Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Search?

[Edit_XYZ]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

For the same reason GB, France, etc had as policy towards Germany appeasement during the '30.
To have 'peace in their times'.

Precisely correct and said much more eloquently than anything I've posted. The most important responsibility a military officer has is to preserve the peace. Even actions intended as defensive measures have the potential to incite a war, so decisions about such actions must be weighed carefully before they're made and implemented.

--Sran

My post was...multi-layered.

The meaning you detailed is not the only one.
You see, "Peace in their times" was also a reference to Neville Chamberlain; and how well that worked out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_for_our_time

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

The meaning you detailed is not the only one.
You see, "Peace in their times" was also a reference to Neville Chamberlain; and how well that worked out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_for_our_time

I know what you meant. I just didn't feel like revisiting Chamberlain's incompetence, as I don't recall any Federation representatives who were manipulated as easily as he was. Well, unless you count Admiral Nechayev in the Dominion-engineered virtual reality.

--Sran

 

[Edit_XYZ]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

The meaning you detailed is not the only one.
You see, "Peace in their times" was also a reference to Neville Chamberlain; and how well that worked out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_for_our_time

I know what you meant. I just didn't feel like revisiting Chamberlain's incompetence, as I don't recall any Federation representatives who were manipulated as easily as he was. Well, unless you count Admiral Nechayev in the Dominion-engineered virtual reality.

--Sran

I find Chamberlain's naivete/the actions it inspired and the federation ones, as displayed throughout 24th century trek, to be quite similar.

 

[R. Star]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

The meaning you detailed is not the only one.
You see, "Peace in their times" was also a reference to Neville Chamberlain; and how well that worked out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_for_our_time

I know what you meant. I just didn't feel like revisiting Chamberlain's incompetence, as I don't recall any Federation representatives who were manipulated as easily as he was. Well, unless you count Admiral Nechayev in the Dominion-engineered virtual reality.

--Sran

Jaresh-Inyo seemed that naive. Leyton played him like a fiddle to be certain.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

Jaresh-Inyo seemed that naive. Leyton played him like a fiddle to be certain.

That's a good point. I'd add that Jaresh-Inyo also seemed more concerned with winning a popularity contest than he was with actually doing his job. Every time I hear him say, "I'd hate to be remembered as the Federation President who destroyed paradise," I laugh out loud.

--Sran

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

Rubbish. If that's the case, why did it take a full two years following that attack for the Dominion to finally go after the Federation? Why send a series of Changeling infiltrators into the Alpha Quadrant to create unrest and instability if an attack has already been set into motion? Seems like a huge waste of resources, IMO.

The Dominion's efforts in season 3-5 were to prime the AQ for invasion so they could take it with less effort and more legitimacy. They wanted to start a war between the Federation and the Klingons and make as many alliances as possible.

If they charged the wormhole immediately after The Search the Federation would have collapsed the wormhole, and they would have ended up facing the entire AQ at the same time. They wanted to divide and conquer.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

The Dominion's efforts in season 3-5 were to prime the AQ for invasion so they could take it with less effort and more legitimacy. They wanted to start a war between the Federation and the Klingons and make as many alliances as possible.

If they charged the wormhole immediately after The Search the Federation would have collapsed the wormhole, and they would have ended up facing the entire AQ at the same time. They wanted to divide and conquer.

I understand that. I was refuting another poster's argument that the Dominion was prepared to attack the Alpha Quadrant immediately after "The Die is Cast" was over.

--Sran

 

[Solariabsg25]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

Who gives a damn about free movement?

Look, freedom is not even absolute as it stands.

Had the Federation sealed the wormhole after The Search, then no Dominion War.

And screw the Bajorans also. Why then does it matter if they whine about lack of access to the Prophets? So their religion must threaten the entire Alpha Quadrant?

Starfleet couldn't just ignore the Bajorans.

Deep Space Nine was a Bajoran Station, in Bajoran space. If Starfleet decided to arbitrarily plant a minefield, the Bajoran Provisional Government could have expelled them. That would mean that Federation starships would have had to enter the space of a sovereign foreign government to place the mines. Knowing the Bajorans, that would mean facing a blockade of their ships, and if necessarily blasting them out of the way.

What would happen if France thought they were going to be attacked by Russia, so to prevent it they just drove into Germany and planted landmines? Would the French be able to just say "screw the Germans"?

