The High Ground

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2004-05-04 04:12am

In the TNG episode "The High Ground", the Enterprise becomes entangled in a political struggle on Rutia, in which a separatist group has resorted partially to terrorism in order to force the government's hand and allow them to succeed. They see the Enterprise as an opportunity to drag the Federation into the conflict, who will quickly grow weary of the fighting and force the Rutian government to make key concessions. This conflict has already raged for decades.

The Rutia government has, according to the terrorists, oppressed it's people. The Federation has had a long history of trade with the Rutian, and had not had any involvement with the conflict until this episode. Because of this, one of the terrorists (Finn) accuses the Federation of moral cowardice. He demands that they immediately embargo and blockade the planet until the Rutian government negotiates with and makes concessions to the separatists.

Assuming that this episode did not happen, and that after some period of time the Federation decides to investigate the civil war on Rutia, should the Federation embargo and/or blockade the planet if:

A) The terrorist claims (regarding the oppression of citizens) are untrue and the case for separatist autonomy is unsound?
B) The terrorist claims are true, but the case for autonomy is unsound?
C) The terrorist claims are untrue, but the case for autonomy is sound?
D) The terrorist claims are true, and the case for autonomy is sound?

Trogdor · Post by **Trogdor** » 2004-05-04 02:40pm

I'd say no for all cases. Imposing an embargo would probably just drive the planet to trade with the Ferengi, and they have no right to blockade that planet, especially given their prime directive.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 2004-05-04 02:52pm

But the quesion is, would they burninate the planet?

Ted C · Post by **Ted C** » 2004-05-04 03:12pm

The Federation is well aware of the political conflict on Rutia, they've just chosen not to get involved. They aren't going to embargo or blockade the planet without a "Prime Directive" reason to do so (like preventing other space-faring civilizations from "interfering" with the planet's development).

We can already suspect that the Federation limits the Rutians' contact with other civilizations, since the Rutian security officer asked about obtaining advanced weapons from the Federation. If they were able to trade freely with, say, the Ferengi, the Rutian government would most likely have obtained such weapons already.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2004-05-04 03:32pm

Of course the Feringi are sort of the illegal route. When talking to a federation officer I see such an request as trying to do it legally first. The question I would ask is where are the Seperatists getting their stuff from?

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-05-04 04:58pm

Isolder74 wrote:Of course the Feringi are sort of the illegal route. When talking to a federation officer I see such an request as trying to do it legally first. The question I would ask is where are the Seperatists getting their stuff from?

they don't seem to fall under federation laws (unless they're a member, i'm not certain). So it technically wouldn't be illegal for the Rutians to work with the ferengi.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 2004-05-04 09:27pm

But it would be for the Ferengi to bring arms through Federation space I presume.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2004-05-04 09:48pm

They aren't going to embargo or blockade the planet without a "Prime Directive" reason to do so (like preventing other space-faring civilizations from "interfering" with the planet's development).

The question being asked is not what would they do but what should they do.

We can already suspect that the Federation limits the Rutians' contact with other civilizations, since the Rutian security officer asked about obtaining advanced weapons from the Federation. If they were able to trade freely with, say, the Ferengi, the Rutian government would most likely have obtained such weapons already.

IIRC, they didn't ask about advanced weapons, but advanced "technology"... which covers a wider gamut of devices, including sensors, transporters, computers, etc.

Rutia could be outside the Ferengi sphere of influence, or they may simply not want to trade with the Ferengi for whatever reason (they were burned in earlier dealings with them, they've bought into Federation propaganda, etc.)

they don't seem to fall under federation laws (unless they're a member, i'm not certain). So it technically wouldn't be illegal for the Rutians to work with the ferengi.

Rutia is not a member of the Federation; they simply do business with them.

But it would be for the Ferengi to bring arms through Federation space I presume.

The Rutians already have lethal handheld energy weapons; what more would they want and how much of an advantage could the dustbusters really have? This isn't a big military campaign being waged in which a new weapons technology could carry the day, this is an underground insurrection.

Finn accused the Federation of moral cowardice for choosing not to intervene in the Rutia conflict while freely trading with the "oppressive" Rutian government. Is this true? Should the Federation be getting involved in the affairs of external soveriegn powers in order to promote Truth, Justice, and the Federation Way?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-05-04 10:10pm

Uraniun235 wrote:Finn accused the Federation of moral cowardice for choosing not to intervene in the Rutia conflict while freely trading with the "oppressive" Rutian government. Is this true? Should the Federation be getting involved in the affairs of external soveriegn powers in order to promote Truth, Justice, and the Federation Way?

How is that any different from a modern country refusing to deal with, say, China because of its human-rights record? Mind you, most modern nations are lining up to deal with China so this is not really happening, but this behaviour is being condemned as unprincipled moral cowardice, so it does seem analogous.

Having said that, however, I saw no evidence that these terrorists had any agenda other than some sort of ethnic separation, so I have no sympathy.

1337n1nj4 · Post by **1337n1nj4** » 2004-05-07 01:11pm

The Rutian terrorists managed to obtain their advanced teleportation system from outside traders.

Ted C · Post by **Ted C** » 2004-05-07 03:05pm

1337n1nj4 wrote:The Rutian terrorists managed to obtain their advanced teleportation system from outside traders.

Can you verify that? I was under the impression it was something they'd managed to put together on their own.

1337n1nj4 · Post by **1337n1nj4** » 2004-05-07 07:07pm

You know, I thought I could, but when I went and checked the script, there was no reference to that.

The line I thought I heard was "the traders we bought this from" but the script only said "the designers" which isn't conclusive.

Anybody got this one on DVD?

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2004-05-08 10:12pm

Of that still leaves a question of where the terrorist got their weapons and other gear. A transporter scrambler was built into the bomb placed onto the Warp Core. Somehow they pulled that off but I must admiy that doesn't seem so hard but they have had problems locking onto thing before.

It just seems like the transporter thing they had was a little above their own ability to produce themselves from the looks of their hideout.

Ted C · Post by **Ted C** » 2004-05-10 10:20am

Isolder74 wrote:Of that still leaves a question of where the terrorist got their weapons and other gear. A transporter scrambler was built into the bomb placed onto the Warp Core. Somehow they pulled that off but I must admiy that doesn't seem so hard but they have had problems locking onto thing before.

Phasers were a known technology on Rutia; both the government and the terrorists had them.

The bomb probably included a dimensional jump component that interfered with transporter locks. When Picard first suggested that they use the transporters to beam the intruding terrorists off the ship, Data determined that their dimensional transport devices were blocking normal transport.

Besides, we know that it's actually not very difficult to interfere with transporter operation, and the Rutians certainly know about transporters, even if they don't use them normally themselves.

Isolder74 wrote:It just seems like the transporter thing they had was a little above their own ability to produce themselves from the looks of their hideout.

While the "inverter" was a health hazard, it had military advantages over a normal transporter:

Shields didn't prevent the dimensional transports from working.
The person being transported with the dimensional device controlled the transport, rather than a third party at a remote location.
Dimensional transports were very fast compared to normal transports.
Dimensional transports apparently allowed the Rutian terrorists to "see" where they were going, since they were able to transport to and around the Enterprise with minimal intel.
Dimensional transport technology interferes with normal transporter systems.