Did Sisko commit a war crime?

[Voth commando1]

I don't think any maquis violence against Cardassian colonists was anything but retaliatory in nature.

As for Organia-well fighting over that planet turned out to be pointless as the Organians showed that they weren't primitive herdsmen and actually superbeings and imposed peace on the combatants.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't think any maquis violence against Cardassian colonists was anything but retaliatory in nature.

It's definitely in their wheelhouse.

 

[Voth commando1]

It's definitely in their wheelhouse.

Can you explain what "in their wheelhouse" means?

I'm not familiar with the phraseology

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ It means it's within the range of things they're expected to do. Things they're good at, things everyone knows they do, things they do regularly anyway.

 

[Voth commando1]

Oh okay now the expression makes sense.

 

[fireproof78]

Maquis, and Eddington, lost points in my eyes when they decided that rendering a planet uninhabitable for Cardassian through biogenic weapons.

Sisko loses points for a similar maneuver.

Nobody is a winner in this scenario.

 

[Tenacity]

The Federation didn't fight Cardassia to conquer it.

Not Cardassia, the territory (as Cultcross suggested) that the Federation and the Cardassian were fighting over. The territory that the Federation and the Cardassains eventually divide between themselves.

the Federation never intended to force Organia to become a member

Not what I was referring to, one of the stated causes of the war between the Federation and the Klingons was disputed territory. Kirk and Kor mentioned this.

There was never any indication that the Ba'ku had starships which could carry them away.

Not what I was referring to.

Did the Baku have the option of their star system leaving Federation space? No longer be considered to be apart of it. Picard said the planet was in Federation space.

 

[Voth commando1]

Maquis, and Eddington, lost points in my eyes when they decided that rendering a planet uninhabitable for Cardassian through biogenic weapons.

Sisko loses points for a similar maneuver.

Nobody is a winner in this scenario.

Eddington fought dirty to win and because the Cardassians had already stooped to that level(the Cardassians aren't held back in war by anything other than their commanders and physical limitations).

I get the impression the war between Eddington's Maquis and the tottering Cardassian empire was a brutal, relentless and yet dynamic conflict with daring Maquis raids and strikes and Cardassian ships pulverizing Maquis settlements, slaughtering civilians, and the Maquis retaliating by doing the same.

This isn't shown but it's implied.

And that makes Eddington all the more impressive a former security officer leading a bunch of ex-Starfleet officers and some colonists fighting the Cardassians and as Dax said "turning the tide."

 

[DonIago]

Prior to Dukat's alliance with the Dominion, when is it implied that the Cardassian military is actively fighting the Maquis? Underhandedly supplying their colonists I'll buy, but then, segments of the Federation were doing the same. The official line was that both governments wanted peace and the Maquis and militant Cardassian colonists were screwing with that.

 

[Voth commando1]

Prior to Dukat's alliance with the Dominion, when is it implied that the Cardassian military is actively fighting the Maquis? Underhandedly supplying their colonists I'll buy, but then, segments of the Federation were doing the same. The official line was that both governments wanted peace and the Maquis and militant Cardassian colonists were screwing with that.

Which everybody in the know, knew to be a lie. The Cardassian government was supporting its colonists and the Federation was doing the same(albeit not as official policy and not consistently).

Remember at this point the Cardassians have taken a heavy beating from the Klingons, morale was low, the obsidian order had been destroyed, the government had been toppled and the civilian government couldn't hold the state together.

If the Cardassians were at full strength and had everything they had at the beginning of DS9 the Maquis would have been a mere irritant to be swiped away.

By "For the Uniform" Eddington was close to driving them out of the DMZ.

 

[DonIago]

Politics is about diplomacy and trying to make the best of bad situations, not unfettered honesty.

The Cardassian government was not supporting its colonists as official policy either.

I'm speaking of the period prior to the Klingon attack on Cardassia.

Eddington claimed the Maquis was close to driving the Cardassians out of the DMZ, but he said a lot of things that didn't quite hold up on further analysis.

 

[Ithekro]

That Cardassian interstellar warp missile had to come from someplace for Torres to have reprogramed it prior to Voyager becoming lost in the Delta Quadrant.

 

[Arpy]

Which everybody in the know, knew to be a lie. The Cardassian government was supporting its colonists...

Correct. Not officially, but without a doubt, and with arms.

...and the Federation was doing the same(albeit not as official policy and not consistently).

Did I miss this? How was the Federation helping the Maquis?

