Vixen and Sci, those are the only explanations that work, perhaps info was on a need to know bass and they thought this was just an intel operation to expose the founders
The Starfleet Coup? Public?
- Thread starter PhoenixIreland
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Considering how concerned everyone was (right after the Antwerp Conference being bombed by a Changeling) it would appear to be highly likely.
No kidding! He was 50% of Earth's observed civilian population after the declaration of martial law (Jake being the other 50%).
If the rest of the planet reacted to the declaration in one way or another, we completely missed it. We are free to imagine anything from supporting rallies to panic and anarchy.
Timo Saloniemi
Weve never had the misfortune of being under martial law
Reactions can be very diffrent, in Northern Ireland when they put troops on the streets, at first anyway, people welcomed them because it meant an end to caos
Same, Im sure, with the LA riots in 1992.
But in this situation the threat was invisable apart from the occasional incident, in fact those episodes were downright prophetic in terms of the terrorism issue.
Imagine President Bush declared martial law in the US tommorow, when there was no immidiate visable reason to do so, I assume people would be pissed off?
Maybe they should have shown more civilian reaction in Homefront and Paradise Lost
Reactions can be very diffrent, in Northern Ireland when they put troops on the streets, at first anyway, people welcomed them because it meant an end to caos
Same, Im sure, with the LA riots in 1992.
But in this situation the threat was invisable apart from the occasional incident, in fact those episodes were downright prophetic in terms of the terrorism issue.
Imagine President Bush declared martial law in the US tommorow, when there was no immidiate visable reason to do so, I assume people would be pissed off?
Maybe they should have shown more civilian reaction in Homefront and Paradise Lost
Well, the closest comparison to what happened in DS9 -- the Antwerp Conference bombing leading to martial law -- is 9/11. I'm not sure if the relative senses of trauma undergone by the general populations are proportional, but if Bush had wanted to, he very well might have been able to get way with declaring martial law in each of the 50 states and in the District of Columbia.
While I do agree with showing more civilian reaction, I also think that for the Federation President to declare martial law on Earth (ie, the action alone) shows how dire the situation was thought to be. The Federation is the benevolent, non-militaristic galactic power. For it to resort to martial law is almost unthinkable.
That's partially true. The President believed that they were under imminent attack, but only based on what Admiral Leyton told him and what had happened.
At least he didn't get an intel report on the situation from Starfleet, cherry pick the bits that sugested the changelings were on earth, throw out all evidence to the contrary, and tell the population that the changelings were everywhere and he had to act!
...oh and vote for him or the changelings will kill them all!
*snort* 
I imagine that there is a "Federation Security" and Intel department that answer directly to the President, not to Starfleet...
I imagine that Leyton had everyone confused... and Jaresh was not a military leader, so why not turn over security to those charged with that duty.
Yes he was. He was explicitly stated to be Starfleet's commander-in-chief in "Paradise Lost."
Well, no one's arguing that declaring martial law was an unreasonable measure to take if Earth's power grid really had been disabled in the lead-up to a Dominion invasion.
Problem was, it hadn't...
There was a threat to Earth... Just not the one he thoughtPublic reaction is explored in novels I think.
I'm pretty sure in one of them it says he lost re-election partly because he was duped by Leyton.
I'm pretty sure in one of them it says he lost re-election partly because he was duped by Leyton.
If the Federation presidency is anything like the US presidency, then you don't really need a military background to be a commander-in-chief. That in itself may or may not be a good thing, depending on the circumstance and the kind of leader one is.
Reading up on Paradise Lost on Memory Alpha, I was quite surprised at how Behr and Moore rip themselves about the two-parter, when a lot of people seemed to be very positive about it (myself included). Among Behr's regrets is that he thinks the Jaresh character was portrayed as too weak and indecisive to be elected president of the Federation in the first place, and that the actor wasn't particularly powerful.
I think the reluctance to "destoy paradise" was realistic, if you'd had peace for so long on earth the idea of martial law would be daunting.
It all depends on the circumstances your in and the history.
The "I never sought this job" thing was awful tho, he was crumbling under pressure basically saying "being president is'nt fun anymore I wanna go home!!"
Nobody would go for a job like that if they didn't want it, he would have made the famous shermenesque statement "If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve"
In Articles of the Federation,
"Jaresh-Inyo dies partway through the new president's first year in office. At the funeral, which is held on Mars, the president goes into detail about Jaresh-Inyo's accomplishments, noting that he was a great peacetime president and had done a lot for the Federation, but was fooled, as many were, into trusting Leyton, and that allowing Starfleet to declare martial law on Earth shouldn't be the only thing he was remembered for. Jaresh-Inyo is sort of the opposite of Min Zife, who succeeded him. Zife was able to lead the Federation during war, but it was his actions after the Dominion War was over that ultimately led to him 'leaving office"
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