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

What would happen if France thought they were going to be attacked by Russia, so to prevent it they just drove into Germany and planted landmines? Would the French be able to just say "screw the Germans"?

Well said. And who's to say that France placing mines in Germany wouldn't provoke a strike by the Russians before the field was finished? Even defensive measures can provoke an attack. It's foolhardy to risk an all-out war by taking an action that may not even be necessary.

--Sran

 

[Jono]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

Even after "The Search" I'd argue that the Dominion wasn't a threat that warranted such drastic action as collapsing the wormhole (was it possible at the time, wasn't the method used in season 5 based on the research by the Trill trying to create an artificial wormhole in "Rejoined"?) or mining it. All the Dominion had done was spank lone starships (though one had support from runabouts) and make some general threats of which they don't really back up.

Nor can the Federation really know the power of the Dominion. As I stated, they can destroy lone ships, even one of the capability of the Galaxy class and they know they have conquered some planets and bully others into joining, but is that really all that different from what the Klingons, Romulans or Cardassians have been able to do at various times? While as the viewer it is clear to us they are the next big bad, for the Federation it would be no where near as clear cut.

 

[Sci]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

Whether or not you like it, the Federation has a different value system than we do.

They believe in exploration, and they believe in diplomacy, and they believe in the sovereign rights of foreign cultures.

So they're not gonna stop exploring the Gamma Quadrant because it might be dangerous. And they're not gonna stop trying to reach out the hand of peace to the Dominion unless war becomes truly inevitable (and really, even not then). And they're not gonna violate Bajoran sovereignty by mining the Bajorans' wormhole without permission.

The war was the price the Federation paid for its commitment to its principles.

The Federation won the war.

I'd say it was worth the cost.

 

[Solariabsg25]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

What would happen if France thought they were going to be attacked by Russia, so to prevent it they just drove into Germany and planted landmines? Would the French be able to just say "screw the Germans"?

Well said. And who's to say that France placing mines in Germany wouldn't provoke a strike by the Russians before the field was finished? Even defensive measures can provoke an attack. It's foolhardy to risk an all-out war by taking an action that may not even be necessary.

--Sran

The other issue is, a lot of Trek governments simply don't trust each other.

The Romulans or Cardassians, perhaps even the Klingons, and DEFINITELY the Ferengi, may believe that planting a minefield was simply a ruse for the Federation to hog the resources of the Gamma Quadrant all to themselves.

Hell, it probably took all of the Federation's powers of persuasion to prevent Gowron from launching a grand invasion of the Gamma Quadrant to avenge the blood of the Klingons killed by the Dominion's actions in The Jem'Hadar episode!

 

[Edit_XYZ]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

Whether or not you like it, the Federation has a different value system than we do.

They believe in exploration, and they believe in diplomacy, and they believe in the sovereign rights of foreign cultures.
[...]
The war was the price the Federation paid for its commitment to its principles.

The Federation won the war.

I'd say it was worth the cost.

Relativism here, relativism there, Sci.
In our objective universe, some value systems/behavious are ranging from naive to suicidal.

And S31's actions were, as surprisingly presented in DS9, a sine-qua-non condition for ending the war. Unlike the federation values.

 

[-Brett-]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

Whether or not you like it, the Federation has a different value system than we do.

They believe in exploration, and they believe in diplomacy, and they believe in the sovereign rights of foreign cultures.

So they're not gonna stop exploring the Gamma Quadrant because it might be dangerous. And they're not gonna stop trying to reach out the hand of peace to the Dominion unless war becomes truly inevitable (and really, even not then). And they're not gonna violate Bajoran sovereignty by mining the Bajorans' wormhole without permission.

The war was the price the Federation paid for its commitment to its principles.

The Federation won the war.

I'd say it was worth the cost.

This is exactly it. There are any number of conflicts that could have been prevented if the Federation was more paranoid, more militant, more isolationist, or more whatever, but then the show wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

They didn't mine the wormhole after The Search because Rom hadn't invented them yet.

In fact, he only came up with the idea in the same episode they were deployed.

Also, sociopolitical stuff I guess.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Re: Why didn't the Federation simply mine the wormhole after the Searc

^Rom also wasn't working as an engineer until the middle of the fourth season, so he couldn't have helped anway.

--Sran