Okay, some excerpts from the script of "Journey's End"
Trek Core
PICARD: (off PADD) This border will put several Federation colonies in Cardassian territory... and some Cardassian colonies in ours.
NECHEYEV: The agreement is by no means perfect... neither side got everything they wanted... but everyone got something. And as someone once said, diplomacy is the art of the possible. (beat) Those colonies finding themselves on the wrong side of the border will have to be moved.
So, yes, these settlements became Cardassian property giving them the legal right to use these places as they saw fit.
Which is the problem. It should never have happened.
Lynx
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't one paragraph in the treaty that those Federation citizens who wanted to stay in the zone would be allowed to do that and the Cardassians should respect them and leave them alone without harrassing them?
That's the first time I ever heard of that. The impression I got in "Journey's End" was that they had different plans for these places and were very surprised that these settlers wanted to stay. Seemed to me that they hadn't expected that, so they probably had no details about how to treat settlers in that treaty.
I'll probably get flamed for saying that but I'd rather say that it were the settlers who violated the treaty first by insisting to stay.
The settlers can't violate any treaty. They didn't sign any. Only the Federation and the Cardassians can violate any treaty. The Cardassians did so, over and over again.
And another interesting quote from the end of that episode:
PICARD: Anthwara... I want to make absolutely sure you understand the implications of this agreement. By giving up your status as Federation citizens... any future request you or your people make for assistance from Starfleet will go unanswered. You will be on your own... and under Cardassian jurisdiction.
The settlers who insist on staying aren't Federation citizens any more. They become Cardassian citizens and it's not an invasion if Cardassia mistreats its own citizens (what they have done before, something the settlers must have been aware of).
The settlers agree to that and they are not given any proof that they'll be treated well.
So when they're being attacked and killed, they should just kneel down smile, and say, "Ah, well. This was a possibility. Let's just give them a good show and some good fun, by screaming nicely, while they kill us."
It's idiotic.
Also, Picard's quote, would mean that when the previously Federation settlers were agonized enough they started fighting back, the Federation should have said, "Hey, not our problem. That's on your side of the border - when you accepted them there, that's your problem to deal with. They're no longer ours. If you tried to kill them and now they're fighting back, that's your own stupidity."
Instead, the Federation went to hunt them down, attack, and arrest them. People who are just defending themselves. They're own people they abandoned.
NTHWARA: I understand, Captain. And we are prepared to take that risk. (to Gul Evek) Will the Cardassian government honor the agreement you've made here?
GUL EVEK: I believe that I can convince them this is an... equitable solution. I cannot speak for every Cardassian you will encounter... but if you leave us alone... I suspect that we will do the same.
Evek doesn't promise anything. And the Cardassian government isn't bound to any agreement made there.
And so they have no right to defend themselves when Cardassians come to kill them?
Last time I checked, fighting and uprooting a bad government was considered a good thing.
As for the settler's knowing about the treaty before Picard comes and tells them, this is from the beginning of the episode:
NECHEYEV: An Indian representative was included in the deliberations of the Federation Council. His objections were noted, discussed... but ultimately rejected.
One of them was present during the negotiations! And he wasn't ignored, it just wasn't possible to please everyone.
Uh, actually, yes, he was ignored. A people like that, that spent centuries looking for a proper home, a people that had been uprooted and forced to move by the forefathers of the people making the treaty now, should have been given the highest priorities, they should have remained inside the Federation, even if it meant going back to war.
And no, the settlers didn't violate any treaty because they never signed that shameful treaty in the first place.
The Federation had been at war with Cardassia for some time. I'm sure that war was very brutal and caused massive casualties. Treaties to end that war would not be shameful.
There are two alternatives: Peace and war. Peace must be negotiated, with treaties such as this. The only alternative would be for the Federation/Cardassian war to continue. In that case, the colonies could have found themselves on the front lines in short order. Would it have been preferable for them to be destroyed outright?
Well, that's where your are wrong. The Federation / Cardassian border skirmishes were not brutal and did cause massive casualties - or at least, they shouldn't have.
Remember how easily the Klingons absolutely CRUSHED the entire Cardassian military?
The Federation has the same military power as the Klingons, and a greater technology, numbers and resources at their disposable.
The Federation could have similarly, utterly crushed the Cardassian military. If these skirmishes weren't treated unseriously, and hadn't been fought with deficient numbers and holding patterns, but instead treated it as a full on war, this stuff wouldn't been happening.
You see, the Cardassians are little upstart kids. The Federation took pity on them, and treated them with kid gloves. The Cardassians thought this meant weaknesses, that if they only tried again with more numbers or better weapons, they'd win. So they did. And the Federation kept treating them like an annoying kid that if they only yelled a little harder this time, it'd learn its lesson.
They should have spanked the kid up the wazoo. They should utterly destroyed the invading fleet, annex 2 lightyears, and tell the Cardassians: "This is now a DMZ. We don't care if you don't like it, so you can not like it all you want. However, should you wish to contest this decision and try again, we welcome you to try. Next time, we won't stop until your governmental buildings... and your government itself, are ashes."
It's the flaw of the Federation - they did not learn from the Klingons. The reason the Klingons were antagonists, is because the Federation didn't finish a battle, and allowed the Klingons they had defeated fought to a stand still to leave. This was a taint on Klingon honor, the Klingons considered the Federation cowards, and thus evil and enemies. If the Federation had destroyed all the Klingons in the attack, they would have earned the Klingons' respect and perhaps even alliance from the get go.
The Cardassians are similar. The Cardassians only respect strength, so the Federation should have showed them strength.
Sorry for being a bit touchy in this matter but I have my reasons to sympathize with those who were driven away.
Like I said, the concept of "driven away" becomes irrelevant when you can live anywhere you want, and have your home recreated to its exact specifications.
Bull. First, they could not live anywhere they want. Second, it doesn't matter. And third, yes they are indeed driven away.
Homes don't contain those things - the people who live in them do. If you have to move, then you make *new* memories in your new home, but you can still remember the old.
Why would the Cardassians need to conquer planets that were already theirs?