 

[Arpy]

Did the Baku have the option of their star system leaving Federation space? No longer be considered to be apart of it. Picard said the planet was in Federation space.

The planet was a protectorate because its people were thought primitive. If intelligent life were to develop on a planet within Federation space, once they develop warp, I think it's up to them whether they want to continue being a protectorate (a smart choice, given Klingons) or defend themselves. Space is big, and I can imagine a "corridor" be opened to them, if necessary, and they're that deep in Federation space.

-

I don't know that the Maquis are fighting in anything but small skirmishes and targets here and there. I never got the impression that this was a proxy war between the Federation and the Union, fought by their former colonies. It defeats the purpose of the Cardassians backing their colonies causing such ire.

-

I don't think that Eddington wanted "everlasting war," Mr. Laser Beam. That paints a very depraved picture of a man I think was looking for purpose and thought he may have found it trying to help people nearly forced to abandon their homes, then terrorized by aliens. He could have joined the Klingon Defense Forces or become a mercenary or pirate or privateer or agent for Section 31. I don't think he was an odious man, just one who chose unwisely.

 

[Ithekro]

It is unclear when first contact between the Federation and Cardassian Union even was. It could have been early on, but judging by the Native American colonists that refused to leave on spiritual grounds....the human colonies on the border have only been there three or four decades. From what we've seen of these sort of colonies in Star Trek, they usually come in single transport ship with only a few hundred people. One generation isn't enough to swell the colony up all that much really. Even if they are on the start of their second generation, that's still not all that many people relatively speaking.

These don't seem like the large scale planned Federation or Earth colonies like say Deneva that have around a million people because it was designed as a major transportation hub, with a heavy mining industry and a nice M-class planet. Most of the worlds we encounter in the DMZ seem like frontier settlements with either shacks, adobe building, or underground settlements, with the colonies mainly being on the subsistence level, with some trade.

 

[Voth commando1]

Correct. Not officially, but without a doubt, and with arms.


Did I miss this? How was the Federation helping the Maquis?

Weapons, captains looking the other way at Maquis raids and convoys, intelligence, etc...

As for first contact between the UFP and CU I figure it occurred in either the early 24th century or late 23rd century.

 

[Arpy]

Weapons, captains looking the other way at Maquis raids and convoys, intelligence, etc...

As for first contact between the UFP and CU I figure it occurred in either the early 24th century or late 23rd century.

In what episode did they give them weapons?

 

[Voth commando1]

In what episode did they give them weapons?

It's implied, I can't imagine the original colonists were armed with phasers when they settled there.

 

[Ithekro]

We see a few black market arms deals for the Maquis. We see a few Starfleet officers abandon their posts and join the movement. A lot of their ships are really old, possibly left over planetary defense craft or raiding ships from the Cardassian Wars the last few decades. The fighting had been going off and on since at least 2347. The Native American had made their colony only third years before the events of the founding of the DMZ...so around 2340. The DMZ seems very close to Cardassia Prime on most maps we get of it and the Badlands relative to Bajor.

The treaty was a planet swapping deal to settle the border dispute. However some colonists refused to leave (on both sides). So they along with their planets were handed over to the other party. The Cardassians didn't want the human/Federation colonies to stay, so they tried to encourage them to leave Cardassian Space. It is also possible that the colonist were refusing to obey Cardassian laws before this started. It is likely there were still border colonies that were outside the DMZ that provide aid across the border. It is unclear about what happens on the Cardassian worlds under Federation laws.

The Federation started making checkpoints into the zone in an effort to stop illegal shipments not long after the Maquis was formed.

 

[Prax]

I just love this conversation

QUARK: Same thing exactly. May I propose a toast?
SAKONNA: Is this another cultural idiosyncrasy?
QUARK: Yes. You know, I can't describe the honour I feel at this moment. It's rare that a Ferengi and a Vulcan can overcome their inherent differences to see eye-to-eye as we're doing. I've always had the greatest respect for Vulcans, even though the few I've met haven't exactly felt the same way about me. You are a noble people and I salute you. Now then, what kind of business proposition do you have in mind?
SAKONNA: I wish to procure weapons.
QUARK: I beg your pardon?
SAKONNA: Guns, phaser banks, photon torpedoes
QUARK: Shh!
SAKONNA: (sotto) Troop transports and a number of cobalt-thorium devices. My list is quite extensive.
QUARK: You're a gun runner?
SAKONNA: I'm prepared to pay in latinum and I will very likely need a continuous supply for the foreseeable future.
QUARK: You're not like other Vulcans, are you?