The Emperor is not unmindful of certain situations and legitimate reasons for leaving an alliance, and he has and no doubt will continue to grant that dispensation for those who wish to leave. Those who leave without following the proper procedures will be punished. It is simple.

Why does it matter? It's a humorous piece. It matters because it amused me. My apologies for misspelling your name. I don't always type things correctly. Not being a Francoist means you're stuck in a state of nature. There have been many essays written, namely the Paradox of Freedom by Vladimir, explaining why that is bad, and the Primer on Francoism, written by myself, covering the same issue among others.

I mean, honestly...Francoism is a complex scientific philosophy. The NSO doesn't espouse any official philosophy that I've seen around, beyond a couple statements about being Sith, evil, and the Rule of Two. There's no great philosophical controversy between us, and this piece was clearly tongue-in-cheek, poking fun at the fact that when the NSO was formed, all the silly anti-NPO people went, "Ooh, NPO is going to attack them, there will be war," and similar silliness. Your analysis of the Jarheads conflict is flawed. As you, and any person familiar with the event knows, we have given all new nations the opportunity to remove themselves from the conflict. We are only making war against those nations that attack us and those nations that originally perpetrated the conflict against us. A few other points: as far as Francoism goes, Moldavi isn't the "Original Emperor." Francos Spain was. Not saying I don't have a deep and abiding respect for Moldavi. I do; we've known each for many, many years, but the way you phrase it, it sounds as if I'm trying to defend against some sort of ideological struggle. I'm not. The propagation of Francoism was never a strong point in Moldavi's platform, and I think he will admit that. He's admitted that he's trying a new thing, and I respect that. And really...for the people who read what I usually write, it tends to be very dense, philosophy, that people who need a tl;dr simply do not read. This was written in a lightly humorous literary style, and only dealt very lightly with philosophy, and it was posted on April 1. If I wanted to post a line by line analysis of Sith philosophy (not that the NSO has propaganda any philosophical pieces based on the Sith), I could have. I don't intend to, because it's not necessary. The NSO is not Francoist, isn't pretending to be Francoist, and is in fact, in the words of its Sith Lord, based explicitly on a "new" foundation for an alliance. To Commissar Grunt: I assure you that I do not. Thank you for your subtle critique.

Conflating GATO and FAN (and "everyone else" *chuckles*) is really a pretty darn un-nuanced analysis. We're at war with FAN. We are at peace with GATO. There's your first mistake. We attack all FAN on sight. No questions asked. GATO is in a profitable (to them) economic relationship with the NPO, and has been rebuilt through the investments of hundreds of millions from the Pacific bank. GATO has a functioning, vibrant internal government, trade system, and foreign relations. FAN is a joke that gets posted about every couple months, and whose sole influence in all foreign affairs, is to steal 3M every few months, out of an alliance that has billions flowing through it during that same time.

Really? For an "independent thinker," you don't get dates very well. It amuses me that people are taking this tongue-in-cheek piece seriously, far more than the piece ever could amuse me on its own.

*chuckles* There was a point. Pity that you did not see it. I chuckled.

Reading is hard. I understand this, comrade, for I too, have "tried" reading much. I did also, however, succeed.