Romulan-Bajoran standoff

[Voth commando1]

I sort of get the “foot in the door” thinking, but if the federation became aware of it, which they certainly would have, would the romulans have been willing to risk everything post war over a single base? Or were they expecting the federation to give in first?

Even Weyoun was almost gleeful when he heard about the stand off, worst case scenario(and best case scenario for the dominion) was that the romulan-federation alliance would have collapsed entirely.

And that is something Ross(and Cretak) make clear to Kira, so Kira is willing to potentially destroy any hope of a federation victory by provoking an armed conflict with their erstwhile ally.

 

[Timo]

Which sort of makes Ross the enemy of Kira, an oppressor who dictates terms to Bajorans. Her response really is surprisingly measured: she simply makes it clear that messing with Bajor may cost Ross the entire Federation, and good riddance.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[UnknownSample]

How she reacted to the weapons though, was completely out of proportion. She could have simply filed an offical protest with the Romulan Senate, and with her own government.

Because Romulans always back down when someone files a protest? Why would that have done anything?
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Kira wasn't banking on the Romulans being afraid of Bajoran ships. She was counting on being backed up by Starfleet eventually, which is what happened.

 

[Voth commando1]

Which sort of makes Ross the enemy of Kira, an oppressor who dictates terms to Bajorans. Her response really is surprisingly measured: she simply makes it clear that messing with Bajor may cost Ross the entire Federation, and good riddance.

Timo Saloniemi

I mean that seems rather self defeating.

If the federation loses, the dominion occupies Bajor. Was Kira really going to trust a non aggression pact to save them in the event the dominion was triumphant?

So, she was willing to blow up an alliance and possibly doom Bajor in the long run, because the Romulans were trying to get some sort of advantage?

 

[kkt]

Kira was sure she made herself look crazy enough to doom the Federation. Would Ross really risk losing the war on the chance that she was bluffing? Especially when the Romulans were violating their agreement?

 

[Timo]

Also, if she caves in on Ross here, there's no upside to the Federation winning: they'll turn out to be just as bad as the Dominion. Oh, perhaps a tad fewer death camps and a tad more reeducation centers, but that's just nuances. Kira knows what being occupied means, and how it began the last time around.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[HelenofBorg]

Because Romulans always back down when someone files a protest? Why would that have done anything?
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Kira wasn't banking on the Romulans being afraid of Bajoran ships. She was counting on being backed up by Starfleet eventually, which is what happened.

No, they don't, but given the circumstances, and the price of losing the war, would the Romulans have wanted to upset the Bajorans and by extension the Federation? Was it actually worth causing a diplomatic incident? I'd bank that even the Tal'Shiar would say no. Lose a minor battle to win a major war. The Romulans knew that the Bajoran System would have been protected by the Federation anyway, because of the wormhole.

 

[Timo]

Sometimes these Romulans seem to go for the most provocative option possible just for the heck of it. Makes sense for Trek's equivalent for North Korea: they're besieged and probably not all that powerful, but by pretending they are utterly rabid, they can command interstellar respect. That is, the combination of rabid and a big cloaked first strike fleet does the trick.

Trying to anger the Feds here, in the middle of a war, is a pretty good tough guy act. Rather comparable to trying to conquer South Korea, I mean Vulcan, in the middle of peace... The Feds backed out of reprisal at Vulcan; they'd be 100% certain to grovel at Bajor, too, even if Romulus then agreed to withdraw the torps.

Timo Saloniemi