Does the Federation have a soft spot for the Romulans?

[Gotham Central]

The Federation has long shown a remarkable amount of lenience toward the Romulans. Far more than they ever gave the Klingons or any other adversary.

Romulan ships have destroyed Federation outposts, killed Starfleet officers, repeatedly breached the Neutral Zone, spied on the Federation and numerous other breaches of the peace. This does not even include the idiotic treaty they signed with the Romulans that keeps the Federation from using cloaking technology.

Yet the Federation ALWAYS lets them get away with these infractions. They've threatened war with the Klingons or Cardassians over less. Why do they have this obvious blind spot for the Romulans (especially in the 24th century where the Klingons would like nothing more than to help the Federation put an end to the Romulan Star Empire once and for all)?

 

[nx1701g]

Because of the Vulcans maybe and their shared ancestry?

That's one theory I've had. Another stems from dialogue in Balance of Terror when the Romulans were first introduced. I think that the Federation was more afraid of the Romulans than any other of the galactic empires. They did say in BOT that they were willing to allow Enterprise to be destroyed if it meant that they preserved the treaty.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Much of this topic is applicable to the Klingons, as well, I suspect.

Is it not as they say - in space, all warriors are Cold Warriors.

In a Cold War - an incident can become something much worse very quickly. Which is exactly why the Federation is willing to let things the Romulans and Klingons do slip by. They're not willing to confront another one of the big 3 superpowers and risk conflict.

 

[Jono]

My theory on why the Federation seems to make deals where it gets the worst end of it is that the Federation is always looking towards a time when the other side will sign up under their banner. So that they are willing to do terrible deals like the Treaty of Algeron, creating the Demilitarised Zone, etc and while in the short to medium term the Federation is worse off the long term picture is that the Federation still gets to slowly seep into the other party until one day they are singing "All hail the insidious Federation".

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Root Beer and all that, I suppose.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

[Romulan Bias]Or it could be that the Star Empire is more powerful so they'd rather not provoke the war. They fought one bloody war, that war led to Romulan isolation behind an imaginary line. If they can keep Romulans behind that line, it's worth it to them to ignore minor little things.[/Romulan Bias]

 

[T'Bonz]

'cause the Romulans are dead sexy!

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

[Romulan Bias]Or it could be that the Star Empire is more powerful so they'd rather not provoke the war. They fought one bloody war, that war led to Romulan isolation behind an imaginary line. If they can keep Romulans behind that line, it's worth it to them to ignore minor little things.[/Romulan Bias]

Yes, that was before The Badass Captain Robau carved the USS Kelvin out of a meteor with his bare hands and started kicking Romulan ass.

He won the Romulan War. As a baby. Before his umbilical cord was even cut.

 

[Myasishchev]

I figure it's because the Romulans probably keep cloaked ships in striking distance of Federation population centers.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I always assumed it was because they saw the potential in the vague possibility of peace and cooperation between the Vulcans and the Romulans.

Could be wrong.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

I think it's because the Federation fears the Romulans in a way they don't fear the Klingons or the Cardassians. The Klingons, while they command a large resource-rich empire, aren't really all that technologically advanced in comparison to the Federation. The Cardassians have the technology, but their space is resource-poor (hence the occupation of the resource-rich Bajor). The Romulans have a vast resource-rich empire coupled with advanced technology. Not to mention, the Romulans are devious and extremely smart.

 

[Star Wolf]

I always thought that it was before the Dominion War the only total war that was fought was aginst the Romulans. With the Klingons it was skirmish, fighting thru others as the US and Soviets fought Earth's cold war. With the Cardassians on a ship with 1000 crew it seemed only one crewman fought in that war, another limited effort for the Federation even if it was major for the Cardassians, sort of like Kosovo and Serbs versus NATO.

 

[NIUPonyBoy]

I always thought the Romulans kidnapped all the barbers in the Galaxy and created a massive army that would be unleashed upon the Feds in a time of war and give everyone the same boulder soup-bowl haircut!